Catholic News

• Little Sisters win 3rd Supreme Court victory (CWN)
  The US Supreme Court gave two victories for religious freedom on July 8, with separate rulings that confirmed the right of parochial schools to set their own standards for the employment of teachers, and upheld the demand of the Little Sisters of the Poor to be exempt from covering contraception in health-insurance programs.
• Vatican cardinal: Peace is threatened as health and economic crises continue (National Catholic Register)
  Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, spoke at a July 7 Vatican press conference devoted to “Preparing the future, building peace in the time of Covid-19” (video).
• Philippine religious orders urge 'stay order' on controversial anti-terror law (Vatican News)
  Various bishops have also denounced the law.
• Protesters, counter-protestors at Indiana parish whose priest compared Black Lives Matter to 'maggots' (Indianapolis Star)
  Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette suspended Very Rev. Theodore Rothrock, VF, after he referred to Black Lives Matter as “maggots and parasites at best, feeding off the isolation of addiction and broken families.” Father Rothrock apologized: “It was not my intention to offend anyone, and I am sorry that my words have caused any hurt to anyone.”
• Mississippi bishops, in pastoral letter, deplore racism (Diocese of Jackson)
  “We join our voices to vehemently denounce racism, a plague among us,” the state’s bishops said in a joint statement. “It is an evil and a force of destruction that eats away at the soul of our nation. Ultimately, it is a moral problem that requires a moral remedy—a transformation of the human heart—and compels us to act.”
• Women religious fear jihadists will take control of province in Mozambique (Aid to the Church in Need)
  The Southeast African nation of 27.9 million (map) is 30% Protestant, 24% Catholic, 17% Muslim, and 28% ethnic religionist. An Islamist insurgency began in 2017.
• Former comptroller of Diocese of Steubenville pleads guilty to tax crimes, embezzlement (Department of Justice)
  “From 2004 through 2016, [David] Franklin caused payroll taxes to be withheld from employee paychecks . . . but did not pay the withheld funds over to the Internal Revenue Service,” according to the Justice Department. “As a result, the Diocesan Entities had to pay and did pay the IRS $2,778,462.68 . . . Franklin also embezzled $299,500.”
• Nigerian priests condemn police brutality during lockdown, offer solutions (Catholic World Report)
  “In Nigeria, more people were killed through brutality by police enforcing the lockdown rules than by coronavirus in the early weeks of government’s response,” according to the report.
• Primate of Poland: Church must rebuild trust amid abuse crisis (CNA)
  “I am convinced that only by standing in truth and taking responsibility for clarifying all crimes and omissions, we will rebuild our credibility and trust in the Church in Poland,” said Archbishop Wojciech Polak of Gniezno.
• CO19's effect on Catholic schools: as some close, others innovate (National Catholic Register)
  “Unable to withstand the effects of the prolonged coronavirus shutdown on already-fragile resources,” more than 100 Catholic schools in the US “are closing their doors permanently, causing some to question whether America’s Catholic school system will survive,” according to the report.
• Catholic schools face questions over connections to Columbus, Serra (National Catholic Reporter)
  Archbishop José Gomez (Los Angeles), Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (San Franciscoo), and Bishop Jaime Soto (Sacramento) have defended the missionary work of St. Junípero Serra.
• Elections make a difference, Archbishop Naumann says (Vatican News)
  “We think we are very close to having a [pro-life] majority” on the Supreme Court, said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City (KS), the chairman of the US bishops’ pro-life committee. “And if we had another vote on the Supreme Court, I think that the chief justice would come along and be the sixth vote, but not the fifth vote.” “So elections do make a differe
• Native Americans grapple with legacy of Catholic boarding schools (In These Times)
  One-quarter of the 400 boarding schools for Native Americans in the United States were Catholic schools. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee on Native American Affairs is “looking at an apology for the boarding school period,” said Father Michael Carson of the USCCB. “We’ve made it clear to Catholic leaders that [reconciliation] needs to be dealt with at the highest level within the subcommittee and bishops’ conference.”
• El Paso's bishop rolls back church re-openings, bans wedding and funeral Masses (KVIA-TV)
  “I am becoming aware that in certain rites safe practices are not prevailing and their guidance is often being ignored,” Bishop Mark Seitz said in a letter as he noted surging local CO19 cases. “The primary occasions in which this is taking place are at Funeral Masses, at Funeral Homes and at Weddings.”
• 'Brotherhood is the only way to build the future,' Vatican spokesman says (Vatican News)
  Alessandro Gisotti is a deputy director of the Editorial Directorate at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.
• Holy See renews Pope's debt-relief appeal for poor nations (Vatican News)
  Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, who represents the Holy See at international organizations headquartered in Geneva, addressed a meeting of the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
• Lockdown has increased risk of grooming, abuse of minors, says expert (CNS)
  “The US has registered a 106% increase in reports of suspected (child sexual abuse) — rising from 983,734 reports in March 2019 to 2,027,520 in the very same month in 2020,” according to the report.
• Do not forget the needs of refugees, Florida bishop urges (Our Sunday Visitor)
  “I speak about this issue not only as a man of faith, but as someone who experienced life as a refugee,” said Bishop Felipe Estévez of St. Augustine. “In 1961, following the Bay of Pigs, I traveled alone as a teenager from my home in Cuba to Miami. My parents wanted what all mothers and fathers want for their children: a safe place to grow up.”
• Christian patriarchs protest radical effort to reconfigure Jerusalem (Fides)
  The “status quo” that allows for peaceful coexistence among religious groups in Jerusalem’s Old City is being threatened, the Christian patriarchs of Jerusalem have warned, citing a campaign by radical Jewish groups to buy up real estate in traditionally Christian neighborhoods. The Church leaders’ protest—signed by 13 Christian leaders including Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzabella—responds to a controversial court ruling that allowed a sale of property belonging to the Greek Orthodox patriarchate.
• Over 110 bishops denounce corporate abuse (CIDSE)
  “We need mandatory supply chain due diligence to stop corporate abuse and guarantee global solidarity,” an international group of bishops said in their statement.
• More...