The Church of the Holy Trinity -- Cohoes, NY

Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, S.J. / Marc Girard via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Vatican City, Jul 30, 2021 / 05:10 am (CNA).

Pope Francis paid tribute on Friday to the late French Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, describing him as an “authoritative biblical scholar.”

The pope sent a condolence telegram on July 30 following the cardinal’s death on Thursday. At 98 years of age, Vanhoye was the world’s oldest cardinal at the time of his death.

In the message sent to Fr. Manuel Morujao, S.J., superior of the Residenza San Pietro Canisio in Rome, where Vanhoye had lived since 2013, the pope said: “On learning the news of the pious passing of dear Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, I wish to express my closeness to you, to the community of San Pietro Canisio, to the entire Society of Jesus, as well as to the family members of the late cardinal and to all those who knew and esteemed him, remembering with affection and admiration this brother who served the Lord and the Church with great dedication.”

“I think with gratitude of his intense work as a zealous religious, spiritual son of St. Ignatius, expert teacher, authoritative biblical scholar, esteemed rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, diligent and wise collaborator of some dicasteries of the Roman Curia.”

“I also think of his love for the ministry of preaching, which he exercised with generosity, animated by a passionate desire to communicate the Gospel.”

Albert Vanhoye was born on July 24, 1923, in Hazebrouck, northern France. In 1941, at the age of 18, he crossed France on foot to enter the Jesuit novitiate in Le Vignau, southwestern France.

According to the website of the French-speaking Jesuit Province of Western Europe, this was a dangerous undertaking as part of France was then occupied by the Nazis. Vanhoye left the occupied zone clandestinely to avoid being caught and sent to work in Nazi Germany.

After earning a degree in Classics and studying philosophy and theology in Enghien, Belgium, he was ordained a priest on July 26, 1954.

He was sent in 1956 to the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he completed a doctorate on the Epistle to the Hebrews. He took his final vows as a Jesuit in the Eternal City on Feb. 2, 1959.

In 1962, he was named a professor at the institute, also known as the Biblicum.

He was dean of the faculty from 1969 to 1975, and rector of the institute from 1984 to 1990.

Vanhoye was a member of the commission that prepared the 1979 apostolic constitution Sapientia Christiana on ecclesiastical universities and faculties.

As secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, he helped to shape the 1993 document “The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church” and the 2001 text “The Jewish People and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible.”

He served as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Congregation for Catholic Education, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

The French-speaking Jesuit Province of Western Europe said that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the CDF’s then prefect who later became Pope Benedict XVI, called upon Vanhoye “whenever a pontifical text mentioned Scripture or a book commenting on Scripture posed a problem.”

“Cardinal Ratzinger appreciated this tireless worker, humble and desiring only the good of the Church,” it said.

On Feb. 22, 2006, Benedict XVI announced Vanhoye’s nomination as a cardinal. He described the Jesuit as “a great exegete” and said that he was naming Vanhoye as one of three new cardinals over 80 “out of esteem for the services they have rendered to the Church with exemplary faithfulness and admirable dedication.”

Vanhoye received the red hat on March 24, 2006, having obtained a dispensation from the requirement to be consecrated as a bishop beforehand.

In 2008, Benedict invited the cardinal to preach at the annual Lenten retreat for members of the Roman Curia. Vanhoye focused his meditations on Christ, the High Priest, as described in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

In an interview at the time with L’Osservatore Romano, Vanhoye said that the Letter to the Hebrews was “the only book of the Bible which specifically develops the priesthood of Christ.”

The letter’s author uses the term archierèus, which means “priest-head.”

“Applied to Christ, the term indicates perfect fulfillment of the concept of priest in Christ. Christ is the perfect mediator between God and us. He brings us into his communion with the Father,” Vanhoye said.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and vice dean of the College of Cardinals, is due to celebrate Vanhoye’s funeral Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at 11 a.m. local time on July 31.

The Frenchman’s death leaves the College of Cardinals with 220 members, 123 of whom are eligible to participate in a conclave.

The world’s oldest cardinal is now the 97-year-old Slovakian Cardinal Jozef Tomko, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses.

In his telegram following Vanhoye’s death, Pope Francis said: “I raise my prayer to the Lord that, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he may receive this faithful servant of his into the heavenly Jerusalem, and I cordially impart my apostolic blessing to those who mourn his passing, with a special thought for those who lovingly assisted and accompanied him in his last days.”

Ball Lunla/Shutterstock

Denver Newsroom, Jul 29, 2021 / 18:29 pm (CNA).

The Catholic health care network Ascension will mandate coronavirus vaccination for its employees, physicians, volunteers, and vendors. It cited a need for more action to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic and promised some exemptions to the mandate for people with health problems or religious exemptions.

“Like many health systems across the country, including in many of our markets, we are moving to require our associates to be vaccinated against COVID-19,” Ascension said July 27.

“Ascension conducted a thorough moral and ethical analysis as part of the decision-making process,” it added. “As a healthcare provider and as a Catholic ministry, ensuring we have a culture of safety for our associates, patients and communities is foundational to our work.”

Tens of thousands of its employees have already been vaccinated, said Ascension, which added: “But we must do more to overcome this pandemic as we provide safe environments for those we serve.”

The mandate applies to all employees regardless of whether they provide direct patient care or whether they work remotely. It also applies to employees of subsidiaries and partners; physicians and advanced practiced providers, including those who are independent; and volunteers and vendors who enter Ascension facilities.

“Together, we will put this pandemic behind us so that we can continue to focus on meeting the needs of those who come to us for care,” Ascension said.

The health network aims to fulfil this mandate by Nov. 12, aligned with its annual influenza vaccination requirement. There will be an exemption process similar to that used for its influenza vaccine process for those unable to be vaccinated because of a medical condition or a strongly held religious belief. Ascension said it is implementing the mandate in line with collective bargaining agreements.

According to the Alabama-based NBC15 News, an email sent to Ascension employees this week said fewer than 50% of its employees in Florida and the Gulf Coast are vaccinated.

Some employees have objected that the mandate violates their medical freedom and personal choice.

According to Ascension’s website, as of 2020 it has over 160,000 associates, 40,000 aligned health care providers and 9,000 employed providers. It has more than 2,600 health care facilities in 19 states and the District of Columbia, including 145 hospitals and over 40 senior care facilities.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has addressed concerns about the use of vaccines with a remote connection to abortion. The use of these vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process is acceptable “when ethically irreproachable Covid-19 vaccines are not available,” it said in a December 2020 note.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in a March 2 statement, said that the mRNA vaccines available from Pfizer and Moderna have “the least connection to abortion-derived cell lines should be chosen” and should be preferred to the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.

In a July 2 statement, the National Catholic Bioethics Center discussed vaccine mandates. Any mandates should provide “robust, transparent, and readily accessible exemptions for medical, religious, and conscience reasons.” This safeguards the rights of conscience, establishes trust, and avoids “undue pressure,” the bioethics center said. Mandates can exert severe pressure if employment is threatened, and the current vaccines are approved only under an emergency use authorization.

“Recognizing the importance of public health, institutions that grant an exemption may require that recipients restrict their interpersonal interactions, but these restrictions should be the least burdensome possible,” the statement continued.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center said there is “no universal moral obligation” to accept or reject vaccines.

“Catholic institutions, in particular, should respect the decisions of people to decline use of vaccines dependent on abortion-derived cell lines,” said the center. “This is especially relevant when there are other means of mitigating risk.”

The novel coronavirus has killed over 612,000 people and hospitalized many more in the U.S. While the arrival of vaccines has significantly reduced the spread of the disease, there are concern that failures to vaccinate and the arrival of new viral variants could still cause significant harm.

A June survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, published July 27, reported that about 80% of Catholics would accept a coronavirus vaccine. Hispanic Catholics’ vaccine acceptance has particularly increased in recent months.

About 67% of Americans told the survey they had received at least one dose of the vaccine and another 4% said they aimed to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Overall, under 15% of Americans are hesitant. Concerns about possible long-term effects of vaccines appear to be decreasing.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association recommend vaccine mandates for all employees in health care and long-term care, the Detroit Free Press reports. California and New York have also required government workers to vaccinate or submit to regular testing.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a similar mandate for all civilian federal workers.

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence / Diocese of Providence

Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2021 / 17:10 pm (CNA).

The bishop of Providence says patience and reflection are necessary while bishops study Pope Francis’ motu proprio that restricted traditional liturgies.

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence told CNA in a phone interview this week that while he had heard rumors of liturgical changes coming from the Vatican, he was surprised when Pope Francis’ letter Traditionis custodes was released on July 16. The document, he says, is “very broad” and leaves “a lot of unanswered questions.”

The document restricted the use of traditional liturgies that preexisted the 1970 liturgical reforms. Most notably, it recognized the “exclusive competence” of bishops to authorize the Latin Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal in their respective dioceses. It further instructed bishops to delegate locations for the Traditional Latin Mass, stipulating that the locations could not be at “parochial churches.”

Tobin said he initially found the motu proprio to be “a challenge and an opportunity.” Now, he thinks that the document was “very broad.” 

“(Traditionis custodes) seemed to put all the Catholics who favor the traditional Latin Mass into one category, more or less,” said Tobin. “And there were still many questions that linger after the document.”

“I think at some point, if we get more direction, more information to answer those questions, I think it will be helpful.” 

The bishop explained that he believes the pope’s letter provides an opportunity for an examination of conscience for the entire Church. 

For Catholics who prefer the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, he said Pope Francis’ letter should prompt reflection on whether their preference for the Latin Mass separates them from the Church. 

For Catholics who prefer the ordinary form of the Mass, Tobin said they must consider if they treat Mass “with a total respect and reverence that the Mass deserves and demands.”

“I think that a good question for people on both sides of the issue to ask is 'what's my attitude towards other Catholics?'” said Tobin. “And why would we be threatened by Catholics who prefer different liturgical styles?” 

Tobin said that while the document was addressed to the global Church, he did not believe that the situation described in Traditionis custodes is true for everywhere in the world. 

“And it does leave a lot of unanswered questions that I think we're all grasping for,” he said. 

The Diocese of Providence, the territory of which comprises the entire state of Rhode Island, is home to one parish administered by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, as well as to several other locations for Latin Masses. 

While the bishop himself never learned to celebrate the traditional Mass, he told CNA that one of his priorities as bishop is for the diocese to continue to respect liturgical preferences. 

“At least for the time being, I don’t see any imminent threat to changing the status quo regarding the Latin Mass and the celebration of the Latin Mass in the diocese,” he said. 

He said the process of implementing the motu proprio will involve writing to his priests, and asking them to explain when and where they wish to celebrate the Latin Mass.

“And that will be the beginning of a dialogue; certainly not the end of the process, but I think that's the most beneficial aspect,” said Tobin. “And the key aspect of the Pope's directives is it does give the bishop some oversight, some authority, over the celebration of the Mass according to the Missal of 1962.”

Tobin said that this authority is “very appropriate and very helpful” when it comes to meeting the spiritual needs of his flock.

The motu proprio, coupled with the proposed “Eucharistic revival” discussions of the U.S. bishops, provides the ideal opportunity for self-reflection for all the Catholic faithful, said Tobin. 

The two issues “converge very nicely to raise up the centrality of the Eucharist, the importance of the Mass in the life of the Church,” said Tobin. 

“So it is providential. I'm sure it wasn't planned that way, but they come together very nicely,” he said. “And I hope everybody would just relax a little bit, and take in that peaceful and prayerful way.”

Tobin said that he viewed the various liturgical rites in the Catholic Church as a “mosaic.” 

“A mosaic comes together beautifully to form a beautiful picture,” he said. “So I hope that's what our liturgy throughout the Church does as well.”

Nicole Glass Photography/Shutterstock

Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2021 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The House this week passed spending bills that would allow funding of abortions both in the United States and abroad.  

On Thursday afternoon, the House voted 219-208 to pass a large spending bill without customary prohibitions on federal funding of most elective abortions. The bill – H.R. 4502 – provides appropriations for a number of federal agencies and programs, but excludes the Hyde Amendment, federal policy since 1976 which bars funding of most elective abortions in Medicaid.

The legislation also omitted other prohibitions on funding of abortions and abortion coverage, and excluded the Weldon Amendment which conditions federal funding on state and local governments upholding conscience protections in health care. Pro-life leaders criticized the omission of these "riders" from the spending bills.

“The Knights of Columbus is extremely disappointed in this week’s actions by the House of Representatives to remove longstanding, bipartisan taxpayer and conscience protections including the Hyde Amendment,” stated Patrick Kelly, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, on Thursday. “The House vote to make taxpayers pay for abortions is both an assault on the dignity of life and contrary to the wishes of most Americans.”

“These important provisions protect the American public from funding or providing abortions against their will,” Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, stated on Thursday. “No one should be forced to compromise their values, but especially not on this life-or-death issue." 

The Hyde Amendment was a “bipartisan compact” in Congress for decades, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) said on Tuesday on the House Floor, while the legislation was being considered. “Now it’s gone.”

Members of both parties each year have voted for spending bills with the Hyde Amendment included. In 1993, some Democrats tried to remove the amendment from the budget process, with President Bill Clinton submitting his budget request to Congress without the policy. An amended version of Hyde – including exceptions for cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is in danger – was later included in the congressional budget process. The spending bill that year was signed into law by Clinton.

Current president Joe Biden once supported the Hyde Amendment as U.S. senator, even outlining his reasons for doing so in a 1994 letter to a constituent. In 2019, while he was running for president, Biden reversed his support and pledged to repeal the Hyde Amendment. In May 2021, he submitted his budget request to Congress without the policy included.

Pro-abortion groups applauded the passage of the bill on Thursday without the abortion funding prohibitions.

“This is #AbortionJustice in action,” the group All* Above All tweeted of the House vote on Thursday.

“This is a victory for progress: the new spending bill finally leaves out harmful abortion coverage bans like the Hyde amendment and sets up critical investments into sexual and reproductive health programs, including Title X,” the Twitter account of Planned Parenthood Action stated.

On Wednesday, the House also passed a State and Foreign Operations budget bill for the 2022 fiscal year that excluded the Helms Amendment. The 50-year-old federal policy bars funding of international abortions in U.S. foreign assistance.

Pro-abortion groups celebrated the news, with an official at Planned Parenthood Global, as well as the group Planned Parenthood Action, praising the legislation.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said in a statement on Wednesday that she was “especially proud” her bill removed “restrictions that have prohibited safe abortion and health care services for people in low-income countries for decades.”

Rep. Fortenberry, meanwhile, said the United States would be exporting abortion at the taxpayers’ expense.

“We are about to export our most divisive cultural issue – our pain, our woundedness – onto the poor of the world. Pope Francis has called this ‘ideological colonization.’ It’s unfair, it’s wrong, and it smacks of arrogance and elitism,” Fortenberry said on the House Floor on Tuesday while the bill was under consideration.

Lee’s bill would also permanently repeal the Mexico City Policy, dubbed by abortion supporters as the “global gag rule.” The executive policy can be instituted or repealed by a president’s administration and is not permanent law. It bars funding of foreign NGOs that provide or promote abortions as a method of family planning.

Before the final House vote to pass the funding bill on Thursday, Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) offered a Motion to Recommit which would have reinstated pro-life provisions removed from the legislation. His effort failed by a vote of 208-217. Cole’s motion included language forbidding funding of abortion and abortion coverage, as well as restricting funding of abortion in the District of Columbia.

“Taxpayers should not be forced to pay for child dismemberment,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, on Wednesday. “Rather than funding the death of a baby, I believe we must increase access to maternal and prenatal care and ensure access to safe blood and better nutrition.”

The legislation passed by the House on Wednesday and Thursday not only omitted the Hyde and Helms amendments, but also excluded other pro-life policies included each year in budget bills.

The Weldon, Kemp-Kasten, Smith, and Dornan amendments all restrict funding of abortions or pro-abortion causes. Normally included as part of government funding bills, none of the policies were included in the bills that passed the House this week.

The Weldon Amendment prohibits federal funding of state and local governments that discriminate against health care workers or providers who refuse to participate in, pay for, or cover abortions. The Kemp-Kasten Amendment restricts funding of international groups complicit in forced sterilizations and forced abortions. The Smith Amendment restricts funding of abortion coverage in federal employee health plans, and the Dornan Amendment bars federal funding of abortions in the District of Columbia.

St. Joseph Cathedral in Buffalo, N.Y. / CiEll/Shutterstock

Buffalo, N.Y., Jul 29, 2021 / 14:52 pm (CNA).

Since June more than 90 sex abuse lawsuits involving the Diocese of Buffalo have been filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

A July 27 statement from Stacey Benson, an attorney at Jeff Anderson & Associates, called on Bishop Michael Fisher “to publicly identify all perpetrators of child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Buffalo before the August 13, Child Victims Act deadline because we know there are more names the Diocese has yet to release.” 

The statement includes the names of 24 alleged abusers. It said 13 are believed to be deceased, and that the whereabouts of the remaining 11 are unconfirmed.

The Buffalo diocese declared bankruptcy in February 2020 after more than 250 clergy abuse lawsuits were filed against it under the Child Victims Act. The 2019 law opened a “lookback” window, which closes Aug. 14, allowing child sex abuse victims to file abuse lawsuits long after their statute of limitations had ended.

A federal bankruptcy judge on March 31 ruled that 36 abuse lawsuits against Buffalo Catholic parishes and schools would remain on hold until Oct. 1, 2021, so as not to interfere with settlement payouts that were a part of the bankruptcy process.

The diocese and its former bishops are also facing a lawsuit from the state of New York.

In November 2020, the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, sued the diocese in the state supreme court; Bishop Emeritus Richard Malone, Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Edward Grosz, and Buffalo’s then-apostolic administrator, Bishop Edward Scharfenberger of Albany, were all named in the lawsuit.

The state alleged that the diocese, Bishop Malone, and Bishop Grosz, all failed properly to investigate claims of clergy sex abuse, to monitor priests with credible abuse accusations, and to take action against priests credibly accused.

In addition, the state is seeking restitution from Bishop Malone and Bishop Grosz, and a ban on their serving “a secular fiduciary role in a nonprofit or charitable organization” in the state.


A judge ruled in February that Bishop Malone and Bishop Grosz must pay their own legal fees, but may still have the right to seek reimbursement from the diocese’s insurers for their legal costs, the Buffalo News reported.

Theodore McCarrick before his laicization / Copyright Mazur_catholicchurch.org.uk

Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2021 / 12:11 pm (CNA).

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is facing charges of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in Massachusetts in the 1970s, marking the first time the disgraced ex-prelate has been criminally charged since accusations of longstanding sexual misconduct by him first came to light three years ago.

McCarrick, now 91, is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, according to court documents filed July 28 in District Court in Dedham, MA. McCarrick has not been arrested, the court documents show, and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 26 for his arraignment to formally answer the charges. Each of the three criminal charges carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

The charges were first reported Thursday by the Boston Globe. Neither McCarrick nor his lawyer could be reached for comment Thursday.

Long a powerful and high-profile Catholic leader in the United States with an impressive international resume, McCarrick was dismissed from the clerical state by Pope Francis in 2019, after the Vatican conducted an expedited canonical investigation and found McCarrick guilty of “solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”

You can read the full text of the criminal complaint below. Out of privacy and safety concerns, CNA has redacted McCarrick's Social Security Number and phone number, which were left unredacted in the criminal complaint. Warning: These documents describe incidents of alleged sexual assaults in graphic detail.

The criminal complaint was signed Wednesday by a Wellesley, MA police detective in Massachusetts' Dedham District Court. The criminal investigation appears to have been set in motion by a letter sent to the Middlesex District Attorney by the Boston-based attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, representing McCarrick's alleged victim, who is now in his 60s, court records show.

Documents accompanying the criminal complaint refer to "various incidents of abuse by McCarrick, most of which took place outside of Massachusetts," in New Jersey, New York and California.

The criminal charges stem from a series of sexual assaults alleged to have to have taken place on June 8, 1974 during the wedding reception of the alleged victim's brother. The alleged victim was 16 at the time, court records show.

The wedding and the reception were held at Wellesley College, where the brother’s new wife had attended school, according to court documents.

McCarrick is described in court documents as a close friend of the alleged victim's family at the time who took "trips with his family" and presided over the family's baptisms, weddings and funerals. The alleged victim told authorities that his uncle had attended Fordham Prep with McCarrick and had introduced the gregarious priest to the family.

According to the court documents, the alleged victim was approached by McCarrick while the wedding reception was going on, ostensibly at the boy's father’s request, because he was skipping Mass and being “mischievous.”

“We need to go outside and have a conversation,” McCarrick said, according to court documents.

During a walk around the campus, the alleged victim stopped to urinate in the bushes, and while he was doing so McCarrick allegedly came over to the boy, stating, "Here, let me help you with that," and then placing his hand on the boy's genitals, according to court documents.

When McCarrick and the boy returned to the reception, McCarrick allegedly took him into a small coat room and told the boy that he needed to go to confession, court documents state. McCarrick allegedly instructed the boy to pull down his pants and allegedly sexually assaulted him again, telling the boy afterward to "say three our fathers and a hail Mary or it was one our father and three hail Mary's, so god can redeem you of your sins," according to notes of the alleged victim's interview with authorities included in the court documents.

The alleged victim told authorities that at the time of that assault he “knew what was going to happen” next but “didn’t want to make a scene at his brother’s wedding and disturb everything because he had more respect for his mother, father and brother than himself at the time," according to court documents.

McCarrick was ordained a priest in 1958 and became auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of New York in 1977. He became in 1981 Bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, then Archbishop of Newark in 1986, and then in 2001 Archbishop of Washington, DC, where he retired in 2006.

He became a cardinal in 2001, but resigned from the College of Cardinals after it emerged in June 2018 that he had been credibly accused of sexually assaulting a minor. Allegations of serial sexual abuse of minors, seminarians, and priests soon followed, and McCarrick was dismissed from the clerical state in February 2019.

The criminal complaint lists McCarrick's address as a location in Dittmer, MO, which is the site of the Vianney Renewal Center. The center is a treatment facility run by the Servants of the Paraclete, which, according to its website, provides "a safe and supportive environment for the rehabilitation and reconciliation of priests and religious brothers." The Servants of the Paraclete have long operated centers for the treatment of priests and religious with problems of sexual or substance abuse.

McCarrick lived in the St. Fidelis Friary of the Capuchin Franciscans in Victoria, Kan., from shortly after he was publicly accused of abuse in 2018, until the opening days of 2020. At that time, senior Church officials told CNA he had moved to a residential community of priests who have been removed from ministry.

The former cardinal himself made the decision to leave the Kansas friary over the Christmas 2019 period, sources said, adding that his continued presence in the friary had become a strain on the Capuchin community that was hosting him.

According to Jeffrey Anderson, a prominent attorney for sex abuse victims, McCarrick resided in the rectory of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York at the time of the alleged abuse in 1974.

As CNA previously reported, in 1971 McCarrick became secretary to New York’s Cardinal Terence Cooke and lived in the rectory attached to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He also grew close with several large Catholic families in the area in the years that followed. He called teenage children in these families “nieces” and “nephews” while accepting the nickname “Uncle Ted,” and traveled regularly with teenagers he befriended, including on overnight trips.

"Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's history of prolific sex crimes has been ignored by the highest-ranking Catholic officials for decades," Anderson said Thursday. "For too long Catholic institutions have been self-policing while making pledges and promises without action. McCarrick should be behind bars for his crimes."

McCarrick’s public disgrace in 2018 and dismissal from the clerical state a year later shocked Catholics in the United States and around the world, and triggered an international crisis of credibility for the Church’s hierarchy, leading to Pope Francis calling an unprecedented meeting of the world’s bishops in 2019 to address issues of sexual abuse and accountability in the Church.

The fallout of the 2018 allegations against McCarrick, and reports that Church leaders knew for years about possible instances of misconduct but failed to act, also contributed to Pope Francis’ promulgation of Vos estis lux mundi, a new provision in canon law allowing for the investigation and trial of bishops for the failure to act on allegations.

Maura Preszler, author of 'Choosing to See Beauty'. Credit: Hannah Quintana Photography.

Denver Newsroom, Jul 29, 2021 / 10:54 am (CNA).

Maura Preszler grew up in an abusive household, despite the family’s outward Catholic appearance. They went to Mass on Sundays, prayed the rosary together and celebrated the saints’ feast days, but her home was filled with domestic violence behind closed doors. She learned how to keep secrets, she said, and to internalize her feelings, which resulted in a debilitating eating disorder and depression in early adolescence.

Preszler shares the challenges she faced, as well as her journey to recovery in her forthcoming book Choosing to See Beauty, available for pre-order from CatholicPsych Press. The book is scheduled to ship by Aug. 15. 

In 8th grade, Preszler overheard a couple high school girls when they were gossiping about the weight of one of her field hockey teammates. This was the moment she began to associate beauty with a certain weight, she said. Preszler stopped eating and started running more, fueled by the attention she received for losing weight on her already small figure. 

Her eating disorder required medical intervention after her body weight dropped to a dangerously low number. With her pulse severely impacted, she was not able to do the activities she enjoyed, like dancing or running, until she put the weight back on.

“Even after I returned to my normal weight, I had these burning questions like ‘Who am I?’ ‘What am I made for?’ ‘Does God love me?’ ‘Why is this happening to me?’” Preszler said. “I had this yearning to be known and seen.”

After finishing high school, she attended Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, where she was a Division I runner. Preszler began dating a man who later revealed that he had a sexual addiction and ended their relationship. She found herself starting to spiral again, with many of the same questions unanswered.

“It was devastating for me and I felt so rejected,” she said. “But it was what I needed to be cracked open.”

Pursued by a determined FOCUS missionary, Preszler joined a Varsity Catholic Bible study, and, later, learned about FOCUS’ mission trips. She applied to go to Kolkata for six weeks between her junior and senior year. 

“It was the most life-changing experience,” said Preszler, who worked at Mother Teresa’s Kalighat Home for the Dying. “It was our mission to show them God’s love.” 

While in India, Preszler prayed a Holy Hour before the Eucharist every day. Each night, the FOCUS missionaries led a prayer or reflection, one of which on God’s love was especially meaningful for Preszler. 

“God showed up in such a radical way,” said Preszler. “It all came to a head, all these walls I had built up fell down, and I thought, ‘This is what I’m actually searching for.’ I felt at home and at peace.”

The trip launched an intense journey of recovery for Preszler, who committed to a daily Holy Hour upon returning to the U.S. She also went through a full psychological evaluation and was diagnosed with chronic depression, chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, and a borderline personality disorder. 

“On one hand, I was so frustrated that I had these labels on me, but on the other hand, it was so freeing to know that this is why I can’t concentrate, this is why I have horrible nightmares,” she said. “Part of me was really reluctant to get help, but the other part of me was determined to not turn out like my parents.”

Preszler sought out a Catholic psychologist and moved to Nashville to begin two years of intense therapy, including medication and frequent counseling sessions. 

“It was the hardest, but most beautiful thing,” she said. “It dug up so much from the past, but he [the psychologist] was just the person I needed. The therapy was so healing, so hard, so good.”

The therapist suggested Preszler channel her suffering into something to help other people. She started a blog, Made in His Image, which became a nonprofit organization to help women overcome trauma, abuse, eating disorders, and violence. 

Choosing to See Beauty is the next step in her journey, Preszler said. 

“This has helped me live in gratitude for what I’ve been given,” she said. “If I hadn’t had the experience with counseling and therapy, I don’t think I would be married. I wouldn’t be able to be in a stable relationship. I wouldn’t be able to be a mom.”

One of Preszler’s goals, she said, is to break the stigma and shame of therapy and mental health.

“A lot of people think you have to pray more or you have to do more,” Preszler said. “No, you don’t have to ‘do more.’ You have to let yourself be healed. A result of the way I grew up was that my brain wasn’t functioning normally and I needed help to fix that.”

The only way to heal, Preszler said, was to work through the difficulties and acquire the tools to break the cycle of abuse, noting that abuse repeats generation after generation without intervention. 

“We have to step towards the pain,” she said. “The only way is through. If we look at the Cross, if we look at Jesus, the only way to Easter is to die on the Cross. The only way to the Resurrection is Good Friday, and we need to find that Good Friday in our life. Jesus is going to bring so much beauty out of it.”

Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, in Rome on Nov. 25, 2014. / Paul Badde.

Rome Newsroom, Jul 29, 2021 / 05:10 am (CNA).

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the retired prefect of the Vatican's liturgy office, underwent robot-assisted surgery on his prostate earlier this month, according to a surgeon at the Italian hospital where the procedure took place.

The urological operation was performed with the help of the da Vinci robot, a technology in use since 2016 at the Great Metropolitan Hospital (GOM) in Reggio Calabria, a city on the southernmost point of the Italian peninsula.

The GOM's health director and a leading surgeon confirmed to CNA July 29 that Cardinal Sarah had been operated on and that he was released from the hospital on July 27, after around 15 days in their care.

Salvatore Costarella said the procedure was to correct a problem with the prostate.

Cardinal Sarah's choice of the Reggio Calabria hospital “means a lot because we have an excellent hospital,” Costarella said, adding that “for us it is a reason for particular pride to have such an eminent person in our hospital.”

Doctors said in a press conference Wednesday that the surgery was successful and, thanks to the robot technology, was able to be carried out in a minimally invasive way.

Sarah, 76, was the most senior African prelate at the Vatican before his retirement as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in February.

According to Intuitive Surgical, the American company which makes the da Vinci Surgical System, robot-assisted urological procedures are: prostate surgery, kidney surgery, surgery to relieve kidney blockage, cyst removal from the kidney, bladder surgery, and surgery to fix the tubes connecting the bladder to the kidneys.

Cardinal Sarah is reported to have several engagements requiring travel on his schedule in the coming months.

It was announced last week that he is expected attend the 32nd Youth Festival in Medjugorje Aug. 1-6.

He is also scheduled to be the main celebrant at one of the daily Masses at the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, taking place in Hungary’s capital city of Budapest Sept. 5-12.

Sarah’s personal secretary is the Italian layman Lorenzo Festicini, president of the humanitarian association Istituto Nazionale Azzurro, and a native of Reggio Calabria, the city where the cardinal’s surgery took place.

“It is important to realize that in Reggio Calabria there are excellent European-level doctors and centers where you can be treated and undergo delicate operations with cutting-edge methods,” Festicini said in a July 28 press conference.

One of the doctors who assisted with the surgery, Domenico Veneziano, said the da Vinci robot “guarantees the maximum precision with more satisfactory results with respect to traditional surgery, and with really quick recovery times.”

Speaking at the press conference, Fr. Giulio Cerchietti, an official of the Congregation for Bishops, praised the hospital for combining “quality, professionalism, humanity, and dedication.”

“All this nourished the trust with which the cardinal entrusted himself to this hospital where he felt at home, where he smelled the scent of homemade bread,” Cerchietti continued.

The priest added: “The first day he arrived, accustomed to taking notes, he wrote the phrase of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus: ‘Love has brought you here. Love will take care of you.’ The cardinal experienced the depth of these words here with you. We are grateful and you are in our prayers.”

According to the manufacturer, there are nearly 6,000 da Vinci systems used in 67 countries around the world.

There are 105 medical centers in Italy which use the medical robot, according to the Italian website “Urologia Robotica da Vinci.” The GOM is the only hospital in Calabria with the technology.


This story was updated at 9:17 a.m. MDT to clarify when Cardinal Sarah's surgery took place and the nature of his ailment.

MonkeyBusinessImages/Shutterstock

Allentown, Pa., Jul 28, 2021 / 19:01 pm (CNA).

Held every four years, the upcoming World Congress of Nurses comes at a providential time for many Catholic nurses around the world whose professional skills, families and faith have been sorely tested by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The event, taking place Aug. 2-4 at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, PA, is open to “nurses (students included) front-liners, innovators, educators, researchers, and policy makers,” according to its overall sponsor, the International Catholic Committee of Nurses and Nurse Practitioners, or CICIAMS (for the Comité International Catholique des Infirmières et Assistantes Médico-Sociales.)

“Our Congress days are filled with spiritual nourishment, inspiring speakers, and highlights of the amazing work that Catholic Nurses are accomplishing from the jungles of Malaysia to the streets of Poland and all points in between,” said registered nurse Janet Munday, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA, or NACN-USA, a CICIAMS member organization that is hosting this year’s gathering.

Reflecting NACN-USA’s mission to foster a network of nurses who can share their struggles, research, and best practices, the theme of this year’s congress is “United in Mission, United in Faith.”

“Nurses today need to have relationships with other nurses” so they ask each other about “those ethical situations” they commonly face while caring for sick and infirmed, Munday said.

Munday noted that a Catholic nurse’s faith can infuse all aspects of one’s professional life.

“We always like to elevate our nursing to be something related to the corporal works of mercy, the spiritual works of mercy, so it’s an elevation of our nursing practice aligned with our Catholic faith,” she said.

Munday said in the face of “widespread suffering” due to the pandemic “the love of Christ” has given many Catholic nurses the strength to continue under such extraordinary circumstances.

As Dr. Khosi R. Mthethwa, the President of CICIAMS, wrote on May 12, 2021 in a letter on the commemoration of the International Nurses and Midwives Year, “Although, we are different national groups facing different challenges, I have realized that the COVID-19 pandemic has united us in a special way.”  

At the same time, nurses face moral distress in an increasingly secularized culture. “The breakdown of the family is witnessed by school nurses,” Munday said. “The strain and pains of patients living with addiction and substance abuse is a heavy pack for behavioral health and emergency room nurses.  The lack of dignity toward life in all stages, also lays a heavy burden on nurses who answer the call to walk with others in their healthcare struggles and sufferings.” 

Pope Francis acknowledged these challenges in 2018 while speaking in the Vatican to members of the Federation of Professional Nursing Colleges, Health Assistants, and Child Wardens. He described those in the nursing profession as “promoters of the life and dignity of people.”

“The role of nurses in assisting the patient is truly irreplaceable,” the pope observed. “Like no other, the nurse has a direct and continuous relationship with patients, takes care of them every day, listens to their needs and comes into contact with their very body.”

Father Wilson Malavé Parrales. Credit: Parroquia San Agustín Guayaquil Padre Agustinos via Facebook.

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Jul 28, 2021 / 18:19 pm (CNA).

The Mayor's Office of Guayaquil on Sunday awarded Fr. Wilson Malavé Parrales, director of the Lord of Good Hope Soup Kitchen for the Brother in Need, with the Urban Heroes Medal of Merit. 

The July 25 award ceremony commemorated the 486th anniversary of the founding of the city.

The Archdiocese of Guayaquil said that the soup kitchen run by Fr. Malavé started nine years ago by feeding 80 homeless people every day in the downtown area. It currently offers meals to about 550 people Monday through Friday.

“The award is a tribute to the effort of all the brother volunteers who support the 'Lord of Good Hope' work of charity that has brought together all the prayer groups and benefactors in these difficult times that we are going through where there is a lot of migration, dysfunctional families, and increased drug or alcohol use,” said Fr. Malavé, who also serves as pastor of St. Augustine church.

The people served by this work of solidarity with food, clothing or a place to wash up are elderly, migrants, single mothers, street vendors, the disabled, and the homeless.

"People receive Christ through a pot that’s full of love, it’s not food but the love of those who donate the little or lot they may have for their neighbor," the priest said.