J.D. Vance Is a Catholic ‘Post-Liberal’: Here’s What That Means — And Why It Matters
(Jonathan Liedl. National Catholic Register)
J.D. Vance is an election away from becoming the first Catholic vice president from the Republican Party.
National Catholic Register
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‘Sacrosanctum Concilium’ and the Ongoing Need for Liturgical Reform
(Larry Chapp. National Catholic Register).
Does the Novus Ordo Missae fulfill the ultimate aims of the Second Vatican Council? And does it reflect the principles and directives put forward by the Council?
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(Solène Tadié. National Catholic Register)
Opposition to gender theory and surrogacy has impelled a growing number of feminist activists, targeted by the cancel culture, to join forces with their adversaries of yesteryear.
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J.D. Vance Could Become Second Catholic Vice President If Trump Picks Him
(Matthew McDonald. National Catholic Register)
Shortly after he became a Catholic in August 2019, J.D. Vance told an interviewer the Church’s vision of a just society helped draw him to the faith. “My views on public policy and what the optimal state should look like are pretty aligned with Catholic social teaching,” Vance told Rod Dreher of The American Conservative. Now, less than five years later, Vance is a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio and is on former President Donald Trump’s short list for vice president of the United States. Vance’s possible candidacy for national office — which could begin any day now — has admirers excited about the prospect of a Catholic in high office who engages publicly with his faith.
United States
The Dark Side of Deregulation: Coerced Abortion Incidents on the Rise
(Catalina Scheider Galiñanes. National Catholic Register).
An expectant mother should be thinking of baby names and all of the happy things associated with the birth of a new child — not fighting for her life and the life of her unborn. But that’s what happened to Louisiana mother Catherine Herring as the victim of an abortion-pill attack. “I was unwillingly and unknowingly poisoned with chemical abortion pills seven separate times by my husband,” she recalled in an email to the Register about her harrowing ordeal. “Our daughter miraculously survived with the quick action of a pregnancy hotline nurse.” Unfortunately, her case is not an isolated incident. States across the nation have passed recent legislation on coerced and unwanted abortions. The circumstances of these abortions coincide with the risks of abortion pills, which the Biden administration has deregulated.
Is LGBT Persons’ Mental Health Improving?
(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.
‘Bishop of Rome’: A Theologically Fruitful Clarification of the Church as a Communion of Believers
(National Catholic Register. Larry Chapp).
The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, headed by Cardinal Kurt Koch, recently published a lengthy new text on the question of the papacy and ecumenical relations. The document, “The Bishop of Rome: Primacy and Synodality in the Ecumenical Dialogues and in the Responses to the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint,” is not a magisterial text like an encyclical or apostolic exhortation, but is rather a “study document” intended to reopen ecumenical conversations that have been stalled. However, I think its true value will most likely end up being something that is only tangentially related to its legitimate ecumenical aims. Indeed, with its exhaustive listing of the various discussions that preceded it, the text shows us that the ecumenical movement remains mired in a series of impasses that are unlikely to be resolved any time soon. And the issues involved go far beyond the single question of papal authority. Therefore, the document’s initial impact will, in my view, be the reinvigoration of internal Catholic discussions about the proper exercise of the papal office. I think the text itself gives evidence of an awareness of this reality in its repeated emphasis on the need for a more “synodal” Church. The ongoing processes established by Pope Francis relating to the Synod on Synodality create a context for this document that makes its relevance for Catholic discussions of the topic even more pronounced, if not urgent. Indeed, the text itself implies that the best way for the Church to appear authentically committed to the ecumenical cause is by taking very real concrete steps in the direction of a less papally-centered Church.
4 Questions the US Supreme Court’s Abortion Pills Decision Didn’t Decide
(National Catholic Register. Matthew McDonald).
The limited abortion-pill decision of the U.S. Supreme Court June 13 leaves major questions about the future of the drug unanswered, pro-life advocates contend. The high court unanimously found in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that the four pro-life organizations and four pro-life doctors who brought a lawsuit challenging loosened federal regulations on abortion pills lacked standing — meaning they aren’t, in the court’s view, affected enough by the federal agency’s decisions to bring the lawsuit. But the court did not rule on the merits of their case. About 63% of all abortions in the United States in 2023 took place through abortion pills, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion and collects information about it. That percentage has been steadily growing in recent years and is expected to keep rising. This means that abortion policy is quickly becoming abortion-pill policy.
Here are four abortion pill issues that are still unresolved:
In Unanimous Decision, SCOTUS Rejects Doctors’ Challenge to Abortion Pill
(National Catholic Register. Daniel Payne).
The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled against a physician-led challenge to the abortion pill, striking down an attempt by advocates to impose stricter regulations on the drug. The Court said in its Thursday ruling that the plaintiffs, represented by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), lacked standing to challenge U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulation of the abortion drug mifepristone. AHM, which represents pro-life medical groups, sued the FDA in November 2022 to challenge the agency’s longstanding approval of the drug. The lawsuit further challenged the FDA’s subsequent deregulation of the drug, particularly its permission to prescribe the medicine without an in-person doctor’s visit and to dispense the drug through the mail. The high court heard oral arguments in the case in March of this year.
Changing Face of Catholic Church in Japan Amid Nation’s Existential Crisis
(National Catholic Register. Victor Gaetan).
At peak cherry blossom season in April, I spent 14 beautiful days exploring the Catholic Church in Japan by wing and foot, metro and bullet train. I began with Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Tokyo on the eve of his ad limina visit with Pope Francis in Rome and ended with a prominent Shinto priest, Mitsui Shinsaku, who will attend a September peace conference organized by the Community of Sant’Egidio. Statistics alone say little. Out of a population of approximately 125 million people, about 536,000 are Catholic. Another 500,000 Catholics work in Japan, sometimes for many years. Fifteen dioceses including three archdioceses (Nagasaki, Osaka, and Tokyo) embrace 850 parishes served by one seminary. Delicate and unbreakable … humble and proud … Japanese culture and society balance oppositions. Among so many impressions, I distilled four realities about the Catholic Church in the Land of the Rising Sun to share: New Catholics are part of an increasingly multi-cultural society; Catholic schools magnify Church influence; Jesuits brought the faith to Japan in 1549 and still have clout; and peace is a shared agenda fusing Vatican and Japanese worldviews.
Catholic Church in Africa is Booming, But Faces ‘Big Challenges,’ Says Continent’s Newest Cardinal
(National Catholic Register. Jonathan Liedl).
One of Africa’s newest cardinals affirmed that the people of his continent will play a leading role in the future of Catholicism, but also acknowledged that the Church in Africa faces serious challenges amid its boom. Citing the incredible growth in the Church in Africa, which has 250 million more adherents today than 125 years ago and is projected to be home to one out of every three Catholics in the world by 2050, Cardinal Protase Rugambwa told the Register that it is “true” that “the future of the Church is in Africa.” “What is the Church, after all?” asked the leader of the Archdiocese of Tabora, Tanzania. “We are talking about the presence of the people; the believers, the adherents, the followers. In Africa, there is no question that if you count those who have been baptized, with each succeeding day the numbers are increasing.” At the same time, Cardinal Rugambwa said that the Church in Africa is confronted by “big challenges,” such as obstacles to forming quality priests to serve its people, the rise of Christian sectarianism, as well as ideological pressures from outside. “We have different theories, different ideas coming, different ideologies,” said the former secretary of the Vatican’s evangelization office, specifically referencing gender ideology. “So we have to get prepared.”
Vatican Faces Backlash Over Use of Artwork by Accused Abuser Father Rupnik
(National Catholic Register. Adriana Azarian).
The Vatican is once again drawing criticism for using the artwork of Father Marko Ivan Rupnik in a Vatican News article on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 7. Father Rupnik, a priest and artist, has been accused of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse of religious sisters. He was removed from the Jesuits last June, and the Vatican has announced that Rupnik will face a canonical process over the abuse allegations after Pope Francis decided to waive the statute of limitations on the claims.
Zero Abortions in Arkansas for 2023: A Pro-Life Victory
(National Catholic Register. Adriana Azarian).
The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) released its yearly report on induced abortions, recording no abortions in the state in 2023. Following the landmark Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, Arkansas law prohibited abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother. Prior to the Dobbs decision, the ADH reported around 3,200 abortions on average each year. Arkansas is one of 14 states with a “total ban” on abortion. “It’s the constant teaching of the Church that abortion is always gravely immoral, and we know it’s never medically necessary, so we do welcome that report,” said Catherine Phillips, director of Respect Life in the Diocese of Little Rock.
Vatican Clears New Zealand Cardinal John Dew of Abuse Allegations
(National catholic Register. Ac Wimmer).
A Vatican-led review of an abuse complaint against New Zealand Cardinal John Dew has concluded that no further Church inquiry is required, according to a statement by Archbishop Paul Martin of Wellington provided to CNA on Wednesday. The allegation of historical sexual abuse had been raised against Dew around the time he retired as archbishop of Wellington in May of last year. The archdiocese said on June 5 that New Zealand police had also conducted a lengthy inquiry that led to a decision not to file any charges. The accusations dated back to the 1970s and involved an alleged incident at St. Joseph’s Orphanage in Upper Hutt, roughly 20 miles northeast of Wellington, where Dew was serving as an assistant priest at the time. “Cardinal Dew immediately stood aside from all public Church activities while the police investigated the allegations,” Archbishop Martin said. “When the police advised in March that no charges would be laid, Cardinal Dew continued to stand aside while a separate Vatican review proceeded, using the Church’s international procedures for complaints against bishops.”
Millions Celebrate ‘Roots’ of Africa’s Catholic Faith at Martyrs’ Day in Uganda
(National Catholic Register. Jonathan Liedl).
In an extraordinary display of the vitality of the Catholic faith in Africa, a crowd of possibly more than 4 million people gathered for Mass today on the very same grounds where some of Africa’s earliest Catholics were put to death for their faith less than 140 years ago. The annual celebration of the feast day of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, 24 young converts who were martyred by King Mwanga in 1886, drew Catholics from across the continent and beyond to a vibrant, three-hour-long liturgical celebration at Basilica of the Uganda Martyrs in Namugongo, just outside of the nation’s capital of Kampala. The celebration marked 60 years since the Ugandan martyrs were canonized by Pope St. Paul VI in the midst of the Second Vatican Council, making them the Church’s first canonized martyrs from sub-Saharan Africa.
Melinda Gates Now Biggest Catholic Donor to Pro-Abortion Causes in the World
(National Catholic Register. Matthew McDonald).
For years, Melinda French Gates, who identifies as a Catholic, said she struggled with abortion as a public-policy issue and wouldn’t give money to it from the foundation she helped run with her now-former husband, Bill. The struggle appears to be over. Gates, who has written fondly about her Catholic upbringing, said this week she is giving multimillion-dollar donations to abortion-supporting groups. The May 28 announcement saddened pro-lifers. “Melinda French Gates could do much to help women and their preborn children on the national — and even international level — yet she has decided instead to pour money into the abortion industry that already makes billions of dollars by taking the lives of innocent preborn children,” Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, told the Register.
New Mexico Priest Dies by Suicide Amid Child Sex Abuse Investigation
(National Catholic Register. Daniel Payne).
The Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said last week that a former priest charged in a child sex abuse case ended his own life ahead of a court hearing on the matter. The archdiocese said in a press release that Father Daniel Balizan had “taken his life” ahead of “a hearing in a child sexual abuse case.” Local media reported that Balizan’s body was found on Friday morning in Springer, New Mexico. Father Balizan’s “tragic decision to end his life underscores the far-reaching and devastating consequences of the crime of child abuse — affecting victims, their loved ones, and even perpetrators themselves,” the archdiocese said in its Friday statement.
Transgender Hermit Announcement Poses Questions About Church’s Teaching on Religious Life
(National Catholic Register. Matthew McDonald).
A hermit in Kentucky who publicly identified as transgender this past weekend has prompted questions about how the Catholic Church should deal with such cases in religious life given the Church’s opposition to what Pope Francis has called “gender ideology.” The announcement has also raised questions about how the hermit, a female who identifies as a man, got religious training at a Benedictine monastery for men. Brother Christian Matson, the hermit’s religious name, went public about Matson’s gender identity in a Religion News Service story published May 19, which was based on interviews with Matson and with Bishop John Stowe, a Conventual Franciscan who leads the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, where the hermit lives.
Jailed Pro-Lifer, Awaiting Appeal, Spends Time in Prayer and Reading Catholic Classics
(National Catholic Register. Patty Knap).
On May 14, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced John Hinshaw, 68, of Long Island, New York, to 21 months in jail for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health-care services or with churches. The Washington, D.C., center at which Hinshaw and others protested was operated by Dr. Cesare Santangelo, who performed abortions through the ninth month. It’s the same center where five late-term aborted babies, who may have either been killed by illegal partial-birth abortion procedures or after being born alive, were discovered.
‘St. John Paul II and Jérôme Lejeune: Two Lives at the Service of Life’
(George Weigel. NC Register).
Many of the participants in this conference are experts in the life and thought of a great man of science and a great man of faith, the Venerable Jérôme Lejeune; I am not. But as the biographer of Pope St. John Paul II, I do know something about that exemplary disciple and powerful thinker, and I know that this great saint had the highest regard for Jérôme Lejeune.
As John Paul put it in a letter to Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, archbishop of Paris, on the day after Dr. Lejeune was called home to the Lord, Dr. Lejeune had a “charism”: a gift of God that empowered him to “employ his profound knowledge of life and its secrets for the true good of man and of humanity, and only for that purpose.”