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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 7, 2024 / 10:10 am (CNA).

The feast of divine mercy is celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter and is associated with the prayer of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, a pious practice revealed to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska by Jesus himself that has spread throughout the world.

While Catholics are not required to believe private revelations, the Church often encourages the practices associated with those that she approves, such as St. Faustina's divine mercy revelations.

There are five main reasons to offer this prayer, as Inés Mery, a volunteer with the Divine Mercy Foundation's shrine in Chile, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner.

1. It develops an attitude of trust.

Jesus appeared to St. Faustina on Sept. 13-14, 1935, in Vilnius, Lithuania, and asked her to make his mercy known through the dissemination of an image of himself bearing the inscription "Jesus, I trust in you" that he showed to her and also through the establishment of the feast of divine mercy and the recitation of the chaplet.

People who pray this chaplet offer to God the Father "the body and blood, soul and divinity" of Jesus Christ "in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. By joining themselves to the sacrifice of Jesus, they appeal to this love with which God the Father loves his Son and in him all people," Mery explained.

"This prayer asks for 'mercy for us and the whole world' in an attitude of trust," she added.

In this way, "by fulfilling the conditions that must characterize every good prayer (humility, perseverance, submission to the will of God), the faithful can expect the fulfillment of the promises of Christ that refer especially to the hour of death: the grace of conversion and a peaceful death," the volunteer noted.

Jesus told St. Faustina: "The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by my mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death" ("Diary," 754) and that "by saying the chaplet you are bringing humankind closer to me" ("Diary," 929).

2. Extraordinary graces are obtained.

Jesus told St. Faustina: "My daughter, encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given to you. It pleases me to grant everything they ask of me by saying the chaplet" ("Diary," 1541).

"Say the chaplet that I have taught you," because "through the chaplet, you will obtain everything if what you ask for is compatible with my will" ("Diary," 1731).

"The souls that say this chaplet will be embraced by my mercy during their lifetime and especially at the hour of their death" ("Diary," 754).

"At the hour of their death, I defend as my own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the indulgence is the same. When this chaplet is said by the bedside of a dying person, God's anger is placated, unfathomable mercy envelops the soul, and the very depths of my tender mercy are moved for the sake of the sorrowful passion of my Son" ("Diary," 811).

"Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from my infinite mercy" ("Diary," 687), Jesus promised.

3. It's a personal and community prayer.

The chaplet is intended to be prayed both in community and individually.

Thus "saying 'we' refers both to the person who prays the chaplet and to all those for whom it is prayed; by saying the 'whole world' we mean that we pray for both the living and the dead," Mery explained.

When reciting the Divine Mercy Chaplet, "Jesus asks us to implore mercy 'for us,' thus teaching us to combat selfishness in prayer (not praying for oneself only) and thus making the divine mercy prayer an act of sacrificial love," Mery said.

When we pray the chaplet, she explained, "we join Christ's sacrifice on the cross in which he offered himself for our salvation. When reciting the words 'Your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ,' we do so by virtue of the love that God the Father has for his Son, and in him, for all men. Thus, we have recourse to the greatest reason to be heard by God."

4. It only takes five minutes.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed with a rosary. It begins with the sign of the cross and then by praying an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed.

Then at the beginning of each decade, you pray "Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world."

On the Hail Mary beads, instead of reciting this prayer, you say 10 times: "For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world."

At the end of the five decades, you pray three times "Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world." You can also add "O Blood and Water that gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us, I trust in you," "St. Faustina, pray for us," and "St. John Paul II, pray for us."

5. You can pray at any time.

The chaplet can be prayed at any time. "Sometimes people mistakenly believe that you have to pray it at 3 p.m., but Jesus did not ask for that," Mery clarified.

"Three in the afternoon, which is the hour of great mercy, is directed to the Son, Jesus Christ, to contemplate him in his passion." On the other hand, she explained, "the chaplet is directed to God the Father."

"What can be done and is done in various divine mercy shrines is that at three in the afternoon, the passion of Christ is contemplated for a moment and then the chaplet is prayed," she explained.

"At whatever time the chaplet is prayed, the important thing," Mery noted, "is to understand that in this prayer we ask the Father to look at us through the wounds of his Son, Jesus, and so that by looking at us through the wounds of his Son, he won't treat us as our sins deserve but treat us according to his great goodness and mercy."

"I saw a great radiance and, in the midst of it, God the Father. Between this radiance and the earth I saw Jesus, nailed to the cross in such a way that when God wanted to look at the earth, he had to look through the wounds of Jesus. And I understood that it was for the sake of Jesus that God blesses the earth," St. Faustina wrote ("Diary," 60).

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

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CNA Staff, Apr 7, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A group of 28 choral students left the University of Mary (UMary) in Bismarck, North Dakota, in May of last year to embark on a world tour as part of a two-year Eucharistic Revival project, culminating this year in a choral album. 

As part of their Eucharistic Revival project, the students and their director, Rebecca Raber, have been performing and recording music at sites of Eucharistic miracles.

The ultimate goal is to record enough choral songs to create an album focused on Eucharistic hymns. 

"When I heard about the Eucharistic Revival, I knew I wanted to do something from the perspective of liturgical music," Raber told CNA in an email. 

The choir, known as "Cappella," has been recording a collection of music focused on the Eucharist that includes a wide variety of styles of music such as chant, antiphons, hymns, and polyphony. 

The choir has even commissioned two accomplished composers, Michael John Trotta and Philip Stopford, to compose music on Eucharistic texts.

"Cappella is made for a project like this," Raber said.

What is Cappella?

Cappella, named for the Latin word for choir, is made up of students from around the country who were "scholarshipped like college athletes" to sing sacred music at UMary, Raber explained.

The project was envisioned by Monsignor James Shea three years ago. Shea, the president of UMary, will be speaking at the National Eucharistic Congress this summer. 

Raber says Cappella is a "one-of-a-kind opportunity" for the students. They rehearse four days a week for 85 minutes, as well as sing at weekday and Sunday Masses, and lead sung solemn vespers weekly. 

Because of the "generous amount" of rehearsal time, Raber said, "we are able to sing an astonishing amount of repertoire, treasures of the Church."

But the music also benefits the students' "spiritual formation," Raber explained. 

When asked about how Cappella has affected his faith, one student, junior Marshall Milless, a communications major from Minnesota, said that singing in Capella has "completely transformed" his faith.

"It elevates my prayer in a way beyond my understanding," he explained. "I've read and heard the Scriptures and prayers in our music, but when singing them, it provides a completely transformative experience, where the Scriptures and prayers become so much more tangible and real."

'I am the one who needed the Eucharistic Revival' 

Cappella's Eucharistic project is part of a larger Newman Task Force for Eucharistic Education, a group that is promoting Eucharistic Revival projects in schools and universities across the country. 

The National Eucharistic Revival is a three-year initiative by the U.S. bishops that aims to inspire, educate, and unite the faithful in a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. The revival culminates this year in four national pilgrimages followed by the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this summer. 

Curstin Larson, a UMary junior studying sacred music, said that at first, she thought the Eucharistic Revival was "exactly what the Church needs."

"When I first heard about the Eucharistic Revival, I was very excited," she said. "All of the people who don't believe in the True Presence, all of the 'nones,' all of the lukewarm Catholics — this is the answer to their conversion!"

"Looking back, I am embarrassed by those thoughts," she continued. "Through Cappella's work with the Eucharistic Revival … I've come to see that I had it all wrong. I am the one who needed the Eucharistic Revival. I am the one who needed to love the Eucharist more, to receive him more attentively, to adore him more fervently."

Larson said she believes Cappella has "an irreplaceable role" in the Eucharistic Revival. 

"Being in Cappella is so much more than singing pretty music; it's a ministry," Milless noted.

"There's a lot of hard work and sacrifice that goes into being a choir like this, but all the hard work pays off whenever I catch a glimpse of somebody moved by the beauty of our music," Milless said. "My heart becomes filled with joy, and sometimes I can't hold the tears back!" 

Milless recalled "countless times" where people have approached him to say that Cappella's music helped them pray. 

"They've told me how the music consoled them in a time when they were feeling lost and unsure," he said. "This music has helped give me a great sense of hope in my personal prayer life when I've felt lost and uncertain about my faith."

Dominic Plummer, a junior from Georgia studying business administration/banking and finance at University of Mary, noted that he has "a unique opportunity" to glorify God during Mass because of Cappella.

The choir, he said, is "eager" to participate in the project intended to "cultivate a revived atmosphere of adoration" of the Eucharist in the community and the Church as a whole. 

"The Eucharist is at the heart of this opportunity and is the foundation of our mission," he said.

Emily Storick, a sophomore studying music performance, said that singing Eucharistic pieces for the revival has been "a great source of reflection." 

"I hope when we sing these beautiful Eucharistic pieces, those who hear them are drawn deeper into the mystery of the Mass, and even more so as they receive the body of Christ," she said. 

During the spring tour to Spain and France, Cappella students sang ancient Eucharistic hymns at sites of the Eucharistic miracles, such as Montserrat and Zaragoza, Spain. 

The pieces, some of which were recorded at sites of Eucharistic miracles, will be compiled into a digital album available on Soundcloud and Spotify.

Raber said she hopes that through these recordings, "the beauty of sacred music" will "draw hearts to Christ in the Eucharist." 

She said that while the listeners are often affected by the music, she notices more so "from the conductor's podium is that my Cappella members themselves are deeply affected by the sacred music they sing."

"Singing sacred music with Cappella is one of the most moving things I have experienced," said Robert Bushee, a freshman at UMary studying philosophy.

"When we sing, it is a prayer that so completely fills the self with grace that it cannot help but to overflow, and in so doing, create so profoundly united a prayer that it may move each member of the congregation to a greater experience of the Mass and of God himself, which is the great aim of our ministry," he said. 

Jacob Ganzer, a junior studying mechanical engineering, said that the opportunity to pray through sacred music is "a blessing."

"I think it is very difficult to be in Cappella and not have it affect your faith," he added.

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Rome Newsroom, Apr 6, 2024 / 08:57 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has transferred the vicar of Rome Cardinal Angelo De Donatis to a different post as head of the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican announced on Saturday.

De Donatis, 70, has overseen the administrative needs of the Diocese of Rome as cardinal vicar since 2017. His reassignment leaves the important post of Vicar General of Rome vacant until the pope appoints his successor.

The Vatican also announced on April 6 that one of Rome's seven auxiliary bishops, Bishop Daniele Libanori, SJ, will be transferred to a new position as the Holy Father's supervisor for Consecrated Life. The Jesuit bishop played a key role in uncovering alleged serial sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse of women religious by Jesuit mosaic artist Father Marko Rupnik. Libanori reportedly learned of the women's accusations while investigating the Loyola Community Rupnik co-founded in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Rupnik ultimately was dismissed from the Jesuit order and is currently under investigation by the Vatican.

The transfer of Cardinal De Donatis is the latest move in Pope Francis' major reform of the Diocese of Rome. The pope issued a decree last year that deeply diminished the role of the vicar of Rome and centralized the diocesan management under the formal control of the pontiff as bishop of Rome.

Apostolic Penitentiary

With his new role as Major Penitentiary, De Donatis will serve as the head of the Vatican tribunal in charge of cases involving excommunication and serious sins, including those whose absolution is reserved to the Holy See. For this reason, the Apostolic Penitentiary is referred to as a tribunal of mercy.

De Donatis succeeds 80-year-old Cardinal Mauro Piacenza who is retiring as Major Penitentiary after more than a decade in the post. 

As Major Penitentiary, De Donatis will have a unique privilege during a potential conclave. The head of the Apostolic Penitentiary retains his position sede vacante (after the pope has died or resigned) and is one of the only cardinal electors who can communicate with people outside of the conclave to fulfill his duties — a privilege only shared by the cardinal vicar of Rome and the vicar general of Vatican City State.

Historic appointment as vicar

De Donatis was born in the southeastern Italian town of Casarano in Apulia, Italy, on Jan. 4, 1954. He studied philosophy in Rome at the Pontifical Lateran University and theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he received a licentiate in moral theology, before he was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Nardò-Gallipoli in southern Italy in 1980. 

Three years later, De Donatis was incardinated in the Diocese of Rome, where over the next three decades he served as a parish priest, director of the diocesan clergy office, and spiritual director of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary.

In 2014 Pope Francis selected De Donatis to preach the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia during their weeklong retreat in Ariccia. A year later the pope appointed and personally ordained De Donatis as an auxiliary bishop of Rome.

With his papal appointment as vicar of Rome in 2017, De Donatis became the first man in centuries to be named vicar general of Rome while not a cardinal. Pope Francis made him a cardinal the following year in the June 2018 consistory.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, De Donatis closed all of Rome's churches to the public on March 12, 2020, before reversing the decision and opening the churches one day later at the request of Pope Francis

One year later, Pope Francis ordered an audit of the Diocese of Rome in June 2021 in which the auditor general of the Holy See sifted through the accounting books, registers, and cooperative societies.

De Donatis and the leadership of the Diocese of Rome also faced widespread backlash after issuing a letter in September 2023 praising the art and theology center founded by Father Marko Rupnik, the former Jesuit priest and artist accused of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse of religious sisters.

The Vatican announcement of De Donatis' transfer came one day after Pope Francis visited a parish in Rome's 11th prefecture for a closed-door conversation with Roman priests about pastoral issues facing the diocese. Vatican News described the meeting as part of Pope Francis' "periodic visits to his diocese."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the auxiliary bishop appointed as supervisor of Consecrated Life. It is Bishop Daniele Libanori, SJ.

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CNA Newsroom, Apr 6, 2024 / 11:00 am (CNA).

A Wisconsin bishop has publicly rebuked the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, accusing him of defamation and a possibly illicit ordination.

The clash between Bishop James Powers of the Diocese of Superior and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò stems from a March 22 post on X in which the controversial former Vatican official criticized what he called a "shamanic ceremony" at the start of the Superior Diocese's 2024 Chrism Mass. 

The March 19 Mass at its outset featured four Ojibwe women engaging in traditional dance while accompanied by indigenous drumming. Viganò in his post called the ritual "a very serious sacrilege," describing Powers as "a squalid official of the ecumenical religion" and "not a Successor of the Apostles, but a servant of Freemasonry." You can watch the beginning of the Mass in the diocese's video here.

Powers responded in a sharply worded letter dated April 5, accusing Viganò of a "violation of my right to a good name and reputation." The diocese posted the letter on its Facebook page.

Powers wrote that it has "long been a tradition in the Diocese of Superior to honor the heritage of our Native Americans before major diocesan celebrations," including at his installation as bishop in 2016. Viganò himself attended that event, Powers pointed out, adding that "never in the last eight years" had the archbishop expressed any concerns about it. 

"I would have at least expected the courtesy of a prior contact before any alleged public accusations of promoting Shamanism," the bishop wrote in the letter. 

Arguing that Viganò's rhetoric "does not befit an Archbishop of the Catholic Church" and that it "brings harm to the faithful" entrusted to his care, Powers requested "a public apology from [Viganò] to me and my people." Viganò could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Alleged illicit ordination

The Vatican's top diplomat to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, Viganò made headlines in 2018 when he publicly accused Church leaders, including Pope Francis, of covering up the sexual abuse allegations against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. 

The Italian archbishop made news again in 2020 when he penned an open letter to then-President Donald Trump expressing solidarity with Trump's ongoing battles with the "deep state," which the archbishop suggested had orchestrated the COVID-19 pandemic in a conspiracy to bring about a "New World Order" with the support of some Catholic bishops.

In his letter, Bishop Powers wrote that Viganò allegedly carried out an illicit ordination and then sent the illicitly ordained man to the Superior Diocese without Powers' approval.

In February, Powers warned his diocese of an establishment called the Hermitage of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Cumberland, Wisconsin, noting the "very questionable canonical status of Bryan Wallman and Rebekah Siegler," the two individuals reportedly running the institution. Powers said that neither of the men had provided "proper documents" establishing their canonical status. In his letter on Friday, Powers asked for clarification from Viganò about his alleged role in ordaining and sending Wallman to the Superior Diocese.

"Without proof of a valid ordination to the priesthood, Bryan Wallman is putting the spiritual lives of some of my people in danger," Powers wrote.

"If Archbishop Viganò is involved in any way with these activities, I demand that he cause their cessation immediately," he added.

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CNA Staff, Apr 6, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A Canadian hospice leader is working to promote a new anti-euthanasia film to help raise awareness of what she calls the "predatory doctor-assisted suicide regime" of the Canadian government. 

Angelina Ireland is the president of Delta Hospice Society in Delta, British Columbia. The organization, founded in 1991, is "dedicated to helping families and individuals experiencing life-threatening diagnoses, advanced illness, or bereavement" by offering palliative care and other end-of-life services. 

Ireland herself is featured in the recently released film "The Story of Euthanasia," a 43-minute documentary made by Trinitas that explores the "philosophical belief, moral conflict, and social impact concerning legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide." Also featured in the film is Dr. Will Johnston, a family physician from Vancouver, and Abbot Igumen Tryphon of All-Merciful Saviour Orthodox Monastery in Washington state.

"Medical assistance in dying" (MAID) became legal in Canada in 2016. 

Ireland told CNA in an interview that the assisted suicide law directly affected Delta Hospice's operations. 

"We refused to participate [in MAID] because we're a palliative care organization, and palliative care does nothing to hasten death," she said. "We take care of people. Palliative care is from diagnosis to natural end. So we refuse to start killing our patients in the hospice."

The government in 2020 ended a $1.5 million funding contract with Delta Hospice over the organization's refusal to help kill its patients, "which was fine," Ireland said. 

Yet the British Columbian Fraser Health Authority further terminated its property lease with Delta Hospice, which Ireland said effectively evicted the organization. 

"Our buildings sort of got classified as affixtures to the land," she said. "The government evicted us. We lost about $8 million. We got no compensation for that expropriation. We were then left out of the business of providing palliative care."

On its website, Delta Hospice says its palliative services "still continue virtually, by telephone, and in person." 

Ireland, meanwhile, hopes "The Story of Euthanasia," produced by two local filmmakers, will show people the realities of Canada's MAID regime. Ireland said she has already made visits to numerous venues to screen the film and discuss it.

"It could be in a parish hall, it could be in a church — any kind of community center that wants to show the film," she said. "I will come and talk to you about our experiences around doctor-assisted suicide. I'll go anywhere," she said, noting that she is willing to visit the United States as well. 

"MAID is very predatory," Ireland said. "It's going after sick, vulnerable, aged people. All we can do now is create awareness of what's happening to us."

Her experiences with Delta Hospice have shown her that "there's very little room at all for dissent around this medical regime." Ireland herself suffered from cancer several years ago and said she is familiar with the difficulties surrounding serious and terminal diagnoses. 

"I'm not a doctor or a nurse," she said. "I'm sitting on the other side of the aisle as a person who has been particularly vulnerable to this medical regime." 

"I've made it my life's work to try and pass this message about what it really means to accept this idea that the state can kill people, how quickly it gets out of hand, and what we lose in terms of our humanity when it becomes so easy just to kill." 

More than 40,000 Canadians have used the law to kill themselves since it became legal to do so in 2016. Ireland said that the branding of the procedure — "medical assistance in dying (MAID)" — is meant to obscure the brutal reality of doctors helping to end the lives of their patients.

"They make it sound all cozy and nonthreatening," she said. "But they're killing people here in Canada."

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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 6, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Four Catholic priests shared their reflections in answer to a simple but very important question for the life of faith: Why go on a spiritual retreat?

Father Antonio Domenech Guillén, a priest of the Diocese of Cuenca in Spain, said that "a retreat is always worthwhile, especially during Lent and Easter, those more focused times that help us bring our hearts closer to the Lord."

"We always need it. Jesus says in the Gospel that 'those who are healthy do not need a doctor, but only the sick,' and if we recognize that we are sick, the Lord heals us every day, and a good way is to go on a retreat to be cured, like the person who goes to a hospital, to the doctor," the priest explained.

"If you give your time to God, he multiplies it like all spiritual goods. Material things we part with, they are divided up. If we split the firewood two ways with the neighbor, we have half the firewood; if we share the inheritance with our brothers, we have less inheritance."

However, he continued, "everything that is spiritual — faith, hope, love — the more you give, the more you have. And if we give the Lord time, he will make it bear fruit, because he doesn't let himself be outdone in generosity."

Father Guillermo Serra, LC, lecturer and author of the Spanish-language books "Leave Your Heaven" and "Jesus to My Soul," reflected along similar lines. He explained to ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, that "a retreat is a moment of prolonged personal encounter, without distractions, with God, and in God, with oneself."

"We live a very fast and sometimes superficial life. There are many outside demands and expectations that prevent us from hearing the voice of God and our own inner voice," he explained.

"Dedicating a time for a retreat allows us to hear the voice of God and see more clearly how God wants to be known, loved, and possessed," the priest emphasized.

Silence and 'the desert'

Serra also highlighted the importance of silence during a spiritual retreat: "Silence is fundamental as a condition for the possibility of this encounter with the love of our life, our Creator and Redeemer."

Thus, a retreat "fills us with life and returns us to our world with peace and with a sense of transcendence and more generous openness to others," he noted.

For Father Francisco Javier "Patxi" Bronchalo, a priest of the Diocese of Getafe in Spain and author of the Spanish-language books "When Sex Traps You" and "Saints or Nothing," the "desert" experience is important.

"Going on a retreat is entering that desert with God and with oneself, seeing how life is in the light of the Word of God. When we see how our life is going in our eyes or those of others, we often do harm to ourselves," he pointed out.

On a retreat, on the other hand, "we put God in our lives and thus we mature in our faith, giving it depth and seeing what the Lord is saying to us in the concrete events we experience," he said.

Father Juan Solana, LC, founder and director of the Magdala Center, which currently offers virtual retreats in the Holy Land, commented that "going on retreat means going off apart, and you don't go off apart to evade the world, to escape from the world — on the contrary, the concept of a retreat in the Christian life is to get away from the noise of everyday life, from the routine, to dedicate oneself more intensely to prayer and to encountering God."

"It's like when you climb a mountain and see the complete panorama of everything, you see it from above, you see it clearly, and when you are down walking in the valley you lose perspective on many things," the priest told ACI Prensa.

In addition to encountering God, he pointed out that when on retreat "we also encounter ourselves," because many times we live our lives out of touch with ourselves.

Domenech encouraged the faithful to go on a retreat if there is an opportunity to do so: "If you doubt [the benefits], if you have the opportunity, go on a retreat. It is the moment, it is the now of Jesus."

Ana Paula Morales contributed to this article, which was originally published in 2023 and has been updated.

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

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CNA Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

In response to gender studies programs that often churn out ideology contrary to Catholic teaching, the University of St. Thomas, Houston, (UST) is launching a sexuality and gender studies program based on "Catholic anthropology."

"For some time now, conversations about gender and sexuality have dominated our headlines," reads a UST press release. "Christian leaders in education, ministry, health care, law, psychology, and other professions often feel ill-equipped to enter into these conversations because they lack the necessary knowledge to speak with equal measures of authority and compassion." 

The University of St. Thomas will offer a part-time, "flexible," program that will enable students to earn a graduate certificate in sexuality and gender studies. Kevin Stuart, director of the Nesti Center for Faith & Culture, launched the program, and Leah Jacobson, Catholic speaker and author of the book "Wholistic Feminism," will help run it. 

"Part of what inspired this program is the need for faithful professionals who will come into contact with difficult cases regarding sexuality and gender to be well-formed and well-informed," Stuart told CNA. 

Stuart, who previously worked as a Catholic high school headmaster, said he knows what it's like "to wake up on a daily basis and wonder whether today is the day these issues cross my doorstep."

"And, if they do, am I prepared not only to offer compassion but God's truth about who and what we are," he added.

The four-course sequence includes online classes in Catholic anthropology, the history of gender, and the science and social science of gender and sexuality. The final course will apply legal and practical elements of sexuality and gender in order to help students "integrate" and "apply" the knowledge they have gained, according to the release.

"The graduate certificate in sexuality and gender brings the intersection of philosophy, history, and science to students and equips them to speak the truth with compassion and prudence," the release continues. 

The program is designed "for working professionals," and students may begin the program at any point and complete it "at their own pace." 

"The University of St. Thomas is uniquely positioned to form leaders who understand the wisdom of the Catholic Church's teachings concerning these issues," the release noted.

The Catholic liberal arts university that was founded in 1947 is "committed to the Catholic intellectual tradition and the dialogue between faith and reason," according to its mission statement. 

"As the culture continues to diminish the dignity of the human person, the Church stands firm in her understanding of sexuality and gender as gifts given to us by Our Creator, who made us in his image," the press release stated. 

The gender ideology debate has caught the attention of Pope Francis, who called gender ideology "one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations" in a March interview with journalist Elisabetta Piqué for the Argentine daily newspaper La Nación.

In a continuation of the Church's conversation on gender, the Vatican on Monday will publish a document on "moral questions" regarding human dignity, gender, and surrogacy.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

There is no exact figure on how many people die trying to cross the Darien Gap, but those whose bodies are recovered can receive a decent burial thanks to the work of the priests of the Apostolic Vicariate of Darién in Panama and the nuns of the community of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians.

The inhospitable Darién jungle, shared by Panama and Colombia, has for years become an unavoidable route for hundreds of thousands of migrants who want to reach the United States. According to figures from the Colombian People's Ombudsman Office, in 2023 the gap was crossed by more than 520,000 people, of which 406,905 were adults and 113,180 were minors.

The region is a 65-mile gap in the Pan-American Highway due to the great difficulties in building the road through there and environmental concerns.

However, not everyone is so fortunate to make it through and people die along the way, whether by drowning, infections, or because they take their own lives after losing hope. The cause of death is often unknown because bodies are found with a high degree of decomposition.

Faced with this reality, the Panamanian vicariate in August 2023 launched a project in which priests and nuns have been involved in burying the remains of these migrants.

Thanks to the donation of cemetery niches by the Red Cross, they have been able to bury 46 migrants in the municipal cemetery of Real de Santa María and no longer in common graves, as has happened previously.

"We do it with a burning desire to help these brothers out of Christian charity," Father Claudio Guerrero of the Apostolic Vicariate of Darien explained to EWTN Noticias, the Catholic media outlet's news in Spanish.

The priest said that it's necessary to help migrants "not only in life, but even in death."

Guerrero asked the faithful to pray "for the eternal rest of our migrant brothers" and that the migratory flow will decrease, because it's a hard sight "to see how many brothers perish there in the Darién jungle."

In cases where deceased persons cannot be identified, the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences assigns them code numbers. For those whose identity is known, there may be the possibility of repatriation.

The migration crisis in Darien was addressed by the heads of the bishops' conferences of Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica in a meeting held March 19-22 in Panama City.

The meeting was called by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development and was also attended by the presidents of Panama's social pastoral commission, Cáritas/Human Mobility.

In a joint statement, the prelates called for people to "raise their voices in recognition of a growing humanitarian crisis" in the region, as the Darien Gap has become the scene of acts of inhumanity committed by crime gangs against the migrants.

"The number of people who perish can't be counted, since many of the bodies of the deceased are not recovered," they pointed out.

The bishops urged the people of Latin America and their governments to "not close their eyes or their hearts to the suffering of the migrant brother and sister."

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

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CNA Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

Thomas Gumbleton, a vocal peace activist and critic of war and nuclear weapons who served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit, died on Thursday at age 94. 

Born in Detroit in 1930, Gumbleton studied at both St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan, and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome, the latter at which he earned a doctorate in canon law. He was ordained in the Archdiocese of Detroit in 1956 and made an auxiliary bishop there in 1968, becoming the youngest U.S. bishop at the time.

His long tenure as a bishop was marked by several controversies, including his arrest in 1987 in connection with a protest at a Nevada nuclear testing site as well as another arrest at the White House in 1999 while protesting the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

The bishop was arrested a third time in 2003 during a protest against the U.S. invasion of Iraq that took place in Lafayette Square across from the White House.

In January 2006, Gumbleton testified before the Ohio General Assembly in favor of a bill expanding the statute of limitations for sexual abuse victims to file lawsuits against their alleged abusers.

In his statement, he told the assembly that he "[did] not speak in any official capacity on behalf of the Archdiocese of Detroit, nor any regional nor national group of bishops," though he said he testified "as a priest of the Catholic Church for almost 50 years and a bishop for almost 38 years." In that testimony, he also said he had been inappropriately touched by a priest while a teenager.

Gumbleton submitted his resignation to then-Pope Benedict XVI less than a month later, in early February. He later claimed that Church leaders had responded negatively to his testimony and that the Vatican had demanded he resign from his role as bishop and as pastor of St. Leo Parish in Detroit. 

The prelate was already on the cusp of resignation at the time; he had turned 75 the year before, the age at which bishops are generally required to submit their resignation. Gumbleton himself had requested that he be allowed to continue serving in his role, but the Congregation for Bishops (now the Dicastery for Bishops) had refused. 

Gumbleton later said he had corresponded with the congregation for nearly a year on the matter before ultimately submitting his resignation shortly after his testimony at the Ohio Statehouse. 

Controversy followed the bishop into his retirement. A supporter of women's ordination to the priesthood, Gumbleton was also an advocate for changes to the Church's teaching about homosexuality. In 2013 he publicly contradicted Detroit Archbishop Allen Vigneron and urged Catholic supporters of same-sex marriage: "Don't stop going to Communion." 

Several years before, then-Marquette, Michigan, Bishop Alexander Sample requested that Gumbleton not attend a talk in the former's diocese, citing his stance on homosexuality and women's ordination. "In order that no one becomes confused, everyone under my pastoral care must receive clear teaching on these important doctrines," Sample said at the time.

In announcing his death this week, Vigneron described Gumbleton as "a faithful son of the Archdiocese of Detroit, loved and respected by his brother priests and the laity for his integrity and devotion to the people he served." 

"We in the archdiocese join his family and friends in praying for the repose of his soul and asking God to grant him the reward of his labors," the archbishop said. 

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CNA Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 11:15 am (CNA).

A prominent Catholic bishop urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an April 2 letter to engage in a "partnership" with Nigeria to help the nation "withstand the forces of violence and extremism." 

Bishop Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, called on Blinken to "support the concerns of my brother bishops in Nigeria" following the Nigerian bishops' recent declaration urging their government to address internal corruption, security, and economic issues.

One Nigerian bishop has described the situation in Nigeria as a Christian "genocide." There have been recent kidnappings and in some cases, murder, of Nigerian Catholic priests as well as a series of massacres last Christmas, where more than 200 Christians were killed.

In the Feb. 22 declaration, the Catholic bishops of Nigeria described the "seriously deteriorating situation" largely in the "security and economy" of Nigeria and urged the government to listen to the "contribution" of all Nigerians.

"The bishops of Nigeria have decried the unabated violence perpetrated by terrorist groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State-West Africa Province in the northeastern states, Zaidan noted in his letter. 

"Local vigilante groups have risen up to defend farmers in the middle belt of the country from armed herdsmen while bandits and gunmen attack villages and motorists, and kidnap innocent people for ransom across the northwest and middle of the country," he wrote.

Zaidan noted that because of this, Nigeria has more than 3 million internally displaced people, "most of whom have escaped this relentless swell of violence." 

The bishops called on the nation to "leave all polarizations behind and come together" and added: "We have both the natural and human resources to get this done." 

"It is no longer acceptable for our leaders to surround themselves only with their political supporters and cronies," the bishops wrote, adding: "It is time to run government for the common good."

The Nigerian bishops also highlighted the negative effect of the termination of fuel subsidies and the "drastic devaluation" of the Nigerian currency on the already impoverished and vulnerable in society. 

"The Catholic Church, along with many academics and observers, argue that the root causes of the nationwide violence is pervasive corruption and endemic poverty and a massive failure of governance at the federal level," Zaidan noted.

Zaidan urged the government to "urgently address" the "disaffection and restiveness" throughout the Nigerian population "to avoid a descent into chaos and anarchy." 

Building off of the Nigerian bishops' declaration, Zaidan urged the government to address the "corrosive impact" of corruption, consider increasing security through a state police force, and "invest in the creation of small business."

"I urge you and your colleagues in the United States Embassy to engage with the local Catholic Church leadership to put these ideas into action," he wrote. "This region of Africa needs a partnership and the leadership of the United States if it is to withstand the forces of violence and extremism."

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