Catholic News

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=275021&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Five new complaints of alleged abuse committed by Father Marko Rupnik have been presented to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, where an investigation into the case is being carried out after Pope Francis decided to lift the statute of limitations.

The new cases mark the latest development in the case of Rupnik, a Jesuit accused of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women over a period of decades.

As reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, the testimonies of five alleged victims were presented at the Vatican dicastery by Italian lawyer Laura Sgrò on April 3.

The complainants include two women who shared their testimony at a press conference in February, while the other three are heretofore unknown cases.

On Feb. 21, Mirjam Kovac (who said she suffered spiritual and psychological abuse but not sexual) and Gloria Branciani recounted during a press conference in Rome what they experienced in the Loyola Community, an institution co-founded by Rupnik in Slovenia in the early 1990s.

During the unusual press conference, the former women religious shared their testimony and were accompanied by Sgró, known for also being the lawyer of Pietro Orlandi, brother of Emanuela, the young woman who disappeared from the Vatican in the 1980s, as well as by her participation in the Vatileaks case.

What is known about the investigation into the case?

No update on the investigation into Rupnik had come to light since Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations on the case last October.

As reported by the Holy See, the pontiff asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the complaints to begin a new process.

However, the unexpected public appearance of two alleged victims marked a turn of events.

Hours after the end of the extensive and heavily attended press conference held in Rome, the Holy See's press office issued a statement through a brief email addressed to journalists accredited to the Vatican.

The email noted that "the case is currently being examined by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith" and that "in recent months, following the order received from the pope at the end of October, the dicastery has contacted the institutions involved in various capacities in the matter to receive all the information available about the case."

The Vatican communications department added that it is now a matter of "studying the documentation acquired to determine what procedures will be possible and useful to apply" after having expanded the scope of the search "to realities not previously contacted" and after having received their responses. 

As of yet, Rupnik has not made any statement and while his case is being examined in Rome, he has continued to exercise his priestly ministry in a diocese in his native Slovenia since October 2023.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=275018&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 10:40 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, Bishop Joseph Jugis and appointed a new prelate to take his place, the Vatican announced on Tuesday.

The Holy Father "has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Charlotte, United States of America, presented by Bishop Peter Joseph Jugis," the Holy See Press Office said in an announcement.

Jugis, 67, had served as the bishop there since 2003. The Charlotte bishopric encompasses about 20,000 square miles and includes more than 500,000 Catholics.

The Vatican said 63-year-old Monsignor Michael Martin, OFM Conv, had been appointed to replace Jugis as the leader of the southern U.S. diocese. Martin, a Baltimore native, was ordained a priest in 1989 and has served at a variety of roles in New York, Maryland, and North Carolina, including as the director of the Duke University Catholic Center.

He was most recently a parish priest of St. Philip Benizi in Jonesboro, Georgia.

The Catholic News Herald, the official newspaper of the Charlotte Diocese, said in an announcement that Jugis had retired "due to health limitations."

"Bishop Jugis submitted his request for retirement to Rome last June, saying a chronic but non-life-threatening kidney condition made it difficult for him to preside over lengthy liturgies and travel across the 46 counties of the expansive diocese," the News Herald said.

Jugis "will serve as administrator of the diocese until May when Bishop-elect Martin is installed," the newspaper said, after which he "will continue to assist the diocese as bishop emeritus."

Martin told the newspaper that he was "amazed and humbled that the Holy Father has faith in me to call me to serve the people of western North Carolina."

"I am excited to get to know you and to listen to the ways in which together we can respond to the call of the Holy Spirit to be disciples of Jesus," he said.

Jugis, meanwhile, said in the report that "as difficult as it is for me to leave this position that I love, I am confident that God has a plan in bringing us Bishop-elect Martin, and I will do everything I can to support his ministry."

"It has truly been the joy of a lifetime to serve as bishop for the people of our diocese, and I believe Bishop-elect Martin will find that to be true for him as he gets to know the faithful of our diocese and sees firsthand our many ministries that are dedicated to sharing the love of Christ in our communities," Jugis said.

The News Herald said last year that the diocese has witnessed "unprecedented growth" over the last few decades.

In 2019, confirmations in the diocese topped 5,000 for the first time. In 2023, meanwhile, diocesan schools posted record enrollment of more than 8,000 students.

Over the course of Jugins' bishopric, the number of Catholics in the diocese "more than doubled to an estimated 530,000," the News Herald reported.

The diocese recently announced, meanwhile, that it would build a new cathedral in Charlotte, having outgrown the original cathedral built in 1939.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=275010&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 9, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A bishop of the Melkite rite, one of the more than 20 Eastern rites of the Catholic Church that are in communion with Rome, protested the mistreatment he says he received and his subsequent deportation after arriving at Mexico City International Airport.

Bishop Joseph Khawam, apostolic exarch for the Melkite Church in Venezuela and apostolic administrator of the Melkite Eparchy in Mexico, denounced that Mexican immigration authorities detained him for hours with illegal immigrants, confiscated his Vatican passport and his personal phone, and deported him to Venezuela from where he had flown to Mexico.

In a statement posted April 6 on Facebook and Instagram, the prelate of Syrian origin said he "deplores and denounces" what reportedly happened on the night of April 2-3 at the airport in Mexico's capital city.

The statement said the Melkite bishop said that what happened to him is "a flagrant practice of racial discrimination and an insult to human dignity above all, given that his nationality of origin in the Vatican passport is Syrian and that he was treated by the authorities on this basis."

Khawam said that what happened is "a violation of human rights and a violation of international conventions that regulate the matter."

The prelate specified that this "is a great insult to the universal Church and the Church of Mexico in particular [in the legal capacity that he represents as apostolic administrator]" since he "was in his official clerical dress with the cross."

In the statement, the Catholic bishop also charged that the authorities at the airport refused "to see all the documents and credentials that he carried and that accredited his legal identity as apostolic administrator in the Mexican Catholic Church."

Khawam arrived in Mexico among other reasons to participate in the plenary assembly of the Mexican Bishops' Conference that is being held from April 8–12.

The prelate, the statement noted, requested on several occasions that the authorities contact the apostolic nunciature in Mexico or Father Alfonso Serna, legal representative of the Meltkite Eparchy in Mexico, who was expecting him, "but the response to his request was rejected several times."

The apostolic administrator of the Melkite Church in Mexico urged authorities to "provide a general explanation for this strange and reprehensible incident" and compensate him for the harm he suffered.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=275000&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 16:25 pm (CNA).

The president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference and archbishop of Valladolid, Luis Argüello, is encouraging reflection on the issue of migration in view of the upcoming debate in the country's Congress of Deputies (lower house) on a citizen initiative to grant legal residency to an estimated 390,00 to 470,000 illegal immigrants with residence in Spain prior to November 2021.

In a post on X, the prelate shared the issues that in his view are on the table as lawmakers take into consideration a People's Legislative Initiative (ILP, by its Spanish acronym) on the migration issue, which has garnered more than 700,000 signatures.

Promoted since 2021 by institutions inside and outside the Catholic Church, the ILP was admitted for possible consideration by the Congress of Deputies last December. Now the legislators must decide whether to actually consider the proposal in order for parliamentary debate on the issue to begin.

In an April 5 joint statement, the Spanish Conference of Religious, Spanish Caritas, the Migration Department of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, and the Network of Entities for Solidarity Development expressed their fear that the majority of political parties represented in the lower house will refuse to address the citizen initiative.

The consideration of the ILP is scheduled to be debated Tuesday.

Four issues to debate

The prelate believes that, first of all, accepting this ILP for debate would mean support for the "regeneration of our democracy," even more so since it is an "ethical issue based on the sacred dignity of all human life."

The archbishop of Valladolid emphasized that the acceptance of this type of citizen initiative is "essential so that the state is not reduced to a 'gang of thieves.'"

Secondly, Argüello believes that "regularizing" the situation of nearly half a million people who "are already living, hardly living, working, and participating in our society" is about "normalizing in the state what is already normal, although with the limitations of illegal status in our society."

Address the immigration issue as a whole

In his third point, the president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference elaborated on several key issues to address regarding migration as part of a global phenomenon.

The archbishop pointed out the need for analyzing the political and economic causes of migration as well as the role of organized crime in facilitating illegal immigration. He emphasized that "it must be denounced and fought and, from there, question the involuntary collaboration of many of the 'compassionate' organizations, including the Church's, with their criminal objectives."

Argüello also pointed to the need to regulate the flow of migrants since "a society cannot take in, accompany, promote, and integrate all those who arrive." However, he noted that each society "must in fact promote an international response for all."

The archbishop noted in light of the demographic crisis in the Old World how, with "contempt for human dignity," Europe "rejects immigrants and approves abortion" in such a way that "our demographic winter is fueled while people complain about migrants and reject them."

The prelate also encouraged "questioning the cultural and political currents that dominate today's globalism that uses the influx of migrants and reproductive health policies at the service of a moralistic and uniform capitalism that plays with population replacement as a savage form of biopolitics."

As a fourth and final point of analysis, Argüello said that "it's time to overcome polarization caused by political interests and jointly address core issues for the common good."

This task, he explained, must be carried out "by listening to everyone, dialogue, and a pact that ensures respect for human dignity and that works toward the national and global common good."

What the catechism says about migration

The Catechism of the Catholic Church specifies in No. 2241 the guidelines to be taken into account on the issue of migration.

The first guideline is that "the more prosperous nations are obliged, to the extent they are able, to welcome the foreigner in search of the security and the means of a livelihood which he cannot find in his country of origin." In addition, "public authorities should see to it that the natural right is respected that places a guest under the protection of those who receive him."

The obligation to take in migrants must be met by the civil authorities who, "for the sake of the common good for which they are responsible, may make the exercise of the right to immigrate subject to various juridical conditions, especially with regard to the immigrants' duties toward their country of adoption."

The Catholic Church teaches that "immigrants are obliged to respect with gratitude the material and spiritual heritage of the country that receives them, to obey its laws, and to assist in carrying civic burdens."

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=274999&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden's reelection campaign accused the presumptive Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump of "scrambling" on the issue of abortion after Trump announced that he supports states making their own abortion laws.

"Trump is scrambling," Biden said, according to the campaign statement. "He's worried that since he's the one responsible for overturning Roe, the voters will hold him accountable in 2024."

"Well, I have news for Donald: They will," the statement continued. "America was built on personal freedom and liberty. So, there is nothing more un-American than having our personal freedoms taken away. And that is what Donald Trump has done."

These comments from the Biden campaign came shortly after Trump posted a video on Truth Social in which he said "the states will determine [abortion policies] by vote or legislation" and "this is all about the will of the people." The former president said "now it's up to the states to do the right thing."

"Many states will be different," Trump said. "Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that's what they will be."

Trump's statement also accused the Democratic Party of being extreme on abortion: "[They] are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month."

Biden calls for legal abortion nationwide

Biden's statement reaffirmed his administration's support for codifying into law the abortion rules that were in place under the now-defunct Roe v. Wade ruling. Such a law would prohibit states from enacting most pro-life policies and mandate legal abortion nationwide.

"As a fundamental right, it didn't matter where you lived," Biden said. "It was granted to you as an American, not as a resident of any state. Generations of women had come to rely on that right."

Although Trump has never publicly backed a nationwide ban on abortion, the Biden campaign claimed that Republicans would pass "a national abortion ban" and that "Trump will sign it into law."

Biden has become a staunch supporter of taxpayer-funded abortion nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In his 2025 budget proposal, Biden asked Congress to enshrine the former abortion standards into law and to repeal the law that prohibits federal agencies from directly funding abortion. He also requested more money for a program that has funneled millions of dollars into Planned Parenthood abortion facilities.

The Biden campaign has run several pro-abortion advertisements during the election that criticized Trump for appointing three Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. The campaign also promotes federal laws that would block states from enacting pro-life laws.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=274997&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Religious broadcasters, with the support of Catholic media groups, are asking the Supreme Court to rule whether government officials charged them unfairly high rates in violation of their constitutional rights.

The Catholic Radio Association (CRA) and CatholicVote.org Education Fund have both filed amicus briefs in the case National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee v. Copyright Royalty Board.

The committee is arguing that the Copyright Royalty Board is subjecting religious broadcasters to a discriminatory royalty fee that violates U.S. religious freedom law. 

The Copyright Royalty Board consists of three judges who "oversee the copyright law's statutory licenses," according to the board's website. Those licenses "permit qualified parties to use multiple copyrighted works without obtaining separate licenses from each copyright owner."

The legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which forms part of the committee's legal team, says that the Copyright Royalty Board in its 2021 rate adjustment "set [music streaming] rates that are 18 times higher for religious noncommercial webcasters with an audience above a modest 218-listener threshold than the average rate for secular NPR stations."

John Bursch, the vice president of appellate advocacy at ADF, told CNA that the royalty board offered "no real justification" for the higher rates it mandated in 2021.

"They didn't justify it other than to say there are some noncommercial nonreligious broadcasters who have to pay the same rates," Bursch said. The Copyright Royalty Board did not respond to CNA's requests for comment over the dispute.

Bursch gave an example of what he said was the stark fee disparities mandated by the 2021 rates. 

"Let's say you had a Christian station webcasting 15 Christian songs per hour," he said.
"They'd have to pay $257,000 to play those annually, but an NPR station would have to pay $18,000."

Religious stations "need to keep their audience intentionally low to not hit those fees," Bursch said. 

In its amicus filing, the CRA said the rule "threatens hundreds of Catholic webcasters."

The 2021 rate adjustment "discourages Catholic webcasters from reaching more than 218 listeners a month on average — less than the size of a typical university lecture course," the CRA said. 

The group argued that stations "without substantial funding from underwriting or donations may be forced to stop webcasting."

The CatholicVote.org Education Fund, meanwhile, argued that religious broadcasters "face the threat of discriminatory practices" under the existing rate regime. 

The copyright committee's 2021 rate schedule "imposed a substantial burden on the free exercise of ??religious broadcasters," theCatholicVote filing said, arguing that the Supreme Court is "the only court that can protect the free exercise rights of religious webcasters."

The Supreme Court has not yet said if it will hear the case. Bursch told CNA the petitioners are ultimately "just asking to be treated as well as NPR." The lawsuit argues that the fee rates violate both the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act as well as the First Amendment.

"The bottom line is you can't discriminate against religious broadcasters vis-à-vis secular, public-run National Public Radio," Bursch said. 

The Copyright Royalty Board, meanwhile, last month waived its right to respond to the challengers in their Supreme Court petition, a sign that the board likely feels confident in securing a favorable outcome in the case. 

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=274994&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

The Vatican's top doctrinal office issued a declaration on the theme of human dignity on Monday that addresses growing concerns such as gender theory, sex changes, surrogacy, and euthanasia in addition to abortion, poverty, human trafficking, and war.

"In the face of so many violations of human dignity that seriously threaten the future of the human family, the Church encourages the promotion of the dignity of every human person, regardless of their physical, mental, cultural, social, and religious characteristics," reads the Vatican declaration issued by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. 

The declaration, titled Dignitas Infinita, which means "infinite dignity," states that the Church highlights these concerns "with hope, confident of the power that flows from the risen Christ, who has fully revealed the integral dignity of every man and woman."

Abortion, euthanasia, and surrogacy

In the declaration, the dicastery cautions against threats to human dignity that begin at the moment of conception, that exist in the process of procreation, and that threaten humanity toward the end of life.

The declaration cites St. John Paul II's encyclical Evangelium Vitae on abortion, noting that the pontiff taught that "procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth."

According to Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, also cited in the declaration, preborn children are "the most defenseless and innocent among us" and in the present day, "efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this."

The declaration also warns that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide are "swiftly gaining ground" in some parts of the world, which it says is "unique in how it utilizes a mistaken understanding of human dignity to turn the concept of dignity against life itself."

"Even in its sorrowful state, human life carries a dignity that must always be upheld, that can never be lost, and that calls for unconditional respect," the declaration states. "Indeed, there are no circumstances under which human life would cease from being dignified and could, as a result, be put to an end."

The practice of surrogacy is another concern noted by the document, noting that "the immensely worthy child becomes a mere object" in the process.

"Because of this unalienable dignity, the child has the right to have a fully human (and not artificially induced) origin and to receive the gift of a life that manifests both the dignity of the giver and that of the receiver," the declaration adds. 

"Moreover, acknowledging the dignity of the human person also entails recognizing every dimension of the dignity of the conjugal union and of human procreation. Considering this, the legitimate desire to have a child cannot be transformed into a 'right to a child' that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life." 

Gender theory and sex changes

As many Western nations continue to promote gender ideology and debate whether minors should be able to access transgender drugs and surgeries, the Vatican states that the ideology "intends to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference." 

The declaration emphasizes that "all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected" and that "only by acknowledging and accepting this difference in reciprocity can each person fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity."

A human body, the Vatican notes, also shares in the dignity of the image of God, and people are called to accept and respect the body as it was created: "The body participates in that dignity as it is endowed with personal meanings, particularly in its sexed condition." 

"Any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception," the Vatican adds. 

To respect human dignity, the declaration also condemns unjust discrimination, aggression, and violence directed toward individuals based on sexual orientation. 

"It should be denounced as contrary to human dignity the fact that, in some places, not a few people are imprisoned, tortured, and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation," the Vatican states.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=274991&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A study from researchers in the Netherlands found that nearly two-thirds of children who had wished that they belonged to the opposite sex as adolescents ultimately became comfortable with their biological sex in early adulthood.

The 15-year study, which was conducted by researchers at the Netherlands' University of Groningen, tracked the gender unhappiness rates of 2,772 study participants from ages 11 through 26.

In the early stages of the study, 11% of participants reported the desire to have been born as the opposite gender. As they got older, the number steadily declined and it eventually dropped to about 4% of participants wishing they had been born as the opposite gender at the last follow-up, which was usually at age 26.

According to the study, 78% of participants never became discontent with their gender. About 19% grew more content over time and only 2% became less content over time.

The study also found that participants whose gender discontent fluctuated over time — both increasing discontent and decreasing discontent — were more likely to report lower feelings of self-worth and have more behavioral and emotional problems. It also noted that participants who had a non-heterosexual sexual orientation were more likely to report fluctuating levels of discontent about their gender throughout adolescence and early adulthood. 

"Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general, decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development," the researchers explained in a synopsis of the report.

Mary Rice Hasson, the director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA that the study confirms "what most parents know intuitively." 

"A child who experiences discontent about his or her developing body, or the prospect of maturing into a woman or man, is overwhelmingly likely to outgrow those feelings, without intervention," Hasson said. "Puberty is not a disease — it is a natural process of growth. Sometimes that's uncomfortable, but — as the study shows — the discomfort dissipates over time."

In the United States and throughout Europe, the prescription of transgender drugs and the availability of sex-change surgeries for minors has become a major subject of debate. Such prescriptions and procedures for children are banned in nearly two dozen states but remain legal in more than half of the states.

Hasson expressed concern that counselors are pressuring parents to provide these life-altering drugs and procedures for their children when all they need is time to grow more comfortable with their bodies. 

"Unfortunately, what our children are not being given today is time — time to experience and outgrow the natural (sometimes painful) stages of pubertal growth, along with the reassurance that, with time, they will eventually feel comfortable in their own skin," Hasson said. "Instead, gender clinicians and counselors convince parents that their children are in crisis and need puberty blockers or other hormonal interventions. It's not true. What they really need is reassurance and time to mature."

Another recent study, published in Finland earlier this year, found that providing adolescents with transgender drugs or surgeries did not provide any statistically significant reduction in suicide deaths. Rather, the study found that higher rates of suicide appear to be rooted in the high rate of mental health comorbidities among youths who identify as transgender.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=274990&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

Rome Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

During Easter Week, April 2-3, the Apostolic Administration of Kyrgyzstan convened a two-day meeting in the capital of Bishkek dedicated to prayer, sharing, and the work of evangelization within the small yet budding Catholic community spread throughout the Central Asian country.

"It is such a great consolation to all of us to be a part of this universal Church with so many members across the world," said Father Anthony Corcoran, SJ, apostolic administrator of Kyrgyzstan, in an interview with CNA. "But it is also a grace to be here in such a small community." 

In a predominantly Muslim country, Catholics in Kyrgyzstan account for less than 0.01% of the population of 6.7 million people. Currently, there are several hundred Catholics in the country belonging to either the Roman or Byzantine rite.

Though Catholics have been present in Kyrgyzstan since the 14th century, Corcoran said the "founding members" of the Church communities — spread across three parishes in the cities of Bishkek, Talas, and Jalalabad — are descendants of German, Polish, and other ethnically European families deported to Central Asia during World War II under the Russian communist regime of Joseph Stalin. 

The meeting, which took place at the Church of St. Michael, a local parish that serves as the pro-cathedral of the apostolic administration in Bishkek, brought together priests, religious brothers and sisters, and laymen and laywomen who work for the Church. 

"Since we're all here working and usually often spread apart, it is such a wonderful opportunity to gather and to focus; not only on 'what' but on 'why' and for 'whom' we are here," Corcoran told CNA.

Besides sharing news and events of local Catholic communities, others topics discussed during the meeting included the recent Synod on Synodality, evangelization that is mindful of local circumstances and contexts, as well as the impact of new legislation regarding foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the charitable works of the Church. 

Sher Abdugapirov, national manager of Caritas Kyrgyzstan, the charitable arm of the Catholic Church in the country and part of a network of 160 Catholic charities organized under bishops' conferences worldwide, also participated in the meeting. He said the exchange of opinions and ideas among participants at the meeting was fruitful and had the potential to expand the Church's charitable activities across parishes.

"Caritas' social works and projects show that the Catholic Church is small but enthusiastic, and part of the local community ready to work with all compatriots for the benefit of society and the development of our homeland," Abdugapirov said.       

Also discussed at the meeting was the importance of the protection of minors and vulnerable adults. Every year, the Apostolic Administration of Kyrgyzstan organizes safeguarding training for those working in the Church.

Recalling a meeting with Pope Francis during the ad limina visit of Central Asian bishops and prelates in Rome in 2019, Corcoran said the Holy Father referred to the Catholic communities in Kyrgyzstan — and in the neighboring countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan — as the blossoming buds or "sprigs" of the living Church growing in the peripheries of the world.    

"He was encouraging us all, as small churches, to realize that being small is an opportunity, a possibility, and not a problem," Corcoran said.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8838&view=post&articleid=274976&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

National Catholic Register, Apr 7, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

When the moon passes between the sun and Earth creating a total solar eclipse on April 8, many Catholics in its path will be looking skyward to observe the phenomenon from a spiritual and scientific perspective.

Some will gather at retreat centers like Our Lady of the Pines in Fremont, Ohio, to reflect on the eclipse as a metaphor for the darkness and shadow in their own lives, while others, like a group of students at the Catholic University of America who will be studying the eclipse in collaboration with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, will take a more methodical approach. 

A partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout North America and Central America on April 8, but only those in what is known as the "path of totality" will be able to observe the sun completely eclipsed by the moon. 

In the United States, this includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 

Vatican Observatory

At the Vatican Observatory, the total eclipse won't be viewable at the two locations, through the main telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona or through the historic telescopes at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome, so staff members will be doing what everyone else is doing: going to the path of totality to see the eclipse. 

Two of them — Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, observatory director, and Christopher Graney, an astronomer and adjunct scholar — will be in Bloomington, Indiana, as presenters for a four-day "Faith and Science" retreat at Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center. Besides Mass and morning and evening prayer, the retreat will include talks on such topics as "Astronomy and the Vatican" and "Where Faith and Science Can Meet," along with opportunities for stargazing and, of course, viewing the eclipse. 

Although some religious observers believe the coming eclipse has spiritual and even prophetic significance, Mark Mallett, a Canadian author and evangelist who views his role as one of watching, praying, and listening to what God is saying to the Church, said he is not aware of any Catholic sources pointing to the eclipse in that way.

However, he added: "This is not to say that this coming eclipse could not bear significance. Before the internet and modern astronomy, generations looked more intently at the universe for symbolism and meaning. The very birth of Jesus was marked by the 'star' over Bethlehem. And Our Lord himself said in Luke 21:25: 'There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars ...' What are these signs exactly? We cannot say for certain, which is why it is prudent to 'watch and pray,' as he commanded. It is the 'pray' part that tempers and roots us in the present moment so that we don't get carried away." 

The Vatican Observatory's Graney said people still look to the universe for symbolism and meaning, as they did in biblical times. "If you believe God created the universe," he said, "then the study of the universe is the study of God's work, and it will teach you something about God; just as if you study a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, you will learn something about da Vinci." 

He added: "There is always something interesting going on in the sky. Sometimes that thing is spectacular and interesting, and everyone knows about it, like the eclipse; sometimes it is subtle and interesting and only astronomy nerds know about it."

Graney said the star of Bethlehem, for instance, was not the spectacular thing often imagined. "[The Gospel] says the star was subtle, something only noticed by 'nerds' like the Magi. Herod had to ask them when it appeared. ... If the star had been spectacular, everyone would have known when it appeared. Given that, are we going to sift every subtle thing in the sky for some great meaning? There are people who do that. It hasn't been very productive for them. The Church has throughout its history condemned such stuff."

Heidi Osborne, executive director of Our Lady of the Pines Retreat Center in Ohio, said the center's purpose in planning a retreat during the eclipse was merely to allow people to experience the majesty and awe of the eclipse as something guided by God's hand and to give them time to reflect on it.

"There's nothing we have found that specifically ties an eclipse to spirituality," Osborne told the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner. "However, if you think about it, there are a lot of metaphors between darkness and light." She added that eclipses often signify beginnings or endings and are times to bring people together, reminding them of their interconnectedness with each other and with God. 

For their part, students in Catholic University's Physics and Applied Space Weather Research program will be immersed in the science of the eclipse as they deploy magnetometers to measure magnetic fields in six remote locations along the path of totality both during and after the phenomenon. Using their instruments, they also hope to see if any space weather effects are observable from the ground during the eclipse. 

Gang Poh, a space weather professor and NASA researcher, said the work the students will do during the eclipse is part of a research project started last semester aimed at teaching about the experimental techniques scientists commonly use to measure and observe the effects of space weather in Earth's atmosphere. The project also is part of a larger collaboration with NASA to study not only the eclipse but also space weather. Poh said the students hope to publish their results in a scientific journal and share them with colleagues at NASA. 

Scientists can learn many things during a solar eclipse, he said, because of the opportunity it presents to study the sun's atmosphere, called the solar corona. Normally, the brightness of the sun prevents such study until the moon blocks it during an eclipse. Although modern technology has allowed the development of instruments to artificially block the sun during observation, Poh said, these are limited, and so a natural phenomenon such as the solar eclipse remains the best method for studying the sun's atmosphere.

Some have pointed out that the path of the April 8 total eclipse will intersect with that of another solar eclipse that occurred Aug. 21, 2017. After another such intersection took place between eclipses in the U.S. in 1806 and 1811, a series of earthquakes struck along a fault line in the area of the intersection following the second eclipse. 

Poh said, to the best of his knowledge, there is no scientific significance for the latest expected intersection. 

He told the Register: "Our Earth and the moon move in a predictable motion around our sun, following known laws of orbital motions. Hence, it is expected that there will be similar or intersecting paths of totality for different solar eclipse events."

He said there also is no known correlation between solar eclipses and earthquakes. 

"Scientists don't believe that there is any causality between both phenomena because the processes that drive either phenomenon are very different," he said. "Solar eclipses occur due to the relative motion between the Earth, the moon, and the sun. Earthquakes are known to occur due to the release of stress built up underneath the surface from the motion of the continental plates."

Those interested in viewing the April 8 eclipse should, if possible, travel to the path of 100% totality, Graney said. 

"I know people who, in the 2017 eclipse, said, 'Well, where I am the eclipse will be 99%, so how much difference can the extra 1% make?' It can make the same difference as that one number on a lottery ticket: the difference between having all the correct numbers on the 'giant jackpot' lottery ticket versus having all the correct numbers but one," he said. 

"The sun is so bright, and our eyes so adaptable, that if any bit of the sun is not covered, what you see will be, at most, a slight dimming of things," Graney said. "Shadows will be unusual, and you can see the mostly covered sun with protective glasses. But if the sun is 100% covered — that's where the glasses come off and the awesomeness kicks in. So don't settle for anything but 100%, for all the numbers on the ticket, if you can."

Eclipse viewers are being cautioned not to look directly at the sun without eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer. Even viewing the sun through a camera, binoculars, or telescope without a special solar filter can cause serious eye injury. 

Graney said someone near his town has put up a billboard with a picture of a total eclipse on it and the words, "See the wonder of God." Nonetheless, he said he expects some will be unmoved by the idea of such a phenomenon occurring. "I am sure there will be a few people who are right in the path of totality who will prefer to stay inside and watch TV or place sports bets on their phone." 

This article was first published on April 5, 2024, at the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, and has been adapted for CNA.

Full Article