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Madrid, Spain, Feb 16, 2017 / 08:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Eulogio Martínez and Martina Abian are 100 and 95 years-old, respectively.

They were married Nov. 26, 1942, in Guadalajara, Spain, and they will soon celebrate their 75th anniversary. On the occasion of World Marriage Day, which coincides with the feast of Saint Valentine, the Marriage Encounter movement gave them the “2017 Lifetime of Love” award.

But in a world where nuptial unions fall tragically apart – or increasingly fail to happen in the first place – how did this couple stay married, and happily at that?

In an interview with the Spanish ABC daily, Eulogio and Martina both agreed that the key to success that keeps them together and in love after 75 years is “patience” and above all, “loving each other a lot.”

“People don't put up with anything, with the slightest trouble, it's over,” Martina lamented. In fact, she finds herself baffled at how marriages can break up so quickly: “We always discuss things, and why not? … You have to have patience.”

Eulogio recalled when they started going out together – she was 18 and he was 23. “I asked her if we could have a relationship and I realized that she had already been looking forward to it,” he laughed.

“Yes, it's true, I liked him a lot,” Martina responded, “he was very handsome, very formal, he captivated me. He's 100 years old and look at him!”

They got married a year later. “It was a really big day, as it is for all engaged couples in love that marry – not like today, where people get married and then just change spouses,” Martina said.

They had seven children. Eulogio joined the Civil Guard, a police force in Spain, and because of his work and promotions he had to move several times. “I went with him everywhere,” Martina told ABC.

After a lifetime together, they said they were sure “they couldn't live without each other,” not because it is a routine, or they are used to it, but because of love. One of their children told the newspaper that Martina recently had a hip operation and Eulogio could not wait to visit her at the hospital.

Even though they still have a lot of energy, Eulogio said that he would prefer “to go before she does so she can enjoy life and look for another man.” Martina laughed, but insisted, “I'm dying with him, there's no body else like him.”

Marriage Encounter said that Eulogio and Martina “are proof that love can last a lifetime.”

“It's not a question of luck: You have to want to love, to cultivate the relationship, to work through those differences that any couple has. And also it's that you can learn to love well,” they said in a statement.

The witness of these spouses stands out in Spain when, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics, during 2015, more than 100,000 spouses separated, divorced or obtained an annulment.

Marriage Encounter is a Catholic movement that offers a “Special Weekend” as an experience that contributes to the couple strengthening their love and deepening their relationship. It is open to couple of any religion and also non-believers.

Every year Marriage Encounter gives “A Lifetime of Love” awards to the longest married couples to demonstrate that it is possible to have just one love and have it forever.

Marriage Encounter is present in more than 100 countries and the five continents. Each year, more than 30,000 couples throughout the world are able to renew their love thanks to this experience.

¿Quieres que tu amor dure 75 años? Eulogio, de 100 años, y Martina, de 95, tienen el secreto https://t.co/e3I0kHGPcl #DíaDeLosEnamorados pic.twitter.com/JWxtkFoFvW

— abc_conocer (@abc_conocer) February 14, 2017

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Brownsville, Texas, Feb 16, 2017 / 02:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Along the U.S.-Mexico border, Catholic bishops of both countries stressed the right of people to migrate and the need for the Church to welcome them.

“In this difficult moment in our history we hear the cry of our migrant brothers and sisters whose voices reflect the voice of Christ Himself,” the bishops said in a joint statement.

“We reiterate our commitment to care for pilgrims, strangers, exiles, and migrants affirming that all persons have a right to live in conditions worthy of human life. If these are not given they have a right to migrate.”

Regarding the right to migrate, they cited Pope Pius XII, whose 1952 apostolic constitution “Exsul Familia Nazarethana” addressed issues of migration and refugees after the Second World War.

The bishops pledged to monitor the suffering of migrants on both sides of the border and voiced support for Catholic agencies and individuals that offer spiritual, legal and material assistance to migrants.

“In the Church there are no strangers, migrant families should feel at home in every church as their homeland,” the bishops said, citing St. John Paul II.

The biannual meetings of the bishops from the border dioceses of Texas and northern Mexico began in 1986 to help show the communion of the universal Church. The meetings have always kept a focus on the lives and pastoral needs of migrants.

The joint message that came from the latest meeting was titled “The cry of Christ and voice of the migrant moves us.” It was published in English and Spanish.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, as immigrants and refugees sought for a place to live and work hoping for a compassionate human response,” the bishops said. “Today this history repeats itself.”

The bishops recounted visiting detention centers and respite centers for mothers and their adolescent and minor children. The condition of these places have been described as “intolerable and inhumane.”

They invoked Jesus’ words from Matthew 25, when he describes the Last Judgment welcoming those who will inherit the Kingdom of God “because I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was hungry and you gave me food.”

For the bishops, the U.S.-Mexico border region has a culture of its own.

“The border cities consider themselves to be sister cities and friends, because they share the same land, the same faith, the same traditions, the same culture in solidarity,” they said. “We bishops shall continue to follow the good example of Pope Francis; we shall seek to construct bridges rather than the walls of exclusion and exploitation.”

Pope Francis had blessed a cross at the border between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez during his February 2016 visit. This cross has become “a sign of unity between the countries,” the bishops said.

At the same time, the bishops described the “anguish” of those who have to live on the peripheries of society. Many migrants face extortion in the workplace, fear the constant threat of deportation and separation from family and friends.

“Over the years we have seen first-hand the suffering that is caused by a broken immigration system caused by political structures and economic conditions that result in threats, deportations, impunity and extreme violence,” they said.

The current presidential administration is making these realities evident, according to the bishops.

“We can sense the pain of the separation of families, loss of employment, persecutions, discrimination, racism, and unnecessary deportations that paralyze the development of persons in our societies and the development of our nations leaving them of hope,” they said.

The bishops described immigration as a global phenomenon driven by economic and social conditions. Poverty and insecurity makes families feel that migration is the only way to survive.

“The migrant has a right to be respected by international law and national law as he or she faces the violence, criminality and inhuman policies of governments as well as the world’s indifference.”

Migrants are often subject of punitive laws and mistreatment by authorities, both in their home country, the countries they pass through, and at their destination.

“It is essential that governments adopt policies that respect the human rights of migrants and undocumented residents,” they said.

The bishops invoked the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe and asked everyone to join them in prayer.

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Denver, Colo., Feb 16, 2017 / 02:14 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- New claims that messages from alleged visionary Charlie Johnston have been approved by the Church are false, the Archdiocese of Denver clarified on Wednesday.

 

Mrs. Beckie Hesse, who posts on Johnston’s blog under the name “Beckita,” seemed to claim in a Feb, 7, 2017 blog post that Johnston’s alleged visions “have been fully approved by the Church.”

 

“In order to ensure that the faithful are correctly informed, it is necessary to publicly state that Mrs. Hesse’s claim is false,” the Archdiocese said in a statement in response to the post.

 

“The events of 2016/17 have shown that Mr. Johnston’s alleged visions were not accurate and the Archdiocese urges the faithful not to condone or support further attempts to reinterpret them as valid,” the statement concluded.

 

Charlie Johnston is a blogger who claims to have received visions and messages from the Blessed Virgin Mary, the angel Gabriel and other saints for most of his life. He has blogged about his visions and predictions since 2014 on a Wordpress site entitled “The Next Right Step.”

 

His predictions include warnings of a worldwide civil war, as well as many political predictions, including that President Barack Obama would not finish his second term and the toppling of the U.S. government. He has also written about how to survive if the U.S. government were to start rounding up conservative Christians into detention camps.

 

Since 1998, Johnston has warned about “The Storm”, a period of major political and more upheaval, which he claims the world is in the midst of right now. He has predicted a rescue from “The Storm” at the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary by October 2017. As his many of his predictions regarding the election and other events proved inaccurate, Johnston announced after Inauguration Day that he was stepping aside from the public scene. Hesse has been posting from his blog this month.

 

Johnston has said his followers should not focus on his predictions, but instead on doing the will of God in the moment, hence the title of the blog.

 

But those same predictions garnered enough attention and followers that Archbishop Samuel Aquila with the Archdiocese of Denver launched an investigation into his writings and speeches. A special commission composed of two theologians and a canonist reviewed material from his blog, videos of presentations from various parts of the country, and an archive of his writings from as far back as 1998.

 

The findings of the commission, which were released in a statement in March 2016, urged extreme caution among the faithful when it came to Johnston’s messages, and also announced that Johnston would not be approved as a speaker for the Archdiocese.

 

“After reviewing the commission’s findings and in keeping with his pastoral office, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver has decided to strongly advise the faithful to exercise prudence and caution in regards to Mr. Charlie Johnston’s alleged divine visions and messages. As has been demonstrated with other alleged apparitions, the danger exists of people placing greater faith in a prediction than in Christ’s words and promises,” the Archdiocese announced in a statement last year.

 

“For those who are disappointed by this finding, the archdiocese encourages them to seek their security in Jesus Christ, the sacraments, and the Scriptures. The faithful should also remember Christ’s words: ‘But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father’ (Mt. 24:36).”

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Washington D.C., Feb 16, 2017 / 03:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The House voted Thursday to allow states to choose not to fund Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers with federal dollars, repealing an Obama administration rule from December.

“As a registered nurse, I know that vulnerable women seeking true comprehensive care deserve better than abortion-centric facilities like Planned Parenthood,” Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.), who introduced the resolution, stated before its Feb. 16 passage.

Back in December, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule that states cannot deny federal Title X family planning grants to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood simply because they perform abortions.

States, the administration said, could only deny funding to clinics that did not provide the services for which Title X funds are meant.

While federal dollars cannot directly fund abortions, pro-life leaders insist that taxpayer dollars going to the nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood free up resources for them to perform more abortions.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, called the rule a “parting gift to the abortion industry.”

Black introduced H.J. Res. 43 to repeal the rule, under the Congressional Review Act. The resolution passed the House on Thursday 229 to 188.

The move comes as pro-life groups are reporting poor care and abuses at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide, from affiliates using taxpayer funds for abortion-related services to many clinics not providing prenatal care to clinics setting monthly quotas for abortions or abortion referrals.

“Planned Parenthood which, according to their latest annual report, performed 323,999 abortions in a single year, does not need or deserve taxpayer dollars,” Dannenfelser insisted.

“We look forward to swift passage of this resolution in the Senate so that it can receive President Trump’s signature,” she said.

Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie of The Catholic Association commented: "We applaud the House for voting to rescind a last minute Obama Administration regulation that allows states to take their tax payers’ hard-earned dollars away from the severely limited Planned Parenthood abortion centers and redirect them to comprehensive health care clinics ... Passing this resolution lets states fund the health clinics that are true lifelines for poor women."

Black claimed that states were for decades allowed to pick which health providers they thought were best to receive Title X funds, and that the Obama administration’s rule set “unprecedented new parameters” on states’ use of the funds.

In her state of Tennessee, she said, the state did not cut Title X funds but directed them to county health departments and community health centers.

"We thank Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)  for leading this measure to restore states’ freedom in choosing Title X providers," Christie stated. "The Obama Administration’s ruling defies states’ right to choose Title X providers, including the ability to exclude abortion providers like Planned Parenthood."

States are not cutting health grants, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, insisted, but are redirecting the funds “to other health clinics that provide women’s health care and don’t engage in abortion.”

In issuing its December rule, the Obama administration had claimed that the states’ actions against Planned Parenthood and other clinics had led to “limitations in the geographic distribution of services and decreased access to services.”

However, that was not the case, members maintained on Thursday.

“Prior to the Obama rule, 5 states had chosen to award their Title X funds to non-Planned Parenthood entities,” Smith said. “These five states – Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Ohio – account for nearly $16 million in annual Title X funding and serve over 279,000 individuals a year.”

“According to HHS’s own 2015 Title X Family Planning Annual report, our state provided care under Title X to more than 75,000 Tennesseans,” Black stated. “That means we served even more citizens than more populated states like Michigan and Virginia.”

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Seattle, Wash., Feb 16, 2017 / 03:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Washington state florist must pay fines and legal costs for conscientiously objecting to serving a same-sex wedding, as the state’s supreme court upheld a lower court’s decision on Thursday.

“It’s wrong for the state to force any citizen to support a particular view about marriage or anything else against their will. Freedom of speech and religion aren’t subject to the whim of a majority; they are constitutional guarantees,” Kristin Waggoner, senior counsel with the group Alliance Defending Freedom who argued the case before the Washington Supreme Court, stated Feb. 16.

“This case is about crushing dissent. In a free America, people with differing beliefs must have room to coexist,” she added.

In 2013, Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Wash., declined to serve the same-sex wedding of a long-time customer who had requested her service, citing her Christian religious beliefs that marriage is between one man and one woman.

After hearing of the incident, the office of the state attorney general wrote her that she was violating the state’s law by discriminating on basis of “sexual orientation,” and asked her to stop declining such weddings. Stutzman refused out of conscience.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the state of Washington eventually sued her and a lower court ruled against her, ordering her to pay a fine and legal costs.

She appealed her case to the Washington State Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s desicion on Thursday, saying that as a business owner Stutzman had to abide by the state’s anti-discrimination law despite her religious beliefs.

“The State of Washington bars discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. Discrimination based on same-sex marriage constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation,” the court’s opinion stated.

“We therefore hold that the conduct for which Stutzman was cited and fined in this case – refusing her commercially marketed wedding floral services to Ingersoll and Freed because theirs would be a same-sex wedding – constitutes sexual orientation discrimination under the WLAD.”
 
The law “does not compel speech or association,” the court added, stating that it “is a neutral, generally applicable law that serves our state government's compelling interest in eradicating discrimination in public accommodations.”

Stutzman has announced that she will appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. “We stand to lose everything we worked for and own,” she stated back in October, noting that legal fees from the case could top $2 million by the end of the case.

Religious freedom advocates decried the ruling.

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said it “shortchanges our nation's most fundamental freedom in favor of ideological conformity.”

With Stutzman facing the loss of her business and personal assets, “it’s no wonder that so many people are rightly calling on President Trump to sign an executive order to protect our religious freedom,” Waggoner stated.

“Because that freedom is clearly at risk for Barronelle and so many other Americans, and because no executive order can fix all of the threats to that freedom, we will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear this case and reverse this grave injustice.”

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Vatican City, Feb 16, 2017 / 03:47 pm (CNA/EWTN News).-  

The Vatican has sent Cardinal Raymond Burke to Guam to act as presiding judge at the trial of Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who was removed from office in June 2016 following allegations of child sex abuse.

 

Cardinal Burke is a canon lawyer and former prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See's highest court. He currently serves as the chaplain of the Knights of Malta, where he has clashed with the Holy See over the removal of the Grand Chancellor of the Knights. He is also one of four cardinals who signed the controversial dubia, a letter asking Pope Francis to clarify parts of his apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia”.

 

Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who leads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), appointed Cardinal Burke to the Guam trial.

 

Archbishop Apuron has denied the allegations against him and has not been criminally charged. Most of the allegations involve sexual abuse of altar boys in the 1970s.

 

On Thursday, the AP reported that one of Archbishop Apuron’s accusers refused to appear before the Vatican court, despite a request from Cardinal Burke for testimony.

Attorney David Lujan, representing former altar boy Roland Sondia, told the AP that the proceedings were "worse" than he had expected because he wasn't allowed to be present to advise his client, who was to have been "questioned by the prosecutor, who is a priest, and Archbishop Apuron's lawyer, who is a priest, and a presider who is Cardinal Burke, and a notary who is also a priest."

 

"We felt it wasn't in my client's best interest to be in that position," he said. He said Sondia may submit a written declaration instead.

 

Many of the allegations against Archbishop Apuron became public last year, after full-page ads sponsored by Concerned Catholics of Guam encouraged anyone who had been abused by clergy to come forward, according to reports from Pacific Daily News.

 

Following the new allegations, the Archdiocese created a new Task Force for the Protection of Minors and a new Victims Support group to aid in the counseling and support of victims and their families.

 

“The Church on Guam has a duty and desire to render pastoral care to all of its faithful, most especially those who have been severely wounded by those holding trusted positions in our Archdiocese. We are strengthening our work in this area and pledge to provide a safe environment for all children and all people entrusted in our care,” the Archdiocese said in a November statement.

 

In November 2016, Pope Francis appointmented Detroit Bishop Michael Jude Byrnes as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana. He replaced Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who was sent to Guam by the Vatican in June to temporarily replace Apuron.

 

Archbishop Apuron is a member of the Neocatechumenal Way, a group within the Church that has also clashed with other Catholics on the island over the past few years.

 

Besides sexual allegations, Archbishop Apuron has also been accused of mishandling control over the island’s seminary, reportedly using it as a Neocatechumenal seminary rather than a diocesan seminary, which led to the withdrawal of all Samoan students. Guam’s Carmelite nuns also relocated to California last year over issues with Apuron.

 

Guam is a U.S. island territory in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific, with a population of 165,124. Approximately 85 percent of the island’s citizens identify as Catholic.

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Vatican City, Feb 16, 2017 / 04:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis warned in his homily Thursday that envy, greed, and hate in the heart will breed war, violence, and murder in the world.  

“War begins in here and finishes out there. The news we see in the papers or on television… Today so many people die, and that seed of war, which breeds envy, jealousy, and greed in my heart, is the same – grown up, become a tree – as the bomb which falls on a hospital, on a school, and kills children,” said the Pope in a reflection of the damage of war during morning Mass at the chapel of Casa Santa Marta Feb. 16.

Drawing from the story in Genesis of the dove returning to Noah after the flood, the Pope said God gave the rainbow and the dove to demonstrate his promise and desire for peace to reign in the world among every people. But he said the signs also represent how fragile peace can be.

He said the dove is “a sign of what God desired after the flood: peace, that is, that all would live in peace…The dove and the rainbow are fragile. The rainbow is beautiful after a storm, but then a cloud comes and it disappears.”

God’s covenant is strong, but our commitment to it is weak, he said in reference to the example of Cain and Abel.

“The Covenant which God makes is strong, but we accept it in weakness. God makes peace with us but it is not easy to care for peace. It is a daily task, because within each of us is that seed of original sin, that is, the spirit of Cain which – for envy, jealousy, greed, and the desire to dominate – leads to war.”

Pope Francis maintained that the responsibility of peace falls on every person; that we “are our brothers’ keeper, and when there is blood spilt, there is sin, and God will demand an accounting… of the blood of our brothers and sisters who are suffering war.”

“In today’s world there is blood being spilt. Today the world is at war. Many brothers and sisters are dying, even innocent people, because the great and powerful want a larger slice of the earth; they want a little more power, or they want to make a little more money on arms trafficking,” he said, citing the current proxy wars and conflicts fueled by weapon dealers.

Every man is a delegate of peace and has an obligation to ensure less blood is spilled in the future, he said referring to how war first festers in homes with families and friends.

“How do I care for peace in my heart, in my interior, and in my family? Care for peace; not only care for it but make it with your hands every day. Just so will we succeed in spreading it throughout the whole world.”

Pope Francis gave a childhood story in which his mother and their neighbor rejoiced at the end of a war; how both woman cried tears of joy while sirens in their Argentine town declared peace.

He concluded the homily with a prayer for a grace of peace in our daily lives.

“May the Lord give us the grace to say: ‘War is finished...War is finished in my heart; war is finished in my family; war is finished in my neighborhood; war is finished in my workplace; war is finished in the world.’ In this way shall the dove, rainbow, and Covenant be strengthened.”

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