St. Columba Catholic Church

CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating what it says have been multiple threats made against houses of worship, religious schools, and other institutions — including Catholic ones — in Pennsylvania. 

Pennsylvania local media had reported on the alleged threats made earlier in the week. An FBI spokesman told CNA on Thursday that the bureau “is aware of a number of threats made against multiple faith communities, houses of worship, and schools in Western Pennsylvania recently.”

Investigators have “no information at this time to indicate a specific and credible threat against any faith community, religious institution, or educational facility,” the bureau said.

Agents “continue to work with our law enforcement and community partners to mitigate any threat investigations when information comes to our attention,” the spokesman said.

Diocese increases security at schools amid threats

Wendell Hissrich, the director of safety and security at the Diocese of Pittsburgh in the western part of the state, told CNA that the diocese has increased security at several area schools in response to the threats. 

Hissrich, who served in the FBI for 25 years and previously worked as the safety director for the city of Pittsburgh, said that earlier in the week a diocesan elementary school had received “two simultaneous emails” that were “concerning in nature” via a contact form on the school’s website. 

“The staff notified the authorities and our officers,” Hissrich said. The diocese recently launched a new security protocol that includes armed officers being placed in diocesan schools.

“When the local authorities arrived, they indicated there was a similar incident at another school — not a Catholic school — south of ours,” Hissrich said. He spoke with the FBI who told him threats had been made “to not only the schools but other houses of worship.”

“We increased our security throughout all our diocesan schools” as a result, Hissrich said. 

The security director praised the diocese’s team of officers, who were hired last year and whom the diocese recently began to place in schools.

“The officers we have are all retired from local law enforcement or state police, with in excess of 20 years experience for each of them,” Hissrich said. “We’re very fortunate to have those officers.”

Hissrich said the threat against the school was “not specific” and ultimately “not credible,” though he said that “this time of year, there’s usually an upswing in threats.” 

“We’re prepared for that and we’re still prepared for it,” he said. 

Jewish institutions have also been targeted by threats this month. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said in a statement last week that “several Jewish organizations throughout Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh,” had been “targeted with hoax bomb threats.”

The federation said it had launched a “Virtual Block Watch Program” that would allow citizens to “provide residential or business video surveillance footage to help prevent, deter, and possibly solve crimes.”

Hissrich confirmed that Jewish institutions in the area are being targeted.

“Our Jewish friends are receiving a lot of threats, especially with what’s happening in Israel,” he said.

The FBI, meanwhile, said it urged residents to “remain vigilant and to promptly report any suspicious individuals or activities to law enforcement immediately.”

Boston, Mass., Apr 19, 2024 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Mary Jane Rein decided to leave her job as executive director of the Holocaust studies center at the secular Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in hopes of finding a “warmer welcome” at a nearby Catholic university in the same city. 

Rein, who is Jewish, announced that she was resigning in an April Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Why I’m leaving Clark University,” following an incident at an event in which students from Clark heckled her as she attempted to introduce the evening’s speaker, an Israeli military reservist. 

“There is no joy in working on behalf of those students who would, with the support of university leadership, try to silence me in public rather than engage with me civilly,” she wrote. “I can’t invest my time and efforts to advance an institution that lacks the strength of character to protect diverse points of view.”

Clark University has since issued a statement to the media denying any wrongdoing.

But Rein has already moved on to her new role at the Augustinian-run Assumption University in Worcester to launch the Center for Civic Friendship, an institution with a stated mission to be a national resource on “civic friendship, its possibilities and boundaries, and what makes it harder or easier to achieve,” the center’s website says.

Assumption is led by Greg Weiner, the first Jewish president of a Catholic university in the United States.

“To my surprise as both a scholar and a Jew, I feel a warmer welcome and more commonality of purpose at a Catholic institution than at Clark, a secular one,” Rein wrote in her op-ed.

“I find common cause with Assumption and have chosen to align myself with its mission to pursue truth in the company of friends. Its commitment to a style of learning that acknowledges and respects different opinions gives me hope that universities can lead us toward a better future,” she wrote.

Rein’s departure follows 20 years with the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, an undergraduate and Ph.D. program studying the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and other mass atrocities.

Her parents’ extended families were victims of the Holocaust, Rein wrote in the piece. 

CNA reached out to Rein for comment but did not receive a response.

What happened at Clark?

On March 13, Rein, a self-proclaimed Zionist, helped host a pro-Israel lecture at nearby Worcester State University, along with one of Worcester State’s history professors and the advocacy organization Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts.

The lecturer was a man named Shahar Peled, a soldier of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who was to speak about his experience as a first responder after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on innocents in Israel by Hamas, Rein wrote in her op-ed.

The event was attended by protesters who “repeatedly” interrupted the lecture, stood up and made statements, rang their cellphones, and even pulled a fire alarm, forcing the evacuation of everyone from the auditorium, according to Rein.

Students are shown in a video of the event online yelling at the speaker, calling the IDF “terrorists” and the soldier a “genocide supporter,” while an alarm is heard going off and police are shown directing people to leave the event.

Rein also said that she was heckled at the talk by “a trio” of Clark University Ph.D. students from the Strassler Center who attended the lecture and whom she is familiar with.

When Rein was being introduced so that she could introduce the soldier, one of the Ph.D. students “shouted,” demanding that Rein’s university title not be used, according to her op-ed.

Rein wrote that the same student spoke at a question and answer session after the talk and accused Israel of committing genocide in its military response in Gaza. The three students then approached Rein after the event, demanded that she resign from her position at Clark and threatened to have her “investigated,” Rein wrote. 

A “senior administrator” at Clark then “admonished” Rein the next day, directing her not to use her university affiliation with events not sponsored by Clark, calling it “highly problematic,” Rein continued.

Rein, who said she never mentioned her title, wrote that she asked the administrator if the university would hold others at Clark to the same standard. 

The administrator replied that while faculty members drawing on their “research and expertise” may “speak freely,” an “administrator in an executive position like yours running a center” would create “confusion” if her title was used, according to Rein.

“I suspected I was being asked to censor myself on the basis of my Jewish identity and support for Israel, as I inferred there would be professional consequences if I presented that disfavored view,” she wrote.

In a statement to the Worcester Business Journal, Clark denied allegations of admonishing Rein. 

“Ms. Rein was not admonished,” the statement said. “As a non-faculty administrator of the Strassler Center, Ms. Rein was provided guidance after the event about appropriately clarifying when participation in future activities is in a professional or personal capacity.”

“This is important because it avoids confusion by making clear when an administrator is representing the university. We would provide this guidance to any administrator at Clark University regardless of religion, identity, or political views,” the university wrote.

The school also said that if the interruption had occurred on Clark’s campus, “we would have intervened and handled the disruption consistent with our community standards and policies articulated in our Student Code of Conduct.”

“As specified in our Code of Conduct Clark students are responsible for their behavior outside the university’s confines. However, the university may invoke disciplinary action when notified of violations of federal, state, and local laws,” the statement said.

Catholic universities a haven for Jewish students

“I am ready to sign on to a different cause, one rooted in respect, honest inquiry, and the free exchange of ideas in the context of civic friendship. I will be joining Assumption University, where I will help launch the new Center for Civic Friendship,” she wrote.

Her departure to a Catholic university comes as a number of Catholic universities have sought to make themselves more hospitable to Jewish students amid the war between Israel and Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack on innocents in Israel.

Since the war began there have been several reported instances of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across the nation that have resulted in the harassment of Jewish students. Many reports have indicated that Jewish students feel unsafe on campus.

Last October, a coalition of over 100 institutions called Universities United Against Terrorism denounced the Oct. 7 attacks, adding that they “stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience.”

Many of those institutions are Catholic, including Assumption University, Catholic University, Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Notre Dame, Mercyhurst University, and Salve Regina University, among others.

All of the schools in the coalition vowed to offer Jewish students an “expedited” transfer process, Stephen Hildebrand, Franciscan University’s then-vice president for campus affairs told The Times of Israel last November. Hildebrand said that several Jewish students had reached out to the school at the time with interest in transferring.

However, a school spokesman told CNA Thursday that ultimately none ended up doing so but the offer still stands.

“It just seemed so obvious, the right thing to do,” Hildebrand told the outlet. “To make our Jewish brethren aware if they need help that we are here as a safe haven.”

“We are doing this because of our Catholic faith, not in spite of it,” he said.

Vatican City, Apr 19, 2024 / 10:07 am (CNA).

In the latest move in Pope Francis’ reform of the Vatican judiciary, the pope issued a new motu proprio on Friday on the retirement age and benefits for cardinal judges and magistrates in the Vatican’s court system.

The April 19 motu proprio states that Vatican magistrates will retire at the end of the judicial year in which they turn 75 and cardinal judges at the age of 80, unless Pope Francis asks them to remain in office beyond the age limit.

Magistrates and judges who wish to resign from office before the retirement age can only do so with the approval of the pope.

The pope also has the prerogative to dismiss magistrates unable to fulfill their duties at any time. Upon the termination of their duties, magistrates will retain the rights to assistance and welfare provided to Vatican citizens and employees.

The motu proprio, which will go into effect the day after its publication, amends the Church’s Law on the Judicial System of Vatican City State. 

The changes stipulate that the pope can appoint the president of the court’s successor to serve as an assistant in the year leading up to the president’s retirement.

The amended law also states that magistrates who have retired are entitled to full pension benefits from Vatican City State regardless of whether they receive other payments of a similar nature accrued in another country. 

Other articles in the motu proprio enumerate the laws governing the salary structure, retirement benefits, and civil liability for Vatican magistrates.

Pope Francis wrote in his brief introduction to the amendments that “the experience gained over the last few years in the administration of justice has led to the need for a series of interventions relating to the judicial system of the Vatican City State.”

He said that the changes aim to promote “the professional dignity and economic treatment of the ordinary magistrates of the Tribunal and the Office of the Promoter of Justice.”

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski of Krakow, Poland, announced the decision to begin the process of beatification and canonization of Helena Agnieszka Kmiec, a young lay missionary murdered in Bolivia in 2017.

The prelate said that after the preliminary phase began in December 2022, he made the decision to officially open the process for Kmiec after having consulted the Polish Bishops’ Conference and receiving the go-ahead from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints.

“With this edict I call on all those who have any document, letter, or information about the Servant of God, both positive and negative, to send them to the Metropolitan Curia of Krakow before June 30,” the archbishop stated.

The edict opening the cause was published April 14 and will be read in all the parishes and chapels in Krakow on Sunday, April 21. 

Who was Helena Kmiec?

Servant of God Helena Agnieszka Kmiec was born on Feb. 9, 1991, in Krakow. She was the second daughter of Jan Kmiec and Agnieszka Bejska. Her mother died just a few weeks after she was born.

Her father later married Barbara Zając, and Kmiec was raised “in a home full of love, warmth, and, above all, deep faith,” the edict noted.

Beginning in 1998, she attended primary and secondary schools run by the Association of Catholic Educators in Libiąż, Poland. She then spent two years on a scholarship in the United Kingdom. From 2009–2014 she studied engineering at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland.

The edict noted that Kmiec went “to holy Mass almost every day while she was a student, which for her was a very important time of the day.”

At the university, she learned about the Salvator Missionary Volunteer Service of the Congregation of Salvatorian Priests and became one of their missionaries. In 2012 she went to Hungary to run a summer camp for children; in 2013 she was sent to Zambia, where she worked with street children; and in 2014 she went to Romania, where she served young people.

Before being sent on one of these missions, Kmiec wrote: “I received the grace of God, … the gift freely given to give to others, and I have to share this gift! All the skills I have, the abilities I acquire, the talents I develop, are not meant to serve me, but so that I can use them to help others.”

“The greatest gift is that I know God and I can’t keep it to myself, I have to spread it! If I can help someone, make them smile, make them happier, teach them something, then I want to do it,” she added.

Murdered in Bolivia

On Jan. 8, 2017, Kmiec began volunteering in Bolivia, where she planned to stay six months. Just days after her arrival, on Jan. 24, she was murdered at Edmundo Bojanowski School, which is run by the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Pacata neighborhood of Cochabamba.

According to reports, two criminals entered the school to rob the place and were surprised by the young woman. One of them attacked her with a knife, killing her.

Kmiec was 26 years old when she died on her last volunteer mission with Salvator.

After her death, the edict related, “her reputation for a holy life and dedication to God and the Church spontaneously arose among the faithful. Many people prayed and continue to pray for her intercession.”

The edict concluded by noting that “the example of the Servant of God can certainly be an inspiration for people — especially young people — to pursue their vocation to holiness with great passion and commitment through volunteering and missionary activity.”

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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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 17:55 pm (CNA).

Scotland’s only gender clinic for minors is formally pausing the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone medications that are designed to facilitate gender transitions for children after a review commissioned by the English government questioned the efficacy of those practices.

This announcement effectively ends the practice of providing sex-change drugs and hormone medications to children in Scotland — just one month after England instituted the same ban.

Per the new policy formalized on April 18, new patients in Scotland must wait until they are 18 years old to access those drugs or hormone medications. However, patients who are under the age of 18 and have already begun such remedies to facilitate a gender transition will not be forced to stop.

“We are committed to providing the best possible clinical care for young people … and [we] understand the distress that gender incongruence can cause,” the announcement from the Glasgow-based Sandyford Sexual Health Service read.

“While this pause is in place, we will continue to give anyone who is referred into the Young People Gender Service the psychological support that they require while we review the pathways in line with the findings,” the announcement added.

The National Health Services of Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), which is the publicly funded health care system that runs the gender clinic, formally notified its patients of the pause on Thursday.

According to a statement from NHSGGC, these remedies were paused because of the findings in the Cass Review: a comprehensive report on gender transition treatments for minors that was commissioned by the English government. The report, led by Dr. Hilary Cass, found that the rationale used to justify sex-change drugs and hormone alterations to facilitate sex changes in children is based on weak evidence and that the health risks it poses to children are unclear. 

“The findings informing the Cass Review are important, and we have reviewed the impact on our clinical pathways,” NHSGGC Director of Public Health Emilia Crighton said in a statement.

“The next step from here is to work with the Scottish government and academic partners to generate evidence that enables us to deliver safe care for our patients,” she added.

Crighton also said the “toxicity around public debate” about treatments for children with gender dysphoria “is impacting the lives of young people seeking the care of our service and does not serve the teams working hard to care and support them.”

Tracey Gillies, the executive medical director of NHS Lothian, emphasized the importance of putting patient safety above all else.

“The Cass Review is a significant piece of work into how the NHS can better support children and young people who present with gender dysphoria,” Gillies said in a statement. “Patient safety must always be our priority, and it is right that we pause this treatment to allow more research to be carried out.”

Researchers in the United States have also been studying the potential that puberty blockers could cause irreversible negative effects on children. A study published by the Mayo Clinic in March found that boys who take puberty blockers could suffer “irreversible” harm based on the effects the drugs have on testicular cells.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Minnesota, which is a leading research institution in the field of genetics that has produced five Nobel Prize-winning scientists.

Although some Republican-led states in the United States have begun to prohibit doctors from prescribing these drugs and hormone medications to children, the practice is still legal in more than half of the country. Access to these drugs, and access to sex-change surgeries for minors, has become a leading cause of division between Republicans and Democrats in the country.

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 18, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Father Marko Rupnik, a priest dismissed from the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 2023 — accused since 2018 of having committed serious sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse against at least 20 women in the Loyola Community that he co-founded in Slovenia — continues to appear as a Jesuit and consultant to the Vatican in the 2024 Pontifical Yearbook.

The information appears on page 1346 of the yearbook, where the list of the consultants of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is published. The entry reads “P. Rupnik Marko Ivan, S.I.” The abbreviation “S.I.” stands for “Societas Iesu,” the Latin name for the Society of Jesus.

Rupnik was dismissed from the Jesuits on June 15, 2023. The decision was made public in a statement noting that on more than one occasion he ignored the restrictions imposed by his superior and refused to respond to his alleged victims and to address his past actions.

ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, contacted the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, to ask him how it is that Rupnik appears in the Pontifical Yearbook but did not receive a response by time of publication.

The debate on Rupnik’s art

Rupnik is also a famous Catholic artist whose works — especially mosaics — are found in many pilgrimage sites around the world. An important part of the ethical debate surrounding Rupnik’s case is whether his artwork should be removed out of respect for his victims.

An April 15 editorial in the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, argued: “His distinctive mosaics were commissioned for a purpose: to lift minds and hearts toward God. They are no longer capable (if they ever were) of achieving that purpose,” therefore they should be removed.

Father Eduardo Hayen Cuarón, a Mexican priest and exorcist, wrote on X April 15: “I found the mosaics of Father Marko Rupnik to be amazing, especially those at the National Shrine of St. John Paul II in Washington.”

“It's a shame that they have to be removed now. The reason? After the accusations against him for abusing several nuns, his works of art no longer fulfill their function of elevating the spirit toward God,” the priest commented.

Blogger and former atheist Leah Libresco on April 16 commented on X that “if you want to defend Rupnik’s art, you have to be advocating for justice for Rupnik and reparations for his victims. Part of why people are going after the art is because there has been so little progress in pursuing consequences for the man.”

Catholic radio show host Al Kresta quoted from the Register editorial April 16 on X: “While it is far short of the sort of justice that this case demands, we have reached beyond the point in the Father Marko Rupnik scandal when concrete steps must be taken to remove the disgraced artist’s ubiquitous mosaics from public display.”

The Rupnik case

Bishop Daniele Libanori, the Vatican investigator who uncovered allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse by Rupnik, said the claims are true, according to a letter he sent to Italian priests obtained by the Associated Press. Libanori now serves as the Holy Father’s supervisor for Consecrated Life.

Rupnik was excommunicated in May 2020 for hearing the confession of one of his victims with whom he had sexual activity, but the sanction was lifted two weeks later.

The Society of Jesus dismissed Rupnik from the order in June 2023, and the Diocese of Koper in Slovenia incardinated the priest in August that year stating that it did so because “no judicial ruling has been issued” against him.

In October 2023, Pope Francis lifted the statute of limitations and asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case in order to allow a process to take place after it had been determined that “there were serious problems in the handling of the Father Marko Rupnik case and lack of outreach to victims.”

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

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Planned Parenthood’s latest report reveals that the abortion giant performed its highest-ever number of abortions the year Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Released on Tuesday, the 2022-2023 report, titled “Above & Beyond,” shows that Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022. This is an increase of 18,560 — or 5% — from the previous report, which showed 374,155 abortions in a one-year period.

According to an analysis by the faith-based law firm Liberty Counsel, Planned Parenthood’s latest abortion numbers mean that the organization ended 1,075 human lives through abortion every day and 44 every hour.

Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said that despite the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, “Planned Parenthood’s annual report reveals once again that its primary mission is making huge profit by aborting innocent babies.”

The Planned Parenthood report reflects abortion numbers in the months before and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The document says that locations in states “where abortion is protected” saw a 700% increase in demand. The report also said that Planned Parenthood helped to refer and coordinate travel for over 33,000 abortions.

While showing a 10-year high in abortions, overall services offered by Planned Parenthood, such as cancer screenings, prenatal services, contraceptive services, and STD prevention, continued a downward trend, according to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The Lozier Institute’s analysis of the report found that Planned Parenthood’s total services are down by 17% since 2010 while cancer screenings and prevention services are notably down 71%.

According to the Lozier Institute, Planned Parenthood performed 228 abortions for every adoption referral between 2021 and 2022.

Planned Parenthood’s 2023 revenue, meanwhile, amounted to nearly $2.1 billion, which is an increase from approximately $1.9 billion reported the previous year. As much as $699.3 million of that revenue came from tax-dollar-funded government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements, according to the report.

Pro-life advocates responded to the report by criticizing Planned Parenthood for its emphasis on abortions rather than health care.

“Planned Parenthood murdered an average of: 1,076 babies every day 45 babies every hour 1 baby every 80 seconds,” Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, said on X.

“We must defund & shut down Planned Parenthood NOW,” she said.

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, wrote at National Review that the figures were “consistent with Planned Parenthood’s long-term trend of performing more abortions and providing fewer health services.”

“This is helpful information as pro-lifers continue our efforts to defund Planned Parenthood at both the state and the federal levels,” New said.

“This report is jarringly titled ‘Above and Beyond.’ The sick irony is that they are going ‘above and beyond’ not to care for women but to expand abortion,” Human Coalition President Jeff Bradford said in a statement to CNA. 

The result, Bradford continued, is “more wounded women” and “more dead children.” 

“At Human Coalition, we know full well that vulnerable women are victims of the abortion industry because we see the walking wounded all the time,” Bradford said in the statement. 

“They leave abortion clinics and return to the very circumstances that pressured them to abort in the first place — poverty, unemployment, family pressure, or domestic abuse. Abortion solves none of these problems,” he said.