National Catholic Reporter

Trial of Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai continues; dissidents recall Tiananmen Square massacre

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(National Catholic Reporter. Osv news).

Catholic activist Jimmy Lai’s trial on charges of violating a Chinese-imposed national security law is nearing the 100-day mark. He is the highest-profile Hong Kong resident to be tried under the law, and his case is considered a landmark case. The trial of the 76-year-old pro-democracy advocate was suspended for a day June 3 after Lai’s lawyers said he was not feeling well. They told the judge that Lai, who is being held in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison, had seen a doctor the previous night and had been prescribed painkillers. The trial resumed June 4, with one judge telling Lai he could notify the court if he felt unwell again. Lai’s son, Sebastien, has said his father suffers from diabetes and was diagnosed with high blood pressure while in prison in 2021. For decades Lai, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy Apple Daily, campaigned for freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Hong Kong, which was designated a Special Administrative Region of China in 1997, when British rule ended after more than 150 years. Hong Kong’s Basic Law was supposed to allow the region “to exercise a high degree of autonomy and enjoy executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication.”

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Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, seen as unusual fit for Francis’ Vatican, leaves the scene

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(National Catholic Reporter. Christopher White).

When Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet turns 80 on June 8, the prelate who was touted as a potential future pope in both the conclaves of 2005 and 2013, will no longer be able to participate in the next papal election. Ouellet, who was archbishop of Quebec from 2003-2010 and then prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops until his retirement in 2023 at age 78, has been a pivotal player under three papacies. And in two of those he played an outsized role in shaping the Catholic hierarchy throughout the world. The Canadian cardinal’s retirement last year brought about an end to an incongruous era, where a prelate much more identified with Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI was kept on by Pope Francis to lead the powerful Vatican office tasked with vetting potential candidates for the Catholic episcopacy.

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Poll: Religious groups think Trump’s actions immoral in hush money case, split on whether he broke the law

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(National Catholic Reporter. Jack Jenkins).

A new survey finds that majorities of all major U.S. religious groups believe actions by former President Donald Trump detailed in a recent hush money trial were immoral, but views are more split on whether he broke the law. It also remains unclear whether Trump’s new status as a convicted felon has helped or hurt his campaign to retake the White House. The 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll, which includes religion-related data provided to Religion News Service, was conducted online May 30-31 among a national sample of 5,893 U.S. adults, drawn from more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform daily. (The margin of error overall is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.) It polled Americans immediately after Trump was convicted last week on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case centered on $130,000 in hush money payments meant to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels regarding what she described as a sexual encounter she had with the then-businessman, a scandal that threatened to derail Trump’s 2016 campaign.

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Judge: Lacroix abuse investigation ‘greatly affected’ by accuser’s refusal to participate

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(National Catholic Reporter. François Gloutnay).

André Denis, a retired Quebec superior court judge mandated by Pope Francis to investigate accusations of sexual abuse made against Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix, Archbishop of Quebec, has said he found no evidence to support the accusations. But Denis noted the investigation’s conclusion was significantly impacted by the accuser’s refusal to participate — something which could change in the future — leaving the cardinal in the meantime feeling like he was “fighting a ghost.” “The elements collected during my investigation make it implausible that the facts alleged against the cardinal occurred,” Denis wrote in his 66-page report submitted to Francis May 6. “I do not find sufficient elements to justify the holding of a canonical trial against Cardinal Lacroix and this is the conclusion that I formulated to Pope Francis.” Denis on May 21 made public a 10-page summary of this report and held a press conference the same day to answer questions.

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‘Denigration of my humanity’: Gay priests reflect on pope’s use of homophobic slur

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(National Catholic Reporter. Katie Collins Scott).

Fr. Bryan Massingale first admitted to himself he was gay at age 22 but came out many years later as a priest after hearing stories of LGBTQ Catholics from regions of the world where people face imprisonment, torture and death because of their sexuality. He’d listened to delegates living in fear of such realities while attending a 2019 meeting of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, a coalition of organizations from multiple continents. “I knew I couldn’t ask them to continue to do their difficult, courageous and heroic work without taking a risk myself,” Massingale, a theologian at Fordham University in New York, told NCR. “I was moved to make a public declaration on my sexuality as a way of saying I need to also be willing to take a risk for a better church.” The priest said the work needed to build up a better church was on his mind following the news that Pope Francis reportedly used a derogatory term when referring to gay men.

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Catholic Trump voters see no choice in upcoming election — even after conviction

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(National Catholic Reporter. Heidi Schlumpf).

Robert Stenson has some reservations about Donald Trump as president, but he plans on voting for him anyway. “There’s a lot of baggage with Trump, a lot of things I don’t agree with,” says the attorney from southern California. But Stenson believes Trump most aligns with his concerns about government overreach, both domestically and in “new wars” overseas. Brian Rumschlag, a software architect in Indiana, says his faith guides everything in his life, including his choice for president. A self-described “card-carrying Republican,” he has voted for Trump in the past and plans to vote for him in 2024. Overturning Roe v. Wade was Trump’s “crowning achievement,” he says. “That was a huge, huge win for the culture at large.” Abortion is also the “No. 1” issue for Keara Burke of Illinois, who supports a national ban. Although she admits that Trump has “taken a few steps backward” on the issue, she still calls him “the most pro-life president in the history of the country.” But even if abortion were not on the table, she would vote for Trump, because of what she calls the “failed economic policies” of the Biden administration. She and her husband work in real estate and construction and notice that “American families are struggling,” she said.

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Diocese of Fresno to file for bankruptcy

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(National Catholic Reporter. Osv News)

Bishop Joseph V. Brennan said in a May 28 open letter that the Diocese of Fresno would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization “to address the substantial number of claims brought forth by victims collectively.” The letter also said after a three-year window prompted by California state law “for individuals to bring forward otherwise barred or expired claims for sexual abuse suffered as a child,” the diocese was “informed of 154 cases filed against our Diocese.” “The reopening of the window has made every Diocese in California susceptible to more claims,” he said. “What we are facing gives us the opportunity to redouble our efforts in creating a safe environment for everyone in and out of the church and address real issues in atoning for the sin of clergy abuse against children.”

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Pope Francis disappoints progressives. He will do so again.

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(National Catholic Reporter. Thomas Reese).

My column last week, in which I gave a positive assessment of Pope Francis’ interview on CBS News, got some blowback. There were the usual haters who don’t like anything that Francis does or says. Others complained that the interviewer should have asked tougher questions or pressed the pope on the treatment of abusive priests such as former Jesuit Marko Rupnik. But there was also kickback from progressives who normally like Francis, expressing surprise and disappointment at Francis’ saying “no” not only to women priests but to ordained women deacons. This crowd was further exasperated by this week’s news about Francis’ comments on gay seminarians in an exchange with Italian bishops.

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Pope’s comments on blessing same-sex couples and gay men in seminaries are not as shocking as some think

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(National Catholic Reporter. Michael Sean Winters).

The full ambivalence of Pope Francis’ pastoral approach to the issue of homosexuality has come into view, first during his television interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell, and now with the news that he told the Italian bishops’ conference that gay men should not be allowed to enter the seminary. Is this the same pope who, early in his pontificate, when asked about a gay clergyman who keeps his vows, asked rhetorically, “Who am I to judge?” Yes, it is. Part of the confusion about the decision to permit blessings of gay people who are in a relationship stems from the Vatican’s own press coverage of the document Fiducia Supplicans when it was promulgated last December. Vatican News produced the headline: “Doctrinal declaration opens the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations.” Couples, not individuals.

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Afro-Cuban drums, Muslim prayers, Buddhist mantras: Religious diversity blooms in once-atheist Cuba

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(National Catholic Reporter. Luis Andrés Henao).

The 1959 Castro-led revolution installed an atheist, Communist government that sought to replace the Catholic Church as the guiding force in the lives of Cubans. But 65 years later, religion seems omnipresent in Cuba, in dazzling diversity. The bells toll on Catholic churches and the call to prayer summons Muslims in Havana. Buddhists chant mantras as they gather at a jazz musician’s home. Jews savor rice, beans and other Cuban staples for Sabbath dinner. Santeria devotees dance and slap drums in a museum filled with statues, paying homage to their Afro-Cuban deities. It’s also visible in the growing ranks of evangelicals who worship across the island, in the faith of LGBTQ+ Christians who sing at an inclusive church in the seaport of Matanzas, or in the pilgrims who travel to the remote shrine of Cuba’s patron saint in the shadow of the Sierra Maestra mountains.

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Stand up for the African Americans on the path to sainthood

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(National Catholic Reporter. Ralph Moore).

Stand
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you’re saying makes sense and all
Stand
Don’t you know that you are free?
Well, at least in your mind, if you want to be
(Everybody) stand
—Sly and the Family Stone, April 1969

It is time for Black Catholics, White Catholics, Brown, and Hispanic Catholics to stand up for the six African Americans on the path to sainthood. They’ve been waiting to be recognized here on Earth as they are in Heaven. Why, in 2024, are there 11 White American Catholic saints but no Black American ones?

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The rise of the Catholic bully

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(National Catholic Reporter. Phyllis Zagano).

Catholic bullying is spreading across the land. In the latest example, Minnesota Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire organization threatened Commonweal magazine and theologian Massimo Faggioli over Faggioli’s April 22 essay, “Will Trumpism Spare Catholicism?” The commotion is too weird to behold. It began like all schoolyard fights. Barron, or someone who works for him, thought Faggioli, who teaches at Villanova University, called the bishop a name. In best fourth-grade fashion, an unsigned “cease and desist” email went to Faggioli and to Commonweal editor Dominic Preziosi. Apparently without a lawyer or even a dictionary nearby, the email claimed Commonweal and Faggioli were guilty of “slander,” usually applied to spoken defamatory statements, instead of published ones, which are libel.

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LGBTQ Catholic groups call pope’s use of Italian slur ‘shocking and hurtful’

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(National Catholic Reporter. Camillo Barone).

DignityUSA, a national organization advocating for LGBTQ Catholics, has denounced Pope Francis’ recent reported use of an Italian slur when discussing the admission of gay men to priestly seminaries as “shocking and hurtful.” “We are glad that Pope Francis has apologized for using such a demeaning term,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, the group’s executive director, in a May 28 statement. “We know that this was shocking and hurtful to many, especially to the innumerable gay priests who have served God’s people faithfully and well. We stand with them, and with the people who have benefited from their ministry. The truth is that the Church simply could not function without those countless gay priests, bishops and maybe even popes who currently serve and have served over the centuries.”

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A century ago, anti-immigrant backlash almost closed America’s doors

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(National Catholic Reporter. Matthew Smith).

One hundred years ago, the U.S. Congress enacted the most notorious immigration legislation in American history. Signed by President Calvin Coolidge, the Immigration Act of 1924 dramatically reduced immigration from eastern and southern Europe and practically barred it from Asia. How the law did this, however, was somewhat subtle: a quota. Lawmakers calculated how many immigrants from each European country were residing in the United States in 1890 and then took 2% of that number. Only that many newcomers could be admitted from any particular country each year. Before the end of the 19th century, the number of immigrants from outside western and northern Europe was still relatively small — meaning their 2% quotas would be minuscule.

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Catholic Church doing ‘as much as it can’ to help as Haiti continues to struggle.

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(CAMILLO BARONE. NCR).

Bishop Joseph Gontrand Décoste of Jérémie, Haiti, hung a sign behind the desk of his small office in his diocese that reads, “Providentia providebit,” which in Latin means that “providence itself will provide for the needful.”

It was the motto coined by sainthood candidate Mother Mary Lange, a Haitian-born nun who after migrating to Baltimore in 1829 founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first congregation for African American women who dedicated themselves to serving orphans and educating Black children, while slavery was still legal in Maryland.

The Catholic Church in Haiti has also been living for more than 10 months across its 10 dioceses solely on providence, Décoste told NCR during a recent video interview. 

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Three Catholic bishops and a nun walk into the White House. Here’s why it’s no joke

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(National Catholic Reporter. John Wester).

Three Catholic bishops and a nun walked into a climate policy meeting at the White House. This isn’t the beginning of a joke. Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tucson, Arizona, Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington, and St. Joseph Sr. Carol Zinn, executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and I really did go to the White House on Nov. 17, with support from communications specialist Lonnie Ellis. We went to discuss Pope Francis’ latest apostolic exhortation on climate, Laudate Deum. We went with a mission — a nonpartisan, faith-filled mission. Here’s why. We are all being impacted by worsening wildfires, heat waves and floods. We know that communities of color and the poor are being hit the hardest. Last fall, Francis issued a second impassioned call to answer the climate crisis. In Laudate Deum, he specifically mentioned the United States, pointing out that our emissions are “seven times greater than the average of the poorest countries.” He encouraged individual and systemic conversion.

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New clergy arrests, information blackout spark consternation in Belarus

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(National Catholic Reporter. Jonathan Luxmoore).

Leaders of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have deplored an information blackout surrounding the arrest of two of their priests in Belarus.
“No one from the Catholic Church was represented at their court hearing, and no details or access were provided,” said Father Pawel Gomulak, spokesman for the religious order’s Polish province. “We’re still seeking reliable information about their current status and detention conditions, as well as about the penalties they face and how we might help them.”

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2 conservative groups influence US Catholic transgender policies

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(National Catholic Reporter. Katie Collins Scott).

Over the past several years, as debates about transgender rights and medical treatments intensified both in the U.S. political sphere and the Catholic Church, two conservative Catholic groups have played a consequential but often undisclosed role as they attempt to shape policies and perspectives about trans individuals, especially young people. Staff of the Person and Identity Project, an initiative of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., provide legal firepower to transgender-related court cases, have the ear of U.S. bishops, offer talks and resources to thousands of Catholics, and have served as consultants for an undisclosed number of controversial diocesan LGBTQ policies.

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Pew study shows support for legal abortion growing 2 years after Dobbs

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(National Catholic Reporter. Kate Scanlon).

Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision making abortion a constitutional right, a majority of Americans said they support legal abortion in all or most cases, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center. The Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on June 24, 2022, in a case involving a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks, where the state directly challenged the high court’s previous abortion-related precedents in Roe v. Wade and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. The Supreme Court ultimately overturned its own prior rulings, undoing nearly a half-century of its own precedent that held abortion was a constitutional right and returning the issue to the legislature. In the two years since that ruling, individual states have moved to either restrict abortion or expand access to it.

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Pope urges global leaders, U.S. governors to take urgent climate action

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(National Catholic Reporter. Justin Mclellan).

Pope Francis urged three U.S. governors and a group of mayors from around the world to work with international partners in developing a “holistic” approach to climate action that reduces emissions and combats inequality. “The refusal to act quickly to protect the most vulnerable who are exposed to climate change caused by human activity is a serious offense,” the pope told scholars and government leaders gathered at the Vatican May 16. “The climate crisis requires a symphony of cooperation and global solidarity,” which includes “emissions reduction, lifestyle education, innovative financing, and the use of proven nature-based solutions.”

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