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Vancouver, Canada, Nov 23, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Sometimes it just takes moving across the world to understand the value of a sacramental marriage. At least that's what it took for Eddelyn and Mario John, two recent arrivals to Canada from the Philippines. They were one of 19 couples whose marriages were sacramentally blessed at the Marriage Mass at St. Mary's in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, one of three such events across the archdiocese this year.

In total 121 couples had their marriages convalidated this year in the archdiocese, a substantial increase from last year's 42.  

Eddelyn and Mario met almost two decades ago while Eddelyn was working at a farm supply store where Mario would come to purchase feed. Things developed quickly, and the couple married after only three months of courting.

At the time, the couple embodied a certain cultural Catholicism. Mario's family urged them to have a church wedding, but they declined.

"I always said we were good — it's OK," Eddelyn recalled. "As long as we always go to church every Sunday, it's OK."

Soon, they were pregnant, and their daughter was born before their first wedding anniversary.

Life continued apace, but something always felt like it could be better. They weren't unhappy and had a good family life with their daughter. It wasn't until they were apart that things clicked for Eddelyn and Mario.

In 2019, an opportunity arose for them to immigrate to Canada. One of Mario's favorite uncles encouraged the couple to make the journey, but COVID delayed their plans, and he passed away before they made the move.

Eddelyn was finally accepted for a student visa last year. Because of delays with their daughter's visa application, she made the trip alone, arriving in Canada in December 2023 to start her studies in business management.

At the first Canadian Mass she attended at St. Mary's in Vancouver, someone announced that the Marriage Mass was coming up on Oct. 19 — the birthday of her beloved uncle who had passed away.

Eddelyn saw this as a sign, and she and Mario decided that if they could get their marriage sacramentally validated in Canada, they would.

"We want to be part of the seven sacraments of the Church," Mario said.

As anyone dealing with Immigration Canada knows, getting the paperwork done can be a nightmare. Still, as fate would have it, everything was finalized in time for Mario to bring their daughter to Canada for the Marriage Mass. Their application to have their marriage blessed barely made this year's deadline, submitted the day before the cutoff.

"We have a desire to live out our spiritual commitment — I think it's in God's perfect timing," Eddelyn said.

"A religious ceremony provides a sense of fulfillment," Eddelyn said. "Those are the steps that are quite meaningful for our whole family. It is a fulfillment for those in heaven as well."

Their daughter, who struggles with communication due to hearing problems, was also happy. "We saw through her face that she was very happy," Eddelyn said.

In addition to an honor guard by the Knights of Columbus and music by a joint St. Mary's choir, couples were each given six tickets to a catered reception after Mass so they could celebrate with friends and family.

This story was first published by The B.C. Catholic and has been adapted by CNA. It is reprinted here with permission.

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ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 22, 2024 / 16:05 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, who will be installed as a cardinal on Dec. 7, spoke to the Vatican new agency Fides about the present and future state of the country.

The archbishop said that "an aging society like Japan's will not be able to survive," pointing to the dangers of the country's demographic winter.

Faced with this reality, he noted that the government "is hesitant to fully accept migrants" for fear of entering into territory never previously explored in Japan, a nation little accustomed to receiving migrants.

"Until now, Japan has been a remarkably homogeneous country. However, the reality is that without the presence of migrants, Japanese society cannot sustain itself. This is a fact. It's true that migrants come in with different types of visas but, due to the reluctance of institutions, many of them are forced sooner or later to face bureaucratic problems related to their immigration status," he said.

Kikuchi said that Japanese society often perceives migration as a "problem" and that even within the Church there is talk of the "immigrant problem." The archbishop believes that this language reflects the "negative perception" of many Japanese about this reality.

Immigrants in Japan 'not a problem but a hope'

"I firmly believe that immigrants are not a problem but a hope for the Church. They offer the Catholic community a unique opportunity to grow, especially with young people, and to proclaim the Gospel in areas where there is no active presence of the Church," he said.

"In a certain way, immigrants offer the Japanese Church the possibility of renewing itself and of being more active in its mission. This is a real hope," he added.

Since it is geographically located in a strategic position, between great world powers such as the United States, Russia, and China, the country of the "rising sun" is not unfamiliar with the diatribes and circumstances that the world is going through today.

Specifically on the subject of war and the growing threat of the use of nuclear weapons, Kikuchi was emphatic in pointing out that nuclear weapons "do not provide real protection."

The Japanese government approved a 16.5% (about $56 billion) increase in defense spending by 2024. "It's just throwing money away," the archbishop said.

Dialogue 'the key to stability'

"Anyone who seriously analyzes the political situation in Asia understands that dialogue is the key to ensuring stability, not the threat posed by weapons. Investing more money in weapons, especially nuclear weapons, is an unnecessary and dangerous expense, since these weapons are not designed to resolve conflicts but to destroy the world," he commented.

The prelate said the Japanese Church will continue to promote initiatives "that seek the elimination of nuclear weapons. We will work with bishops in the United States and other countries to demand that both Japan and the U.S. government commit to abolishing these weapons as soon as possible."

"Dialogue is the key to stability. We must not argue. We must talk to each other. Dialogue is not just about talking, but also about building relationships. Synodality is also necessary in this area," the archbishop concluded.

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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Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nov 22, 2024 / 16:50 pm (CNA).

On Nov. 21, Brazil's Federal Police charged Father José Eduardo de Oliveira e Silva of the Diocese of Osasco in São Paulo state as part of a group of 37 people that includes former President Jair Bolsonaro on suspicion of plotting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, plotting a coup d'état, and belonging to a criminal organization. 

According to authorities, the publication of the list of defendants in the final report of the investigation into the alleged coup d'état was authorized by the country's Supreme Federal Court.

The charges stem from the investigation by the Federal Police into an alleged plot to assassinate then-President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Military personnel and military police have already been detained in connection with the investigation.

Despite the announcement by the police, the public prosecutor's office is not obliged to go forward with prosecuting the persons implicated or the alleged crimes being charged. 

The priest's defense attorney, Miguel Vidigal, told ACI Digital, CNA's Portuguese-language news partner, that "the press release by the Federal Police with the list of defendants is one more abuse by those responsible for the investigation, and publishing it on the police department's official website contaminates the entire institution."

"Who authorized the Federal Police to break the secrecy of the investigations? As far as we know, [Supreme Court] Justice Alexandre de Moraes decreed absolute secrecy," the attorney said.

"So far there is no decision by [him] that voids such determination," he added.

"Less than seven days after giving testimony to the Federal Police," Father José Eduardo "sees his name in print [on the list] by the Federal Police as one of those indicted by investigators." The same investigators didn't shy away from breaking the law and international treaties by combing through the priest's conversations and spiritual direction that are guaranteed to be confidential, Vidigal denounced.

In February, the priest was the subject of a raid and seizure operation by the Federal Police that was authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The priest was accused of being part of the "legal core" of the alleged coup d'état, for which former president Bolsonaro, advisers, allies, military personnel, and former ministers of his government were also investigated.

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

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 22, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).

The national anti-poverty program run by U.S. bishops has released its annual report from 2023, revealing that it spent $11.4 million more than it collected.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Annual Report 2023 revealed that the program ended the year with a net operating deficit of $2,830,364 after spending more than the combined total of its $8,451,156 savings and the $7,284,574 in revenue it collected this year. 

The CCHD is a nationwide anti-poverty program run by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that raises money every year and allocates funding to charitable organizations that benefit the poor. 

In total, the organization dedicated to "breaking the cycle of poverty" spent $18,696,903 overall despite having just $15,735,730 in available funds after clearing out its accumulated assets.

Bishop Timothy Senior of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who chairs the Subcommittee on the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, stated in the annual report that the various charitable projects that received CCHD funds mentioned represent "a small taste of how CCHD invested $7.3 million of [donor] gifts in grants in 2023 to help people help each other." 

The CCHD has not published a list of grantees since 2022, though USCCB spokesperson Chieko Noguchi told CNA this week that she expects CCHD's 2023 grantee list to be "posted soon." 

CCHD's recent difficulties and past controversy

The CCHD annual report documenting its financial difficulties comes after its former director, Ralph McCloud, resigned from his position in April. In June, several USCCB social justice employees working for the Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development, which oversees CCHD, were laid off. Bishops had privately discussed the CCHD during its June plenary assembly ahead of the layoffs. 

Noguchi told the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, at the time that the layoffs were part of a "reorganization" geared toward enabling the conference to "align resources more closely with recent funding trends." 

"The CCHD subcommittee will continue its work," she continued, adding: "In the interest of good stewardship, the administration of the collection is being reorganized to allow for more efficient management."

McCloud is now a fellow at a social justice political advocacy group called NETWORK, which was founded by Catholic Sisters in 1972. 

Over the years the program has generated controversy and criticism. Beginning in 2008, the CCHD was faulted by activists — and some Catholic bishops — for funding organizations that have taken positions contrary to Church teaching, such as on abortion and same-sex marriage.

In 2010, the USCCB instituted new controls to help ensure that grantees conform with Catholic teaching.

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Vatican City, Nov 22, 2024 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

St. Cecilia, widely known as the patron saint of music and musicians, is buried in the Basilica of St. Cecilia in the Roman neighborhood of Trastevere where a famous Baroque sculpture of her still puzzles scholars.

According to popular belief, Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the third century. Despite being forced by her family to marry, she remained a virgin, as she had vowed to do as a young girl.

Her pagan husband, Valerian, converted to Christianity after their marriage, and Valerian's brother, Tiburtius, was also baptized a Christian. Both men were martyred. St. Cecilia, too, would later be tortured and martyred. It is said she took three days to die after the executioner hit her three times on the neck with a sword.

After her martyrdom, St. Cecilia was buried in the Catacomb of St. Callixtus. The underground burial place of early Christians was created around the turn of the first century A.D. by Callixtus, a deacon who later became pope.

Located under the Appian Way, an ancient Roman road connecting the city to southeast Italy, the Catacomb of St. Callixtus once held the bodies of more than 50 martyrs, including St. Cecilia, and popes from the second to the fourth centuries.

After the end of Christian persecution, the relics of the Christians buried in the city's many catacombs were moved to churches for veneration. St. Cecilia's remains were transferred in the early 800s to a church built on the ruins of her former home.

It is said that hundreds of years later, during a restoration of the church in 1599, her tomb was opened, revealing her body to be, miraculously, incorrupt. Artist Stefano Maderno was commissioned to create a marble sculpture of the saint.

Sources disagree about whether the Baroque artwork, still on display today at Cecilia's tomb in the Basilica of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, is a depiction of how the saint's body was found in 1599 or an invention of Maderno. Either way, the sculpture — which depicts Cecilia lying on her right side, her hands tied, her face turned toward the ground and the wound of her martyrdom visible upon her neck — is considered a masterpiece.

There are several widely-told legends about St. Cecilia and her husband. One of the oft-repeated beliefs, dating to the fifth century, is that she sang to God "in her heart" as musicians played at her wedding feast.

This story about the saint comes from a Latin antiphon, but there is a competing interpretation, however.

"Cantantibus organis, Caecilia virgo in corde suo soli Domino decantabat dicens: fiat Domine cor meum et corpus meum immaculatum ut non confundar," the Latin antiphon says. In English it means: "While the instruments played, the virgin Cecilia sang in her heart to the Lord alone, saying, 'Let my heart and my body be made pure, that I may not be confounded.'"

Another version of the antiphon gives a slightly different opening word, "candentibus," instead of "cantantibus," which would change the translation from musical instruments playing to "glowing" instruments of torture.

Scholars continue to disagree about which Latin version is the correct one and which may be a copy error. What is without dispute, however, is St. Cecilia's selfless example of faithfulness to God, even to the point of the sacrifice of her own life.

St. Cecilia's feast day in the Church is celebrated Nov. 22.

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CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

Police are searching for a thief who entered a Manhattan Catholic church this week and stole a gold rose that memorializes a priest who perished in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

Police said in a release that on Wednesday afternoon an individual entered the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on West 31st Street and "removed a gold-plated metal rose from the 9/11 memorial inside without permission or authority to do so."

The suspect on Friday was identified as 21-year-old Deikel Alcantara. The incident was being treated as an act of grand larceny. In New York State, grand larceny involves the theft of property worth at least $1,000. 

Father Brian Jordan, the church's pastor, told the New York Daily News on Thursday that Alcantara was "known to church staffers and had been asked to leave on several occasions," the newspaper said. 

For years, the memorial has stood in honor of Father Mychal Judge, a former pastor at St. Francis who served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. Judge was struck and killed by debris during the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. 

The priest had rushed to the scene of the crisis after the first plane struck. He was reportedly asked by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani to pray for the victims who had initially died in the attack; Judge did so, including at a command post inside the North Tower.

Though not the first to die in the crisis, Judge was designated as "Victim 0001" of the day's mass murder, becoming the first certified victim of the terror attack. He "refused to flee to safety" before the South Tower's collapse, Giuliani said in a memorial tribute last year. 

The memorial is also dedicated to Carole LaPlante, a secular Franciscan and former parishioner who died in the attack. 

The small monument inside the church incorporates a section of twisted steel beams pulled from the wreckage of the World Trade Center after its collapse, along with the gold rose. 

A plaque attached to the monument notes that the rose "transcends the senseless brutality" of the attacks "with an enduring promise of hope."

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CNA Staff, Nov 22, 2024 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

Abortions dropped sharply in Iowa immediately after a strict abortion ban went into effect there, according to data from a major pro-abortion group. 

Data from the Guttmacher Institute, released on Thursday, show an average of 400 clinician-provided abortions per month in Iowa over the first six months of 2024. 

After the state's six-week ban went into effect on July 29, "the number of abortions dropped to an estimated 250 in August, a decrease of 38% from the average over the first six months of the year," Guttmacher said. 

The abortions in the dataset "include procedural abortions as well as medication abortions obtained via telehealth" both in and out of Iowa, Guttmacher said. 

The Guttmacher Institute advocates in favor of abortion; the organization indicated that the data show some Iowa women "may have been forced to continue their [pregnancies]" under the new law. 

The Catholic Church in Iowa earlier this year celebrated the June decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found abortion is "not a fundamental right under the Iowa Constitution." That ruling allowed the heartbeat law to take effect. 

"For us, this is a question of the common good and human dignity. Human life is precious and should be protected in our laws to the greatest extent possible," the state's bishops said. 

The Iowa figures reflect similar drops in abortion seen around the country in the wake of shifting abortion laws. 

Legal abortions in the United States decreased by more than 6% in the first six months that followed the U.S. Supreme Court's 2022 repeal of Roe v. Wade. 

The average number of monthly abortions decreased from 82,270 in the two months before Roe v. Wade was overturned to 77,073 in the six months that followed the decision. 

Similarly, the fertility rate in Texas rose by a statistically significant amount in the wake of the state's pro-life laws, a University of Houston study revealed in January.

A 2023 study found that Texas' six-week abortion ban led to nearly 9,800 more births in the state over a nine-month period than otherwise expected.

Earlier this year, on the other hand, the American Medical Association said data indicated a significant increase in unsupervised abortion attempts from 2021 to 2023. 

The researchers in that study, some of whom had ties to Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion ACLU, alleged that pro-life laws were driving the spike in unsupervised abortions. 

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Vatican City, Nov 22, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin awarded the Ratzinger Prize to University of Notre Dame theologian Cyril O'Regan and Japanese sculptor Etsuro Sotoo at a ceremony at the Vatican on Friday evening.

The Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation chooses the annual recipients of the award, which is named in honor of the late Pope Benedict XVI.

Before the ceremony on Nov. 22, the prize recipients took part in a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Georg Gänswein in the Vatican crypts close to the tomb of Benedict XVI.

They also met with Pope Francis in his study in the apostolic palace.

O'Regan is a systematic theologian who specializes in the thought of 19th- and 20th-century Catholics like St. John Henry Newman, Henri de Lubac, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Born in Ireland in 1952, O'Regan is the first Irishman to win the coveted prize, which has been awarded since 2011 to distinguished scholars mostly working in theology and philosophy.

O'Regan, who earned doctorates in both theology and philosophy from Yale University, has taught at Notre Dame since 1999.

In his speech at the award ceremony on Friday, O'Regan described feeling inadequate to have received the honor, calling the prize "more gift than [just] desert."

The other 2024 Ratzinger Prize winner, Sotoo, is a Japanese sculptor whose work appears in places like the Sagrada Família Basilica in Barcelona, Spain.

Sotoo moved from Japan to Europe in 1978. After settling in Germany, he moved to Spain, remaining in Barcelona, where he went on to become the chief sculptor of Gaudí's Sagrada Familia, the basilica that has been under construction since 1882 and on which Sotoo is responsible for approximately 500 sculptures.

He also sculpted the ambo, from which the Gospel is read, in Florence, Italy's famous Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.

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St. Louis, Mo., Nov 22, 2024 / 15:05 pm (CNA).

Missouri's bishops are urging the state to forgo executing a man next month who was convicted of the 2007 abduction, rape, torture, and murder of a 9-year-old girl.

Police said Christopher Collings confessed to killing Rowan Ford after raping her on Nov. 3, 2007. The murder took place in rural Stella, Missouri, in the far southwest corner of the state. 

Collings' confession, which became a key piece of evidence at his trial, allegedly took place during an unrecorded conversation with now-deceased Police Chief Clinton Clark. Collings' attorneys have argued that the prosecution suppressed information about Clark's alleged criminal history that would have been relevant to the trial. 

Ford's stepfather also admitted to playing a primary role in the crime, though he was ultimately only charged with lesser offenses and eventually released from prison. 

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey in April announced that his office had requested that the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Collings, claiming "no court has ever found any legal errors" with his conviction.

Barring an intervention from the Missouri Supreme Court or the governor, Collings will be executed on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates policy on behalf of the state's bishops, is urging Catholics to contact the governor to express their opposition to Collings' execution.

"The death and other circumstances of Rowan's murder are tragic and abhorrent, and though her death was a great injustice, it still would also be an injustice if the state carries out a man's execution in lieu of confining him to life imprisonment," the bishops said in a statement.

"The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to the death penalty because it disregards the sanctity and dignity of human life," they said.

The bishops said that citizens can reach out to the governor's office to express opposition to the pending execution. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as "inadmissible" and an "attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person" (No. 2267).

The change reflects a development of Catholic doctrine in recent years. St. John Paul II, calling the death penalty "cruel and unnecessary," encouraged Christians to be "unconditionally pro-life" and said that "the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil."

Missouri is among the most prolific of all U.S. states when it comes to the death penalty; it was one of only five states to carry out executions in 2023, carrying out four that year. 

Outgoing Republican Gov. Mike Parson has never granted clemency to a death row inmate during his governorship. In April Parson denied death row inmate Brian Dorsey's clemency request despite protests from Catholics and others, clearing the way for the state's first execution of 2024. 

In September Missouri executed Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams for the brutal murder of a St. Louis journalist in 1998 despite doubts about Williams' guilt. 

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 22, 2024 / 09:10 am (CNA).

American Catholic bishops are asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reject a proposed "gender identity" rule that could make faithful Catholic entities ineligible for contracts with the department.

The HHS has proposed a rule to prohibit "discrimination" against a person based on his or her "sexual orientation" and self-assigned "gender identity" in the administration of all HHS services and programs. The proposed language does not state what actions or policies would constitute discrimination.

According to the proposal, which is undergoing a public comment period, any entity that submits a bid for a contract must "comply with the requirements of this policy" if that contract is awarded. The proposed language does not include any religious exemptions for the nondiscrimination rules.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) electronically submitted a public comment to HHS requesting that the department reject the proposal. The prelates argued the language is ambiguous and could force entities in health-related contracts to provide transgender drugs and surgeries to adults and children with gender dysphoria, even if the entity has a religious or moral objection.

In their public comment, the bishops also expressed concern that the language could force entities in HHS contracts to provide counseling that affirms a person's homosexual attraction, even if that entity has a religious or moral objection.

"The preamble provides no explanation of how this nondiscrimination requirement will be construed, or will work in practice, as applied to the various programs and services that HHS administers and for which it enters into contracts," the USCCB comment stated.

Depending on how the proposed rule is enforced, it could force Catholic entities to either violate their religious beliefs or forgo contracts with HHS altogether. 

The rule would apply to Catholic hospitals that accept patients on Medicare and Medicaid, which are two programs overseen by HHS. It would also apply to Catholic entities that partner with HHS on social services, such as foster care, adoption, and assistance to migrants.

This would not be the first time that HHS under President Joe Biden's administration has sought to force Catholic entities to violate their religious beliefs.

In 2022, HHS promulgated a rule that sought to force all hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, to provide abortions if they constituted a "stabilizing treatment" under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA). 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit blocked the enforcement of this rule and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to rule on the administration's appeal.

An appellate court ruled in August 2022 that HHS could not force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions or provide transgender drugs and surgeries to adults and minors based on its interpretation of the Affordable Care Act's prohibition on "sex discrimination."

The public comment period for the proposed HHS rule ends on Dec. 2 of this year, after which the department will consider the public's suggestions. It will then decide whether to adopt the rule. 

Even if the rule is adopted, it would likely be quickly discarded after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20 of next year. 

The president-elect has been critical of what he calls "transgender insanity," has backed a federal ban on transgender surgeries for minors, and has said he "will take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders, male and female" and support religious freedom.

Trump intends to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead HHS. That appointment will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

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