Author: Catholic Radar An

Brazil congressman censures archbishop for defending indigenous land claims

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(Crux. Eduardo Campos Lima).

After a Brazilian archbishop criticized a legal argument aiming to limit land claims by indigenous groups, a Brazilian congressman introduced a motion to censure the prelate for allegedly promoting a leftist political agenda during a celebration of faith. Congressman Evair Vieira de Melo, one of the leaders of the opposition to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government and the head of the Chamber of Deputies’ agriculture committee, introduced his petition on June 10, one day after a Mass marking the 10th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Joseph of Anchieta.

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U.S. Bishops Convene Study on Transgender Vowed Religious; More Updates

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(New Ways Ministry).

The U.S. bishops’ spring meeting is generally not a newsmaker, and indeed, has sometimes just been a private retreat. This June, however, was far more controversial than usual, and often for LGBTQ-related reasons. Today’s post provides updates on some of the speeches and votes relevant to gender and sexuality issues. Study on Transgender Vowed Religious Convened Responding to news that Lexington’s Bishop John Stowe, OFM, Conv., had received the vows of a transgender diocesan hermit, Br. Christian Matson, the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance said the committee would prepare a study of the issue of transgender vowed religious. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illiniois, the committee chair and one of the episcopal conference’s most LGBTQ-negative members, told Our Sunday Visitor that the issue “is now on our agenda” as some bishops have requested “a clear analysis that will give the doctrinal and canonical guidelines.” Already, a “preliminary discussion” by the committee had found an “initial consensus” that “it’s not really possible for a (transgender) person to be admitted to the role of a hermit or consecrated life if they are not repentant of what they’ve done.” Paprocki denied this study was related to any particular bishop’s actions.

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South Sudan bishops blast government over lack of election preparation

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(Crux. Ngala Killian Ciimptom).

As South Sudan gears up for general elections in December, Catholic bishops in the world’s newest country say they are disappointed at the government’s lack of preparedness. It will be the first ever election conducted in the country since it obtained independence from Sudan in 2011. In a June 29 pastoral message at the end of a two-day meeting in the capital Juba, the bishops said an election isn’t a one-off affair but a process, and blasted the government for failing to live up to the bidding of such an undertaking. “Like all South Sudanese, we look forward with hope to the day when free and fair elections can be held in our country, but we are disappointed at the government’s lack of preparation,” they said.

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Cardinal Becciu’s actions key question in ex-auditor’s wrongful termination appeal

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(CNA. Hannah Brockhaus).

At a July 3 appeal hearing, lawyers for former Vatican auditor Libero Milone and his recently deceased former deputy Ferruccio Panicco will argue that Cardinal Angelo Becciu acted as an official of the Vatican, not as a private individual, when he put pressure on the two men to resign their posts in 2017 under threat of prosecution. “For me, Ferruccio’s family, and my family this is tremendously important,” Milone told journalists at a June 19 briefing about his appeal, claiming he and Panicco were “threatened and expelled for doing our jobs” and he is now essentially un-hireable due to the damage to his reputation. Milone is preparing to go before the Vatican’s appeals court after his lawsuit was rejected earlier this year by a lower court for a “misplaced claim” against the Secretariat of State. Judges said the Secretariat of State was not liable for his ousting because he was employed by the pope and Becciu was acting alone when he forced the auditor from his job and accused him of “spying” on his personal finances.

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Female suicide bombers kill at least 18 in coordinated attack in Nigeria, authorities say

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(AP News).

Female suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in coordinated attacks in northern Nigeria that killed at least 18 people, local authorities said Sunday. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the the attacks in Borno state, which has been heavily affected by the insurgency launched in 2009 by Boko Haram. The extremist group previously has used women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions that some attackers come from the many thousands of people the militants have kidnapped over the years, including schoolchildren. The first suicide bomber detonated a device during a marriage celebration in the northeastern town of Gwoza, Barkindo Saidu, director-general of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, told reporters.

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Pope Francis’ rottweiler: Cardinal Fernández charts new, uncertain course for Vatican’s doctrinal office

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(National Catholic Reporter. Christopher White).

When Pope Francis tapped Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández to head the Vatican’s doctrinal office on July 1, 2023, he wasn’t just naming his longtime Argentine theological adviser to one of the church’s most powerful roles. He was also reenvisioning how that department would operate in the modern world and attempting to ensure that his reforms might outlast his own papacy. Accompanying the announcement of Fernández’s appointment in the Vatican’s daily bulletin was a letter articulating that as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, he should actively promote the work of theology and new ways of evangelization rather than replicating past “immoral methods” that sought to control or punish theologians. “The text of the letter that the pope wrote to the new prefect is in some ways an epoch-making event,” Italian theologian Andrea Grillo told the National Catholic Reporter. “It marked the official beginning of a new understanding of the function of the dicastery, moving away from the inquisitorial and censorious styles of the past.”

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Ex-Missionaries of Charity allege culture of abuse and neglect

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(Crux. Elise An Allen).

Almost three decades after her death, Saint Teresa of Kolkata, commonly and affectionately referred to as “Mother Teresa,” remains an international icon of charity and among the most beloved figures in the world, probably the Catholic Church’s most celebrated 20th century personality who wasn’t a pope. Named Time’s “Person of the Year” in 1975, Mother Teresa also founded a religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, which has become one of the Catholic Church’s most celebrated institutions, almost universally hailed for its service to the “poorest of the poor.”

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Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church elects a new patriarch with pro-Russian views

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(AP News).

Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church on Sunday elected Daniil, a 52-year-old metropolitan considered to be pro-Russian, as its new leader in a vote that reflected the divisions in the church and wider society since Russia invaded Ukraine more than two years ago. Growing divisions between pro-Russian and anti-Russian factions within the senior clergy began after some of them attempted to warm relations with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2019. Russian and most other Orthodox patriarchs refused to accept the designation that formalized a split with the Russian church.mUnlike his late predecessor, who in his last prayers criticized Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, Daniil has taken the side of the Moscow Patriarchy in its dispute with the Ecumenical Patriarch over the independence of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church.

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An insider’s guide to the Vatican’s inner workings

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(National Catholic Reporter. Christopher White).

The antiquated and often secret inner workings of the Vatican’s bureaucracy have been compared to the government of North Korea in its difficulty to make sense of and understand.  That challenge, however, is a bit easier now thanks to a new book penned by a true Vatican insider that has made the complicated web of Vatican operations much more accessible to outsiders. In The Roman Curia: History, Theology, and Organization, just out by Georgetown University Press, Msgr. Anthony Ekpo admits that for centuries, the work of the Vatican’s governance has often perplexed Catholics and non-Catholics alike, leaving some to ask: “Can anything good come from the Roman Curia?”

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Coming Out Is To Be Touched by Jesus’ Hand

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(New Ways Ministry. Gregory Greiten).

Before attending the theater with a friend last March, we enjoyed dinner at the Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel in Milwaukee. As we wandered the lobby, enjoying the art decorating the walls, we stumbled upon an exhibit room entitled, “The Closet.” Taking a peek inside the small room, I lightheartedly said to my friend, “I am going to step back into the closet. Would you take my picture to capture this moment?” As I momentarily stepped into the closet exhibit, my friend snapped the picture. I quickly leaped out of the closet remarking to him, “I spent way too many years of my life locked up in the closet. I don’t ever wish to go back.” After coming out of the closet publicly as a Roman Catholic priest in December 2017, I have finally been able to live authentically and with integrity, no longer being silenced by our Church leaders, but being truthful about who I am. As we end Pride Month, I want to offer love and support to those in the LGBTQ+ community who let their lights shine brightly for others to see, especially to those who may have stepped out of the closet, but also to those who are unable to come out because of the real negative consequences they would have to endure.

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Indonesian island set to become an international Catholic pilgrim destination

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(CNA. Kristina Millare).

Flores, Indonesia’s most Catholic island located in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), is set to become an international pilgrim destination following government support to boost religious tourism. Initial efforts will concentrate on attracting tourists to participate in Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations held each year in the Larantuka Diocese as well as the annual festivities organized by the Ruteng Diocese in honor of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Aug. 10–15. “Flores Island is famous for its history and Catholic heritage. Flores is also often referred to as Missionary Island; this island has extraordinary potential and attraction for religious tourism, especially through the enculturation of the Catholic Church and the local community’s culture,” stated Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno, Indonesia’s minister for tourism and creative economy, during a webinar held in May organized by the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority Implementing Agency (BPOLBF). 

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Churches in Holy Land denounce ‘coordinated attack’ against Christians by Israeli authorities

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(CNA. Diego López Marina).

In the midst of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza, the patriarchs and leaders of ancient Christian churches in Jerusalem have signed a joint document in which they denounce that four Israeli municipalities have sought to levy municipal taxes on church properties in violation of “centuries” of historical agreements. The church leaders, including Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Catholic patriarch of Jerusalem, and Franciscan Father Francesco Patton, custos of the Holy Land, accuse local authorities of launching a “coordinated attack” against the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

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New Essay Highlights Voices of Queer Catholic Women Celebrating Pride

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(New Ways Ministry. Ariell Watson Simon).

LGBTQ+ Catholics are “the church’s future saints,” says Angela, a woman interviewed in a National Catholic Reporter article that featured the voices of queer Catholic women. Angela says of the LGBTQ+ faithful, “Every voice around them in the church and outside of the church tells them that they don’t really belong ….[T]o be able to ignore that and stay focused on Christ is saintly, I think.”

Reporter Emily Claire Schmitt gathered the stories of queer women who, like Angela, understand and live their sexuality in a variety of ways, showcasing the spectrum of experiences among LGBTQ+ Catholic women. “Without exception,” Schmitt, who is a queer Catholic, concludes, “every woman I spoke with had read the catechism — as well as additional church documents on the subject — and understood that the church does not view sex-same desire as inherently sinful, but considers same-sex acts sinful. However, the women differed on whether or not they accepted this teaching.” Those interviewed include women in queer partnerships, living celibately, and in mixed-orientation marriages.

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India faces ‘crisis and conflict’ under influence of Hindu nationalist, priest says

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(Crux. Nirmala Carvalho).

A Catholic priest in India says “crisis, conflict and violence are becoming the way of life” in the country, after it suffered a rebuke in the U.S. State Department’s 2023 religious freedom report issued this week. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government is concerned about the increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship of members of minority faith communities in India.

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Is LGBT Persons’ Mental Health Improving?

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(National Catholic Register. Jennifer Roback Morse).

The social acceptance of homosexual behavior has greatly increased over the past 30 years. In that time, the United States has changed the definition of marriage, the structures of the military, the curriculum of our public schools and the objectives of our foreign policy. Many people supported these changes because they thought this greater social acceptance would make self-identified gays and lesbians feel better. I propose that we stop and ask: Have these changes actually improved the mental health of the people who were supposed to be helped? No serious researcher in this arena denies that the rates of psychological distress are higher for self-described gay men and lesbian women than for everyone else. The measures that have been studied include substance abuse disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal tendencies. Researchers across the board agree on these basic facts. The only question is why.

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Bishops’ conference defends funding cuts to justice, peace and development

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(Crux. John Lavenburg).

Days after the U.S. bishops announced layoffs and a reorganization to their Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, setting off a firestorm in both the media and in Catholic circles, the conference has written a memo to bishops to explain its decision and to announce staff reductions to other departments. The June 28 memo to American bishops, obtained by Crux, states that four of 17 staff within JPHD were let go, as well as three of the six staff members within the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The memo states that the changes were due to several factors, “mostly related to funding.”

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Vatican demands changes to new Church body in Germany

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(Crux. Elise An Allen).

As part of an ongoing tug of war with the German bishops over the country’s controversial reform path, the Vatican has asked that several changes be made to a new national ecclesial body which curial officials have said has no foundation in Church law. In a June 28 statement after a day-long workday with representatives of the German Episcopal Conference (DBK), the Vatican said the discussion lasted the entire day and “was again characterized by a positive, open and constructive atmosphere.”

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This Pride Month, celebrate Queer Youth of Faith Day

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(National Catholic Reporter. Emma Cieslik).

Sid High wants Beloved Arise — the five-year-old organization dedicated to empowering queer youth of faith — to be available in every school, therapist’s office, mental health website and worship space across the country. With Queer Youth of Faith Day and National Day of Prayer for LGBTQ+ Youth right around the corner on June 30, it seems like a lofty goal, but trans Christian and Beloved Arise youth ambassador High, who organized the first day of prayer with fellow ambassador Sabrina Hodak, argues that this organization is essential suicide prevention for queer young people across the United States. According to a 2009 Statista research study, 47.1% of gay men and 46.5% of lesbian women report growing up in a moderately or somewhat religious environment, and many of these religious spaces and values their families attend and hold influence the queerphobia they encountered at home.

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Rupnik artwork must come down, says top US cardinal as he breaks ranks with Rome

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(Catholic Herald).

American Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston issued a statement saying he has asked the heads of all offices in the Roman Curia to take down the artwork of a famed priest and artist accused of abusing dozens of adult women. The statement came from the Pontifical Commission for Protecting Minors (PCPM), for which O’Malley serves as President, and said in that capacity, the cardinal has written to the heads of all Vatican departments asking that “pastoral prudence would prevent displaying artwork in a way that could imply either exoneration or a subtle defence” of alleged abusers “or indicate indifference to the pain and suffering of so many victims of abuse.” In his letter to Vatican prefects, dated June 26, O’Malley said, “We must avoid sending a message that the Holy See is oblivious to the psychological distress that so many are suffering.”

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Cardinal urges world help Ukraine so ‘nonsense of war’ stops

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(UCA news. Paulina Guzik).

In what he said was the most dramatic moment of his eight visits to Ukraine, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, appealed from a Ternopil cemetery that the world needs to help Ukraine without further delays so that the “nonsense of war” stops. Without mentioning Russia by name, he also said that for those who cause war, “if only someone will go down to his knees and ask for forgiveness, Jesus won’t be tired of our sins. He will forgive everything.” Cardinal Krajewski arrived June 25 in the western city of Lviv, Ukraine, and on June 26, he left for Ternopil at dawn, as he recounted in a voice message sent to OSV News.

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