ROME (AP) — It’s the first time that Francis has openly urged for an investigation of genocide allegations over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip.
The post Pope Francis calls for investigation to determine if Israel’s attacks in Gaza constitute genocide appeared first on RNS.
EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — In the video, the superintendent says religious liberty has been attacked and patriotism mocked “by woke teachers unions,” then prays for the leaders of the U.S. after saying students do not have to join in the prayer.
The post Oklahoma schools superintendent mandates students watch announcement of new religious department appeared first on RNS.
It seems hard to understand sometimes why there is so much suffering in the world – for me especially it has been truly challenging. Having gone through some hard times...
The post How Can I Actually Feel Hopeful in the Face of Adversity? appeared first on BahaiTeachings.org.
A bridge over the Mississippi River near St. Louis. / Credit: Checubus/Shutterstock
St. Louis, Mo., Nov 18, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
After a close but heartbreaking loss at the ballot box that saw Missouri voters choose to enshrine a right to “reproductive freedom” in the state constitution Nov. 5, the head of the Missouri Catholic Conference (MCC) said the closeness of the vote and the unity displayed by pro-life advocates in the state suggest a repeal of the amendment in the future remains a possibility.
“It truly was a strong, unified, grassroots effort that I wish we’d gotten over the finish line, but I’m still very proud,” Jamie Morris, executive director of the MCC in Jefferson City, told CNA this week.
Morris said looking ahead, the pro-life movement in Missouri is focused on maintaining its momentum and unity — and he suggested that losing the most recent abortion vote may unify and galvanize pro-lifers even further.
“We were very much outspent and still kept the vote very, very close. That tells me that there’s still a very strong sentiment in the state of Missouri to protect the preborn, to protect their mothers. Let’s not lose sight of that,” he said.
Amendment 3 mandates that the government “shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”
Although the amendment language mentions that laws could be passed to restrict abortion past the point of “fetal viability,” the amendment simultaneously prohibits any interference with an abortion that a doctor determines is necessary to “protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant person.”
The amendment’s appearance on the ballot was the subject of a protracted court battle earlier this year, with pro-lifers arguing that the final proposed language not only violated state law by failing to list which laws it would repeal but also misled voters about the scope and gravity of what they would be voting for. The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately voted 4-3 to allow the measure to appear before voters.
Missouri law currently extends protection to unborn babies throughout all of pregnancy with the only exception being cases of “medical emergency.” The new amendment tees up years of litigation as pro-abortion advocates will now sue to remove each of Missouri’s pro-life protections in light of the new constitutional provision.
Missouri, the first state to ban abortion after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, was one of 10 states to vote on abortion this year. While the outcome of the Missouri vote is not what pro-life advocates had hoped for, Morris said it has provided valuable insights and a renewed commitment to their cause.
He pointed out that despite the amendment passing, Missouri’s pro-abortion amendment garnered less support than a similar amendment in Florida — 52% versus 57% — but Florida’s amendment needed 60% to pass and thus failed.
Since Election Day, some political observers have scratched their heads at the fact that despite voting to liberalize the state’s abortion laws, Missouri voters simultaneously voted nearly 60% to 40% for Donald Trump and elected a pro-life Catholic governor, Republican Mike Kehoe. They also chose a pro-life attorney general and other state officials.
While unable to comment on specific plans, Morris expressed optimism that there will be opportunities to push back against the amendment’s implementation, given the milieu of pro-life government officials and representatives in the state.
“My hope is, at least in this next legislative session, that we will see legislation proposed to chip away at or potentially repeal Amendment 3. I don’t have a good sense at this moment what type of legislation … but I do expect that there will be some [efforts] by the Legislature to try to protect against some of the harms that Amendment 3 poses.”
At the same time, he said, he hopes the Republican-led state Legislature will continue to try to pass pro-woman, pro-family, and pro-child policies that negate the need for abortion — in other words, “push for policies that address abortion from the ‘demand’ side.”
Estimates vary on the exact disparity, but it was clear that pro-life groups in Missouri were vastly outspent during election season by out-of-state pro-abortion interests — 10 to 1, by one group’s reckoning.
And yet, Morris notes, the vote was close — just a handful of the state’s most populous counties in urban areas such as Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia carried the amendment to victory, by an overall statewide margin of less than 2%. Meanwhile, over 100 of Missouri’s counties voted no.
Each of the state’s four dioceses provided a few thousand dollars to the effort, Morris said, but the dollar figures were secondary to the grassroots efforts of the Church, which Morris said he felt presented a unified message.
“We didn’t spend any major sum of money, but I feel like we as a conference — along with each specific diocese in the state — I think we were able to still get our message out there. Whether it was all priests of a particular diocese preaching a homily on a particular Sunday or having our information sitting in church or inviting us to come speak to them,” he said.
“It really was a truly coordinated effort that then was able to trickle down … I think the Church has a very special place and a very special voice, in not just what we say, but how we say it.”
In the wake of the vote, the pro-life community in Missouri is taking stock of the lessons learned from the campaign, Morris said, evaluating which strategies and messages resonated with the public and which did not. Despite the setback, he reiterated that he sees a renewed energy within the movement, bolstered by the close margin of the vote.
Morris said the MCC in its messaging sought to appeal to people’s values and concerns, rather than trying to be bombastic or shocking. He said its messaging about the potential impact of Amendment 3 on Missourians’ parental rights seemed to be particularly effective.
He also said it focused on countering misinformation from the pro-abortion side, especially as it relates to ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage treatment, both of which are already provided for under Missouri law.
Morris said he predicts that ongoing debates around the amendment will raise questions about the broader societal values concerning issues like race, sex, and Down syndrome diagnoses in the context of abortion. The amendment is likely to lead to the negation of Missouri’s specific ban on abortions done for these reasons — a stark reality that Morris predicts will shock many moderate voters.
In addition, the amendment is expected to nullify several other protections currently in place, including laws against partial-birth abortion, parental notification, and the ability for women to sue abortion providers for malpractice.
“I think in some ways, the passage of Amendment 3 will maybe make those that are on the fence about abortion come [to terms] with some of the more stark realities of what is going on, in a way they haven’t had to before,” he opined.
“As these types of stories come up, and as the pro-abortion side continues to push the bounds of what they think should be allowable under Amendment 3, I think we will have, from a pure strategy standpoint, an opportunity to come in and expose again how extreme Amendment 3 is.”
Left to right: John Ratcliffe, Marco Rubio, Elise Stefanik, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. / Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Image; MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images; Jason Mendez/Getty Images
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 18, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
President-elect Donald Trump has chosen several Catholics to serve in his Cabinet and other parts of his administration, including environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr., three-term Sen. Marco Rubio, and Rep. Elise Stefanik.
The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president made more than a dozen announcements within 10 days of his electoral victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. Many of his Cabinet nominees and other administration official picks have yet to be announced.
Among the Catholics Trump has chosen for his Cabinet are Kennedy, who was nominated to be the secretary of Health and Human Services; Rubio as secretary of state; Stefanik as ambassador to the United Nations; and John Ratcliffe, nominated as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
These four Cabinet-level positions require Senate confirmation.
Trump also announced he will appoint Tom Homan as the “Border Czar,” a position that does not require Senate confirmation. Homan is a Catholic and was previously the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the president-elect’s first administration.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and the son of former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, was nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees 10 agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to public health,” Trump said in his announcement. “... HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in the country.”
A lifelong Democrat before launching an independent bid for president of the United States during the 2024 election, Kennedy dropped out of the race in August and endorsed Trump after the former president promised him a health-related role. He is Catholic and credits “a profound spiritual enlightenment” for his recovery from drug addiction in his early adulthood. However, he deviates from Church teaching on life by supporting legal abortions.
Kennedy has been critical of the childhood vaccine schedule. Kennedy has said he would not “take vaccines away from anybody” as secretary of Health and Human Services but that he would promote more inquiry into side effects. He has long been critical of large pharmaceutical companies influencing regulations and the impact that processed food has on the nation’s health.
“I look forward to working with the more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth,” Kennedy said in a statement.
Trump nominated Rubio, a one-time rival for the presidency, to serve as secretary of state.
“Marco is a highly respected leader and a very powerful voice for freedom,” a statement from the Trump transition team read. “He will be a strong advocate for our nation, a true friend to our allies, and a fearless warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”
Rubio has served as a senator from Florida since 2011 and was previously in the Florida House of Representatives. His parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba. He was raised in the Catholic faith at an early age, but his family began attending a Mormon church during his childhood before returning to Catholicism. Although the senator is Catholic, he sometimes attends a Baptist church with his wife.
“As secretary of state, I will work every day to carry out [Trump’s] foreign policy agenda,” Rubio said in a statement after the announcement. “Under the leadership of President Trump, we will deliver peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America above all else.”
Rubio has historically supported a hawkish foreign policy, which is at times at odds with Trump’s campaign rhetoric that is skeptical of American involvement in foreign wars. In recent years, however, he has moved closer to Trump’s view on foreign policy. He was initially in favor of the United States providing aid to Ukraine but voted against the most recent aid bill.
The president-elect nominated Stefanik to serve as the United States ambassador to the United Nations, which primarily represents American interests in the international organization.
“[Stefanik] was the first member of Congress to endorse me and has always been a staunch advocate,” Trump said in a statement. “... [She] led the charge against antisemitism on college campuses. She will be an incredible ambassador to the United Nations, delivering peace through strength and America First national security policies.”
Stefanik is the chair of the House Republican Conference, which makes her the fourth-ranking Republican in the chamber. She will be replaced by Rep. Lisa McClain in this role. Stefanik is a strong and vocal supporter of Israeli military action in the Palestinian Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon. She is Catholic and is opposed to abortion but supports same-sex marriage.
“The work ahead is immense as we see antisemitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries,” Stefanik said in a statement.
“I stand ready to advance President Donald J. Trump’s restoration of America First peace through strength leadership on the world stage on Day 1 at the United Nations,” she said.
Stefanik, like Rubio, has historically been more hawkish on foreign policy but has moved closer to Trump’s views of late. She initially backed American aid to Ukraine but later opposed it. She has previously supported Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Ratcliffe, who briefly served as the director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and is a former congressman, will head the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
“From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation to catching the FBI’s abuse of civil liberties at the FISA court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for truth and honesty with the American public,” Trump said in a statement. “When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliffe, telling the truth to the American people.”
Like Rubio and Stefanik, Ratcliffe has also been historically hawkish. He has been strongly critical of Chinese officials and Iran. He has criticized the Biden administration for not providing more intelligence and military aid to Israel.
Children play as procession participants wait to enter the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne for adoration. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA
CNA Staff, Nov 18, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).
On Nov. 18 the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, a French religious sister who came to the United States as a missionary in the 1800s.
Rose was born on Aug. 29, 1769, in Grenoble, France. On the day of her baptism, she received the names Philip, honoring the apostle, and Rose, honoring St. Rose of Lima. She was educated at the convent of the Visitation of Ste. Marie d’en Haut and became drawn to contemplative life. At the age of 18, she became a novice at the convent.
During the Revolution in France, Rose’s community was dispersed and she ended up returning to her family home. After the Concordat of 1801, she tried to rebuild her community’s monastery but was unable to do so.
In 1804, Rose heard of a new congregation — the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She became a novice in the society that same year.
Despite her great desire for contemplative life, Rose also felt a calling for missionary work.
In a letter she wrote to Mother Madeleine Sophie Barat, the foundress of the society, Rose described an experience she had during adoration: “I spent the entire night in the New World ... carrying the Blessed Sacrament to all parts of the land ... I had all my sacrifices to offer: a mother, sisters, family, my mountain! When you say to me ‘now I send you,’ I will respond quickly, ‘I go.’”
In 1818, Rose was finally sent to do missionary work. Bishop Louis William Valentine DuBourg, the St. Louis area’s first bishop, was looking for a congregation of educators to help him evangelize the children of the diocese. At St. Charles, near St. Louis, Rose founded the first house of the society outside of France.
That same year, Rose and four other sisters opened the first free school for Native American children in the United States. By 1828 Rose had founded six schools.
The saint once said: “You may dazzle the mind with a thousand brilliant discoveries of natural science; you may open new worlds of knowledge which were never dreamed of before; yet, if you have not developed in the soul of the pupil strong habits of virtue, which will sustain her in the struggle of life, you have not educated her.”
Rose always carried a desire to serve Native Americans. In 1841, at the age of 71, she established a school for Potawatomi girls in Sugar Creek, Kansas. She spent a year with the Potawatomi, spending much of her time in prayer because she was unable to help with much of the physical work. They gave her the name “Quah-kah-ka-num-ad,” which means “woman who is always praying.”
In 1842, Rose returned to St. Charles and died there on Nov. 18, 1852, at the age of 83. She was declared a saint by Pope John Paul II on July 3, 1988, and is buried at the Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne in St. Charles, Missouri.
“I have learned that the person I have to ask for forgiveness from the most is myself. You must love yourself. You have to forgive yourself every day. Whenever you remember a shortcoming, a flaw, you have to tell yourself, ‘That’s just fine.’ You have to forgive yourself so much until you don’t even see those things anymore. Because that’s what love is like.” ~C. JoyBell C.
Have you ever wondered why, despite doing your best to heal and grow, you can’t seem to shake off the feeling of inadequacy and only see minimal results for all your efforts?
Maybe, …