St. Columba Catholic Church

A landmark trial is underway in Guatemala against Benedicto Lucas García, architect of a counterinsurgency campaign in a war where some 200,000 persons, mostly unarmed Maya, were killed or forcibly disappeared in the 1980s.

From nursing to Network, administration to asylum law, from the border to Capitol Hill, Sr. Mary Ellen Lacy has guided people through some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. 

"We, like most congregations, believe the life force that flows through creation, through our land, through the animals, through humanity, is sacred," says Sinsinawa Dominican Sr. Julie Schwab.  

With Earth Day right around the corner, Daniel P. Horan discusses the final book by the late Catholic French philosopher and social scientist Bruno Latour, If We Lose The Earth, We Lose Our Souls. 

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Arizona House Republicans blocked two attempts on Wednesday to repeal an 1864 law protecting life at conception.

In a near party-line 30-30 vote on Wednesday, House Democrats failed to gain a majority of votes to suspend the Legislature’s rules to fast-track a so-called “abortion ban repeal” bill that would have overturned the 1864 pro-life law. 

Dormant since being invalidated by Roe v. Wade in 1973, the 1864 law protects all unborn life from conception and imposes prison time for those who “provide, supply, or administer” an abortion. 

This temporarily stalls ongoing efforts to repeal the law, which is set to go into effect in the next 37 days.

Debate on the House floor was tense just before the vote as Democrats called the pro-life law “abhorrent” and “archaic.” 

Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez bashed Republicans, saying that “the fact that we will not even entertain a motion to allow those who have been raped or pregnant by incest to be able to have an abortion is extremely, extremely disappointing.” 

Republican Rep. Ben Toma, meanwhile, said: “I understand that we have deeply held beliefs [about abortion], and I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that some of us believe that abortion is in fact the murder of children.” 

Abortion is currently legal in Arizona until the 15th week of pregnancy. If the 1864 law takes effect, however, all abortion will be illegal, except in cases in which the mother’s life is in danger. 

Outrage from abortion advocates erupted last week when the Arizona Supreme Court issued an April 9 ruling that cleared the way for the law to go back into effect. The court ruled that since the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision, there were no legal reasons to keep the law from being enforced.

Planned Parenthood is continuing abortions in Arizona for the time being. The abortion organization holds that a separate ruling by the Maricopa County Superior Court keeps the 1864 law from being enforced until 45 days after the high court’s ruling. 

After the state Supreme Court’s ruling, Democrats in the Arizona House moved quickly to repeal the law, demanding a vote on the measure on April 10. That attempt was also blocked by Republicans. After their efforts to repeal the law were blocked, Democrats began shouting “shame” and “blood on your hands” at their Republican colleagues on the House floor.

This comes as Arizona will likely be one of several states considering an abortion-until-birth amendment on the ballot this November. If passed, the amendment would enshrine a “right” to abortion in the state constitution, strike down virtually all of Arizona’s pro-life protections, and legalize abortion until viability and through all nine months of pregnancy for physical or mental health reasons.

The group advocating for the amendment, Arizona for Abortion Access PAC, has surpassed the required number of signatures and already filed language with the state to include the proposal on the November ballot.

The Arizona secretary of state’s office has yet to verify the signatures, which must happen before the initiative will officially be on the ballot.

The Arizona Catholic Conference, which consists of the state’s four bishops, has spoken out against the ballot initiative, saying that it would “remove most safeguards for girls and women” and “allow for painful late-term abortions of viable preborn babies.” 

“We do not believe that this extreme initiative is what Arizona wants or needs, and we continue to pray that it does not succeed,” the Arizona bishops said in a statement published April 9.

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, 11,530 babies were killed through abortion in Arizona in 2022. 

Brussels, Belgium, Apr 17, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Belgium’s highest court ruled late last night that a conference upholding conservative values in the public square could go ahead in the country’s capital after a Brussels district mayor had ordered police to shut it down yesterday. 

Emir Kir issued the order to halt the National Conservatism conference that was scheduled to take place April 16–17 and that featured among its speakers the Vatican’s former doctrinal chief, Cardinal Gerhard Müller.

Police surrounded the venue on Tuesday, denying access to speakers and guests. 

The conference, organized by the Edmund Burke Foundation, a public affairs institute, aims to promote conservatism as “inextricably tied” to the idea of nation, national independence, and the revival of national traditions. 

The event has been held in various capitals including Rome, London, and Washington, D.C., since its founding in 2019.

Among other speakers at this year’s conference were Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Britain’s former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and the founder of the Brexit Party, Nigel Farage. The British politician called the attempted shut down “a disgrace” and accused the EU of becoming the “new form of communism.”

Kir said he made the decision because the conference’s vision “is not only ethically conservative (e.g., hostility to the legislation of abortion, same-sex unions, etc.) but also focused on the defense of ‘national sovereignty,’ which implies, among other things, a ‘Eurosceptic attitude.’” 

His order also stated that some of the speakers “are reputed to be traditionalists” and that the conference must be banned “to avoid foreseeable attacks on public order and peace.”

Prior to Kir’s attempted shutdown, political pressure had already forced the organizers to cancel two other venues shortly before the conference had begun, after which they found a third hotel venue, called Claridge, located in Kir’s district.

Cardinal Müller told author Rod Dreher, who was also speaking at the conference, that the attempt to shut down the conference was “like Nazi Germany” and that the authorities were acting “like the SA” — Hitler’s brownshirts who used violence and intimidation against opponents. 

The attempted forced cancellation also drew opposition from Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who defended the rights of the conference participants to freedom of speech and of assembly. 

Writing on X before the court’s decision, he called the attempted shutdown “unacceptable” and said that “banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop.”

The Belgian court overturned Kir’s decision after the order was challenged by conference organizers with the support of ADF International, a Christian legal group that works to oppose threats to religious liberty. 

Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF International, said that while “common sense and justice” had prevailed, the attempt to shut down the conference was a “dark mark on European democracy.” 

“No official should have the power to shut down free and peaceful assembly merely because he disagrees with what is being said,” he said in a statement. “The kind of authoritarian censorship we have just witnessed belongs in the worst chapters of Europe’s history.” 

Belgian ADF lawyer Wouter Vaassen called the attempt to shut down the conference “unjust” and said that it “should never have happened, especially in Brussels — the political heart of Europe.” 

“We must diligently protect our fundamental freedoms lest censorship become the norm in our supposedly free societies,” he added.

Along with Müller, other Catholic speakers at this year’s event included Father Benedict Kiely, founder of Nasarean.org, which helps persecuted Christians; the German aristocrat Princess Gloria von Thurn and Taxis; and Gladden Pappin, president of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs.

Another speaker, Jewish author and broadcaster Melanie Phillips, told the audience that she was in Jerusalem on Saturday night when Iran launched aerial attacks on Israel. 

“At 2 a.m., the air raid siren wailed, and I huddled in my stairwell for safety,” she recounted. “Well, I left a war zone to come here. I didn’t realize that I was coming into another war zone in Brussels.” 

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

The Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has agreed to the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee its handling of clergy abuse cases, as part of a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James. 

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Caitlin Clark, a guard for the Iowa Hawkeyes, was selected as the No. 1 draft pick by the Indiana Fever in the 2024 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) draft on April 15. 

The record-breaking face of women’s college basketball ended her collegiate career with 3,951 points — the most in men’s and women’s Division I history — and was a two-time national player of the year among a multitude of other impressive achievements and recognitions.

Raised in a Catholic household, Clark attended Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, where she was coached by Kristin Meyer.

Meyer joined “EWTN News Nightly” host Tracy Sabol on April 16 to share what it has been like for her to watch Clark become a basketball phenom. 

“I always expected her to be successful in college,” Meyer said. “She is a tremendous basketball player, and we saw that throughout her high school years. So, I’m not all that surprised to see the success that she’s had.”

Meyer added that the community in West Des Moines and at Dowling Catholic are not only proud of her accomplishments but also about “how she carries herself as a person.”

“She’s a great leader, a great teammate, and she’s really making a positive impact on not just the sports world, but I think [on] the world in general,” Meyer said.

Meyer explained that Clark’s mother, Anne, along with her aunts and uncles on her mother’s side all attended Dowling Catholic. Clark’s grandfather was also a football coach and teacher at the school. 

“The main reason that her family was involved in Dowling Catholic was because of the faith component, and so Caitlin was always going to go to Dowling Catholic, and she really enjoyed her four years here,” she recalled. 

However, Meyer admitted that Clark was not vocal in high school about her dream to become a professional basketball player. 

“She didn’t really talk about it a lot, but her skill set definitely made me think that it was possible,” Meyer said. “She’s always been one who’s focused on the here and now. So I think she had those long-term goals, but she just wanted to everyday maximize her potential and her time and her efforts. And so she just focused on getting better every single day.”

The high school coach pointed out that “Caitlin is a type of person [for whom] it’s always been important ... to maximize her God-given talents and to share those with the world.”

Meyer continued: “She knows that some of her gifts from God are not only her athleticism but [also] her ability to entertain. So I think she really just tries to maximize those gifts and share those with the world through the sport of basketball.”

The segment of Meyer’s interview on “EWTN News Nightly” can be viewed below.

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 17, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

A coalition of Christian groups — including Catholic nuns, Anglican nuns, Catholic dioceses, and other faith-based ministries — defended their religious freedom rights to abstain from covering abortions in their health care plans in front of New York’s highest court on Tuesday.

The New York State Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that challenges a New York Department of Financial Services regulation that could require the organizations to cover “medically necessary” abortions. Although the law includes a narrow religious exemption, the strict criteria needed to qualify for the exemption could prevent many faith-based organizations from being approved.

Even though the New York State Court of Appeals previously upheld the regulation, the United States Supreme Court asked that the court reconsider its ruling in light of the new religious freedom precedent set in 2021.

Noel Francisco, the lawyer representing the religious groups, told the seven-judge panel that the regulation would force these groups to violate their religious beliefs. He said the narrow religious exemption allows some faith-based groups to abstain from funding abortion but that others fail to qualify, which effectively lets the state “pick religious winners and losers.”

Per the state regulation, a faith-based organization would only qualify for the exemption if it primarily employs people who share in its religious tenets and primarily serves people who share in its religious tenets. Effectively, charitable faith-based organizations that provide services to people regardless of their faith are unable to qualify.

In his oral arguments, Francisco argued that the law is not generally applicable because it does not treat all religious groups equally and prevents some faith-based groups from qualifying for an exemption based on its narrow criteria. Under the strict rules, he noted that the ministry of St. Teresa of Calcutta, widely known as Mother Teresa, would not even be able to qualify for a religious exemption under such rules.

“Under this law, the state would have the discretion to deny a religious employer exemption to Mother Teresa and the sisters of Calcutta because, the last time I checked, the poor people of Calcutta were not predominantly Catholic,” Francisco told the judges. “This is a regime that is contrary to the Supreme Court precedent from root to branch.”

The judges challenged Assistant Solicitor General Laura Etlinger, who represented the state agency that promulgated the regulation, during oral arguments. One of the primary concerns expressed by the judges was that the regulation would force faith-based ministries to either provide abortion coverage or drastically curtail their religious mission to conform themselves to the exemption criteria.

In her oral arguments, Etlinger claimed the state drew “a reasonable line” when setting the criteria for an exemption. She further argued that ruling against the state would “discourage the state from providing accommodations” and the result would be “restrictions on free exercise rather than promoting free exercise.”

Etlinger told the judges that there is “deference [given] to the requesting objector” when an organization applies for the exemption and noted the organizations suing the state “have never sought an exemption.”

In a rebuttal, Francisco countered that his clients did not apply for an exemption because they provide services to people regardless of faith and clearly did not meet the criteria set in the state regulation.

The United States Supreme Court requested that the New York State Court of Appeals reconsider the case in light of the religious freedom victory in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that Philadelphia could not discriminate against faith-based adoption services that refuse to facilitate adoptions for homosexual couples.

CNA Staff, Apr 17, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Episcopal bishops in New York state are vocally opposing a Catholic music group’s usage of a seminary facility in New York City, citing concerns over the purported position of the group’s founders on LGBT issues.

Episcopal News Service (ENS), the official news wire of the Episcopal Church, reported this month that the seven bishops who serve the Episcopal dioceses of New York and Long Island “are publicly opposing the potential long-term lease of General Theological Seminary’s property and facilities” to the School of Sacred Music (SSM).

SSM is “grounded in the Roman Catholic tradition,” the institute says on its website. It offers “support, development, and inspiration to all who value sacred music,” including through a professional choir.

The school “engage[s] and inspire[s] students and professional church musicians, members of the clergy, congregations, faith communities, and all interested members of the public,” it says. 

Since late 2023 the Catholic institution has been using the Episcopal seminary’s Chapel of the Good Shepherd in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. The music school meets twice weekly there for vespers. 

ENS reported this month that the seminary is considering a “long-term lease” with the Catholic organization, one that would see the School of Sacred Music undertaking renovations of the Episcopal campus and paying the seminary an annual rent. 

In their letter, the Episcopal bishops said they were “concerned by the lack of full acceptance of the LGBTQ stance” of the founders of SSM, as well as “the lack of transparency in its funding.” 

“We recognize the difficult financial situation … with the General Seminary campus,” the bishops wrote. “We are also making difficult decisions about the future use of sacred spaces. It’s important to make decisions that align with our mission and values. Human dignity is not negotiable.”

It was not immediately clear what the bishops in their letter meant by the “lack of full acceptance of the LGBTQ stance” of the school’s founders. Spokespersons for the New York and Long Island Episcopal dioceses did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday. 

Though SSM lists relatively little information about its structure or organization on its website, the Episcopal news wire reported that the group is a subsidiary of the Ithuriel Fund, a “major donor” of which is Colin Moran, the president of the Institute on Religion and Public Life. That institute is the publisher of the Catholic magazine First Things. 

ENS reported that “some of the articles published by First Things” under “Moran’s leadership” advocate “particularly conservative views toward human sexuality,” such as a recent article arguing that Christians should not attend gay wedding ceremonies. 

Moran could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. 

In a statement last month, meanwhile, the seminary’s president, Ian Markham, suggested the proposed lease with the Catholic group was necessary for the Episcopal institution to remain solvent. 

The seminary “faces significant revenue and cash flow challenges,” he wrote. “In fiscal year 2023, GTS’ operating expenses were $7 million, against an annual income of $4.3 million. The seminary has no funding source for any emergency capital expenditure, or deferred maintenance, which is estimated to be tens of millions of dollars.”

The seminary’s board “gave its unanimous backing to enter into negotiations with SSM at its November meeting and for these negotiations to continue at its recent February meeting,” he wrote. 

“Any agreement it reaches with the SSM will be consistent with the seminary’s mission and respect GTS’ core commitment to inclusivity,” Markham said in the statement. 

On Wednesday, meanwhile, seminary spokeswoman Nicky Burridge told CNA that “nothing has changed” regarding the plan for the Catholic group to use the property in both the short term and the future.

“[N]egotiations continue with SSM; meanwhile, SSM continues to have a short-term rental agreement to use parts of the Close, such as the Chapel of the Good Shepherd,” she said.