Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

null / Credit: Image created using OpenAI's DALL·E through ChatGPT

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Numerous news reports in recent days reported that a new artificially intelligent “Jesus” has begun taking people’s confessions at a Catholic church in Switzerland. 

Claim: A holographic “AI Jesus” has been created and deployed at a chapel in Switzerland specifically to hear confessions.

CNA finds: St. Peter’s Chapel in Lucerne, a historic parish church, recently installed “an innovative project that explores the use of virtual characters based on generative artificial intelligence in a spiritual context” in collaboration with the Immersive Realities Research Lab at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

The AI program was reportedly trained with content from the New Testament, with the goal of allowing the “Jesus” avatar to verbally respond, in one of 100 languages, to questions about the Bible from people entering the confessional. 

(Numerous reports described the “Jesus” avatar as a “hologram,” which is a 3D projection created with lasers; but a Deutsche Welle video of the installation in action showed that the artificial face of “Jesus” merely appeared on a curved computer monitor behind the confessional screen.) 

The installation is titled “Deus in Machina” (a Latin phrase meaning “God in the machine” and a play on the more commonly used literary phrase “Deus ex machina”). An announcement from the lab said the project, which is described as an “art exhibit,” “encourages thinking about the limits of technology in the context of religion.”

The breakdown: Despite being placed in the confessional booth, the parish notes on its website that the AI installation is intended for conversations, not confessions. Confession, also called penance or reconciliation, is one of the seven sacraments of the Church and can only be performed by a priest or bishop, and never in a virtual setting.

A theologian at the Swiss parish said the project is also intended to help to get religious people comfortable with AI and reportedly said he does see potential for AI to help with the pastoral work of priests, given that AI can be available any time, “24 hours a day, so it has abilities that pastors don’t.”

Peter Kirchschläger, an expert in theological ethics, opined to Deutsche Welle in response to the theologian’s comments that “we should be careful when it comes to faith, pastoral care, and the search for meaning in religion. This is an area in which we humans are actually vastly superior to machines. So we should do it ourselves.”

The Swiss art project is the latest in a series of attempts — including an embrace of the technology at the Vatican itself — to make AI work in service of the Catholic faith, which so far has yielded mixed results. 

CatéGPT, for example, an artificial intelligence chatbot designed by another Swiss, engineer Nicolas Torcheboeuf, aims to provide answers to questions about Catholic teaching by drawing on authoritative documents. Other similar AI-based services have gained popularity, such as the U.S.-based Magisterium AI. 

Less successful was an AI “priest” created and unveiled earlier this year by the California-based apologetics apostolate Catholic Answers, which was criticized by some users for its video game-like priestly avatar. Moreover, at least one user managed to goad the priestly character into hearing their confession, prompting a statement from the apostolate in which it promised to replace the priest character with a lay character named “Justin.”

The verdict: The “AI Jesus” project exists, but it’s not intended to hear people’s confessions, or to replace a priest. Rather, it’s an art exhibit created by researchers at a local technical university in concert with theologians who say they want to raise questions about the use of technology in religious settings and to demonstrate the ability of AI to answer questions about the Bible. 

We rate this claim misleading.

St. John’s Cathedral in the Netherlands is lit up for Red Wednesday on Nov. 23, 2022. / Credit: Ldhank, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

Catholic churches around the world were lit up in red on Wednesday as a display of solidarity with persecuted Christians.

Organized by the Christian aid group Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), “Red Week” has been taking place in honor of persecuted Christians every November since 2016.

Ed Clancy, director of outreach for Aid to the Church in Need, emphasized in an interview this week with “EWTN News Nightly” the increasing persecution of Christians around the world documented in a recent ACN report.

Spurred in large part by the 2014 destruction of the ancient Christian community in Iraq by the so-called Islamic State, Red Wednesday aims to draw attention to this pressing issue by illuminating cathedrals, churches, and public buildings in red. 

Clancy told “EWTN News Nightly” that the day of solidarity coincides with the period leading up to the feast of Christ the King, contrasting the commercial focus of Black Friday with a call to recognize and support persecuted Christians globally.

He noted that approximately 1 in 7 Christians globally face persecution. He identified regions such as Pakistan, Nigeria, the Sahel region of Africa, Egypt, and India as areas where Christian persecution is particularly severe and on the rise. 

He urged the faithful to support persecuted Christians through prayer and awareness-raising efforts like Red Wednesday.

This year more than 300 official Red Wednesday events were held in 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Ireland, Malta, the Philippines, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia.

Here’s a look at some of the church and government buildings that were lit up on Wednesday. 

Father Max Josef Metzger, a Catholic priest executed by the Nazi regime in 1944 for his peace activism and ecumenical work, was beatified Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Freiburg, Germany. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Germany

CNA Newsroom, Nov 21, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Father Max Josef Metzger, a Catholic priest executed by the Nazi regime in 1944 for his peace activism and ecumenical work, was beatified Sunday in Freiburg, Germany.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, presided over the beatification Mass at Freiburg Cathedral as the representative of Pope Francis, the diocese reported.

“His death is an eloquent testimony to what constitutes a martyr in the Christian understanding of faith,” he said, according to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

Metzger, who served as a military chaplain during World War I, became a passionate advocate for peace and reconciliation between nations after witnessing the horrors of war. In 1917, he developed an “international religious peace program” that he submitted to Pope Benedict XV.

“Peace between peoples and nations became his great passion,” Koch said in his homily, noting that this led Metzger to found both the World Peace League of the White Cross and the Peace League of German Catholics in 1919.

The cardinal emphasized that Metzger’s twin commitments to peace and Christian unity were inseparable. As the Nazi regime gained power, Metzger became increasingly involved in ecumenical work, becoming a promoter of the Una Sancta movement for Christian unity in 1938.

“Metzger was convinced that the Church can only credibly advocate for peace in the world when Christians and Christian churches reconcile with each other,” Koch said.

Nazi persecution

The Nazi authorities viewed Metzger’s peace work and public criticism of the war as treason against their ideology. He was arrested multiple times. On Oct. 14, 1943, he was sentenced to death by the People’s Court and executed by guillotine on April 17, 1944, at Brandenburg-Görden Prison.

According to prison chaplain Peter Buchholz’s account, the executioner remarked that he had “never seen a person go to their death with such radiant eyes as this Catholic priest.”

Koch connected Metzger’s martyrdom to today’s global challenges, noting that “when we look into today’s world with the terrible wars in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and in many other places, such dark prospects should no longer appear otherworldly to us but rather very realistic and current.”

Legacy of peace

The beatification of Metzger was approved by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in March, recognizing his unwavering commitment to peace and Christian charity.

Born in Schopfheim in Germany’s Black Forest region in 1887, Metzger served as a diocesan priest of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. His last resting place is in Meitingen near Augsburg, Bavaria, where he had established the headquarters of the Christ the King Society in 1928.

The “beatification is a great honor for the Archdiocese of Freiburg,” Koch said. “At the same time, it comes with the demand that we are called to witness to peace and unity in today’s world in following Jesus Christ.”

“In Jesus there is no contradiction between truth and charity,” notes professor Marta Rodríguez Díaz, who teaches in the philosophy department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. / Credit: Courtesy of Marta Rodríguez Díaz

Madrid, Spain, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Marta Rodríguez Díaz, a Catholic expert on gender ideology, said that rather than fighting gender ideology, the mission of the Catholic Church is “to seek to make light shine in the darkness” and to offer critical dialogue.

Rodríguez also pointed out that “if the Church is not credible today in terms of gender, it is not for a lack of having much to say but because there is a lack of educators who know how to convey its message in a comprehensive and accurate way.”

Rodríguez was chosen by the Spanish Bishops’ Conference to provide formation to diocesan delegates for family and life pastoral care regarding the challenge the gender ideology issue represents for the Catholic Church.

She holds a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University and is a professor in the philosophy department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. She is also coordinator of the academic area of ​​the Institute for Women’s Studies.

Rodríguez is also the academic director of the course on gender, sex, and education at the Francisco de Vitoria University in collaboration with the Regina Apostolorum and was part of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life.

She spoke recently with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, about gender ideology, Catholic anthropology, and how it relates to the culture today.

ACI Prensa: How should the Church combat gender ideology?

Rodríguez: I don’t know if I like the word “combat” ... I think that the mission of the Church is to be light and to seek to make light shine in the darkness. To be light means proposing the entire truth about the human being, to educate and also to warn and point out those ideas that contradict the dignity of the person or don’t help attain its fullness.

Personally, I would prefer to see us, as a Church, more dedicated to a dialogue capable of seriously addressing the ideologies of our time than to making total denunciations that only those who already think like us understand.

According to the data you offer, pastoral workers either have a vague understanding of the Catholic teaching on the subject or don’t know or understand it at all. What steps must be taken to reverse this situation?

Formation, formation, formation. It’s necessary to provide formation in Christian anthropology. My experience is that pastoral workers have insufficient knowledge of it and are not capable of proposing it in all its beauty and depth. In addition, it’s necessary to provide formation in moral theology so that they know how to discern the pastoral applications that are appropriate in each case, without in any way blurring the truth about the [human] person. It’s also necessary to provide formation in a pastoral style that knows how to connect with the postmodern world and to propose the perennial beauty of the Gospel in a language that is comprehensible to today’s world.

I think that if the Church is not credible today on gender issues, it’s not because it doesn’t have much to say but because there is a lack of formators who know how to convey its message in a comprehensive and accurate way.

There is a crisis in the family, in which the roles of men and women are confused. Is this a main cause of the confusion among young people on the issue of gender? What other elements push in this direction?

Definitely, the crisis of femininity and masculinity that we are experiencing has a very strong impact on young people. Without attractive role models, it is difficult to carry out the process of identifying with one’s own sex that is necessary in adolescence. In addition, there is the crisis of the family itself: many dysfunctional families, with absent fathers and mothers.

The media, social media, and movies certainly also have an influence, as they insist so clearly on one single message. In short, I think that today’s kids are bombarded by ideas that confuse them, and they have no solid points of reference to guide them.

You say that knowing things have not been done well up to now is “liberating.” In what sense?

In the sense that it makes us see what depends on us and where we can improve our discourse to be more credible. Personally, I am very concerned when it’s said that the cause of all the confusion among young people is from social media, the news media, laws... because all that is true, but it’s also true that it doesn’t seem that it will change in the next few years.

But if, at the same time that we recognize the impact of all these external elements, we recognize that as a Church we have not always been up to the task; that we have not been able to propose the message with the depth and beauty that our times demanded … then we have things that depend on us, and that allow us to hope that the landscape can, indeed, improve.

You list some risks in the educational field. What are you referring to by “medical practices little proven from the scientific point of view?”

[I’m referring] to hormonal treatments for children and adolescents. I‘m not a doctor, but many doctors and psychologists have raised serious objections to this type of practice. In other countries they are backing off, but in Spain we are still carrying out experiments.

You state that “it’s not necessary to declare war on the term ‘gender’: It’s possible to take it up critically.” What part of that discourse is acceptable according to the magisterium of the Church?

The problem is not the term gender but the anthropology from which it draws. Amoris Laetitia No. 56 states that “gender and sex can be distinguished, but they cannot be separated.” The same is said in Male and Female He Created Them in Nos. 6 and 11. And Dignitas Infinita again takes up this affirmation. I believe that the consolidated tendency of the magisterium in recent years has been to stop declaring war on the term and to engage in a critical dialogue with what I call “gender theories.”

Gender is the development or cultural interpretation of sex. It’s fair to distinguish it from sex, but not to separate it from it.

What makes this era different from others in terms of cultural change and the distance between generations that makes dialogue on these issues so difficult?

I think the difficulty lies in what Pope Francis calls “a change of era.” Culture is always in continuous change, but there are moments in history when a true change of era occurs. It’s a moment of rupture, where time “changes its skin,” and a deeper adaptation of language, perspective, and vision is needed.

Veritatis Gaudium recognizes that “we still lack the culture necessary to confront this crisis; we lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths.” It’s about learning to propose the beauty of Christ and of man in a postmodern world. This requires a new prophetic word. 

How can we balance welcoming those wounded by gender ideology as the good Samaritan would, with the proclamation of the anthropological truth of the creation of man and woman as the image of God and what follows from this affirmation?

In Jesus there is no contradiction between truth and charity. The same Jesus who proclaims the Sermon on the Mount and says that adultery begins in the heart raises up the adulterous woman.

Affirming that sex is a constitutive reality of the person and that it permeates body and soul does not contradict the recognition that identity in the psychological sense is bio-psycho-social and that the person has the task of integrating different elements: body, psyche, culture…

We can say that I am born a woman, but at the same time I have to become a woman. This process is not simple, and even less so today. I believe that we have to seriously take into consideration the experience of each person.

Christian anthropology is not a theoretical truth that we have to throw at people… If we believe that we are well made [by God], we know that the truth is within each of us and we can recognize it in the longings of our heart.

Perhaps the task of the Christian companion is to walk with people as Jesus did with the disciples [going to] Emmaus, helping them to enrich the grammar with which they interpret their story. If we believe that “the truth makes us free,” then perhaps what we need to have is a lot of patience and love to accompany people to be more and more authentically themselves.

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

The historic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France, was ravaged by arson on the night of Sept. 2, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Sébastien Roussel

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A recently released report from a European watchdog group has found nearly 2,500 documented instances of hate crimes against Christians living in Europe. Approximately 1,000 of these attacks took place in France. 

According to the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC) report, which drew on both police and civil society data, 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes and acts of discrimination and intolerance occurred across 35 European countries from 2023 to 2024.

Of these, 232 constituted personal attacks of harassment, threats, and physical assaults against Christians.

Most affected countries: France, England, and Germany

Nearly 1,000 of the anti-Christian hate crimes reported in Europe in 2023 took place in France, with 90% of the attacks waged against churches or cemeteries. The report also found there were about 84 personal attacks against individuals. 

Apart from physical assaults, the report cited data from the French Religious Heritage Observatory, which recorded eight confirmed cases of arson against churches in France in 2023 and 14 attacks in the first 10 months of 2024. Several reported cases were on account of “Molotov cocktails,” a makeshift handheld firebomb.

Religious communities also reported incidents of harassment. Two nuns cited in the report, for example, announced in 2023 that they would be leaving the northwestern city of Nantes on account of “constant hostility and insecurity.” The nuns reportedly experienced “beatings, spitting, and insults.”

The United Kingdom followed close behind France, according to the report, with 702 reported anti-Christian hate crimes, a 15% increase since 2023.

The report also included as anti-Christian acts incidents of Christians being prosecuted for praying silently in the country’s so-called “buffer zones,” such as the case of Adam Smith-Connor, who was convicted for praying in front of an abortion clinic.

The report stated that in Germany, the third most affected country, official government statistics reported 277 “politically motivated hate crimes” against Christians in 2023, a 105% increase from the previous year when there were 103 reported attacks. 

OIDAC Europe independently estimated that “at least 2,000 cases of property damage to Christian places of worship in 2023” took place. 

Motives and perpetrators of anti-Christian hate crimes

OIDAC Europe found that of the 69 documented cases where the motives and background of perpetrators could be accurately accounted for, 21 of them were provoked by a radical Islamist agenda, 14 were of a generally anti-religious nature, 13 were tied to far-left political motives, and 12 were “linked to the war in Ukraine.”

The report also noted that numbers in this respect remained unchanged compared with 2022, “except for cases with an Islamist background, which increased from 11 to 21.”

Pushed to the silent margins

In addition to overt attacks, the OIDAC report highlighted an increased phenomenon of discrimination in the workplace and public life, leading to a rise in self-censorship among those who practice their faith. 

According to a U.K.-based study from June cited in the report, 56% of 1,562 respondents stated they “had experienced hostility and ridicule when discussing their religious beliefs,” an overall 61% rise among those under 35. In addition, 18% of those who participated in the study reported experiencing discrimination, particularly among those in younger age groups.

More than 280 participants in the same survey stated “they felt that they had been disadvantaged because of their religion.”

“I was bullied at my workplace, made to feel less than, despite being very successful at my job in other settings, until I left,” one female respondent in her late 40s stated in the survey, while another respondent, a man in his mid- to late-50s, said: “Any mention of faith in a CV precludes one from an interview. My yearly assessment was lowered because I spoke of Christ.”

The report explained that the majority of discrimination occurs due to the “expression of religious beliefs about societal issues.” However, in the U.K., these instances have extended to private conversations and posts on private social media accounts, according to the report.

A case involving a mother of two children, Kristie Higgs, was cited in the report. Higgs was fired from her job as a pastoral assistant after sharing, in a private Facebook post, “concerns about the promotion of transgenderism in sex education lessons at her son’s primary school.”

“I am not alone to be treated this way — many of the others here to support me today have faced similar consequences,” Higgs stated after her hearing at the Court of Appeals in October.

“This is not just about me,” she added. “It cannot be right that so many Christians are losing their jobs or facing discipline for sharing biblical truth, our Christian beliefs.”

Government interference with the Catholic Church

Two instances of government interference in Catholic religious autonomy were cited. 

One instance occurred in France, in which a secular civil court “ruled against the Vatican’s internal canonical procedures” in a case regarding a French nun who was dismissed from her order. The Vatican sent a letter to the French embassy in response to the ruling, which it called “a serious violation of the fundamental rights of religious freedom and freedom of association of the Catholic faithful.”

In Belgium, the report also noted, two bishops were convicted and ordered to pay financial compensation after they refused to admit a woman to a diaconate training program, despite human rights law, which protects the rights of religious institutions such as the Catholic Church, to decide on matters such as the ordination of clergy without state-level interference.

Recommendations

“As freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is a cornerstone for free and democratic societies, we hope that states will not compromise on the protection of these fundamental rights, and thus ensure an open and peaceful climate in our societies,” the report stated in its conclusion.

OIDAC’s report includes various recommendations to governments of European countries, human rights institutions, the European Union, members of the media, and other “opinion leaders” as well as to Christian churches and individuals.

The watchdog organization’s recommendations include a call for safeguarding freedom of expression, more robust reporting on intolerance and discrimination against Christians, the abandonment of anti-Christian “hate speech” in the public sphere, and for people of faith to engage in public-facing discourse as a means of “dialogue between religion and secular society.”

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla was among the speakers featured at the 2024 Conference on Catholics and Public Life Nov. 15–17, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates)

Madrid, Spain, Nov 19, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, described socialism as an ideology that is an “enemy of the cross” at the Conference on Catholics and Public Life organized by the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates) this past weekend.

During his talk titled “Thinking and Acting in Times of Uncertainty,” Munilla pointed out that “we cannot confront this attack and this systematic imposition of a new society only with criticism and new political leadership, but rather a movement of converts is required. We will only get out of this crisis through a renewal of holiness.”

He also maintained that society needs a “change of worldview in which we go from being enemies of the cross to being the people of the cross” because, he emphasized, “without the cross there is no glory; it’s a great mistake to make a dichotomy between the cross and happiness; the cross leads us to glory, and glory is complete happiness.”

In this context, he described socialism as an “ideology that is an enemy of the cross” whose sociological and political currents have become “the grave of peoples, in which the ‘nanny state’ solves all the problems,” without appealing to the sacrifice and commitment of individuals.

As a result, an “anthropological crisis is being created, raising it to the level of law and supreme precept, which seeks to rebel against the natural order, turning wounds into rights instead of accepting emotional wounds, the fruit of the disintegration of the family.”

The bishop added that “we are trying to compensate for the inner emptiness of man with consumerism and materialism; fleeing from affective commitment and from opening up to the gift of life; and suffering is being treated as something incompatible with human dignity: This world suffers so much for not wanting to suffer, for escaping from the cross of Christ.”

Hadjadj: Facing uncertainty is a life-or-death challenge

For his part, French philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj addressed the general theme of the conference, “Quo Vadis? Thinking and Acting in Times of Uncertainty,” appealing for each person to get involved: “Where are you going? Not ‘where is the world going,’ since with this question one can be a spectator and can be content with complaining.”

Hadjadj pointed out that living in a time of uncertainty “is not just any challenge” but rather a challenge that is configured as a question “if not of honor, at least of life or death.” To do so, it is necessary “to have a healed soul, to accept having a body bruised by martyrdom.”

At the same time, he pointed out that it is inevitable to experience “the least confessable emotion: fear. Not so much the fear of dying, but the fear of living up to the challenge, the fear of maintaining our reputation for being alive.”

In postmodern Europe, this challenge is embodied in a continent, a society that “despairs of what is human and tends today to constitutionalize abortion and euthanasia; to revise colonial history, lumping together the conqueror and the missionary.”

These are demands “that many imagine to be linked to the affirmation of individual freedom and, in reality, they emanate from the death of aspiring. They correspond to the agitation of despair,” the philosopher pointed out.

Ayaan Hirsi: The less Christian presence, the greater the crisis

The conference also featured the participation of human rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who stressed that “the less presence there is of Christianity in society,” the greater the social crisis in the West.

In her presentation, titled “Free to Seek the Truth,” Hirsi explained that multiculturalism and globalization are “two sides of the same coin.”

On the one hand, there is a “retribalization of society, with the growth of identity groups “who have no national loyalty to the country they call home.” On the other, there is the evaporation of a set of shared values, the fragmentation of society, and the ethnicization and racialization of all political issues.

Hirsi denounced the “atrocious restrictions on freedom of expression, religion, and the resurgence of a [socially] acceptable and legitimate racism against whites and against Jews in Europe and in America in the name of intersectional social justice.”

She also warned of the proliferation of “pseudo religions that present themselves as equal or superior to Christianity itself” as well as the appeal of “ideas that challenge reality” such as “the existence of multiple genders.”

These trends, in her opinion, create an increasing difficulty in teaching children the difference between good and evil. At the university, the search for truth is replaced “by the development of narratives,” while “the search for excellence through merit is branded as an enemy of diversity.”

“If this trend continues, it will mark the beginning of the downfall,” she emphasized.

Recovering a strong and reliable Christianity 

For Hirsi, “we must recover a strong and reliable Christianity. Churches must stop adopting every new fad and revive the true message and teachings of Christ.”

She also called for “resisting the ongoing demographic decline” in Europe by making it attractive for young people to marry and have a family. She also called for schools, universities, and the arts to recognize “their role in promoting the Christian ethos that led to the formation of the institutions that make the West extraordinary.”

“None of these changes can be achieved if we do not organize, participate, and mobilize to achieve a strong majority that participates and acts. Only by recovering a sense of unity based on common values ​​and not on differences will we be able to build stronger and more cohesive societies in these uncertain times,” she concluded.

Presence of young people at the conference

The 26th Conference on Catholics and Public Life sought to reach out to young people in particular, offering some specific opportunities, such as a roundtable with digital missionaries.

It was attended by 1,000 young people from different Spanish cities who heard testimonies and encouragement from three evangelizers on social media: Carlos Taracena, Carla Restoy, and Irene Alonso, among others.

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

Gilmour Street train station in Paisley, Scotland. / Credit: Lachlan1/Shutterstock

London, England, Nov 17, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The new president of the bishops of Scotland is taking the Church’s message to “the streets” by joining in the evangelistic efforts of a Scottish railway mission. 

Bishop John Keenan, who was announced as the new leader of the Church in Scotland on Nov. 4, recently participated in the mission of Rail Pastors in Inverclyde, Scotland. He told CNA: “It is the Church on the streets where the Spirit wants us to be and where we feel his unique presence in almost every encounter.”

Keenan defined the Rail Pastors’ mission as “creating a little bit of community and warmth” at train stations where he shared “the joy of the Gospel,” using the phrase popularized by Pope Francis in his 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium. 

The Rail Pastors are familiar to many Scots, as they have been active in Scotland for a number of years and operate at train stations in Fife, Inverclyde, and Paisley. 

The group’s mission is “to listen, care, and help travelers who otherwise might feel a little unsafe, or needing a helpful person to chat to.” Easily recognizable in bright sky-blue uniforms, Rail Pastors send people to relevant agencies for further support and are urged to be on the lookout for people contemplating suicide. 

One Friday evening last month, Keenan, who is also the bishop of Paisley, joined an ecumenical team of Rail Pastors as an observer on the trains and stations from Port Glasgow to Wemyss Bay, and then Paisley to Greenock in the west of Scotland. 

Reflecting on the mission, he said: “Uniformed as Rail Pastors, they engaged passengers of all ages from teenagers to seniors creating a little bit of community and warmth on a dark and wet Scottish autumn night.” 

Mental health statistics among Scotland’s young people are concerning, with 1 in 6 young adults aged 18–34 having self-harmed. In addition, 76% of parents have reported that their child’s mental health deteriorated while waiting for professional mental health support.  

Keenan explained that he sees the Rail Pastors as offering “a safe and reassuring presence to the young people who appreciate this pastoral care even while they are making merry.” He was able to reach out to some young people who were “amazed” to see him operating as part of the Rail Pastors team.

“A group of teenage girls recognized me from my visit to their Catholic primary school, while they were preparing for the sacrament of confirmation, and we had a nice conversation,” the bishop recalled. “Another asked me to pray for her mum. They were amazed to see me engaging with them in this role.”

He added: “In the station bar, a young man recognized me and, as we got on the train and shared his journey home, he opened up about his faith and his parents’ deep Catholic convictions. Our meeting made his day, and he got off the train renewed in faith and spirit.”  

During the evening mission, Keenan also spoke to retired police officers, transport police officers, and rail safety officers. “By midnight we had been six hours out and about as salt, leaven, and light and, where the occasion allowed, sharing the joy of the Gospel,” he said. 

Rail Pastors team leader Chris Jewell said the team was “delighted” to be joined by the bishop. 

In Scotland, Keenan has emerged as a proponent of the new evangelization, which was championed by St. John Paul II and subsequent popes. Keenan is also well known for promoting the rosary and supporting Pope Francis’ rosary “marathon” for an end to the pandemic in 2021.

Ernest Board (1877-1934), “Albertus Magnus Teaches in the Streets of Paris.” / Credit: Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 4.0

National Catholic Register, Nov 15, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

St. Albert the Great was considered the “wonder and the miracle of his age” by his contemporaries. He was an assiduous Dominican whose accomplishments and gifts to the Church are difficult to exaggerate.

Born around 1206 and joining the Order of Preachers in 1223, Albert quickly became a master of almost every academic subject. Notwithstanding the standards of his own time, he became a pioneer of the natural sciences — both empirical and philosophical. His teachings on nature and theology were revolutionary, and he captured the attention of a young and taciturn Dominican — St. Thomas Aquinas.

While surpassing all his contemporaries in intellect and cogency, it was his own student who managed to shine brighter than he. If Albert blazed the path, then it was Aquinas who reached and held the summit. Then, tragically, when the quick flash of Aquinas’ life was over, it was Albert who defended him and held him up as a beacon of light for the whole Church. St. Albert the Great was a teacher, a bishop, and a forerunner to some of the greatest theological gifts the Church has received.

After joining the Dominicans, Albert went to Paris in 1245 and successfully received his doctorate. He then began teaching in Paris and then in Cologne, Germany. It was during his time in Cologne that he noticed a young man named Thomas. The quiet student was nicknamed “Dumb Ox” by his peers, because of his weight and the mistaken notion that his silence was due to an obtuse mind. In time, Albert realized the great acumen of the young man, and Albert took him on as a disciple.

God and nature

What drew Aquinas — and the praise and condemnation of others — to Albert was his exhaustive study of nature and God. Though it was over a millennium since the birth of Christ, the Church still struggled to define nature and its role in creation. In essence, different theological camps disagreed on how to communicate a supposedly autonomous nature — with its own laws and movements — and an omnipotent God.

If it snows, is God making it snow or are there self-moving natural causes for the snow? Though a simplistic example, the relationship between God and nature is a deciding point between theology and science or even faith and reason. Oftentimes, certain groups worried that granting nature independent causes would detract from God’s glory or resurrect pagan ideals.

At the center of many related controversies was the pagan philosopher Aristotle. The writings of Aristotle had come originally to Catholicism through Jewish and Islamic scholars, which detrimentally imported a good deal of erroneous commentary. The errors — which ranged from a misunderstanding of Aristotle to thinking Aristotle was infallible — colored the Catholic mind against the Greek philosopher on many counts. 

Albert’s indefatigable spirit strove to show that Aristotle’s account of nature could import a great service to the Church and her theology. Though he wrote an entire chapter titled “The Errors of Aristotle,” Albert showed that the principles articulated in Aristotle’s natural philosophy could be harmoniously placed within the cosmos described by Scripture.

The Church and science

The first major gift Catholicism has inherited from the riches of St. Albert’s pursuit is the idea that the Church and science are not at war with one another. Though nature moves by its own laws, the Author of those laws is the same Author of holy Scripture — this stance is a great affirmation of the belief in a harmony between faith and reason. 

The philosophical foundations for the Church discussing issues like evolution, the age of the earth, psychology, the origins of the universe, etc., all point back to the early erudition of St. Albert the Great. The concept of nature having its own causes, and that those causes could be studied via experiments, was so revolutionary that many could not decipher between scientific experiments and magic; thus, St. Albert was once accused of being a magician.

Scholasticism

The second achievement of St. Albert was Scholasticism and his pupil St. Thomas Aquinas. The Scholastic approach was unique in the sense that it centered itself on a true belief in the harmony of faith and reason, and in a well-ordered cosmos with one Divine Author. It was precisely this holistic gathering of all the sciences under one divine science that earned the scholastic St. Albert the title of “universal doctor.”

It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance Scholasticism still holds within Holy Mother Church. Pope Leo XIII declared that “it is the proper and singular gift of Scholastic theologians to bind together human knowledge and divine knowledge in the very closest bonds.” 

Pope Sixtus V confirmed that Scholasticism “has an apt coherence of facts and causes, connected with one another; an order and arrangement, like soldiers drawn up in battle array … by these the light is divided from darkness, and truth from falsehood. The lies of heretics, wrapped up in many wiles and fallacies, being stripped of their coverings, are bared and laid open.”

And while St. Albert must be remembered in his own right, we must acknowledge the magnificence of his student — St. Thomas Aquinas. 

After Thomas’ sudden death on the way to the Council of Lyons, St. Albert declared that the “light of the Church” had gone out. Later, the Church bestowed upon St. Thomas the title of “angelic doctor.” 

The Church only continued to esteem the scholar and his scholasticism: the “chief and special glory” was having his “Summa Theologiae” laid upon the altar as a source of inspiration at the Council of Trent. He was then declared the patron of all Catholic schools and universities by Pope Leo XIII.

Behind all the appropriate adulation for St. Thomas, his “Summa” and all it represents is the genius and perseverance of St. Albert.

This article was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, on Nov. 15, 2011, and has been adapted by CNA.

Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark. / Credit: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

London, England, Nov 14, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

The bishops of England and Wales continue to urge Catholics to “raise their voices” in opposition to an assisted suicide bill, the text of which was published earlier this week.

Late on Nov. 11, English Labour Member of Parliament Kim Leadbeater published her Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill before Parliament members vote on it Nov. 29. This means that members have less than three weeks to prepare to vote on a controversial issue.

Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson said: “As followers of the Lord Jesus, we must be bold in our efforts to uphold, respect, and protect every human life from conception until natural death, because if we don’t stand up and value the dignity of human life, who will?”

“The Catholic Church is clear: Every life is valuable — regardless of a person’s physical or mental state,” he continued.

The archbishop’s words come as the contents of Leadbeater’s controversial bill showed that terminally ill adults who are expected to die within six months would legally be able to seek help to kill themselves provided they receive the approval of two doctors and a judge. 

However, Wilson is concerned that the new bill will communicate the message that the elderly and vulnerable are “nothing but a burden to society.”

“People are being presented as a problem,” he said. “As a burden. A statistic. Something we can deal with through ending their life. Where is the dignity in that? Where is the love in that?”

Reacting to those who say “life has no value,” he said: “We need to raise our voices to say that is not true. We are stewards, not owners, of the life we have received. Life is not ours to dispose of.” 

Leadbeater insisted that her bill contains “robust” safeguards, claiming that coercion would lead to 14 years in jail, but Wilson believes the pressure on sick and vulnerable people to opt for assisted suicide would be “immeasurable.”

“The pressure this would put people under who are suffering illnesses or disabilities is immeasurable. It demeans humanity and deprives people of their right to life. This right is given by God and is for God alone to take.”

The archbishop challenged U.K. Catholics to contact their members of Parliament and pray for the defeat of the bill in obedience to their calling as disciples of Christ. 

Warning that the new bill represents “a very real prospect of assisted suicide becoming law in the U.K.,” he said that “as followers of Christ we must do all we can to support and protect the most vulnerable in our society.” 

Issuing a rally call for Catholics to take action, he said: “Together let’s show that we will not stand idly by while the elderly and people with illnesses and disabilities are treated as if they are nothing but a burden to society or to their family. Let’s be clear that they are made in the image and likeness of God.”

Wilson pointed out that, under the new bill, “assisted suicide … will radically change how our health care practitioners care for us.”  

Catholic U.K. medic Dermot Kearney commented that “most [doctors] still believe that the principle of doing no harm to patients is essential in the provision of authentic health care.” Rather than introducing the bill, Kearney told CNA that a better way of approaching end-of-life care would be “to improve and expand the palliative care and hospice services that are already in existence but have been severely underfunded for so long.” 

Bishop Patrick McKinney of Nottingham backed up Archbishop Wilson’s words, with a focus on the social context of the bill’s introduction. 

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has confirmed his own opposition to the bill, has admitted the U.K. National Health Service is “broken.” 

Palliative care services are also in crisis, while many elderly people have seen the government remove their winter fuel payment. 

Following the publication of the bill, McKinney shared his concerns, saying: “Catholics can never support assisted suicide, but our societal context makes this bill even more alarming: An NHS at [its] breaking point, inadequate social care provision, access to palliative care is patchy and underfunded, [and] winter fuel payments withdrawn from many.”

The archbishop of Southwark urged U.K. Catholics to use the Right to Life UK website to contact their members of Parliament and express opposition to assisted suicide. 

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, called on Catholics in England and Wales to join him and his fellow bishops for a Holy Hour on Nov. 13 “to pray for the dignity of human life” in the light of the upcoming vote on Leadbeater’s bill. 

“We pray passionately that we will not take a step in legislation that promotes a so-called ‘right to die,’” Nichols said.

“That will quite likely become a duty to die and place pressure on doctors and medical staff to help take life rather than to care, protect, and heal,” he said.

Sister Clare Crockett. / Credit: Courtesy of Servants of the Home of the Mother

CNA Staff, Nov 14, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Sister Clare Crockett was a young religious sister who died in 2016 at the age of 33 in an earthquake in Ecuador that left hundreds dead. On Nov. 4, the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, her religious community, announced the beginning of her cause for beatification. 

But just who is Sister Clare Crockett? Here are seven things to know about the young sister who left a lasting impact on people around the world:

1. Crockett was born on Nov. 14, 1982, in Derry, Northern Ireland. She was a fun-loving teenager and quickly grabbed the attention of television producers. She voiced the character of Lucy in the children's series "Hi Lucy" on EWTN5. At the age of 15, she was hired to host a show on the British network Channel 4 and at 17 she caught the attention of Nickelodeon. By 18, she was living a life of partying and alcohol.

2. In 2000, a friend of Crockett invited her on a free trip to Spain. Thinking it was going to be a trip filled with parties and time spent on the beach, Crockett went. However, it ended up being a 10-day, Holy Week retreat run by the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, a community founded in 1982 with a focus on the Eucharist, Marian spirituality, and outreach to youth. It was here that Crockett experienced a life-changing conversion.

   It was Good Friday and Crockett began to witness the faithful approach Jesus on the cross, genuflect, and kiss his feet. Crockett had never seen anything like this before so she followed along. When it was her turn, she went up, kissed Jesus’ feet, and left forever changed. 

   “That simple event lasted only 10 seconds. To kiss the cross — something that seemed so insignificant — had such a strong impact on me,” she wrote in her personal testimony.  

   “I do not know how to explain exactly what happened,” she added. “I did not see the choirs of angels or a white dove come down from the ceiling and descend on me, but I had the certainty that the Lord was on the cross, for me.”

   “And along with that conviction, I felt a great sorrow, similar to what I had experienced when I was little and prayed the Stations of the Cross. When I returned to my pew, I already had imprinted in me something that was not there before. I had to do something for him who had given his life for me.”

3. In 2001, just a year after her conversion, Crockett gave her life to God as a candidate in the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother. She took her first vows on Feb. 18, 2006, and her final vows on Sept. 8, 2010.

4. Crockett’s first assignment was at the community at Belmonte in Cuenca, Spain. There she served in a home for girls that came from families dealing with various difficult circumstances. 

5. In October 2012, Crockett received a new assignment that took her to Ecuador. Here she had several assignments taking her to different areas of the country evangelizing the youth. The sisters gave classes in schools in poor areas and hosted retreats and summer camps. They also tended to the poor, bringing them not only the word of God but also food baskets, medicine, and other material items and resources. 

6. Crockett is remembered by many as always carrying her guitar, which was her great companion in evangelization. She always sang, even to the point of losing her voice and despite heat, fatigue, and suffering from migraines. Sisters from her order also remember her great sense of humor and giving of herself completely to others. 

7. On April 16, 2016, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck the Ecuadorian province of Manabí, killing at least 600 people, including Crockett. Her story spread around the world, touching the lives of many, and on Nov. 4, her cause for beatification was officially announced.

The opening ceremony of Crockett’s cause will take place on Jan. 12, 2025, at the Cathedral of Alcalá de Henares in Spain. The postulator of the cause is Sister Kristen Gardner of the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother.