Ss. Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Church

Bob Newhart arrives at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on Sept. 10, 2016, in Los Angeles. / Credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jul 19, 2024 / 09:15 am (CNA).

Bob Newhart, a cultural giant who is credited with pioneering modern stand-up comedy and spoke openly of his lifelong Catholic faith, died this week. He was 94.

The native Illinoisan passed away at his Los Angeles home on Thursday, his publicist said. The actor had suffered from several brief illnesses prior to his death.

Born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park in 1929, Newhart gained prominence in the 1960s for his stand-up comedy; he would go on to star in the successful CBS television programs “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Newhart.” He was known to later audiences for his supporting roles in the movie “Elf” and the show “The Big Bang Theory.”

Raised in the Catholic faith, Newhart attended multiple Catholic schools in Chicago, including St. Ignatius College Prep, before attending Loyola University Chicago, graduating with a degree in business management. 

He joked with the Catholic business group Legatus in 2013 that he “credited the Jesuits for the somewhat twisted way I have of looking at life.”

Newhart was married to his wife, Virginia, for 60 years, from 1963 until her death in 2023. He told Legatus in 2013 that the couple’s Catholic faith helped keep their decades-long marriage stable. 

“Being Catholic has a lot to do with it,” he said. “You work a little harder. You don’t just have your first fight and walk out the door.”

The actor said he went to Mass twice weekly. He said he regularly thanked God for helping his wife through a bout of liver cancer. “I kind of go and thank him for that. That was a very emotional time,” he said.

While in Los Angeles, the Newharts attended Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills, according to the parish’s website. Newhart was also a member of the Catholic Motion Picture Guild, which worked to establish moral artistic guidelines in the burgeoning Hollywood film industry. 

Newhart said he resisted the temptation to inject racy humor into his famously family-friendly comedy acts.

“There were times along the way over 50 years — mostly in the ’70s — when there was the temptation to maybe get a little bluer in my stand-up act,” he told Legatus. “It just never felt comfortable. It was like a sweater that never felt right, you know?”

His faith was known among his Hollywood friends. Fellow actor Don Rickles, who maintained a longtime friendship with Newhart, quipped in 2012: “We’re apples and oranges. I’m a Jew, he’s a Catholic. He’s low-key; I’m a yeller.” 

In an industry that has become defined by pervasive secularism, Newhart remained a steady, understated presence of faith for decades. He joked at one point that as a child his faith seemed universal. 

“I thought the entire world was Catholic when I grew up,” he said at the 1978 Chicago Emmy Awards. “Everybody I knew was Catholic. I assumed everybody on Saturday just automatically went to confession.”

The comedian stressed the benefits of humor and laughter. “No society would be either pleasant or lasting without humor,” he told Loyola University graduates at a commencement address in 2001. “Studies have shown that people with a sense of humor tend to be less egocentric, more realistic about the world, more humble in times of victory, and less defeated in times of travail.”

Speaking to Legatus in 2013, he implied that God would agree. 

“I think God has an incredible sense of humor,” he said. “All you have to do is look around the world. There’s no question that he has an incredible sense of humor.”

null / Credit: Egor Pasko from Moscow, Russia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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

In a new pastoral letter, Bishop Ginés García Beltrán of Getafe, Spain, reflects on the meaning of rest during summer vacation, when many families take the opportunity to take time to get away and relax.

García points out that “rest is good and necessary.” On the human level, this does not consist only of doing nothing but of “giving meaning to what we do” or “doing with tranquility and joy what we usually cannot do.”

García then poses the direct question: “You, in whom do you rest?” Underlining the personal nature of the question (“I didn’t say what gives you rest”), the Spanish bishop reminds us that man’s true rest is “in God” as expressed by the psalmist when he said: “My soul rests in God alone.” 

For the prelate, this verse conveys a lesson: “Trust in God opens the way to hope” in such a way that “all my problems, my burdens, my sufferings have an answer in the salvation of God.”

What then should we do with our daily rushing around and stress and the questions of existence? García proposes the following answer: “Put them in the hands of God and learn to rest in him.”

Abandonment to God

García also discusses an attitude that “today’s man does not practice very frequently,” which is abandonment to God. On this subject, the bishop notes that “taking hold of the reins of life is a requirement that we impose on ourselves without realizing that we are carrying a burden that is too heavy; there are those who believe that they must carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.”

García says each of us is called “to trust and abandon oneself in the hands of God and let him direct [his or her] life.” This doesn’t mean “abandoning your own responsibilities,” the prelate points out, but rather “not falling into the temptation of believing that we are the lord and master of ourselves.”

The bishop of Getafe notes that “what is necessary is having a regular relationship with the Lord, listening to his word, having concern for his things. Everything else is also important, but it will only make sense in view of the one thing that is necessary,” as illustrated in the Gospel passage that highlights the difference in the attitudes of Martha and Mary when Jesus came to visit them at Bethany.

Finally, referring to the Virgin Mary, García says: “She is a beautiful example for us to look at. With her yes to God she teaches us that only in him can our soul rest and only in him does our life and the rhythm of our existence find meaning.”

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

Gianna Emanuela Molla joins a private birthday dinner for Cheryl Calire at The St. Joseph Chapel at the Mother Teresa Home. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Cheryl Calire

CNA Staff, Jul 19, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

For the past 15 years, Cheryl Calire, the director of life ministries at the Diocese of Buffalo, has worked to open eight St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Centers. On July 11, when the eighth center was opened in Holley, New York, a very special guest was in attendance: Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of the center’s namesake.

After meeting for the first time in 2011, Calire formed a friendship with Molla and has been trying to have her visit the diocese ever since. Finally, during the same year that Calire will be retiring, she was able to host Molla for a weekend of events honoring Molla’s mother.

“It took many, many years cultivating a friendship and a relationship,” Calire told CNA in an interview. “She knew I was going to be retiring at the end of the year, so it worked out and as she would say, ‘In God’s time.’”

The weekend of events kicked off with a dedication ceremony for the St. Gianna and Pietro Molla Family Garden at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kenmore, New York. The garden serves as a space for reflection and comfort for parents grieving the loss of a child. There is also a place for family members to be buried if, down the road, they decide that they would like to be buried with their children. The Diocese of Buffalo and Buffalo Catholic Cemeteries, which own and operate the cemetery, are also creating a special fund to cover burial costs for parents who have lost children.

From there, Molla was taken to the newest St. Gianna Molla Pregnancy Outreach Center for a Mass and benediction at the new location. These centers serve families by providing material, emotional, and spiritual support to mothers, fathers, and young families in need during and after pregnancy. 

“The first year, in 2010, we helped 200 families and I thought that was something,” Calire said. “We are on track this year to help over 2,000 families in the western New York area.”

Molla travels around the world not only speaking about her mother but is also working to promote the cause of her father, Pietro.

“She’s kind of made it her life mission to not only spread the word about her mom and her sainthood, but as she said her mom’s already a saint — many people know all about her — she’s trying to increase the awareness about her dad,” Calire explained. “He was a single dad, raised all those kids that were left behind, and she feels in a heroic way about him as well.”

She shared that Molla was thrilled to learn about the diocese’s mobile outreach program geared toward fathers called the Buffalo Peacemakers and Buffalo Fathers Pietro Molla Outreach.

Calire explained that many of their referrals come from local Catholic hospitals, the children’s hospital, family court, and domestic violence center as well as immigrants and refugees who cross the border from Canada.

During her time working with the pregnancy centers, Calire realized there was a need for more resources in order to help mothers in need to choose life. This inspired her and her husband to convert an old rectory into a hospitality home for expectant mothers who don’t have support or don’t have anywhere to live. They provide housing, connect them to resources, help mothers finish their education, and more.

The Mother Teresa Home opened in 2016 and since then has served more than 100 mothers and 104 babies. Calire and her husband live and serve there. 

On Friday, July 12, Molla took part in a day full of activities for the whole family at the Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica, which included a respect life art contest, Mass, card-making for the elderly and infirm, and the president of the Society of St. Gianna Molla, Robert White, brought first-class relics and spoke about the beloved saint.

Finally, on Sunday, July 14, a special Mass was celebrated at the St. Joseph Cathedral in honor of Molla’s visit to the diocese.

When asked what it’s like to be in the presence of a daughter of a saint, Calire said it’s “overwhelming.”

“One of the reasons I wanted to bring her to Buffalo — it’s no secret, there’s a lot of challenges going on right now in our diocese … I’m aware of them, but I try not to focus on them. I try to focus on the ministry and Christ,” she shared. “So with that in mind, I just kept on saying if I can bring her here this could be an opportunity for others to feel the way I did in 2011. When I first met her, it was life-changing for me.”

“When you hear her speak about her parents and refer to them as ‘my mother’ and ‘my father’ when she speaks of them, as you know, the things that her dad shared with her about her mom, it makes it like you’re sitting at somebody’s dining room table and you’re talking about family.” 

One moment that particularly stood out to Calire was at the dedication of the family garden when a Knight of Columbus fainted due to the heat. 

“What does Dr. Gianna Emanuela do? She runs right over, kneels by his side until the paramedics get there in the mud,” she recalled. “Her loving, caring nature and her being a geriatric doctor it just kicked in like, ‘I’m just a regular person in the crowd here who’s a doctor and I’m taking over. Move out of the way until the paramedics get here.’ It was really something to witness that.” 

Calire called Molla’s time in Buffalo “very, very, very moving.”

Elon Musk attends a session during the Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 on June 19, 2024 in Cannes, France. / Credit: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2024 / 17:37 pm (CNA).

Elon Musk, the CEO of X and SpaceX and one of the richest men in the world, announced that he will move both multibillion-dollar companies out of California because he opposes a new law that hides information from parents about their child’s gender identity.

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, prohibits school districts from adopting policies that require parental notification if a child begins to identify as a gender that is different from his or her biological sex. Under this law, schools could not prevent teachers from hiding information about a child’s social gender transition from his or her parents.

Musk, who has a son who identifies as a woman, called the legislation “the final straw” in a post on X Tuesday afternoon. The businesses will move a few states over to Texas. 

“Because of this law and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies, SpaceX will now move its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk said.

Less than 20 minutes later, Musk made another post, which announced that the headquarters of X “will move to Austin.”

Musk already moved the headquarters of Tesla, another company for which he is the CEO, to Texas in 2021.

SpaceX employs about 13,000 people and X employs about 1,000 people — although not all of those employees are based in California.

“I did make it clear to Gov. Newsom about a year ago that laws of this nature would force families and companies to leave California to protect their children,” Musk added in a reply to his first post.

According to state-to-state migration numbers, Americans are disproportionately choosing other states over California. 

California has suffered a net interstate migration loss every year for more than two decades, which means that the number of people moving out of California to live in another state is higher than the number of people moving to California from other states.

From 2001 through 2023, California lost more than 3.7 million more people to state-to-state migration than it gained, according to numbers tallied by the Public Policy Institute of California. There was not a single year in that time frame in which California gained more people from interstate migration than it lost. California also suffered a net population decline in 2020, 2021, and 2022.

William Swaim, the president of the conservative California Policy Center, told CNA that it’s “not just big players like Musk” leaving the state but also “entrepreneurs, retirees, and parents of school-age kids.”

“Policies like this one have pushed hundreds of businesses to leave the states for greener — or redder — pastures; places like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, seem to be the big winners,” Swaim said.

According to Swaim, a number of problems contribute to the state’s population decline.

“Under Gavin Newsom, the state has logged a number of firsts and worsts: the nation’s worst unemployment rate, its highest business and marginal-income tax rates, and massive, growing, and fatal government pension liabilities,” he said. “Suffering the nation’s highest poverty and homeless rates, its highest costs of living, housing, electricity, insurance, and gasoline, it’s also reeling from the nation’s worst-ever state budget deficit.”

Democratic lawmakers in California introduced the legislation on transgender policies after the state government feuded with local school boards that instituted parental notification policies for when children identify as transgender or request to be called by pronouns inconsistent with their biological sex. In August of last year, Attorney General Rob Bonta sued Chino Valley Unified School District over its parental notification policy. 

A group of parents have already filed a lawsuit against state government officials to block the state from enforcing its ban on parental notification policies.

Last year, Newsom signed several other bills that faced criticism from parental rights advocates. This includes a law that penalizes schools that refuse to teach LGBT content and another that forces courts to consider “gender affirmation” in child custody decisions.

Big smiles from a group from the Diocese of Sacramento, California, as they wait in the long line to complete their registration for the congress in the Indiana Convention Center on July 15, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno/EWTN

Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 18, 2024 / 16:29 pm (CNA).

Tens of thousands of Catholics from across the U.S. have come together to praise the Lord in Eucharistic adoration this week in an NFL stadium at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

Bishop Andrew Cozzens of Crookston, Minnesota, who led U.S. bishops’ initiative of Eucharistic Revival, called the congress “a moment of unity” for the Church in the United States.

As the bishop held up the Blessed Sacrament in a massive 4-foot monstrance in center field of Lucas Oil Stadium, the crowd prayed together “Jesus, I trust in you.”

For many, the journey to Indianapolis was a pilgrimage of profound spiritual significance. Parishes, religious orders, families, clergy, and laypeople embarked on their travels by plane, car, and on foot driven by a deep desire to deepen their relationship with the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Diane Hanley drove nearly 600 miles with three other women from Little Rock, Arkansas, for a “girls’ trip” to the July 17–21 congress.

“It was blessed the whole way,” Hanley told CNA.

“We took like three hours to say one rosary in the car because of all the intentions and all the reflections and everything,” she added. “So the journey is part of the joy.”

One hundred fifty people traveled from the Diocese of Sacramento, California — among them Josie, who said that she came to the congress to receive Christ and to be able to better evangelize.

“I am an evangelizer in my community, and I feel like I need more learning experience to be able to better evangelize people because Christ is love and I just love him,” she said.

Newlyweds Dominic and Cassidy Mann, 23 and 21, respectively, from Cleveland are celebrating their first wedding anniversary at the congress. They told CNA that they came to the National Eucharistic Congress seeking to “experience Jesus at a whole other level.”

“Our first time being Eucharistic ministers was our wedding. So to be able to have that and to spend our one-year at the congress is just very beautiful and impactful,” Dominic said.

“The Eucharist has meant a lot in our marriage,” Cassidy added. As young Catholics, growing in faith together throughout dating, engagement, and marriage has been “transformative in our relationship,” she said.

The Manns were not the only couple to mark a relationship milestone at the congress. 

Charlie Chengary, 21, and Katherine Blawas, 22, a young couple from Chicago and Ohio, respectively, got engaged in Indianapolis on the eve of the congress. The two began dating a little over a year ago after meeting on Catholic Match. 

“I have never been in a place with so many Catholics. This is like a little foretaste of heaven,” Blawas said.

Jaella Mac Au, 20, traveled 2,200 miles across 12 states over two months as a pilgrim in one of four Eucharistic pilgrimage groups that traversed the United States to arrive at the congress. 

Her pilgrimage group began its journey by walking over San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in a Eucharistic procession. 

She told CNA that tears came to her eyes when she finally arrived in Indianapolis this week.

“It was wonderful and beautiful,” Mac Au said. “We were the first route to get here … and I was like, ‘I don’t believe we’re actually here.’”

She added that her experience as a pilgrim helped her understand that Jesus “doesn’t just sit in a church” but desires to be brought out into the world for all to see.

“The Lord is present in his body, blood, soul, and divinity,” she said. “He desires to go out and proclaim the good news that he sees us and that he loves us.”

Sister Faustina and Sister Anastasia Marie, Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, came with a delegation of 22 sisters to the congress.

“The Eucharist is the center of our spirituality. All that we do comes from a relationship with our Lord, and we spend much of our day in prayer, and then we go out to serve in the apostolate,” Sister Faustina said. 

“We encounter Our Lord in the Eucharist and also go out to meet him with his people. And all of that comes from encountering him in the Eucharist.”

Sister Anastasia Marie added that she is praying for people to “have a deeper encounter with God’s mercy through the Eucharist” during the congress. 

Large crowds created long lines on the first day of the National Eucharistic Congress. Brian and Angela Barcelos from Raynham, Massachusetts, waited more than 1.5 hours to pick up their name badges for the congress but did not seem too upset about it. “We are here for the Eucharist!” Brian said. 

More than 54,000 people had bought tickets for the congress as of July 17, according to the organizers. 

All 50 states and 17 countries are represented among the congress participants, which include more than 1,000 priests and 200 bishops and cardinals.

“I feel like I’ve already gotten so much out of this already just by being in line,” Blawas said.

Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan, was joined by 50 people from his diocese who made the trip from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to the congress.

The bishop hosted a diocesan Eucharistic congress as part of the National Eucharistic Revival leading up to the national congress. He said that he is looking forward to meeting Catholics from across the country over the next five days.

“It’s a privileged opportunity for us to deepen the bonds of our unity of faith in the Lord Jesus and show him our great gratitude for the precious gift he gives to us of himself in the holy Eucharist,” Doerfler said.

The National Association of African Catholics in the United States registered more than 90 people for the congress.

The group performed praise and worship songs from East and West Africa, bringing their cultural heritage from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, and Ivory Coast to the Exhibition Hall stage at the congress.

“Celebrating the Eucharist is at the center of everything we do,” said Sally Stovall, the president of the association. “That’s what the African community is trying to portray in terms of bringing our cultural heritage for everybody to see how we celebrate in our countries.”

Tim Glemkowski, father of four and CEO of the National Eucharistic Congress, told CNA that he hopes each and every attendee at the congress will encounter Jesus personally and be sent on mission to share Christ’s love with the world.

“About two and a half years of planning have gone into this moment, and it’s incredible to see it come to fruition even greater than we expected in so many ways,” Glemkowski said. 

“God is with his Church right now. This all happened — the incredible pilgrimage with 250,000 people joining and 50,000 people here — it is all possible because God is doing something in his Church right now. And so we need to be attentive to that and open to what he’s trying to do today.”

null / Credit: Lost_in_the_Midwest/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2024 / 15:26 pm (CNA).

The Florida government is warning that a proposed pro-abortion amendment to the state constitution could have a depressive effect on the state’s economy. 

The Florida abortion amendment proposal is titled the “Limiting Government Interference with Abortion Amendment” or simply “Amendment 4.” If passed, it would mandate that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s health care provider.”

This week the state Financial Impact Estimating Conference approved a “financial impact” statement that will be placed on the ballot alongside the abortion amendment. The statement provides an official analysis of the economic impact the amendment would have on Floridians if passed.

The impact statement says that the abortion amendment would “result in significantly more abortions and fewer live births per year in Florida,” something it says “may negatively affect the growth of state and local revenues over time.”

Additionally, the statement posits that there is “uncertainty about whether the amendment will require the state to subsidize abortions with public funds” and that “litigation to resolve those and other uncertainties will result in additional costs to the state government and state courts that will negatively impact the state budget.”

The statement concludes that “because the fiscal impact of increased abortions on state and local revenues and costs cannot be estimated with precision, the total impact of the proposed amendment is indeterminate.”

Jeremy Redfern, a representative for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, told CNA that the amendment would not just impact unborn humans in Florida but also the state’s budget.

“Voters deserve to know that Amendment 4 will likely lead to additional litigation that could result in, among other costs, taxpayer-funded abortions up until the moment before birth,” he said, adding that the impact statement is “a clear, fiscally sound analysis that will help voters understand the financial impacts of Amendment 4.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the abortion amendment, responded to news of the impact statement with outrage, calling it “deceptive and politically motivated.”

Lauren Brenzel, one of the leaders in the campaign to pass the amendment, said in a statement that the campaign “worked hard to ensure that the language of our initiative met constitutional standards.”

“The standards for the state’s financial analysis are no different — the financial impact statement to accompany Amendment 4 should be lawfully accurate, unambiguous, straightforward, clear, and transparent,” she argued.

Michael New, a political economy professor at The Catholic University of America who was involved with the drafting of the impact statement, pushed back against the abortion group’s claims. He told CNA that Florida is required to provide such an impact statement for all ballot proposals.

“Florida voters should be able to cast an informed ballot and not be blindsided by unexpected taxes, fees, and costs,” New said.

According to New, the governor’s office identified 20 statutes involving abortion that could be challenged in court and cause the state expensive litigation fees, should the amendment pass.

In addition to this, he said that “there is a very good chance this ballot question would require the state Medicaid program to cover abortions,” meaning that state tax dollars would need to be used for abortions.

Though New believes that Florida voters should oppose the amendment because he says it “will endanger preborn children” and “leave thousands of Florida women facing a lifetime of regret,” he said it is also important for voters to be aware of its impacts on the economy.

“The current language [of the impact statement] is not a ‘trick.’ It reflects quality research about the impact of this law,” he said.

“Amendment 4 would have a negative long-term impact on the Florida economy. It would result in fewer children being born and place additional strain on future taxpayers.”

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CNA Staff, Jul 18, 2024 / 14:56 pm (CNA).

The Oklahoma attorney general is ordering a school board to rescind the contract of a budding Catholic charter school following a state Supreme Court ruling against the school last month. 

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School would have been the first religious charter school in the nation, but in late June the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against its establishment and ordered the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to drop the Catholic institution’s contract.

State Attorney General Gentner Drummond had asked the high court to declare the state’s contract with the school unconstitutional on the grounds that it constituted public funding of a religious institution. Charter schools are publicly funded but are allowed to operate with a high degree of autonomy relative to standard public schools. 

St. Isidore’s, managed by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, is appealing the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. The virtual charter school board, meanwhile — which has since been incorporated into the Statewide Charter School Board — has delayed rescinding the contract pending the outcome of the appeal.

Last week Drummond ordered the statewide charter board to comply with the court’s ruling. 

“You must know and accept that no state agency, board, or commission may willfully ignore an order from Oklahoma’s highest court,” Drummond wrote in a July 11 letter to the board members in which he said that the board had twice failed to rescind the contract. 

“Rather than abiding by the [state] Supreme Court’s order, the board has disregarded its duties by deferring to the [school’s] litigation whims,” he continued. 

Drummond ordered the board to rescind the contract either by calling a special meeting or moving the next scheduled board meeting to “no later than” the last day of July.

In a filing to the Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this month, meanwhile, Drummond argued that a further stay would “[allow] the [school] to continue to tout its unconstitutional contract to unsuspecting families.”

St. Isidore had argued that the stay was for legal reasons, not to continue operation of the school at the moment.

A stay “would not permit St. Isidore to open to children or allow state charter school funding to go to St. Isidore while review by the U.S. Supreme Court is sought,” St. Isidore’s request read.

“The limited stay would simply preserve the current contract in the event the U.S. Supreme Court reverses [the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision],” the school said.

St. Isidore, a joint project between the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa, was set to launch in August as an online, tuition-free, Catholic K–12 charter school based out of Oklahoma City.

The school had 200 students registered to start in the fall but has pushed out its start date due to the ongoing legal issues.

null / Credit: OlegRi/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Jul 18, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

A priest in Ohio has issued an apology to parishioners after a media report revealed that he had destroyed a hard drive reportedly containing inappropriate pictures of children — and potentially child pornography — and then delayed reporting the incident to police. 

In a July 12 letter to parishioners at St. Susanna Catholic Church in Mason, Ohio, Father Barry Stechschulte said he wanted to “address” and “apologize for” his involvement in a controversy surrounding a priest accused of sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. 

Local Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO reported earlier this month on a yearslong controversy involving a Dayton-area priest, Father Tony Cutcher, who left ministry in 2021 amid a scandal involving “hundreds of text messages he exchanged with a 14-year-old boy.”

Some of the text messages included implied sexual overtones. Cutcher ultimately resigned from active priestly duties after an evaluation recommended a “restriction in ministry” stemming from the incident.

Part of WCPO’s report, meanwhile, focused on an incident in 2012 in which Stechschulte discovered “what looked like child pornography” on a computer at Holy Rosary Church in St. Mary’s, north of Dayton. Cutcher had previously served at that parish. 

The hard drive reportedly contained photos of “preteen” boys in “provocative poses.” The priest later told police that he “could not recall nudity or not, but it could have been.”

A deacon at the parish later said he “took the hard drive out of the computer and destroyed it with a blow torch at the request of Stechschulte,” a later police report said.

The priest did not report the incident to police until 2018. In his letter to parishioners this month, Stechschulte said he was “shocked and filled with disgust at what I saw” and that his “reaction in the moment was to ensure that no one else at the parish be exposed to it.” 

“So I instructed that the hard drive be destroyed. I realize that not reporting it was a terrible mistake, which I regret,” he said. 

“I wish that I could redo my initial decision from 2012,” the pastor added. “I am deeply sorry for the distress this has caused all of you.”

Police ultimately did a forensic analysis on multiple computers from Holy Rosary as well as computers from St. Peter Catholic Church in Huber Heights where Cutcher was serving in 2018. The machines “showed no child pornography or anything of concern.”

In a statement to WCPO, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati said it had “reported this case to law enforcement from the very beginning.”

“This has included reports to law enforcement in 2012, 2018, and 2021,” the archdiocese said. “In each instance no criminal charges were filed.”

In his letter, meanwhile, Stechschulte said he was “truly sorry” for his actions in 2012. 

“I love St. Susanna’s and ask you to forgive me and pray for me,” he wrote to parishioners. 

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, speaks to the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “God and Country Breakfast” in Milwaukee on July 18, 2024. Vance told the audience he was raised Christian but became an atheist when he was in law school before coming into the Catholic Church later in his adult life. He blamed the “arrogance” of atheism for “a lot of secular culture in our country today.” / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 18, 2024 / 13:40 pm (CNA).

2024 U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance promised social conservatives that they will continue to have “a seat at the table” in the Republican Party moving forward.

The senator from the state of Ohio, whom Trump announced as his running mate earlier this week, made the comment during a speech to a Faith and Freedom Coalition breakfast Thursday morning. The organization is a political advocacy group made up of social conservatives who are predominantly Christian.

“There has been a lot of rumbling in the past few weeks that the Republican Party of now and the Republican Party of the future is not going to be a place that’s welcoming to social conservatives,” Vance said in his brief address to attendees.

“And, really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say that is not true,” Vance added. “Social conservatives have a seat at this table and they always will so long as I have any influence in this party and President Trump, I know, agrees.”

Vance’s comments come about a week and a half after Republican leadership voted to soften its official stance on abortion. The 2024 Republican National Convention’s platform committee took out a long-standing plank of the party’s platform that had affirmed an unborn child’s “fundamental right to life” and called for federal restrictions on abortion. Convention delegates ratified the removal of the plank during their quadrennial meeting on Tuesday.

The new platform simply affirms “no person can be denied life or liberty without due process” and adds that “states are, therefore, free to pass laws protecting those rights.” This conforms the plank to Trump’s campaign promise to oppose a national ban and leave abortion policy to the states.

Vance, in his Thursday morning speech, did not directly reference this shift but used a football analogy to explain the party’s gradual approach to certain socially conservative issues, saying the party must consider “how do we advance the ball one yard before you advance it 10 yards before we advance it to a touchdown.” He added that Trump “delivered for social conservatives more than any president in my 39 years of life.”

“I think he deserves a little bit of grace and he deserves a little bit of trust and I hope that we will all provide that to him,” Vance said.

Vance discusses conversion to Catholicism

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, also discussed his faith journey at the breakfast.

“If you practice your faith, if you pray, if you think about what it requires of you, then God makes you a little bit better each and every single day and that to me has been the greatest lesson and the greatest blessing of my faith,” Vance said.

Vance told the audience that he was raised Christian but that he became an atheist when he was in law school before coming into the Catholic Church later in his adult life. He blamed the “arrogance” of atheism for “a lot of secular culture in our country today” and explained how the birth of his child led him back to Christ.

“What really brought me back to Christ was finding a wife and falling in love and thinking about what was required of me as a husband and a father,” Vance said. “And the more that I thought about those deeper questions, the more that I thought that there was wisdom in the Christian faith that I had completely discarded and completely ignored but was most relevant to the questions that were presented in my life as a husband and father.”

If the Trump-Vance ticket wins in 2024, Vance will become the second Catholic vice president in U.S. history. The first Catholic vice president was current President Joe Biden during former President Barack Obama’s presidency.

Roman Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial and cloister. View from the Bourbince River, 2023. / Credit: Sanctuaire du Sacré-Cœur/www.sacrecoeur-paray.org

Paris, France, Jul 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

For 18 months — beginning Dec. 27, 2023, through June 27, 2025 — the small town of Paray-le-Monial in the Bourgogne region of France will be celebrating a jubilee for the 350th anniversary of the apparitions of the Sacred Heart to St. Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, a Visitation nun. 

Alacoque claims in her autobiography that she witnessed some 30 apparitions of the Sacred Heart. In his dialogue with the contemplative nun, Christ asked for a feast in honor of his Sacred Heart in the whole Church. This was the starting point for a devotion that would travel the globe.

The dates of the year-and-a-half-long jubilee were chosen to correspond with the three main dates of Alacoque’s revelations of Christ: the first on Dec. 27, 1673; the second the first Friday of one of the months of 1674 (Alacoque’s memoirs do not specify which month); and the third during the octave of Corpus Christi (June 13–20) in 1675.

As Father Étienne Kern, rector of the sanctuary, explained to CNA, the aim of this jubilee is to remind us that “Paray-le-Monial is not only an important milestone in the history of spirituality but also a place of living experience today.”

Dusting off false images of the Sacred Heart

The event is also an opportunity to reappropriate the true message of the Sacred Heart and to rectify the false representations with which it has been saddled, according to Kern. 

The French priest noted that devotion to the Sacred Heart “has enjoyed a very wide expansion, but sometimes to the detriment of the depth of the message,” creating “a spiritual and theological impoverishment.”

In the 19th century in particular, the Sacred Heart was a victim of its own popularity: The emergence of imaging techniques helped to spread the devotion, and the Sacred Heart met with great success but was associated with “something a bit marked by blood, which today may seem outdated.”

Yet, insisted Kern, “the apparitions to Margaret Mary are fire: It’s not the heart of Jesus that bleeds, it’s the heart of Jesus that burns.”

Other abuses throughout history have included a morbid focus on the theme of suffering when it comes to the message of Paray-le-Monial and the co-opting of the symbol of the Sacred Heart by some for political gain.

The three dimensions of the message

The original message of the Sacred Heart given to Alacoque contains three dimensions. 

Jesus begins with a declaration of love: “This is the heart that so loved the world.” The idea is to “experience God’s love” — the antithesis of a vision of a “pitiless god who demands perfection if he is not to end up in hell,” Kern explained.

The second dimension is a kind of complaint by the Lord in which he says his love receives “only ingratitude and indifference.”

“He loves and is not loved,” Kern said. 

The third dimension of the message is a request for reparation, “the invitation to console Jesus, to accompany him spiritually in his agony in the Mount of Olives.”

Kern urged Catholics not to reduce the Sacred Heart to its “penitential and victimization dimension” nor to “a kind of banner for Christianity,” lest we “completely miss the point” of this devotion.

The apparitions to Alacoque underline “the gentleness and humility of Jesus’ heart,” Kern said. They are an invitation to “allow ourselves to be enflamed with love by the heart of Jesus, to return love for love, and to have a heart of compassion for the world.”

The jubilee

Since the beginning of the jubilee, the shrine at Paray-le-Monial has seen a sharp increase in the number of visitors. 

“In 2023, we have identified 45,000 people [visiting]. These figures can be multiplied by 2.5, which means over 100,000 people in total. At present, we’ve seen a 30% increase on these figures,” Kern explained.

According to Kern, a large number of people of all spiritualities “have had a personal experience of transformation and encounter with the Lord at Paray-le-Monial.” Devotion to the Sacred Heart has “a power and originality” that many movements (Jesuits, traditionalists, etc.) recognize.

The official jubilee itinerary is comprised of four pilgrimage stops: the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the Chapel of St. John, the Chapel of the Apparitions — where the jubilee door is located — and the Chapel of La Colombière. Pilgrims receive a plenary indulgence on completing this jubilee journey.

The program also includes a “singles’ jubilee” and a “farmers’ jubilee.” In the Church in France, these two very different groups sometimes feel “unloved,” experience “suffering,” and “need to be encouraged,” Kern pointed out.

A worldwide consecration campaign

To prepare individuals and communities for the closing of the jubilee on June 27, 2025 — the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, instituted on the third Friday after Pentecost — the shrine of Paray-le-Monial is organizing a major campaign of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through a 12-step journey in written, audio, and video format. Kern is hoping for “a worldwide mobilization,” which will be the high point of the jubilee.

To mark the jubilee, a symposium was held in Rome at the beginning of May on the theme of spiritual reparation in the context of the sexual abuse crisis. At Paray-le-Monial, Jesus denounced the sacrileges committed by priests against the Eucharist. 

“The violated body of the Eucharist refers back to the violated body of children,” said the rector, who affirmed that “to repair the abomination, we need not only judicial and financial procedures and prevention but also the integration of a spiritual dimension.”

In June, Pope Francis announced he was preparing a document on worship of the Sacred Heart, due to be made public in September. For Kern, this text would be “a major document of [Francis’] pontificate.”

“For the past 11 years, all Pope Francis has talked about is the heart of Jesus,” he said. “When he speaks of the style of God — made up of closeness, tenderness, compassion — it’s the heart of Jesus.”