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Hollywood, Calif., Mar 9, 2017 / 02:36 pm (CNA).- The path to priesthood doesn’t often include stops on the sets of soap operas. But for Father Don Woznicki, a stint as a production assistant for the NBC soap “Sunset Beach” in 1998 (the same year he entered the Mundelein Seminary to begin his formation as a priest) was a pivotal part of his exploration of his “calling within a calling” – his deep-seated desire to evangelize through the entertainment industry.

“While I was in my pretheological studies at Loyola University in Chicago, I sensed the Holy Spirit moving me to somehow be involved in an outreach ministry as a priest to Hollywood,” recalled Father Woznicki. “I always loved entertainment, and it was at that point in my life, as I discerned the priesthood, that I had a deep conviction that somehow the Church needs to be more present because of that influence it can have on people and cultures.”

As the South Bend, Indiana-born Father Woznicki assumed an associate pastor role at a Chicago-area parish, he (with the permission of then-Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George) proceeded to trek to Los Angeles three or four times a year, for one week at a time during his spring and summer breaks, to continue his PA job with “Sunset Beach,” work with Act One (a mentorship program for aspiring Christian screenwriters) and soak up as much additional exposure to the entertainment industry that he could get.

Twenty years and a handful of IMDB credits later, Father Woznicki is now not only the pastor at Christ the King Church in Hollywood (where he began serving last July), but also the director of New Ethos, an advocacy effort that strives to drum up support throughout the Catholic community for films that, as St. Pope John Paul II (who was an actor in his youth) once put it, “bring us to a personal encounter with truth, goodness and beauty.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">LOS ANGELES I Holy-wood: How one priest supports films that ‘promote truth, beauty and goodness.’ <a href="https://t.co/1dMBdAymxd">https://t.co/1dMBdAymxd</a> <a href="https://t.co/4ml5D1CdML">pic.twitter.com/4ml5D1CdML</a></p>&mdash; Angelus News (@AngelusNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngelusNews/status/839957753082736640">March 9, 2017</a></blockquote>
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“There is great power in film and television, because much of our senses are acted upon through visuals (cinematography, special effects, movement), hearing (screenplay, musical score, sound) and a personal connection with the actors,” explained Father Woznicki. “Our celebration of the Mass and sacraments carry through its beauty the ultimate power to act on our senses, to have a personal encounter with our Lord and Savior and transform our minds and hearts. When one encounters an overarching spirit of the true, good and beautiful in entertainment, one also is encountering Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life.”

And while many on the outside looking in have a preconceived notion of Hollywood being a spiritual wasteland, Father Woznicki has found that Hollywood is, in fact, inhabited by its fair share of faith-filled industry professionals who, though they may not agree with all of the Church’s teachings, have an “attraction to, and appreciation for, the Church’s age-old and sophisticated approach to the arts through the holy Mass, in sacred art and in the various other traditional and progressive mystical expressions of faith.”

In order to support filmmakers and screenwriters who share his passion for truthful, beautiful storytelling, Father Woznicki and his core team of film reviewers collaborate with studio marketing executives in a number of capacities to galvanize support throughout the Catholic community for films that fit the bill. His ultimate goal is for New Ethos to become an esteemed, respected voice for the films it wants to promote, and has not only a hand in production and development, but also “a place at the table of major studios and independent production companies to have a meaningful influence on developing entertainment.”

To this end, New Ethos is in the planning stages of working with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications to coordinate a two-day retreat at the Vatican for accomplished industry artists and establishing a “New Ethos Film Festival,” a Sundance-esque event to be held annually in Los Angeles. For the time being, however, New Ethos’ primary efforts involve recognizing quality films and awarding them the New Ethos “Logo of Excellence,” which promoters can in turn use for marketing purposes.

New Ethos’ two most prestigious awards, the “New Ethos Excellence Award” and the “New Ethos Selection” are awarded to films that excel in the categories of religion, values and art. Father Woznicki hopes that, by recognizing films that succeed as much in their efforts to explore universal human truths and propel the craft of filmmaking forward as they do in telling stories concerning matters of faith, that New Ethos will help shake the filmgoing public’s tendency to equate “Catholic” with “G-rated” and/or “hokey.”

“New Ethos is not about just supporting films and entertainment media because a Catholic made it,” stated Father Woznicki. “Would you get on an airplane just because you heard a Catholic made it? Quality is the rule. Christ is constantly calling us to conversion, hope and to be transformed into his image, and the reality is that a vast majority of us are works in progress, made holy in Christ’s mercy, but with many rough and hard edges to be smoothed out.

“New Ethos films are not about promoting sanitized Christian propaganda, rather to that conversion, hope and transformation,” he continued.

Just as we are all works in progress, so is New Ethos in its early stages. But Father Woznicki firmly believes that New Ethos’ earnest intention to focus on promoting the best attributes of Hollywood, the goodness waiting to emerge in films hidden beneath the slog, will lead to a flourishing, symbiotic relationship between New Ethos and the entertainment industry.

“The mission’s philosophy was founded on transforming Hollywood not through a self-righteous ‘Hollywood takeover’ to form a ‘Catholic Hollywood,’ but rather encouraging and supporting and uplifting the true, good and beautiful in secular Hollywood productions, where much of God’s talent operates,” said Father Woznicki.

“[It’s not] about going to Hollywood yielding a stick to point out where they are leading our children into hell,” he continued. “Rather, [it’s] to form positive collaborative relationships, where the Church lets Hollywood be who they are: the most talented and creative storytellers in the world, which the Church needs, while Hollywood can use the Church not only for its large market potential, but also to tap into the Church’s wisdom to help guide the art-making process. It’s is a win-win mission!”

 

This article originally appeared in Angelus News. Reprinted with permission.

 

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Phoenix, Ariz., Mar 9, 2017 / 02:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Students for Life Group at Arizona State University is planning the nation’s first Pregnant on Campus Week to offer resources, support and information for parents on campus this March 13-16.

“Pregnant and parenting students should never feel forced to choose between their children and their education,” said Beth Rahal, national director of the Pregnant on Campus Initiative.

She applauded the initiative’s student leaders for supporting their peers in difficult and vulnerable moments, and for “empowering women to succeed as parents, as students, and as valuable members of our communities.”

Pregnant on Campus Week will include table displays at Hayden Lawn, a central part of Arizona State University’s campus, offering information on resources for pregnant and parenting students.

These resources include breastfeeding rooms on campus and childcare options, as well as information about Title IX rights. The university’s Family Resources department will also be available to discuss school aid for students with families.

Additionally, a donation area will be set up for a baby shower drive to support pregnant moms on campus. Attendees will be able to write letter of encouragement to pregnant peers, learn more about fetal development, and utilize social media frames showing their support for parenting students.

Mariah Martinez, chair of the ASU Pregnant on Campus Initiative, explained in a press release the motto for the week: Fearlessly pursuing family and education.

“Our initiative exists to be a light of hope, empowerment, community, and resources for those students who find themselves pregnant and about to be a parent while completing their degree,” she said.

“Whether informing them about their Title IX rights, pointing them to local pregnancy resource centers for low-cost prenatal care, informing them on the resources ASU already offers, or simply being there for emotional support, the Pregnant on Campus Initiative recognizes that pregnancy while going to school is a real occurrence, and we want to celebrate both.”

The Pregnant on Campus Initiative is a project of Students for Life of America, a pro-life organization with over 1,100 high school and college groups. Pregnant on Campus offers resources for pregnant and parenting students at more than 500 schools.

 

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Denver, Colo., Mar 9, 2017 / 03:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- If you’re an Irish Catholic (or any Catholic) living in the United States, you will need to check with your local diocese before indulging in corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day this year.

The popular feast day, whose traditional fare is the salty, stringy red meat, poses a predicament for Catholics this year as it falls on a Friday in Lent, when the faithful are required to abstain from meat.

The last time this conundrum cropped up was in 2006, when roughly half of the United States’ 179 Roman Catholic dioceses granted some form of dispensation to the faithful on the memorial of the patron saint of Ireland. (Ironically, corned beef is generally not eaten in Ireland on St. Patrick’s day - it’s usually lamb or bacon.)

This year, more than 80 dioceses have announced some form of dispensation on St. Patrick’s Day. However, Catholics should check with their local diocese before partaking in the celebratory meats.

“In some places, abstinence from meat is dispensed on St. Patrick’s Day, but those who consume meat that day are required to abstain the next day,” said J.D. Flynn, a canon lawyer and Special Assistant to Bishop James Conley in Lincoln, Neb.

 

“In some places, a dispensation has been granted for parish or diocesan events. So it would be important to know what the bishop has determined in the place where you are.”

 

In many cases of dispensation this year, the bishops have requested that the faithful offer up some alternative penance or perform an additional act of charity in lieu of their abstinence from meat. Some dioceses have additional stipulations.

Many Archdioceses have already announced that they will be granting a general dispensation, including Atlanta, Georgia, Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; New York, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco, California; Washington, D.C. and the Military Services, USA.

The following Archdioceses and Dioceses have dispensations, but with additional stipulations:

 

In some places, like the Archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska, the faithful are required to transfer their day of abstinence to the next day if they choose to eat meat on St. Patrick’s Day.

 

In other Archdioceses, including Detroit, Michigan and Portland, Oregon, as well as the Dioceses of Trenton, N.J.,  Salt Lake City, Utah, and Grand Island, Nebraska, the archbishops and bishops have stipulated that the faithful must ask a priest’s permission if they want a dispensation. These priests can either dispense or commute the required abstinence from meat “for a just cause.”

 

In the Archdiocese of St. Louis, dispensations are being granted on a case by case basis for certain parish or diocesan groups or events that have successfully petitioned the bishop.

 

Many Dioceses have also publicly granted a dispensation for St. Patrick’s Day, including Bridgeport, Connecticut; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; Jefferson City, Missouri; Oakland, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Providence, Rhode Island; Savannah, Georgia; Worcester, Massachusetts, and Venice, Florida.

Only two dioceses, the Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado and the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, have publicly announced that they will not be granting any dispensations for the day.

So, technically, could a Catholic in Denver with a hankering for meat on St. Patrick’s Day drive south for an hour and dine on corned beef once they are in the Diocese of Colorado Springs?

“Generally speaking dispensations, like other kinds of administrative acts, are territorial in the Church, they determine the obligations of those in a territory. There are many exceptions to this, but this is the general principle,” Flynn said.

“In this case, a traveller who is in a place where a law has been dispensed is not bound to observe the law. It doesn’t matter why the person goes to a diocese, just that they’re there. A person should take a look at what the dispensation really says, though,” he added.

What about extremely proud Irish grandmothers (my own) who declare a dispensation for themselves and all their Irish kin, regardless of where they reside?

“Your grandma was, with all due respect to her Irish brilliance, mistaken,” Flynn said.

The Archdioceses and Dioceses listed here are not comprehensive. Catholics wanting to eat meat on St. Patrick’s day should check with their local diocese regarding whether or not they are dispensed, and under what conditions.

 

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Washington D.C., Mar 9, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie – being able to “upload” our minds to computers to live on after we die, to freeze our bodies only to bring them back in the future, or to pop pills to enhance our mood and intelligence.

While these may seem like impossible notions, these are the kinds of things the transhumanism and posthumanism movements are hoping for and working toward.

However, as with most technological advancements, these proposals have bioethicists and theologians questioning: just because we can, does that mean we should?

Transhumanism is a loosely-defined cultural, intellectual and technical movement that describes itself as seeking to “to overcome fundamental human limitations” including death, aging, and natural physical, mental and psychological limitations, says humanity+, a transhumanist online community.

The movement overlaps greatly with posthumanism, which posits that a new, biologically superior race is on the horizon, and could replace the human race as we know it. Posthumanists support technologies such as cryogenic freezing, mood-and-intelligence-enhancing drugs, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, bionics and “uploading” a mind to an artificial intelligence.

These movements stem from the idea that human limitations are just “technical problems” that need to be overcome, said history professor Yuval Noah Harari in a 2015 interview in “Edge,” a non-profit website devoted to the advancement of technology.

“Once you really solve a problem like direct brain-computer interface ... when brains and computers can interact directly, to take just one example, that's it, that's the end of history, that's the end of biology as we know it,” he said. “Nobody has a clue what will happen once you solve this.”

But is human nature a problem to be solved? Will treading into this territory completely change the way man relates to God, to their own bodies, and to one another? These are the questions many bioethicists are grappling with as they consider the morality of such technologies.

For Catholics, escaping suffering and trials by escaping human nature itself is a morally unacceptable option, according to Fr. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D., Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

“Catholics cannot accept a vision of man which presupposes an outright ‘unacceptability’ of his basic human nature, nor a vision that labors to replace it with an alternate bodily structure that is engineered to be ‘post-human,’” Fr. Pacholczyk told CNA.

Instead, the “integral vision of man” accepts that man is incarnate – that humans have a body –and that “we are meant to embrace and grow through the limitations of our human nature,” he said.

“Even if our nature were to be radically re-engineered and modified,” he elaborated, “our innermost self would retain fundamental shards of incompleteness.”

The human experience is a struggle between a longing for the infinite, and learning to accept and embrace human’s finite nature, Fr. Pacholczyk explained. This longing would still exist even if technology were to significantly advance man’s material reality, because the longing for the infinite transcends the material world, he added.

Christ’s life provides the road map to transcendence – rather than transhumanism – for man’s life, “achieved through repentance, discipleship, self-denial, committed love, and generous self-giving,” said Fr. Pacholczyk. The infinite that man longs for “is effected from above through grace, rather than through the mere machinations of human cleverness or willfulness.”

Only by accepting their nature can humans re-orient themselves to “the only authentic source of redemption compatible with his essence,” which is Jesus, he added.  

Peter Lawler, a bioethicist and government professor at Berry College, said while he did not think transhumanism is possible, the movement’s ideology alone can impact society.  

The mindset of detaching humanity from biology contributes to a “paranoia about existence” which sees the natural world as the enemy of man, and views the body as a mere machine rather than as an integral part of a person, Lawler said.

“We’re living longer than ever,” he said. Improvements in healthcare, life expectancy and other technologies have changed the way people think about many things such as sexual morality, desired family size, and the integration of elderly people into society.

Charles Rubin, a professor of political science at Dusquenes University and author on the transhumanist movement, also takes issue with the transhumanist or posthumanist ideology. The idea of “a superior version” of human beings implies that humans are poorly-designed “creatures of evolutionary chance,” Rubin said.

“They have the very ‘thin’ understanding of what it means to be human that is in many ways characteristic of our contemporary thin ideas about self-hood,” he said. The movement also makes the assumption that “material circumstances can solve all our problems.”

“Building as they do on a thin sense of self, they risk encouraging those tendencies of contemporary thought that treat human beings instrumentally or that otherwise diminish human dignity.”

But it’s not all necessarily bad.

Some technologies that improve and even extend human life can be beneficial, so long as they don’t violate morality, Lawler noted.

“The consistent pro-life position is that we are for life,” he said, referencing Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 encyclical, “Caritas in Veritate” (Charity in Truth).

“Technology is highly attractive because it draws us out of our physical limitations and broadens our horizon,” the Pope wrote.

Still, he cautioned, technological advancements can never trump the good of the human person – they must always be done in an ethically responsible way.

“Human freedom is authentic only when it responds to the fascination of technology with decisions that are the fruit of moral responsibility,” Pope Benedict XVI wrote.

While extending life can be acceptable, the promises of transhumanism should be critiqued, Rubin said.

What should be combated, he continued, is those who “dogmatically assert the benefits of a longer life without having ever having asked seriously the question of what constitutes a good human life.”

 

This article was originally published on CNA April 9, 2015.

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Washington D.C., Mar 9, 2017 / 04:45 pm (CNA).- Family members of boxing great Muhammed Ali say they were detained at an airport for their religion and have linked the incident President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which they are challenging on religious freedom grounds.

“There shouldn't be a travel ban,” said Khalilah Camacho Ali, the boxer’s former wife. “If I don't speak up now, they're going to keep harassing us.”

She said Muhammed Ali’s family has been fighting for religious rights “for a very long time,” adding “We are going to continue to fight for religious justice.”

Muhammed Ali, Jr. and his mother Khalilah Camacho Ali, were detained and questioned Feb. 7 at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport as they returned from a Black History Month event in Jamaica, the Associated Press reports. They said they were asked if they were Muslim and a family spokesman charged they were flagged for their Arabic-sounding names.

While Ali's former wife could produce a photo of herself with her famous ex-husband, her son could not. They were separated and he was detained by immigration officials for about two hours, the family spokesman said, according to the Washington Post.

Ali Jr. was born in Philadelphia and has a U.S. passport.

Customs officials, however, rejected claims it had discriminated on the basis of religion or ethnicity. “We accomplish our mission with vigilance and in accordance with the law,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Feb. 26, adding “We treat all travelers with respect and sensitivity.”

Khalilah Camacho Ali said the incident at the Florida airport has affected her.

“I'm paranoid. I'm just waiting for somebody to mess with me. That's not a good feeling when you have to travel,” she said.

The ban on new visas for travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily halted the United States' refugee program was revised after facing court challenges. The latest version will take effect March 16 and has removed Iraq from the list of countries, which originally numbered seven.

Ali Jr. and Khalilah Camacho Ali visited Washington, D.C. on Thursday to meet with lawmakers and discuss their experience. Democratic members of the House Subcommittee on border security invited them to a forum on the topic.

They have launched a campaign against the travel restrictions with support of former boxing stars Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes and Roberto Duran.

They are framing the effort as a conflict with the president, using the hashtag “#AlivsTrump.”

The three-time boxing heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali also advocated for civil rights. He converted to Islam in 1964 and refused to join the military draft, citing conscientious objections as a Muslim. He was stripped of his heavyweight title and convicted of draft evasion, though the Supreme Court would rule in his favor.

He died in 2016.

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IMAGE: CNS/Carol Glatz

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When a child-protection advocate resigned from a papal advisory board in early March, she did so because of growing frustration with persistent resistance and a "toxic" sense of superiority from some in the Roman Curia.

A number of church leaders on the front lines promoting child protection policies have also long noted the biggest challenge they face is a cultural one -- an aversion to the unknown, playing it safe rather than speaking up, and denial and defensiveness to protect an institution over a possible victim.

Despite four years of Pope Francis' calls to break down walls erected out of fear and ivory towers built on arrogance, Marie Collins said a kind of enclave mentality could still be found in some corners of the Curia.

While there are many people who are "open and more willing to listen and learn," the Curia and the Vatican tend to be "very much a closed-in system where people are talking to others with the same views and not being challenged at all, and so things appear normal that are not actually normal," said Collins, an Irish survivor of clerical sex abuse, who had served on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors since its inception in 2014.

So when anything from the outside challenges the way things have traditionally been done, "it is almost an instinct to resist it, and that is what's so difficult," she told Catholic News Service after her resignation.

Attitudes that avoid or squelch open, respectful dialogue are pervasive in the wider church as well, she said, and they have "to be challenged right from the seminary on up." Priests and religious who "know how damaging this clericalism is to the church" need to start "speaking up in their own ranks" and working to eradicate it.

One priest working from within is Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a psychologist and academic vice rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is also a member of the papal commission for safeguarding; his work there focuses on what is needed in priestly and religious formation -- specifically in selecting and fostering well-balanced, mature, responsible servants of Christ who truly seek to "live out what they promised to do."

"From my understanding, this is the key to everything," the priest told CNS.

There are many clear guidelines for proper formation, particularly from St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, he said, but "I don't think that many church leaders understand or at least they don't show many signs that they follow all the papal instructions on this."

Many problems that emerge after formation are because of "a growing gap between the human side and the spiritual side. People may still say Mass and prayers, but they don't feel connected to what they're doing anymore. At a certain point it becomes unbearable and they act out or drop out," he said.

"If you train people so they don't show their real face and are threatened if they bring out the real issues" because they fear they will be shamed, ostracized or even dismissed from pursuing a vocation, then it is obvious people will not want to bring "the real stuff" out into the open, he added.

Seminaries and religious life, Father Zollner said, need to foster the trust that "it's safe" to explore problems and tensions, and no one will be "dismissed, judged, shouted at or dealt with in a cold way when they show their real face."

"I believe that many of the young men don't feel invited to talk about normal things, things that are normal for young people, so they bury that," which, according to St. Ignatius, he said, lets problems that could have been dealt with earlier "grow bigger and become like monsters."

However, he said, seminarians must be responsible for their own formation, even if their formators are weak.

Understanding and being responsible for one's own emotional, spiritual and human growth are key for creating accountable, responsible leaders, who will someday be in charge of a parish or a diocese and its staff and community, said Jesuit Father Stefan Dartmann, rector of the Pontificium Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum in Rome -- a German-speaking seminary serving dioceses in northern and central Europe.

Run by the Jesuits, the college puts unique emphasis on strengthening the seminarian's sense of discernment and "co-responsibility" in his formation, and students are allowed to be part of the college leadership team.

The aim is to create men who can ask, "What has to be done," not just for themselves, but for the whole community, he told CNS. This is critical because "we've had bishops who we know never asked" about protection training and protocols "because they felt very uncomfortable, so they waited," he said.

There is "no reason to avoid going into the problems -- it's the other way around," you are obliged to foresee and act, said Father Dartmann, who was at the tail end of his term as Jesuit provincial in Germany when the abuse crisis in the church, including in Jesuit schools, exploded in 2010.

That experience, he said, was "a Copernican revolution" for them because it put the point of view of the victims -- not the church -- at the center of concern. "I remember that 'The truth will set you free,' was very important for me" in learning to listen to, accept and be transformed by so much scandal.

If people let themselves be affected on a deeper level by what abuse did and does to children, then protection policies can become a real "apostolic priority," he said.

Instead, if it is only seen as just another "obligation" or yet another burden to add to an already heavy curriculum or ministry, "then it has no effect and it doesn't make me trustworthy," Father Dartmann said.

It has to come from "our own discovery of the Gospel and freedom" and the desire to be in every way like Christ, he said.

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