The Catholic Church in East St. James Parish

Thousands of pilgrims come together each year to take part in the annual Walk to Mary, which takes place on the first Saturday of May in Wisconsin. The 21-mile pilgrimage starts at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, and ends at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin. / Credit: The Shrine of Our Lady of Champion

CNA Staff, May 2, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Thousands of pilgrims come together each year to take part in the annual Walk to Mary, which takes place on the first Saturday of May in Wisconsin. The 21-mile pilgrimage starts at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, and ends at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin.

The Walk to Mary will take place on May 4 this year and includes several “join in” points along the route that offer participants unable to walk the entire distance to participate. These locations shorten the pilgrimage length, allowing pilgrims of all ages to take part in what is a spiritual and physical test in perseverance.

This year’s pilgrimage is particularly special as the participants will be walking similar stretches that the perpetual pilgrims and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on the Marian Route will be walking during the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage this June.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage will be making a stop at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion on June 16, where there will be a Mass celebrated and a large Eucharistic rosary procession.

Father Joseph Aytona, CPM, rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion, told CNA in an interview that the Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage was actually named in honor of Our Lady of Champion.

“It is an honor to pray over this path during the Walk to Mary and, in a real way, ‘prepare the way of the Lord and make straight his paths’ for when he arrives in June through the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage,” he said.

Since 2023, a segment of the Walk to Mary has been designed to accommodate children, families, and anyone who wants to participate in the pilgrimage but is challenged by the longer distances. This 1.7-mile route, called “The Walk With the Children,” merges into the last half a mile of the longer route.

Aytona shared that they are expecting more than 6,000 pilgrims from around the world to attend this year’s Walk to Mary. 

“Participants walk down everyday streets and trails through the Green Bay area, led by a carried statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” he explained. “They pray the rosary, sing hymns, and silently reflect on the intentions they are walking for. It’s always a beautiful display of faith for the world to see.”

Aytona compared the walk to a “mini-version of the Camino de Santiago in Europe,” adding that “the Walk to Mary draws people to the heart of pilgrimage — the opportunity for one to draw closer to the Lord and for him to draw closer to you — but all through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.”

The final destination of the walk is also particularly special as the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion is the first and only approved Marian apparition in the United States. 

On Oct. 9, 1859, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a young Belgian woman named Adele Brise in the woods near present-day Champion, Wisconsin. Seeing the beautiful lady dressed in dazzling white with a crown of stars around her head, Brise asked the woman who she was.

The lady replied: “I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same.”

The Blessed Mother then told the young girl to “gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation. Teach them their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do.”

The apparition was approved by Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay in 2010. 

Karmen Lemke, executive director of Catholic Charities at the Diocese of Green Bay, called the 21-mile pilgrimage “absolutely life-changing.”

This year marks Lemke’s third time participating in the Walk to Mary; however, her first two experiences hold a special place in her heart. 

“My first walk, the full 21 miles, was in 2022, and my inspiration for participating was to join my friend Doris Lamers, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer,” Lemke shared with CNA in an interview. 

“The Blessed Mother has been an important person in her life and the Walk to Mary was something she really wanted to do. A few days before I asked again if she wanted to walk, even if we did the short version, and she quickly replied: ‘I want to walk and I want to do the whole thing,’” she recalled.

Lemke said that will be a day she will “forever treasure.”

“The weather was perfect, but our conversations along the walk were priceless,” she said. “We prayed the rosary and talked about life in general. We met so many wonderful people along the way, sharing stories of why they walk.”

In 2023, Lemke and Lamers participated in the walk again, along with Lamers’ sister and niece; however, due to the progression of the cancer, Lemke pushed Lamers in a wheelchair for the last seven miles of the walk.

“Upon our arrival at the shrine, Doris received a special blessing from Father Joseph [Aytona]. It was wonderful. I know that Doris knew exactly what was going on and was grateful for the day.”

Lamers passed away on Sept. 20, 2023.

“This year will hold a different meaning for us,” Lemke said. “We know that Doris will be with us and she’ll be saying, ‘Come on girls, you can do the whole route!’”

As for what Lemke has taken away from participating in the Walk to Mary, she said she has come to see “that anyone can do it with a little encouragement and not a lot of necessary training. I was moved by the number of people and their love for Mary and the love for their faith. It was a true sense of community.”

Aytona said he hopes that participants “are led to a deeper devotion to Our Lord Jesus.”

“True devotion to Mary always brings us to Jesus, and when people step foot on the grounds where Mary appeared, I hope they have an encounter with her that ultimately leads them to profound encounters with the merciful and divine love of Christ,” he added.

The pro-life flag from the Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com). / Credit: Pro-Life Flag Project (www.prolifeflag.com)

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 18:50 pm (CNA).

Here’s a look at abortion-related developments that took place in various U.S. states this week. 

Florida’s six-week pro-life law takes effect

Florida’s Heartbeat Protection Act took effect on Wednesday, May 1. The law protects unborn babies from abortion starting at six weeks of pregnancy. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law back in April 2023, but it remained blocked until an April decision by the state Supreme Court that cleared the way for it to take effect. 

This comes as a high-stakes abortion amendment, effectively legalizing the procedure through all nine months of pregnancy, is set to be included on the ballot this November. 

Arizona Senate votes to repeal law protecting life at conception

In a 16-14 vote the Arizona Senate voted to repeal a law protecting unborn babies from abortion beginning at conception. The so-called “abortion ban repeal” bill passed the Arizona Senate despite a narrow Republican majority, due to two Republicans joining all Democrats to repeal the pro-life law. The Arizona House already passed the repeal bill in a similarly close vote last week. Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has already said she plans to quickly sign the bill, which will return the state to limiting abortion after 15 weeks. 

South Dakota abortion amendment reaches required signatures

Dakotans for Health, a pro-abortion group in South Dakota, announced on Wednesday that it has exceeded the required number of signatures to add an abortion amendment to the state’s November ballot. The amendment proposal and signatures will need to be vetted by state authorities. If passed, the amendment would override the state’s existing pro-life laws and enshrine abortion into the state constitution. Currently, abortion is only legal in South Dakota if the life of the mother is at risk.

Tennessee governor signs ‘Baby Olivia’ pro-life bill

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill on Tuesday to increase education on fetal development in public schools. The bill mandates that the state’s family life curricula include a three-minute video titled “Baby Olivia,” which was produced by the pro-life group Live Action and shows an unborn baby’s development from conception till birth. 

Several other states — Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, and West Virginia — are also considering passing bills to add the Baby Olivia video to their curriculum.

Maine governor signs out-of-state abortion law

Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a law last week that seeks to shield out-of-state patients who are seeking abortions or so-called “gender-affirming care” in Maine from possible prosecution. The legislation would prevent their medical records from being shared with law enforcement agencies in other states where such practices have been banned. The law also gives abortionists in the state immunity from any prosecutions on abortions performed on out-of-state women. 

Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore pack the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen during a concluding listening session on the archdiocese's major parish restructuring plan on April 30, 2024. / Credit: Matthew Balan

Baltimore, Md., May 1, 2024 / 18:10 pm (CNA).

Hundreds of Catholic residents of Baltimore packed the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen on Tuesday evening to give their often-impassioned reactions to a process that could lead to the closure of nearly two-thirds of the city’s parishes.

Several parishes from the state’s largest city organized large contingents to attend the April 30 meeting, which was the final of three listening sessions for the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s “Seek the City” parish restructuring proposal. They made their presence known with custom-made T-shirts or ethnic attire, with some even carrying large banners that begged Archbishop William Lori to spare their churches.

Parishioners from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in the Mount Washington neighborhood of the city printed a banner that proclaimed: “SOS! Save Our Shrine.” The group from the largely-Filipino parish also participated vocally in the session, including an emotional plea from John Tagle, a high school student. Tagle worried that his parish would be gone when he returned home from college.

A non-Filipino member of the shrine, David Bender, bluntly stated: “The proposal does not make spiritual sense.” 

Many of those wearing custom T-shirts came from Holy Rosary, a parish in the Fells Point neighborhood that has connections to two Polish canonized saints. Some of their group wore ethnic attire and waved the white and red flag of their Eastern European homeland. 

A young woman from Holy Rosary wondered why the archdiocese would shutter a place that was visited by St. John Paul II (when he was Cardinal Karol Wojytla in 1976). The parish is also directly tied to the canonization process of St. Faustina Kowalska, as it was the site of a documented miraculous healing attributed to the Polish sister.

Auxiliary Bishop Bruce Lewandowski gave a grim assessment as he spoke to local media before presiding over the listening session. “This is difficult. It’s heart-wrenching,” he emphasized. “But we’re at a pivotal moment in the city Church. We need to do this.”

Lewandowski led the attendees in prayer before starting the main presentation about the parish closure/consolidation proposal under “Seek the City.” He, along with two lay consultants, began a slideshow that first gave an overview of the two-year process leading up to the current juncture.

The trio then unveiled several slides that outlined the proposal to shrink the city’s parishes from 61 parishes to 26 parishes. The City of Baltimore, along with some immediate surrounding parts of neighboring Baltimore County, was divided into five regions (center, east, west, north, and south). While the first four regions would have three to five consolidated parishes, the south region would be reduced to only two. 

An additional two parishes have been designated “personal parishes”: St. Ignatius, which is administered by the Jesuits, and St. Alphonsus, the home of the Traditional Latin Mass in Baltimore. During the listening session, the archdiocese disclosed that a final decision on the “Seek the City” proposal would be made by mid-June.

The slideshow spotlighted that four of the merged parishes would specifically minister to Hispanic communities. It also noted that the Filipino community — currently centered at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart — would move to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.

Other parishoners with deep roots in Baltimore City also bewailed the spiritual devastation the proposed restructuring would cause. A representative from St. Rita’s in Dundalk (a community that was directly impacted by the recent collapse of the Key Bridge at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor) begged: “Don’t let the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ leave Old Dundalk!”

Sue Jones, who has lived her entire life in the region, reflected on entering her eighth decade as a Catholic in the primatial see of the United States. Jones, who attends St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in the Hampden neighborhood, underlined that “killing [the parishes], or turning them into unrecognizable hubs, ... is the final nail in the coffin for the Church in Baltimore City.” Her parish would be closed under the current proposal.

The lifelong Baltimore resident added that she remained hopeful.

“I’m so proud, because the remaining Catholics are here in spite of the archdiocese’s leadership,” she said after the listening session.

The St. Louis Cathedral, the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States, on April 9, 2020, in New Orleans. / Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

A criminal investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans is based on a suspicion that it may be linked to child sex trafficking, according to allegations presented in a search warrant granted to Louisiana State Police.

The affidavit requesting the search warrant, first obtained by the New Orleans-based WWL Radio, alleges that multiple sex abuse victims provided statements that claim they were transported to other parishes and outside of Louisiana, where they were sexually abused. It further alleges a scheme within the archdiocese in which abused children were instructed to provide “gifts” to certain priests, which were meant to signal that the children were targets for sexual abuse.

According to the allegations in the affidavit, multiple victims reported that they were brought to the New Orleans Seminary, where they were instructed to “swim naked in the pool and would be sexually assaulted or abused.” It also alleges that investigators found that this was “a common occurrence” and that other members of the archdiocese were present. 

“Based on these findings, as well as the allegations of previous widespread child sexual abuse, it was determined that further investigation into the Archdiocese of New Orleans was necessary,” investigator Scott Rodrigue wrote in the affidavit. 

Judge Juana Lombard granted police the search warrant last week, but the allegations in the warrant were not made public until Tuesday, April 30. It allows police to search personnel files, financial records, communications, and other documents related to allegations of sexual abuse.

The warrant acknowledges that the police have probable cause to suspect felony violations of the law that prohibits the “trafficking of children for a sexual purpose.”

Although the allegations contained in the warrant do not indicate when the alleged trafficking occurred, the information that led to a suspicion of sex trafficking was obtained by police during an earlier investigation into a retired priest named Lawrence Hecker, who is accused of raping an underage teenage boy in the 1970s. Hecker was indicted for the alleged crime but has not yet been tried.

The affidavit alleges that documents obtained during the Hecker investigation show that “previous archbishops … not only knew of the [widespread] sexual abuse and failed to report all the claims to law enforcement, but [also] spent archdiocese funding to support the accused.”

One document cited in the affidavit states that one specific archbishop “was aware of rampant sexual abuse throughout the archdiocese,” but the affidavit leaves out the archbishop’s name. 

The affidavit alleges, without stating the exact time frame, that the archdiocese “disregarded” or “covered up” claims of widespread sexual abuse. It alleges that in many cases, abuse claims “were not reported to law enforcement.” In some instances, the archdiocese provided “monetary payments” to victims or their families “to dismiss the allegations,” according to the affidavit.

Investigators conducted “a large number of interviews” of individuals who allege widespread sexual abuse against children in the archdiocese, according to the affidavit. Interviews are still being conducted. 

The Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 amid financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the costs of litigation and settlements related to alleged sexual abuse.

CNA reached out to the archdiocese for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. 

null / Credit: Juthamat8899/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new report on Wednesday highlighting the countries with the worst religious persecution in the world.

From this report, which is released annually, USCIRF makes recommendations to the State Department on how to best advocate for religious freedom. The suggestions typically translate into sanctions from the U.S. against violating countries to pressure them to improve their religious tolerance. 

This year, the countries topping USCIRF’s list of the world’s most egregious religious freedom violators were Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

USCIRF recommends these nations be designated as “countries of particular concern,” or “CPCs,” a label that has been called America’s “most powerful tool” to advocate for religious freedom.

Here are some of the countries with the most concerning religious freedom trends in the last year.

Afghanistan 

Religious freedom and free expression have continued to deteriorate in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, according to the report. The country is violently enforcing an apostasy law that bans conversions from Islam. The report also said that in the last year, the Taliban implemented a series of measures to seriously restrict women’s dress, movement, access to education, and employment. Despite USCIRF’s recommendation, Afghanistan is not currently a CPC, although the Taliban is designated as an “entity of particular concern” (EPC).

Azerbaijan

A majority Muslim country, Azerbaijan was included in USCIRF’s CPC list this year for the first time. The country has been increasingly encroaching on the religious rights of both Azerbaijani Muslims as well as of ethnic minorities, such as the Armenian Christians. According to the report, Azerbaijani citizens are “routinely” harassed, fined, and imprisoned based on their religious activities. The report said that 183 “peaceful believers” were unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan in 2023 because of their religious beliefs or activities. 

After a violent Azerbaijani takeover of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and a subsequent mass exodus of Armenian Christians, USCIRF reported that several historic Christian sites have been damaged and there remain serious concerns about further threats to the region’s ancient religious sites. Azerbaijan also evicted Armenian Apostolic priests from the historic Dadivank Monastery in the Kalbajar region along the Armenian border. 

China

The most populous country in the world, China is a mainstay of USCIRF’s CPC list because of its continued “sinicization” program, which subjects all its citizens and all religions in the country to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Under China’s communist government, all religions are strictly controlled by the state and any unauthorized religious activity is dealt with severely. In 2023, the report said, Chinese authorities continued to “forcibly disappear” and convict underground Catholic priests, including two bishops. The government also continues to subject the Muslim Uyghurs to forced labor and indoctrination camps and to persecute and imprison thousands of members of the Falun Gong religious movement. 

India 

The second-most populous country in the world, India is increasingly emerging as a leader on the world stage. Despite this, India, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalist government, has witnessed deteriorating religious freedom conditions. Though the country’s constitution protects the right to practice one’s faith, much of the country enforces anti-conversion laws. According to the report, thousands of Christians and Muslims were subjected to attacks and intimidation in 2023 while hundreds of churches and mosques were destroyed. 

Iran

Citizens in the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to suffer “extremely poor” religious freedom conditions, according to the report. In 2023, protesters against the government’s mandatory hijab laws and other restrictions on religion were systematically harassed, arrested, raped, tortured, and, in some cases, executed. Religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, were severely punished, sometimes executed, whenever caught violating the country’s strict Islamic law. 

Nicaragua

Nicaraguan dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo intensified their persecution of the Catholic Church and other religious groups in 2023. In the last year, the dictatorship seized the assets and properties of Catholic churches, monasteries, and schools and arbitrarily imprisoned and exiled hundreds of Catholics and political dissidents. Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a longtime critic of the Ortega-Murillo regime, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, where he spent all of 2023 with little to no contact with the outside world. This January he was exiled from Nicaragua to the Vatican.

Nigeria

More than 8,000 Christians were killed across Nigeria last year, according to the report. On Christmas weekend alone, a series of attacks resulted in the deaths of 190 Christians in Nigeria’s Plateau state. 

Nigerian Christians, who make up 46% of the population, were the victims of widespread attacks, kidnappings, torture, and acts of intimidation by criminal elements that were largely ignored by the Nigerian government.

Despite continued persecution and consistent recommendations from USCIRF to designate Nigeria a CPC, the State Department under the Biden administration has excluded this country from the list since 2021.

Pakistan

Terrorist attacks against religious minorities and places of worship increased significantly in Pakistan in 2023, according to the report. The government moved to further strengthen prohibitions against “blasphemy,” which observers say is a method of targeting religious minorities. In August a mob attacked a Christian community in Jaranwala over an accusation of blasphemy. The mob destroyed and looted many homes in the community and damaged at least 24 churches.

Other concerning trends

Transnational persecution on the rise: USCIRF reported that in addition to carrying out persecutions within their borders, several governments “engaged in transnational repression to silence religious minorities.” Chief among these were the governments of China and India, both of whom increased their international efforts to target religious minorities who had fled their borders. Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan also engaged in transnational repression as well. 

Blasphemy laws: According to the report, blasphemy laws are one of the most significant challenges to religious freedom in the world. These laws work by punishing acts that are deemed offensive to the prevailing religion or ideology. There are 96 countries with active blasphemy laws, many of which are used to foment violence toward religious minorities, according to USCIRF. 

Europe: Some European countries were also mentioned in the report as exhibiting concerning trends regarding religious freedom. The report highlighted how U.K. citizen Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in Birmingham, England. Additionally, the report mentioned Finnish member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen, who has faced multiple human rights violation charges for expressing her religious views on sexuality and marriage. 

Sandra Miley emcees the Hispanic Eucharistic Convention on April 27, 2024, at the Gaylord of the Rockies Convention Center in Denver. / Credit: Denver Catholic

Denver, Colo., May 1, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

In an environment filled with joy and hope, thousands of people met at the Gaylord of the Rockies Convention Center in Denver last Saturday to testify to and celebrate the Eucharist.

“I’m here because God called me to be here; I didn’t plan on coming,” Laura Paredes shared. “I had another event out of state. But God put some people in my path and my plans changed. This morning, as I entered the convention and saw the image on the screen, I said to myself, ‘What a waste it would have been if I didn’t come!’ I’m filled with joy, that soul-filling joy, in my heart, and I know I’m here because he wanted me to be here.”

For many, like María de Jesús Fernández, attending this convention was a way to draw nearer to God and enhance her relationship with him.

“I very much need to grow closer to God, and I hope that I will leave here renewed,” Fernández told the Denver Catholic.

“Just recently, I learned of a miracle in which the Eucharistic host became cardiac flesh and began to beat. God is calling us to reflect on how the world is doing right now. We have to lean on him, we have to draw closer to him, and it makes me so happy to see so many people here today,” she continued.

With a moving introduction, Monsignor Jorge de los Santos, pastor of Our Lady Mother of the Church Parish in Commerce City, Colorado, invited all participants to open their hearts to God and to participate in the convention as fully as possible to experience the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

“Brothers and sisters, take advantage of this moment of grace, this day that the Lord has given us, this day to come together as brothers and sisters and be in the presence of Christ. May Christ the King reign!” de los Santos said, exhorting and encouraging those gathered.

From parish groups to individual participants who attended the convention to draw nearer to God and to get to know the Eucharistic Lord, the center quickly filled with the 2,500 participants who were able to get tickets for this one-of-a-kind event.

With the hope of learning more and strengthening his faith, Miguel traveled with his wife and children to be part of this event.

“More than anything, I came today to learn more about the Eucharist and Eucharistic miracles,” he said. “We’ve come today with open hearts to listen and learn from all the speakers.”

The convention began with a testimony from Daniel Rivas, a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Denver, who shared how God called him to his vocation after a profoundly difficult time in his life.

Modern-day Eucharistic miracles

Dr. Ricardo Castañón spoke on two themes of faith and his discoveries about the real presence of Christ through Eucharistic miracles, offering a powerful and moving testimony of how faith connects with science and the real presence of Jesus in the consecrated bread we receive at each Mass.

“It has been phenomenal! I was shocked by all the miracles Dr. Castañón explained to us. I was seriously surprised. Now, I value the Eucharist so much more,” Virgilio Pedraza said. “Come closer, truly come closer to live with Christ present in your life.”

Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila celebrated a special Mass for those in attendance. In his homily, he stressed the importance of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist as well as the importance of keeping our hearts open to the Father.

“Our fervent hope as bishops is that love for the Eucharist and faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist might burn in the hearts of the faithful,” Aquila said, referencing the National Eucharistic Revival, which will culminate in the National Eucharistic Congress this summer.

“When we come to Mass, we ought to prepare our hearts to adore the Father through, with, and in Jesus. In his one sacrifice we recognize and receive the love of the Father for us in Jesus and in the Eucharist,” he emphasized.

At the end of his homily, Aquila invited the faithful to pay extra attention to the prayers offered during each Mass and to carry the Eucharist to those in need through works of charity.

“I encourage you, my brothers and sisters here, as we continue this Mass, to be conscious of how we are adoring the Father. Listen attentively to the prayers offered during the Mass, especially the Eucharistic Prayer and the Our Father,” Aquila said. “Offer your lives to the Father with Jesus. Give yourself to the Father just as Jesus gave himself to the Father. Ask the Lord how we ought to bring the Eucharist to the world with our works of charity. By praying for those who are in need of our prayers, praying for those who do not know Jesus, now they come to know and love him more, especially in the breaking of the bread.”

Young people present

Among those present at the Eucharistic Convention were numerous young people such as Giselle Chávez, who shared with the Denver Catholic her excitement over the opportunity God offered her to participate in this unique experience.

“I’m letting the Holy Spirit lead,” she said, adding an invitation to other young people to participate in events like these and encouraging them not to be afraid of drawing closer to God.

“Don’t be afraid,” she continued. “Don’t focus on the stereotypes or think that these sort of events are only for older people. It’s really beautiful to have faith and live a spiritual life as a young person so that we can carry it into adulthood and pass it on to our children and future generations.”

After lunch, the event continued with a concert with the religious music group Jeséd and a talk given by Luis Soto, director of Evangelization and Discipleship at the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Following Soto’s talk, participants heard testimonies from Sister Isabel Muñoz de Lara of the Allied Discalced Carmelites of the Holy Trinity, Leopoldo Soto of the Apostles of the Word ministry, and Emma González.

“We are a Eucharistic Church; we are a Church that is born from the Eucharist and that lives for Christ,” Soto shared with the Denver Catholic before his talk. “Today, in my talk, I will do my best to present a biblical account of the real presence of Christ, to try to understand the Mass and what it means, but above all to reinforce the idea, the understanding, and the certainty that Christ is present in a real way in the Eucharist.”

For San Juana, expanding her faith in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is as simple as coming to know the love of God.

“They say that no one loves what they do not know. So, it’s very important to get to know Jesus to love him more and reinforce our faith, coming to know him more through a bit of science,” she said, referring to Castañón’s talk. “We believe in this real presence more than anything by faith, but if we bolster that with science, it’s something even stronger.”

Concluding adoration

The Eucharistic Convention concluded with an emotional Holy Hour of Eucharistic adoration in which participants were able to open their hearts and experience the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Some of the participants who were present for the convention shared their emotion and satisfaction over being able to be a part of this unique experience and how the event marked a “before and after” in their faith lives.

“Today has been a blessing to reinforce the fact that Jesus Christ is present in the bread and the wine,” said Lucio Rodríguez, a parishioner of St. William Parish in Fort Lupton, Colorado.

“The Eucharistic miracles are the biggest gift that we have as Catholics. I’m really interested in making sure that people know what is actually happening in the Eucharist,” Flor Palafox, a parishioner of Queen of Peace Parish in Aurora, Colorado, told the Denver Catholic.

“I came to learn something new so that I can put it into practice in my life, in my service, with my family and with all those around me,” said Raúl Garcia, a parishioner of St. William Parish in Fort Lupton.

“I don’t even know how to explain what I’ve felt,” said Rosa Raudales, a parishioner of Our Lady of the Plains Parish in Byers, Colorado. “When I received the Eucharist, it was something that I needed. I needed the Lord!”

This story was first published by the Denver Catholic and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined a request from the porn industry to block a Texas age-verification rule, allowing the law to stand and temporarily derailing the efforts of porn creators to see the new safety measure scuttled. 

The court said in an unsigned order without comment that it was denying a request from the Free Speech Coalition to issue a stay on the law. The Free Speech Coalition includes a porn trade association and several pornography creators. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has defended the law, HB 1181, since its passage last summer. The measure requires porn websites to institute “reasonable age-verification methods” to ensure minors are not accessing explicit sexual content on their sites. 

The attorney general has sued multiple pornography companies in order to enforce the age-verification law. He argued earlier this year that pornography sites “are on the run because Texas has a law that aims to prevent them from showing harmful, obscene material to children.” 

“In Texas, companies cannot get away with showing porn to children,” he said. “If they don’t want to comply, they should leave Texas.”

The porn industry has fought efforts to ensure that minors cannot access sexually explicit videos on their websites. Age-verification laws in Mississippi, Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, Utah, and North Carolina, for instance, have led Pornhub — one of the world’s most prolific porn websites — to stop streaming its graphic sexual videos in those states. 

The website earlier this year ceased offering its website in Texas rather than comply with its age-verification law.

The U.S. crackdown on underage porn access comes as regulators in Europe have undertaken similar measures. The European Union in December announced that Pornhub, along with two other high-traffic pornography sites, would have to comply with age-verification and safety laws passed in 2022 by the governing body. 

Church leaders have been warning about the dangers of pornography for years. In 2022 Pope Francis called pornography “a permanent attack on the dignity of men and women,” arguing that it “is not only a matter of protecting children — an urgent task of the authorities and all of us — but also of declaring pornography a threat to public health.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called pornography “a grave offense against God and his gifts to men and women” that offers “a means of selfish, lustful gratification” and which “attacks sexual desire and the conjugal act itself.”

In 2020, meanwhile, Catholic anti-porn advocates launched a new online discussion and prayer platform called SOS Porn Deliverance, which offers “the opportunity for those affected by [porn addiction] to chat confidentially with an e-missionary trained in this mission.”

null / Image credit: Simone van der Koelen / Unsplash

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Both Roman Catholic dioceses in Virginia are urging Gov. Glenn Youngkin to veto bills that would establish a “right to contraception” and require health insurance companies to provide coverage for contraception — but do not contain any religious exemptions or parental rights protections.

“Taken together, these bills would end lives and undercut parental rights,” Jeff Caruso, the executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, which represents the Diocese of Richmond and the Diocese of Arlington, told CNA.

“They also completely disregard the fundamental rights of entities with sincerely and deeply held religious or moral objections to covering or providing abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives,” Caruso said. “We urge Gov. Youngkin to protect life, liberty, and parental rights by vetoing these extremely harmful bills.”

One of the bills, supported by most Democratic lawmakers and opposed by most Republicans, would require that all health insurance plans in the commonwealth include coverage for every contraceptive that has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

These contraceptives include condoms, birth control pills, and some drugs that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has warned can induce abortions in early stages of pregnancy. It does not include mifepristone, which the FDA has approved for use to abort a child in utero up to 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Per the proposed legislation, no insurer, corporation, or health maintenance organization would be allowed to impose “burdensome restrictions or delays” on contraception. The language fails to include exemptions for religious employers who object to contraception and abortion, such as the Catholic Church.

The other piece of legislation would establish a blanket “right” for every person to “obtain” and “use” contraception. The language does not limit this right to just adults but rather extends this right to every “person.” It does not include any protections for parental rights in these decisions.

This new “right” would include both FDA-approved drugs and surgical sterilization, such as castration.

According to the proposal, the right could “not be infringed upon by any law, regulation, or policy.” 

The legislation also establishes a right to file civil lawsuits against “any person” who violates the “right to contraception.” Such lawsuits could be filed by the person who sought contraception, health care providers, or the attorney general.

The sponsors of the bill claimed during committee hearings on the legislation that the “right” does not impose any mandates on health care providers or doctors to provide contraception, but Republican opponents of the bill argued that the broad language could permit lawsuits against health care providers and doctors who do not provide contraception to someone who seeks it.

Youngkin had proposed amendments to both bills, which would have addressed many of the concerns brought up by the Catholic dioceses. However, Democratic lawmakers rejected his amendments and returned the bills back to him for reconsideration.

The governor’s proposed amendment to the health insurance mandate would have added an exemption for “sincerely held religious or ethical beliefs.” His proposed amendment to the bill that would establish a “right to contraception” would have limited its scope to the contraception rights established by the United States Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut.

Youngkin has until May 17 to act on the bills but has not yet said what he will do. When reached by CNA, Youngkin’s press secretary, Christian Martinez, highlighted the governor’s support for contraception access and religious freedom.

“Gov. Youngkin has been consistently clear that he supports access to contraception but desires to protect Virginians’ constitutional rights and religious liberties,” Martinez said.

Democratic lawmakers and lobbyist groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have voiced objections to the governor’s efforts to add religious freedom protections and limit the proposed “right” to contraception. 

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi and Rep. Marcia Price, who sponsored their respective chamber’s version of the legislation to establish a right to contraception, accused Youngkin of trying to “play both sides of this issue because he doesn’t want to anger the loud extremists in his party” in a joint statement. 

“Contraception cannot be played with: This bill is a matter of reproductive justice,” the statement read. “It is time for Gov. Youngkin to stop playing games and just sign the bill.”

Breanna Diaz, the legislative and policy counsel at the Virginia ACLU, accused Youngkin of trying to “water down” the bills with his recommendations. 

“After the fall of Roe v. Wade, it’s become clear that extremists won’t stop at abortion but are after all reproductive health care — including contraception,” Diaz said in a statement.

Alternatively, the Virginia Catholic Conference is urging Catholics to write to Youngkin to encourage him to veto the bills.

null / Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 05:30 am (CNA).

Kansas state legislators enacted four pro-life bills over the abortion-supporting governor’s vetoes but didn’t enact a bill that would have banned gender transitioning for children. 

The abortion measures provide $2 million in state funding for pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, provide tax credits designed to encourage more donations to such centers, require abortion facilities to ask women why they are having an abortion, and create a new crime of coercing a woman to have an abortion. 

Supporters put together the necessary two-thirds majorities to override the vetoes of Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who supports legal abortion. 

Crafters of the pro-life bills acknowledge that abortion is legally considered a fundamental right in Kansas, since the state’s supreme court declared that in April 2019 and the state’s voters in August 2022 rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have flipped the court’s decision. 

Therefore, the bills enacted Monday do not attempt to restrict abortion but instead try to encourage women to choose life, said Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, which represents bishops in the state’s four dioceses on political and public policy matters. 

“The abortion industry seems to want women to abort every baby that’s an unplanned pregnancy. Can we not at least give women in an unplanned pregnancy an authentic choice besides abortion?” Weber said in a telephone interview with CNA. 

Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, a political action committee that advocates for abortion in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, opposed the measures. The give-a-reason and abortion coercion bills “directly interfere with the bodily autonomy of Kansans and their fundamental right to make their own decision about health care,” the organization said in a written statement after Kelly vetoed the bills April 12. 

“These stigmatizing bills were not crafted to improve the health and well-being of Kansans; they were merely meant to shame reproductive care,” said Emily Wales, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. 

The give-a-reason bill would result in “invasive and unnecessary questions,” she said. 

But Weber told CNA the point of the bill is to help figure out how to help pregnant women choose to give birth if they wish. 

“The more data we have about why a woman chooses abortion will allow policymakers and social service agencies to help women to make an authentic choice for life if that’s what she chooses to do,” Weber said. 

The abortion coercion bill “could further hurt or retraumatize survivors,” Wales said. 

But Weber said the bill is meant to determine if women seeking an abortion are victims of sex trafficking or other kinds of coercion.

One of the abortion bills allows donors to crisis pregnancy centers a tax credit of 70% of what they give, with a total statewide cap of $10 million. It also gives a sales tax exemption for crisis pregnancy centers.

“They’re the front line,” Lucrecia Nold, policy specialist of the Kansas Catholic Conference, said of crisis pregnancy centers. “So let’s give them all of the resources that are available so that we can help these women.”

The bill also encourages adoption by offering a state adoption tax credit that matches the already-existing federal adoption tax credit and by allowing would-be adoptive parents to create an adoption savings account.

An effort to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would have banned gender transitioning for minors failed by two votes when two Republican state legislators flipped at the last minute. 

Opponents of the bill argue that parents and children should decide whether a child who identifies with a gender other than the one that corresponds to the child’s sex should seek to transition.

But supporters say children should be protected from such transitioning, which they argue is harmful and may have permanent consequences.

Weber said supporters of the gender-transitioning ban will try again next legislative session.

“We’re going to continue to try to protect the children of Kansas from these life-changing, life-destructive practices that are both surgical and chemical,” Weber said.

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Florida’s bishops are welcoming a new law that allows public schools in the state to have volunteer chaplains.

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents bishops in the state’s seven dioceses on public policy matters, did not take a position on the bill while legislators debated it earlier this year.

“However, we recognize the good that chaplains can do in schools by helping students to address their spiritual and emotional needs. We are pleased that parents will determine the services their children will receive in districts that choose to establish chaplaincy programs,” said Michelle Taylor, associate director of communications for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an email message to CNA on Tuesday.

The measure, which takes effect July 1, requires public schools and charter schools that establish such a program to publish on their websites a list of volunteer school chaplains and their religious affiliation. It also requires that parents provide written consent before their child receives services from a chaplain or participates in programs provided by a chaplain.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the bill two weeks ago, said some school districts in Florida are already hosting chaplains, while school officials elsewhere were unsure whether it’s legal to do so.

The new statute clarifies the legal situation and explicitly enables school districts to provide a valuable aid to students, he said.

“Faith leaders and civic organizations are important additional resources for students who may be facing challenges or need to build community and camaraderie,” DeSantis said in a statement. “I’m pleased to be able to expand the variety of options that students have at their disposal in school, and we have no doubt that these options will enhance the experiences of our students.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida opposed the bill, saying it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“Allowing chaplains to provide counseling and other support services in public schools would violate students’ and families’ religious-freedom rights by exposing all public school students to the risk of chaplains evangelizing them or imposing religion on them throughout their school day,” said Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU of Florida, in a statement in March after the Florida House passed the bill.

The Florida House of Representatives passed the bill in February in a 89-25 vote. All the no votes were Democrats. All Republicans voted for it, as did four Democrats.

The Florida Senate passed the bill in March in a straight party-line 28-12 vote, with Republicans for it and Democrats against it.

Texas enacted a comparable bill in June 2023. It took effect at the beginning of the current school year. The ACLU of Florida says 13 other states have had similar bills introduced in the state legislature.

DeSantis signed the Florida chaplain bill April 18 during an appearance at a school in Kissimmee. He said having a chaplain available could help kids who are struggling.

“You’ve got a lot of these problems that kids go through — you know, there’s some students, you know, they need some soul-craft. And that can make all the difference in the world,” DeSantis said.