St. Joseph Catholic Church

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CNA Staff, May 14, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Recent data from the federally administered National Survey of Family Growth shows large majorities of Catholics report using at least one form of artificial contraception — with over 90% having used condoms and more than 60% having used the hormonal birth control pill. 

Experts say this is “a crisis of catechesis within the Church” and one that requires both a compassionate response and a firm application of Catholic sexual ethics. 

The Catholic Church for centuries has taught that all forms of artificial birth control are illicit and forbidden to married couples. This teaching was formalized in 1968 by St. Paul VI, who in his encyclical Humanae Vitae declared that “any action … specifically intended to prevent procreation” was “absolutely excluded” as a lawful means of regulating the number of children in a Catholic marriage. 

Though Church teaching on the matter continues to be unambiguous, large numbers of Catholics have reported high usages of artificial contraception over the years. A 2011 Guttmacher study, for instance, found that “​​among women who are currently at risk of unintended pregnancy,” fully 87% of Catholics “use a method other than natural family planning.”

John Grabowski, a professor of moral theology and ethics at the Catholic University of America, told CNA that the data around Catholic contraception usage have been “known for some time.”  

“I think that this points to a crisis of catechesis within the Church,” he said. “Whatever we are currently doing to form people in the faith is not working well because this data shows that they are being catechized by the gospel of the sexual revolution rather than the Gospel proclaimed by the Church.”

Grabowski argued that Catholics who use artificial contraception “don’t realize that in choosing to contracept they are bringing something toxic into their marriages.” 

“In some cases, the contraceptives they use are physically toxic such as oral contraception, which has a whole range of negative health effects [both] physically and psychologically on women,” he said. 

“In some cases they are actually not genuinely contraceptive but actually work as abortifacients (such as some versions of the IUD),” he continued. 

“In almost every case, fertility is treated as a disease rather than a gift and a healthy function of the human body.”

The “gift” of one’s fertility has long been a part of Catholic sexual ethics; in Humanae Vitae St. Paul VI stressed the need to “experience the gift of married love while respecting the laws of conception.”

The “sexual faculties,” the pope wrote, are “concerned by their very nature with the generation of life, of which God is the source.”

Instead of artificial contraception, the Church promotes natural family planning (NFP) for both avoiding and achieving pregnancy. NFP methods, which are all based on the natural signs and symptoms of the fertile and infertile phases of a woman’s menstrual cycle, can include the use of fertility monitoring devices and apps. NFP respects both the unitive and procreative meaning of sex within marriage.

Gregory Popcak, the founder of the Pastoral Solutions Institute, which helps Catholics align their marriages and their lives with the Catholic faith, told CNA that there “isn’t a lot of quality research on NFP.” 

“According to the available data, the NFP usage rate among Catholics tends to be fairly consistently about 2%-3%,” he said.  

“That said, I believe there may be a small bounce in NFP usage because of the use of sophisticated apps that make NFP easier and (potentially) more effective to use,” he noted. 

Popcak argued that the Church’s teachings on birth control were “more front-and-center” under prior popes but that it has gone “largely silent” under Pope Francis. 

He argued that marriage advocates and Church leaders need to “recenter the conversation about NFP and stop making it about whether people are following the rules or not.” 

“That is the most superficial way we can have the conversation,” he said. “We have to proclaim the notion that marriage, along with all the other sacraments, is meant to be an instrument of healing. Matrimony is key to God’s plan for healing the generative nature of the human person.”

“We particularly don’t know — on our own — how to love another person the way God wants us to,” he said. “Matrimony exists to heal the damage sin does to our ability to love rightly — especially through our bodies.”

Birth control has ‘a long history’

Theresa Notare, the assistant director for the Natural Family Planning Program at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, acknowledged that contraception itself is nothing new. 

“The whole idea of birth control, of family planning, has a long history of tapping into what people think is good, what they think they need and want, not only for themselves but for their children,” she said. 

Notare pointed out that contraception has been practiced on a wide scale for centuries and for a variety of reasons. In many cases it was driven by the belief that parents “should be able to take care of the children they have” and not overtax potentially scarce family resources. 

The Church has regularly acknowledged the potential necessity of delaying childbearing for such reasons. St. John Paul II said in 1992 that husbands and wives are “deeply affected by social and economic circumstances” and that “conditions of poverty” can “cause a couple to be unprepared for the gift of new life.”

Though Church teaching has for years allowed for NFP in such cases, Notare said that our current technological zeitgeist has created “an impatience for anything that takes slow change.” 

Periodic abstinence as dictated by NFP “means you have to change your sexual behavior; that takes discipline,” she said. 

“People in the West, especially Americans, we just hate that sort of thing,” she said. “Why bother when you could pop a pill, open up a package, use a device?”

Notare argued that the laity “have not generally heard the Church’s good message on sex.” 

“For years they heard ‘guilt’ and didn’t hear the positive side of teachings,” she said. Once Humanae Vitae was promulgated, meanwhile, “too many priests had stopped speaking on the birth control issue.” 

“In that void, the culture imposed itself,” she said. “The majority of Catholics, at this point in time, are victims of the culture. They don’t know it. They’re absolutely ignorant of it.”

What can the Church do? 

Church leaders and lay advocates have for years been working to counteract the huge Catholic uptake in contraception. The U.S. bishops promote natural family planning through a variety of means, for instance, such as its directory of NFP instructors, while groups like the Couple to Couple League offer classes and resources for engaged and married couples. 

Grabowski said the Church needs to use its evangelization resources to better educate Catholics on Catholic sexual ethics. 

“As the Church in the U.S. is trying to better form people in the Catholic belief of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist in this Eucharistic revival, we need a similar kind of effort to better form people in a Catholic vision of the human person and sexuality,” he said.

Notare suggested that the faithful should look to Humanae Vitae as a good start. “The language is easy. It’s so beautifully laid out, talking about the nature of married love and the gift of procreation,” she said. “I would encourage people to read that. It’s very clear.”

Popcak, meanwhile, acknowledged “the real challenges that NFP brings out in a relationship.”

The Church “needs to be providing actual pastoral support and guidance for couples” who are using it, he said. 

“We need to help couples understand that the challenges that NFP forces to the surface are the very problems that God is asking them to work through so that they can have healthier, happier, and holier relationships,” he said. 

Catholic couples who struggle with NFP and aren’t assisted by their spiritual leaders can often just give up on the practice altogether, he said, leading to widespread claims that natural family planning simply doesn’t work. 

“Frankly, that’s always been the case, but it’s particularly true now,” Popcak said. “Catholic couples deserve better.”

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits “Fox & Friends” at Fox News Channel Studios on April 2, 2024, in New York City. / Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2024 / 15:31 pm (CNA).

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is walking back his recent statement of support for “full-term abortion” on demand and conceding to some restrictions on abortion once a fetus reaches viability, which occurs around 23 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The Catholic Democrat-turned-independent embraced the legality of on-demand “full-term abortion” in an appearance on “The Sage Steele Show” last Wednesday. The candidate told Steele — who is a Catholic — that abortion should be legal “even if it’s full term.” He said that he does not think “it’s ever OK” to abort a full-term child but that “nobody sets out to do that and there are always some kind of extenuating circumstances that would make a mother make that kind of choice.” 

After facing backlash from numerous pro-life organizations and eliciting confusion within his own campaign, Kennedy walked back that position. 

In a post on X late Friday night — just two days after his comments — Kennedy said he “would allow appropriate restrictions on abortion in the final months of pregnancy” and highlighted that even the now-defunct Roe v. Wade ruling allowed for such rules.

“Abortion has been a notoriously divisive issue in America, but actually I see an emerging consensus — abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks and restricted thereafter,” Kennedy said.

The presidential candidate wrote in his post that he trusts “women’s maternal instincts” and said he is “leery of inserting the government into abortion” because of instances such as the unborn child having “some fatal condition that ensures it will survive just hours or days after birth in intense suffering.” In those situations, he asked, “can we, should we, legislate such painful decisions and take them away from the mother?” 

“I had been assuming that virtually all late-term abortions were such cases, but I’ve learned that my assumption was wrong,” Kennedy continued. “Sometimes, women abort healthy, viable late-term fetuses. These cases of purely ‘elective’ late-term abortion are very upsetting. Once the baby is viable outside the womb, it should have rights and it deserves society’s protection.” 

Kennedy said in his statement that he “learned this because I was willing to listen — to my family, advisers, supporters, and others who shared their perspectives” and added that he promised to “continue to listen and incorporate what I learn into my decisions.”

The presidential hopeful added that he supports “the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point” and that he believes “that point should be when the baby is viable outside the womb.”

Kennedy then referred back to previous statements he has made on abortion, claiming that “the biggest reason [women obtain abortions] according to studies is affordability.” He plugged his “More Choices, More Life” abortion reduction plan, which would seek to address affordability with government-subsidized child care so “abortion isn’t their only choice.”

In a statement to CNA last week, a Kennedy spokesperson said that the independent candidate also supports legislation to codify the abortion standards set in Roe v. Wade. This would make abortion legal nationwide and prevent states from implementing legal protections for unborn life in earlier stages of pregnancy. In an interview with EWTN last month, Kennedy said he opposes states being allowed to control their own abortion policies.

Pro-life groups react to Kennedy’s policy change

Following Kennedy’s shift on full-term abortion, Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNA that Kennedy “has taken a variety of positions on abortion throughout his campaign.” 

“Most late-term abortions in the U.S. involve healthy moms and healthy babies, as even the abortion industry admits,” Dannenfelser added. “We’re one of only eight countries, alongside China and Vietnam, that allow abortion on demand with no national protections for unborn babies at any point in pregnancy.”

However, Dannenfelser said, “even Kennedy’s latest shift of no protections until a baby can survive outside the womb — well past the point when the child can feel pain — still leaves America as a global human rights outlier.” She encouraged legal protections for unborn children at the federal level at 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

National Right to Life President Carol Tobias told CNA that it appears Kennedy realized the unpopularity of on-demand abortion up until the point of birth.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the abortion decision should be up to the woman, even if that meant an abortion at any time up to birth,” Tobias said.

“He, obviously, received so much pushback that he again changed [his] position, moving it back to sometime around viability,” Tobias added. “Kennedy realized that the American public at large does not accept abortion for any reason throughout pregnancy. [President] Joe Biden is now the only candidate supporting that radical position.”

How Kennedy compares with Biden and Trump

Biden has backed efforts to codify the abortion standards previously held in Roe v. Wade. The language of the text would legalize abortion nationwide until the point of viability — however, it would not set a clear week-based limit but instead allow the unborn child’s viability to be determined by the woman’s treating physician, who may be the abortionist.

Kennedy did not say whether he would support a specific week-based limit to prevent late-term abortions or whether he would support the same language. 

Biden also supports repealing budget language that prevents federal agencies from directly funding abortion.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said in April that he would not sign a national abortion ban if Congress sent one to him. Rather, he supports states making their own laws regarding abortion. 

“Many states will be different,” Trump said in April. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that’s what they will be.”

After the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, more than 20 states passed pro-life laws that imposed stricter limits on abortion than were permitted under the now-defunct ruling.

Father Timothy Furlow speaks from the ambo at St. Patrick’s Church in Portland, Oregon. / Credit: St. Patrick’s Church in Portland, Oregon

CNA Staff, May 13, 2024 / 11:16 am (CNA).

A pastor in Portland, Oregon, recently urged his parish to pray for a vandal who defaced the church building with vulgar graffiti, arguing that the controversy gets to the “core message” of the Gospel itself. 

A vandal tagged St. Patrick’s Church in Portland with several graffiti in April that read “[expletive] you, my body my choice,” a popular slogan for the pro-abortion movement. 

In his homily the morning the graffiti was discovered, the parish’s pastor, Father Timothy Furlow, told parishioners that he deliberately left the vulgar message visible for the faithful to see on their way to Mass. 

“I wanted you to see it,” he said. “Somebody said, ‘Oh, we got to cover this up.’ And then I’m like, nope. I want them to see that.” 

“And the reason is because it fits kind of perfectly with what the core message of the Gospel is,” he continued. “The core message here is pretty simple: We can’t do anything good apart from God. Not a thing. We can’t pull a good thing off. It’s just absolutely impossible.”

The pastor indicated the perpetrator is a known vandal around Portland. Furlow said he himself has felt a desire to see the criminal “get his comeuppance.”

“But the other part of me, the part of my heart that the Holy Spirit is working in — that I let him work in — thinks what I really want is for him to be an usher,” he said. 

“I want him to come to my door and say, ‘I have no idea what’s going on. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. But somehow in the core of my being, I know that God is real and Jesus is God.’”

The pastor said he hopes that the vandal would follow that impulse “all the way through OCIA and the sacraments of initiation, into the door that he once cursed and spray-painted.”

Furlow reminded the assembly of Jesus’ command to “pray for those who persecute you.”

“Christianity and Catholicism [is] utterly unlike anything else on the earth because it runs directly contrary to the logic of the world, the flesh, and the devil,” he said. 

The pastor then asked the parish to take a minute to “sincerely pray for that guy and every single person like him in Portland, Oregon, that’s hurting with a broken heart and is turning to the darkness to try to fix it rather than the Lord who is healing himself.” 

“Pray that he’d actually be able to receive that grace and that one day he would be welcoming you at the door to Mass,” he said. 

“That’s being a Christian. That’s truly living our supernatural Catholic faith.”

The new rule authorizes border agents to screen asylum seekers for “national security, criminal, or other public safety concern[s]” at the “earliest stage possible.” Those flagged as potential threats to the U.S. and its citizens can be denied entry into the U.S. immediately. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 13, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

As communities on the U.S. southern border continue to face a record surge of migrants, the Biden administration has proposed a new rule meant to stop people who pose national security threats from remaining in the country.

The Biden administration said the rule, which is set to be entered into the Federal Register today, will “enhance operational flexibility” and help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “more swiftly remove certain noncitizens who are barred from asylum.”

“The proposed rule we have published today is yet another step in our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of the American public by more quickly identifying and removing those individuals who present a security risk and have no legal basis to remain here,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

What does the rule do? 

The rule authorizes border agents to screen asylum seekers for “national security, criminal, or other public safety concern[s]” at the “earliest stage possible.” Those flagged as potential threats to the U.S. and its citizens can be denied entry into the U.S. immediately. 

By screening asylum seekers for national security concerns when they first enter, the rule would enable border agents to remove threats from the country immediately rather than waiting months or even years later as is often the case under the current rules. 

Notably, the rule states that it “would not require” agents to conduct the screenings but instead only authorizes them to use their “discretion” when processing asylum requests. 

This comes as there has been an unprecedented surge in migrants crossing the southern border and applying for asylum under the Biden administration. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics, border agents encountered a record high of close to 2.5 million migrants at the border in the 2023 fiscal year. With well over 1.3 million encounters already in fiscal year 2024, the number of migrants crossing the border this year is on track to exceed the number in 2023. 

The Biden administration admits the rule will likely not reduce the migrant surge in a significant way and that “the population to which this rule will apply is likely to be relatively small.” However, the administration claims that the rule will allow them “to quickly screen out” non-meritorious asylum claims and promote greater national security by removing those who present a threat or concern.

DHS is allowing 30 days for the public to submit comments after which point the administration will consider making changes before allowing the rule to take effect.

U.S. bishops emphasize due process

Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the U.S. bishops, told CNA that the conference is “reviewing the proposed rule carefully.” 

She pointed out that the U.S. bishops have “reiterated several times in recent months that ensuring due process for noncitizens remains an important component of this.” 

“Church teaching clearly acknowledges the right of countries to maintain their borders and regulate immigration, consistent with the common good. That same teaching also recognizes the right of those fleeing persecution and other conditions to seek protection,” Noguchi said. 

“The bishops remain committed to supporting policies that respect the sanctity of human life wherever it may be found, to include both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.” 

Some Catholic leaders, meanwhile, have spoken out against the proposed rule more strongly. 

Jesús de la Torre, a research fellow at the Catholic aid group the Hope Border Institute, said that if implemented as is, the rule “would undermine due process, send potential refugees back to danger, and do nothing to address humanitarian needs at the border.” 

According to Torre, “this new rule does nothing but increase the pain and confusion exerted against people seeking safety at the U.S.-Mexico border.” 

“Currently, many people are having fear screenings in CBP detention, in rushed and often not private procedures, without accessing counsel, and not knowing what they are going through,” he explained. “Adding another bar to an already cruel, faulty process may send more bona fide asylum seekers into danger.” 

‘This rule does nothing’ 

Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, told CNA that the rule essentially re-implements a version of a Trump-era policy that was reversed in the early days of the Biden administration. 

Though he believes the rule is “partially a political document” meant to show the administration is concerned about the border, Arthur also expressed concern that the rule “suggests” there is an imminent national security threat to the U.S. 

“It doesn’t make any sense for the current administration to do this, because they’d already made the determination that they weren’t going to do it unless there is a serious national security or law enforcement threat that they are concerned about,” he said.

Selene Rodriguez, a native of South Texas and policy leader on border security and immigration at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told CNA that “this rule does nothing” and is essentially political theater on the part of the Biden administration.

She described the current conditions at the border as a narco culture in which drug cartels are in control. Among those most affected, she said, are the people already living in border communities.

“This border crisis has raged on for four years now,” she said. “When you pull members of any of these communities together, the stories are merging, the experiences are merging, the feelings of those experiences are merging. Whether you talk to Republicans or Democrats, at the end of the day, they’re like, ‘We just want our home back.’”

null / Credit: Pe3k/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, May 13, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is moving toward reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, according to recent reporting from the Associated Press. 

The proposal, if approved, would reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) away from the top “Schedule I” — reserved for dangerous drugs with no accepted medical use and a high abuse potential — into the lower “Schedule III,” where it would join controlled substances such as ketamine and anabolic steriods. 

Schedule III drugs are subject to various rules that allow for some medical uses but still provide for federal criminal prosecution of anyone who traffics in the drugs without permission, the AP reported. 

Marijuana usage remains a controversial topic among many people of faith, including Catholics. Here’s what you need to know. 

What could change?

The purported classification change hasn’t yet happened, and marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, despite being legalized for recreational use in two dozen states and the District of Columbia over the past decade. Even more widespread has been the legalization of marijuana for medical use, with 38 states, three territories, and the District of Columbia today allowing the practice. 

According a May 1 analysis by congressional researchers, moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, without other legal changes, “would not bring the state-legal medical or recreational marijuana industry into compliance with federal controlled substances law.” 

Specifically, the researchers say, medical marijuana would need to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and would be subject to federal legal requirements that differ from existing state regulatory requirements for medical marijuana. 

In addition, the manufacture, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana “would remain illegal under federal law and potentially subject to federal prosecution regardless of their status under state law,” even if marijuana were moved to Schedule III.

One potentially positive aspect of the reclassification, scientists have suggested, is an enhanced potential for research into the effects of marijuana on human beings. Schedule III drugs, because of their classification, are potentially easier to study than Schedule I drugs.

The reclassification would “open up the door for us to be able to conduct research with human subjects with cannabis,” said Susan Ferguson, director of University of Washington’s Addictions, Drug & Alcohol Institute in Seattle, in comments to the AP. 

Dr. Jared Staudt, a Catholic theologian who serves as director of content for Exodus 90, told CNA this week that more research on the effects of cannabis is indeed needed, which he called a “positive” side of the prospective reclassification. But he cautioned against a further normalization of cannabis in U.S. society. 

“The downside comes from further normalizing cannabis as the country downplays its harmful effects, especially for those with developing brains,” Staudt noted.

A Catholic moral perspective

While the Catholic Church does not teach that the use of marijuana specifically is inherently sinful, paragraph 2291 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear about the use of drugs in general, describing as a “grave offense” their use apart from strictly therapeutic reasons. It also states in paragraph 2211 that the political community has a duty to protect the security and health of families, especially with respect to drugs.

Pope Francis, for his part, has spoken out against even the partial legalization of so-called “soft drugs,” stating in 2014 that “the problem of drug use is not solved with drugs.”

E. Christian Brugger, a Catholic moral theologian living in Virginia, told CNA in late 2022 that smoking marijuana with the intention of getting high means putting your use of reason at risk. Human reason is necessary to commune with God and avoid sin, he said. 

“Like intentional drunkenness, getting high is the intentional altering of one’s consciousness. And when a person without necessity, and merely for the sake of pleasure, makes themself less able to use their reason … they do something that’s contrary to virtue,” Brugger said. 

In the numerous U.S. states where marijuana legalization has been considered or has passed, Catholic bishops have urged voters to reject marijuana legalization, citing the physical and spiritual harms of drug use.

Notably, in November 2023 Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver released a pastoral letter on the Church’s teaching on recreational drugs, with a particular focus on marijuana. (Colorado and its capital, Denver, have long been the epicenter of marijuana culture in the United States, the state having legalized its recreational use in 2012, one of the first states to do so.)

Laying out “foundation reasons” for the Church’s teaching that the use of drugs is immoral, Aquila in his letter first proposed that because the human person is of eternal value, it is wrong to use any substance that is harmful to human life. 

“[D]rugs diminish our self-possession by harming the very faculties that make us human: Drugs inhibit our use of reason, weaken our will’s orientation toward the good, and train our emotions to expect quick relief from artificial pleasure,” he continued.

“These effects severely limit our ability to freely give ourselves to another — whether it be temporarily, as in the case of occasional drug use, or regularly, as in the case of drug addiction.”

On the contrary, “rather than reaching for chemicals when we are feeling weary and burdened, Jesus invites us to turn to him, who promises rest and abundance.”

Continuing, Aquila said Christians are called to “fully embrace Christ’s invitation to leave behind unhealthy attachments and coping mechanisms, like drugs … honoring God with our bodies.”

Addressing a possible objection, Aquila noted later in the letter that temperate use of alcohol is not the same as using drugs such as marijuana. Scripture, while describing alcohol as a gift from God, nevertheless strongly condemns drunkenness, he wrote.

Is marijuana dangerous?

Setting aside the purported medicinal or social benefits of marijuana, ample scientific evidence exists on the physical risks of using it, especially for the developing brains of young people. Reports from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have found that marijuana impairs short-term memory and judgment and distorts perception, meaning it can impair performance in school or at work and make it dangerous to drive. 

Marijuana also affects brain systems that are still maturing through young adulthood, NIDA says, so regular use by teens may have negative and long-lasting effects on their cognitive development. 

Marijuana use is also associated with an increased risk of alcohol use disorders, nicotine dependence, marijuana use disorder, and other drug use disorders, NIDA found. Research has also shown that pregnant women who use marijuana have a 2.3 times greater risk of stillbirth.

The societal effects of legal marijuana are also not to be ignored. Colorado, which was one of the first states to legalize recreational weed in 2012, has seen demonstrably higher rates of teen marijuana usage, traffic accidents, homelessness, and drug-related violence since legalization. 

Brugger commented that the fact that marijuana is physically harmful certainly makes it “something to avoid, unless there’s a good reason.”

Debate over decriminalization and legalization

Some activists support the legalization of marijuana as part of a program of criminal justice reform, arguing that the harsh penalties imposed for marijuana possession have disproportionately affected nonviolent offenders, especially those belonging to minority groups. 

Brugger, speaking to CNA in 2022, said there is “nothing suspect or inappropriate” about criticizing how people have been treated in the criminal justice system for marijuana offenses. 

That being said, “one can certainly criticize it without the need to destigmatize marijuana use entirely.” Catholics could advocate for lesser penalties for possession, he said, but making it entirely legal will likely lead to much greater widespread use. A “culture of sin that arises from inebriation is almost certain to increase following legalization,” Brugger said. 

Brugger also urged Catholics to be cautious, for the sake of those around them, about appearing to endorse marijuana use.

Legalization sends the message — especially for young people — that marijuana is safe and socially acceptable. Brugger said legalizing a “method of inebriation” that youth will take advantage of “can hardly lead to greater self-mastery and virtue.”

Legality is in some sense irrelevant to whether a thing is morally upright, Brugger said, and Catholics should be mindful of the example they are setting for others.

“We have an obligation to be a witness to the good and to Christ and to purity of heart and virtuous actions,” Brugger noted, adding that even if someone doubts the other arguments, the danger of scandal is something every Catholic should bear in mind.

As parishioners and police respond to the threat of an armed intruder, clergy at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Abbeville, Louisiana take cover behind the altar on May 11, 2024. / Credit: St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville, Louisiana

CNA Newsroom, May 12, 2024 / 13:10 pm (CNA).

Quick action by alert parishioners and local police are credited with averting a tragedy at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville, Louisiana, yesterday.

As 60 children were preparing for their first Communion, the parish located south of Lafayette, Louisiana, reported that an armed “suspicious person opened the back door.” 

“The individual was immediately confronted by parishioners, escorted outside, and the police were called,” the parish indicated in a statement. 

In an interview with the Acadiana Advocate, Abbeville Police Chief Mike Hardy credited parishioners for having disarmed the suspect and having him already pinned to the ground when police arrived.

A livestream video of the Mass captures the tense moments when presiding Father Nicholas DuPre was alerted to the situation.

Though the suspect was quickly neutralized, panic broke out when the suspect told police a second shooter was near the building. That is when law enforcement entered the church to make sure there was no additional danger. No other suspect was found.

The 16-year-old suspect was charged with terrorizing and two counts of possession of a firearm by a juvenile. He is being held in the Abbeville General Hospital Behavioral Unit for medical evaluation. 

Lafayette, Louisiana Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel said: “We are thankful to God that a tragedy was avoided.”

“Let us pray for an end to all threats of violence to innocent human life,” he added. 

The parish informed that “out of an abundance of caution, we will have uniformed law enforcement at all upcoming Masses.”

The Immaculata statue from Immaculate Conception Parish in Detroit was placed in a niche in the church where a confessional used to be, along with stands displaying news articles chronicling Immaculate Conception’s history, a reminder of what was lost and what has been saved. “The statue meant a lot to parishioners who came in here and adopted St. Hyacinth as their new home after Immaculate Conception was torn down,” sacristan Susan Kraus said. “It is only out of fairness and respect toward them that we restore her to her original beauty.” / Credit: Daniel Meloy | Detroit Catholic

Detroit, Mich., May 12, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Susan Kraus got goosebumps when she discovered a decorative crown adorned with 12 stars in the basement of St. Hyacinth Parish in Detroit.

The treasured piece of local Church history at the east-side Detroit parish was once considered a long-lost piece of parish lore, the headpiece for the parish’s Immaculata statue, a forgotten gem from a tumultuous time.

“It is the original headpiece from when she was at the main altar at Immaculate Conception Church [in Detroit],” Kraus, a sacristan at St. Hyacinth, told Detroit Catholic. “She’s been without it for 40 years, and it’s about time she got it back.”

The crown was restored to its proper place on top of the statue and was unveiled to parishioners following the parish’s May crowning on May 5.

The Immaculata statue was built in 1920 by Paul Landowski, who also created the famous 98-foot Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue adorned the main altar of Immaculate Conception until the parish was demolished in 1981 to make way for the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck plant.

It was a tense time for the Poletown community, with protests and even a sit-in at Immaculate Conception, but the parishioners eventually gave way — though not before the parish’s famed Immaculata statue was rescued and moved to neighboring St. Hyacinth.

The statue was placed in a niche in the church where a confessional used to be, along with stands displaying news articles chronicling Immaculate Conception’s history, a reminder of what was lost and what has been saved.

“The statue meant a lot to parishioners who came in here and adopted St. Hyacinth as their new home after Immaculate Conception was torn down,” Kraus said. “It is only out of fairness and respect toward them that we restore her to her original beauty.”

But the original crown, a reference to Revelation 12, describing a woman wearing a crown with 12 stars, standing on the moon, went missing, seemingly lost to history.

Lost until Kraus did some scrounging through the St. Hyacinth basement, coming across other treasures that are now being incorporated into daily use at the parish.

“The crown was found in an area left by the wayside,” Kraus said. “I understand when the statues came, she was without a crown. I don’t know who put the crown where I found it, but for the past several months I’ve been finding things in the basement. We recently found the ambry, the box where you keep your holy oils, that was recently installed directly behind the tabernacle.”

Parishioners stayed after Mass to take pictures of the Immaculata statue, now adorned with her crown, reflecting on the history of Immaculate Conception, St. Hyacinth, and other tales and treasures that make the history of Poletown unique.

“It means a lot to people, but I question why it wasn’t done 40 years ago,” Kraus said. “I’m new to the church here — six or seven years ago I came from Shelby Township — but I know what belongs in the church and the proper etiquette for church artifacts. We’re so glad to have the crown restored, back to where it belongs.”

This article was originally published in Detroit Catholic and is reprinted here with permission.

Mosaic of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside Christ Cathedral in Orange, California. / Credit: Kate Veik/CNA

Washington D.C., May 12, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Mother’s Day, Catholics recognize the mothers in our lives as well as Mary, Mother of God. In celebration of all that mothers do, here are 12 quotes from saints and other Catholic figures on the beauty and significance of motherhood:

St. Thérèse of Lisieux:

“The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.”

St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein):

“To be a mother is to nourish and protect true humanity and bring it to development.”

Pope Francis:

“A society without mothers would be a dehumanized society, for mothers are always, even in the worst moments, witnesses of tenderness, dedication, and moral strength. … Dearest mothers, thank you, thank you for what you are in your family and for what you give to the Church and the world.”

St. John Paul II:

“Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way along the journey of life.”

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

“Motherhood then becomes a kind of priesthood. She brings God to man by preparing the flesh in which the soul will be implanted; she brings man to God in offering the child back again to the Creator … she is nature’s constant challenge to death, the bearer of cosmic plentitude, the herald of eternal realities, God’s great cooperator.”

St. Teresa of Calcutta:

“That special power of loving that belongs to a woman is seen most clearly when she becomes a mother. Motherhood is the gift of God to women. How grateful we must be to God for this wonderful gift that brings such joy to the whole world, women and men alike!”

St. Zélie Guérin Martin, mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux:

“Above all, during the months immediately preceding the birth of her child, the mother should keep close to God, of whom the infant she bears within her is the image, the handiwork, the gift and the child. She should be for her offspring, as it were, a temple, a sanctuary, an altar, a tabernacle. In short, her life should be, so to speak, the life of a living sacrament, a sacrament in act, burying herself in the bosom of that God who has so truly instituted it and hallowed it, so that there she may draw that energy, that enlightening, that natural and supernatural beauty which he wills, and wills precisely by her means, to impart to the child she bears and to be born of her.”

St. Gianna Beretta Molla:

“Look at the mothers who truly love their children: how many sacrifices they make for them. They are ready for everything, even to give their own blood so that their babies grow up good, healthy, and strong.”

St. Augustine, son of St. Monica:

“And now thou didst ‘stretch forth thy hand from above’ and didst draw up my soul out of that profound darkness [of Manicheism] because my mother, thy faithful one, wept to thee on my behalf more than mothers are accustomed to weep for the bodily deaths of their children … And thou didst hear her, O Lord.”

Cardinal József Mindszenty:

“The most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral — a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. … The angels have not been blessed with such a grace. They cannot share in God’s creative miracle to bring new saints to heaven. Only a human mother can. Mothers are closer to God the Creator than any other creature; God joins forces with mothers in performing this act of creation … What on God’s good earth is more glorious than this; to be a mother?”

Alice von Hildebrand:

A “woman by her very nature is maternal — for every woman, whether married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological, or spiritual mother — she knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them — for maternity implies suffering — is infinitely more valuable in God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon.” 

Our Lady of Guadalupe, to St. Juan Diego:

“Do not be troubled or weighed down with grief. Do not fear any illness or vexation, anxiety, or pain. Am I not here who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle? In the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else you need?”

This was originally published on May 9, 2021, and has been updated.

"The Chosen" actor Jonathan Roumie gives the commencement speech at the Catholic University of America on Saturday, May 11, 2024. / Credit: Denny Henry/The Catholic University of America

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 11, 2024 / 15:18 pm (CNA).

Actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus Christ in the popular television series “The Chosen,” encouraged graduates at the Catholic University of America (CUA) to emulate Christ and strengthen their prayer lives during the university’s commencement ceremony Saturday morning.

“Last time I spoke [to] a crowd this big, there were loaves and fish and baskets of them,” Roumie joked, referencing the Sermon on the Mount. “So many leftovers.”

Roumie headlined the commencement ceremony for CUA graduates held on the lawn of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., which sits adjacent to the university.

The actor was also awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts for his work evangelizing through his acting career.

The speech focused on three main points: emulating Christ, praying more, and surrendering oneself to God. These subjects, he said, are “concepts I wish I had heard upon graduating college myself.”

“You don’t need to play Jesus for the world in order to be Jesus to the world,” Roumie told the crowd of graduates. 

“I’ve realized that just because I play Jesus on a TV show doesn’t mean I can or I should stop being Christ to everyone I know when the cameras turn off, and neither should you,” he said.

“Just because you’re not an actor playing Jesus or a priest or a nun doesn’t mean you’re not meant to represent him at all times, wherever you go.”

Roumie said this does not mean “God is expecting perfection from you,” but that “you must endeavor to preach the Gospel by the life you live, by your actions and [by] the choices you make.” 

He said, as Catholics, this includes “the political positions you take and the advocacy for the causes you champion,” such as “defending life at all stages.”

His second message to outgoing students was to “pray more.” He referenced the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, in which St. Paul instructs the faithful to “pray without ceasing.” 

The actor said that “the era we’re living in demands a revolution of deep prayer.”

Roumie, who also partners with the Catholic prayer app Hallow to guide people through prayers and meditation, noted that regular access to the sacrament of reconciliation, followed by Mass and receiving the Eucharist, has been essential to him in preparing for his role in “The Chosen” and is important for everyone in following Christ. 

“By this, I’m granted peace,” Roumie explained. “I’m given wisdom in areas of my life experiencing conflict beyond my human understanding, and I’m strengthened to go forward and handle situations I’m otherwise overwhelmed by.”

Roumie emphasized “the power of prayer” and the intercessory role of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all of the angels and saints. 

In his speech, the actor also discussed the importance of “surrender” and recognizing that “you’re not in charge; God is.” 

Roumie noted that before his role in “The Chosen,” he had been struggling to find success as an actor and faced serious financial hardships. He said he surrendered all of his hardships to God: “I dropped to my knees and I poured myself out to the Lord and surrendered everything to him, saying, ‘I can’t do this without you.’”

“I would not be standing with you here today if God had not brought me to my knees in utter desperation to surrender my entire life and more specifically my career over to him — something I hadn’t even considered before,” the actor said. 

“It’s the hardest thing that I’ve ever done, but the greatest thing that has ever happened to me,” Roumie said. “And it will be the most life-changing thing that will ever happen to you if you allow it, especially at this point in your young lives.”

About 1,300 students graduated from the university on Saturday.

Four other attendees also received honorary doctorates: Father Piotr Nawrot, a priest of the Divine World Ministries who rediscovered and reconstructed 13,000 pages of music of the Moxo and Chiquito tribes; John Finnis, a Catholic legal and political thinker; Teresa Pitt Green, the co-founder of the Healing Voices magazine; and Rabbi Jack Bemporad, who has authored several books on Christian and Jewish relations and is the founding director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding.

null / Credit: terazitu/Shutterstock

St. Paul, Minn., May 11, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Jerry Laughlin, 46, who took over a fifth-generation farm near Imogene, Iowa, in 1999 and hopes to move more into farming crops for food rather than industrial use, is grateful for his Catholic faith amid the challenges of farm life.

Seeing farming as a sacred profession is exactly what an “epic apostolate” founded 100 years ago aims to foster. Laughlin is considering, with his pastor, Father Lazarus Kirigia, starting a chapter of Catholic Rural Life at his parish.

Built on Archbishop Edwin O’Hara’s vision and philosophy of Catholic rural life, it continues his legacy of helping the rural Church promote U.S. farming and how it can foster virtuous living, while it also grapples with problems the archbishop identified a century ago, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said at a May 8 anniversary event titled “Rejoicing in the Harvest: Celebrating 100 Years of Catholic Rural Life” at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

As founder of what is now Catholic Rural Life (CRL), a national Catholic nonprofit of more than 600 members dedicated to the vitality of American rural life, “Archbishop O’Hara seemed only trying to remind people that there’s something sacramental about country life and that thus it deserves to be treated with dignity and care,” said Dolan, author of a 1992 biography of O’Hara, “Some Seed Fell on Good Ground.”

During his keynote to many CRL members among the roughly 310 bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and laypeople in attendance, Dolan noted that the organization continues to face challenges that concerned its founder, including flight of youth from the country, agriculture as a business rather than a way of life, and a lack of Church resources in rural areas. 

“I just so admire you and the passion that you have for the country that was so loved by Jesus and so much a part of our sacred Scripture, of our Church tradition,” he said. “So don’t give up. We need you more than ever. May the second 100 years be as glorious as the first.”

Also celebrating CRL’s legacy while offering insights about farming history, Catholic social teaching, ecology, technology, and current rural issues at the one-day conference were sociology professor James Nolan of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts; Christopher Thompson, academic dean and professor of moral theology at St. Paul Seminary; and Monsignor James Shea, president of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, who grew up on a dairy farm.

Based in St. Paul, Catholic Rural Life offers programs to develop lay Catholic leaders in rural communities and for clergy formation and spiritual renewal in rural areas. It has 29 chapters in 28 dioceses that organize faith and social programs, and it has offered a five-day retreat attended by 395 priests.

Originally named the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, the organization was founded in November 1923 during a gathering of bishops, priests, and laity in St. Louis. Then director of the Rural Life Bureau of the National Catholic Welfare Conference (now the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops), O’Hara founded the organization to improve Catholic education and bring more Church resources to rural communities. In 2013, the organization changed its name to Catholic Rural Life. 

The virtues and truth that have characterized the rural way of life in the U.S. are now threatened by the overall deterioration of faith, and the Christian vision needs to be rearticulated, Shea said in his talk.

“I’m convicted, and I know that many of you share this conviction, that we live in a time which is a change of the ages,” he said. “We live in a new apostolic age. The urgency of evangelization is very present to us, but, also, we have to change our strategies because we’re living in the first post-Christian age in all of history.”

Concerns of rural life

A blind spot about rural life seems to have crept into the Catholic imagination that CRL can address, Thompson noted in his talk, “Another Way of Seeing,” where he presented a theological perspective on humanity’s relationship with the created world and challenged chapter leaders to emphasize care of creation and understanding of Church teaching. Many major universities no longer offer agriculture programs, and some seminarians Thompson co-teaches in a rural ministry practicum for St. Paul Seminary show little enthusiasm for rural issues. 

“You can feel like you’re alone in a Catholic rural setting,” he said. “I want to express empathy to the challenge. CRL is there to provide the revelation, though, to lift up hearts and to renew our relationships there.”

Isolation and mental health issues are real problems in rural communities, and Kansas State University students, led by their campus chaplain, started the first student CRL chapter in 2021 on their agriculture-based Manhattan, Kansas, campus with one goal: to reach out to students from rural backgrounds.

“It’s been a big passion of mine, I guess, to kind of bring awareness to this and advocate for it, because I come from a line of very strong-willed farmers, and I see how hard it is for them to ask for help,” Jenna Reinert, a 21-year-old junior, told CNA.

Helping students connect and speak to the beauty of rural life were goals in starting the chapter, said Father Gale Hammerschmidt, pastor and chaplain at St. Isidore Catholic Student Center at Kansas State. 

Mental health is an issue throughout rural America, he said, “and so we want to get started early with students on the collegiate level, recognizing that it’s not shameful to need help in regards to mental issues.”

The resources and connections Bishop Brendan Cahill finds with other bishops and farmers in rural dioceses across the country have helped him become informed about mental health and other issues affecting his mostly rural southern Texas Diocese of Victoria, which is 30% Catholic. In his nine years of involvement with CRL, he told CNA he’s seen the work of the organization as “an affirmation of our faith in rural America.”

“We talk about what we’re doing in dioceses, how we’re working with our churches, what we’re doing with our vocations, what we’re doing with our priests, issues, mental health, things like that that we’re dealing with.”

The opportunity to educate farmers in the two parishes he pastors in Iowa is why Kirigia is considering starting CRL chapters there. The two parishes, St. Patrick in Imogene and St. Mary in Red Oak, each have about 150 households and are 24 miles apart. Kirigia, who is originally from Kenya, attended a CRL retreat for priests and said he was struck to learn that century-old predictions for American farming are true now, including the industrialization of farming. He also noted that less farm production now is actually grown for people’s food, unlike in his native Kenya, where he estimated 95% of food is grown for human consumption. 

There isn’t enough food in the world, he said, “but here we have an abundance, which is not really for food, right? While the rest of the world is starving because of lack of food.”

Caring for creation

Nolan of Williams College stated that foreign statesmen visiting rural America in the 19th and early-20th century saw a pervasive business approach to farming here, but the growth of the organic, slow-food movement and community-supported agriculture, whereby consumers buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer, are making inroads.

Citing Pope Francis’ call for a more affectionate posture toward creation in his encyclical Laudato Si’, he said: “Thus, on this 100th anniversary of Catholic Rural Life, we have a wonderful opportunity, in a time when the land and farms and rural communities that have been harmed by practices and ways of thinking [related to industrial and technological mindsets of exploitation and extraction] that have persisted in American society for many years, [to] renew our commitment to thinking and acting differently.”

Iowa farmer Laughlin said he found hope in changing the industrial mindset of agriculture.

“You need a sense of purpose and creation and spirituality, I think, to actually comprehend maybe a better way,” he said. “At least all the information, most of the information I know of, coming to farmers is based off of a capitalist mindset so it’s hard to break away from that and come out with a kind of a spiritual sense, in my opinion.”

In working the land and being close to creation, farmers develop trust, patience, resilience, and faith in forces of the invisible to believe in mystery and miracles, Dolan said in his homily during the conference Mass. 

“The people of the soil are dreamers,” he said. “They carry the mystery. They never give up. They have the values of trust and prominence and resilience in the heartache and the sense of the invisible. They are the ones who know that there’s mysteries and poetry going on in the cosmos, and they are the ones most in awe.”