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EPISODE#241
OC CATHOLIC RADIO: GUEST IS VESTMENT DESIGNER SEQUOIA SIERRA

Welcome to another episode of Orange County Catholic Radio, featuring host Rick Howick.

On this program, we welcome a local Orange County woman who leads a truly fascinating life. Her name is Sequoia Sierra. In addition to being a professed ‘lay Norbertine,’ she is also a rather accomplished fashion designer and seamstress. She founded a small company called The Liturgical Co, as she designs and creates a multitude of hand crafted altar vestments for clergy all over the world.

This is a fascinating conversation. Be sure to share this podcast with a friend!

Originally broadcast on 11/20/21

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SPANISH BISHOPS CALL FOR PALLIATIVE CARE INSTEAD OF EUTHANASIA AND ASSISTED SUICIDE

CNA Staff, Sep 15, 2020 / 01:00 am (CNA) –

In response to an assisted suicide bill that could soon be passed in Spain, the Spanish bishops’ conference called Monday for a palliative care law, saying that “there are no patients that cannot be cared for, even if they are incurable.”

“It’s bad news, because human life is not a good anyone can dispose of,” the bishops said in a Sept. 14 statement, of a bill to offer broad legal protections to some forms of euthanasia and assisted suicide, now under debate in the Spanish legislature.

The statement noted that “insisting on” the right to euthanasia “is typical of an individualistic and reductionist vision of the human being” and a concept of “freedom unrelated to responsibility.”

Proponents of euthanasia affirm “a radical individual autonomy and at the same time call for ‘compassionate’ intervention by society by means of medicine, stemming from an inconsistent anthropology.”

“On the one hand, the social dimension of the human being is denied, ‘saying my life is mine and only mine and I can take it myself’ and on the other it puts others in charge, organized society, of legitimizing the decision, or appropriating the decision for itself ‘to eliminate suffering or its senselessness,’ thus ending the person’s life,” the bishops said.

“The epidemic that we continue to suffer from has made us realize that we are responsible for each other and has relativized proposals for individualistic autonomy.”

“So many patients dying all alone and the situation of the elderly challenge us” the bishops said, adding that during the pandemic ”Spanish society has applauded their dedication and has called for greater support for our healthcare system to increase the level of care so that ‘no one is left behind.’”

They stressed that ”the legalization of forms of assisted suicide” will not help when trying to persuade those who are tempted to commit suicide that death is not the right way out” of their problems.

The bishops emphasized that the law, which should be guided by ethical criteria, “cannot propose death as a solution to problems,” because “it belongs to medicine to cure, but also to provide care and relief and especially to console at the end of this life.”

“Palliative medicine,” they said, “aims to bring humanity to the process of dying and accompany the person to the end.” The prelates pointed out that “there are no patients that cannot be cared for even if they are incurable.”

The bishops’ conference advocated for “appropriate legislation on palliative care that responds to current needs that aren’t being fully met.”

“The fragility of life that we are experiencing during this time constitutes an opportunity to reflect on life’s meaning, fraternal care and the meaning of suffering and death,” they said.

“Proposing a law to put in the hands of others, especially doctors, the power to take the lives of the sick” does not make sense, the bishops said.

“Saying yes to the dignity of the person, even more so during the moments of greatest defenselessness and fragility, obliges us to oppose this law which, in the name of supposed death with dignity, denies the dignity of every human life at its very roots.”

A version of this report was initially published by ACI-Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

BISHOP CHAIRMAN COMMENTS ON PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM

WASHINGTON — Following the publication of a national news story on Catholic churches receiving loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, issued the following statement in response:

“The Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental supplier of social services in the United States. Each year, our parishes, schools and ministries serve millions of people in need, regardless of race, ethnicity or religion. The novel coronavirus only intensified the needs of the people we serve and the demand for our ministries. The loans we applied for enabled our essential ministries to continue to function in a time of national emergency.

“In addition, shutdown orders and economic fallout associated with the virus have affected everyone, including the thousands of Catholic ministries — churches, schools, healthcare and social services — that employ about 1 million people in the United States. These loans have been an essential lifeline to keep hundreds of thousands of employees on payroll, ensure families maintain their health insurance, and enable lay workers to continue serving their brothers and sisters during this crisis.

“The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to protect the jobs of Americans from all walks of life, regardless of whether they work for for-profit or non-profit employers, faith-based or secular.  

“Despite all of this, more than 100 Catholic schools have announced that they plan to close, with hundreds more facing an uncertain future. Businesses, hospitals, schools, and churches all across the country are facing many of the exact same problems.  

“We will continue advocating for everyone negatively affected by this terrible pandemic, praying for all the sick, for all who have died and are in mourning, and especially the poor and vulnerable at this time of great need.”

SURVEY OF BISHOPS REVEALS HOW PANDEMIC HAS SHAKEN DIOCESAN, PARISH LIFE

CLEVELAND (CNS) — Nearly every bishop responding to a survey said the coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected the celebration of the sacraments and rites and sacramental preparation programs in their dioceses.

Confirmations, first Communions, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and other sacramental preparation were the ministries most often cited by the bishops as being affected, according to the survey conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.

In addition, six out of 10 bishops said that since March when restrictions on ministry and Mass attendance were put in place, the morale of priests, lay ecclesial ministers, deacons and chancery staff has been at least somewhat affected, according to the findings released July 9.

Titled “Ministry in the Midst of Pandemic,” the survey asked bishops about six areas of concern that have arisen in dioceses since the pandemic caused public Masses to be suspended and the celebration of sacraments to be restricted or postponed.

The questions focused on the pandemic’s effect on dioceses; special pastoral provisions issued by dioceses; financial concerns raised by the pandemic; actions to address a diocese’s financial health; the pandemic effect’s on parish assessments; and diocesan technological assistance to schools and parishes.

CARA staff members mailed the survey to bishops in 177 archdioceses and dioceses and 20 eparchies May 18 and followed up with a mailing June 8 to those who did not respond. Overall, 116 bishops, 59%, had responded by the release of the report. About 60% of diocesan bishops responded and about 50% of eparchial bishops responded, the report’s authors said.

CARA officials said the results of the survey were likely affected by whether a bishop responded while his diocese or eparchy was in total lockdown or as restrictions began to be lifted.

When it came to specific sacraments, 99% of bishops said confirmation had been very much or somewhat affected; 99% said that about first Communion; 92%, about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process; and 94%, about other sacramental preparation programs.

Similar numbers of respondents said the celebration of marriages (98%), baptisms (91%) and funerals (93%) also had been at least somewhat affected.

In addition, the survey found the morale of church staff members has been very much or somewhat affected. Sixty percent of bishops said their morale had been affected. Higher numbers of respondents said the morale of lay ecclesial ministers (71%), priests (68%), chancery staff (67%) and deacons (62%) had been affected.

Meanwhile, 54% of bishops said the ability of Catholic Charities to serve people in need had been impacted as well.

Jonathan Wiggins, director of parish surveys at CARA, told Catholic News Service the survey offers an early look at how the pandemic is affecting church life.

“What really strikes me is that this is so much a work in progress because parishes are not back up to any kind of normalcy in terms of Mass attendance, sacraments, giving or anything that would characterize regular Catholic life,” Wiggins said.

“This is just a couple months in and we don’t know what the long-term effects will be on dioceses and parishes,” he added.

A similar survey of parish pastors by CARA researchers is underway, Wiggins added.

The survey of bishops offered them the opportunity to provide brief written answers to questions about pastoral provisions they may have implemented, such as the dispensation to attend weekly Mass, instructions on the celebration of the sacraments such as baptism and marriage, and directives to comply with state and local government orders.

Those responses were not quantified in the CARA report. But it included comments from bishops describing the steps they took as the pandemic led to massive church, school and business lockdowns in March and then eased in May and June.

Some bishops said they offered updates as often as weekly with regard to liturgies, finances, how parishioners can contribute to their parish during closures, and how parishes could reopen for public Masses and reception of the sacraments.

Responding bishops said they instructed parishes to follow state guidelines when public Masses resumed and stressed the importance of practicing social distancing and celebrating Mass in open spaces such as parking lots.

Regarding finances, bishops said they were concerned that the loss of income from Sunday collections would have a devastating impact on parishes. They also said they worried about the effect of increased unemployment on parishioners and the impact on family life.

With the revenue losses, some bishops said that parish and diocesan staffs may have to be reduced.

To help parishes manage finances, dioceses have offered assistance in a variety of ways.

Ninety-five percent of bishops said their diocese had helped parishes apply for federal or state assistance programs, such as the Paycheck Protection Program. Other steps taken by dioceses include encouraging parishioners to consider electronic giving for parish collections (87%); closing Catholic elementary schools (20%) or high schools (14%); laying off diocesan staff (17%); furloughing diocesan staff (16%); eliminating diocesan programs (15%); closing parishes (3%).

Another concern bishops expressed focused on whether people will return to Sunday Mass after a long absence. They said without the return of parishioners, the financial outlook for church entities was grim.

Bishops said they expect their diocese to realize long-term economic consequences, especially if annual collections to support various ministries are not taken. One bishop wrote that “we might have to let employees go. Won’t be able to carry out the vision of the new evangelization and catechesis including faith formation programs.”

The financial solvency of Catholic schools also was on the minds of bishops. Some respondents said they feared that high unemployment would result in parents who could no longer be able to afford school tuition, causing enrollment to drop and leading to school closings.

Such closings already are occurring, according to the National Catholic Educational Association, with more than 100 schools having announced they have closed since the end of the academic year in the spring.

A significant majority of dioceses also stepped up to offer technological assistance to help parishes livestream Mass and to enable schools to transition to online learning in a short timeframe.

Six in 10 bishops, 62%, said their diocese was very much involved in helping parishes with Masses online while another 22% said they were somewhat involved. Ten percent said they helped a little and 6% said they did not help.

Schools received plenty of support in their transition to online learning as 79% of bishops responded that their dioceses helped very much. Only 12% helped somewhat, 4% a little and 5% not at all.

Technology also allowed bishops to remain in contact with their diocesan staffs as they arranged virtual meetings and shared communication online. One bishop said he recorded videos of support for hospital workers and another video for laypeople on the delay in receiving of sacraments.

OUR BISHOPS MEET WITH POPE

Editor’s Note: Reprinted with updates, with permission of the Orange County Register.

The news of Kobe Bryant’s death hit the Vatican just as Diocese of Orange Bishop Kevin Vann and his contingent were preparing to meet Pope Francis.

The local group was in Rome for a meeting called the Ad Limina, in which they deliver a five-year summary of their experiences in Orange County to the leaders of the Catholic Church.

Monsignor Stephen Doktorcyzk said he was speaking with an employee at a gift shop in Rome shortly after hearing the Kobe news.

“He talked about the pride Italians who follow basketball take in Kobe Bryant,” Monsignor Doktorcyzk said from Rome on Friday, Jan. 31. “He (Kobe) spent much of his childhood in a few regions in Italy, and that he could speak the language with fluency along with his undisputed skill at the game of basketball have resulted in not a few Italians taking great pride in his achievements and close association with their homeland.

“They are very sad that they lost a native son in such a tragic way.”

What followed were several prayers.

“The bishops and I have been praying for Kobe Bryant, his family and the other seven people from Orange County who lost their lives in the helicopter crash this past Sunday,” Msgnr. Doktorcyzk said. “He was an inspiration to many.”

Bishop Kevin Vann, who represents the Diocese of Orange, led a prayer for Bryant and the deceased after the morning Mass at St. John Lateran Basilica.

“We were grateful that we could spend time as Bishops from Southern California in praying for Kobe and the family and for those who perished in the Sunday helicopter crash, all of whom were from Orange County,” Bishop Vann said Friday,
Jan. 31.

On Facebook, Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer, part of the O.C. contingent, said Bryant was a “committed Catholic” who “loved his faith.”

Bryant and his daughter Gianna; John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli; Christina Mauser; Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton and pilot Ara Zobayan were killed Sunday morning.

Just a few hours later, Bishop Vann and the Orange County contingent met Pope Francis.

Vann said the Pope was especially pleased with the 2019 dedication of Christ Cathedral, which is now the home base of the Diocese of Orange. The Pope considered the dedication “a gift.”

“He thanked me specifically for that,” Bishop Vann said. “His meeting with us was a great sense of encouragement and the care of a father for us in our ministry.”

The Pope addressed the priests and seminarians in a separate meeting.

“He told us to always stay close to our bishop and to be men of prayer,” Monsignor Doktorcyzk said. “He was very fatherly and warm. That he would be so generous with his time is something that struck all of us who were present.”

Bishop Vann said there was a lot of interest in Orange County.

“Especially the growth and ethnic diversity,” he said.

Bishop Vann served as the point person during a discussion of the changing demographics of Orange County.

The bishop answered questions Friday as he was on his way to meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State.

The O.C. contingent also visited the tomb beneath St. Peter’s Basilica, where the bones of St. Peter lie. Peter was the first Pope.

“It was very powerful,” Monsignor Doktocyzk said.

POPE, U.S. BISHOPS TALK ABOUT POLITICAL POLARIZATION INFECTING THE CHURCH

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholics need to be on guard against allowing the angry rhetoric that comes from a polarized society, especially in an election year, to seep into discussions about the life of the church, Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops.

Thirty-three bishops, auxiliary bishops and retired bishops from California, Nevada and Hawaii met Pope Francis for more than two-and-a-half hours Jan. 27.

Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco said the topics included: youth and young adult ministry, Marian devotion, the clerical sexual abuse crisis, marriage and family life, migration, how to be a good bishop, political divisions within the United States and how some of that divisive rhetoric is seen within the church as well.

Some bishops “brought up the polarization in society and how this is affecting the church,” he said. One bishop described for the pope “how as a society, you know, we’re more and more divided, and people attack each other.”

Pope Francis said something similar is “sometimes happening in the church when different factions try to find something to attack people on personally, and so the Holy Father spoke about this politicization of pastoral life,” Archbishop Cordileone said.

“We are constantly challenged to get the message across that we’re not a political party and we don’t follow a political platform with the issues,” the archbishop said. “On some issues, one party is more favorable to what we understand is for the common good and, on other issues, another party might be more favorable.”

Pope Francis told the bishops “that in a political system where there are only two parties, there’s more of a tendency to be this way,” the archbishop said. “He wasn’t picking on us because as, he said, it’s the same thing in Argentina, where they have a two-party system, and he sees it happening in his country.”

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles said the issue of migration was among the topics discussed with the pope, who told them “how it’s important for all of us in the church to be open and welcome immigrants.”

The pope, he said, “gave us some ideas on how to continue helping people to understand the reality of immigration,” but also spoke about how increasing polarization on the issue is found not only in the United States but in many parts of the world.

“He insisted to us that it is important to see the need for dialogue between people and to understand that we all are children of God,” Archbishop Gomez told Catholic News Service.

Pope Francis also spoke to the bishops about the importance of youth ministry in the church and the need for bishops “to understand the reality of this new generation” that is “interested in action, in helping other people” as part of their participation in the life of the church, the archbishop said.

Archbishop Gomez told CNS that the pope also “insisted that young people have an attraction to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.”

“We need to have places where they can come and be in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and, at the same time, understand that what they want is to be active in taking care of the homeless, serving people in different situations and going out and making a difference,” the archbishop said.

The pastoral care of LGBT Catholics was another topic Pope Francis spoke about, Archbishop Cordileone said. “He spoke about the pastoral care that we have to give” and the need to understand the suffering many of them have endured, including being shunned by their families.

“He made important distinctions between the (sexual) orientation and the question of marriage,” for example saying it was important to ensure gay couples have access to public benefits, but insisting gay couples cannot marry, the archbishop said. “Marriage is unique; marriage, by its nature, is complementarity between man and woman. And he spoke about the danger of the gender ideology and how it denies difference,” the diversity with which God created human beings male and female.

Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu told CNS he took advantage of the pope’s invitation to ask for clarifications about things he has said.

The bishop said he asked the pope to talk more about what he means when he says Catholics must evangelize, but not proselytize.

“We’re closing parishes, we’re merging parishes, and so the problem is that we are not really good as Catholics about evangelization,” he said he told the pope.

“I said, ‘You’ve said many things about evangelization and how it is the essence of the church’s mission, but you have also talked … against proselytizing, and I am a little confused about the distinction,” the bishop explained.

While the pope answered in Italian through a translator, the bishop said: “I have to say I am still a little confused about his distinction. I don’t know if he answered it directly.”

However, he said what he gathered from the exchange is that the pope does not see evangelization as merely getting people to sign up. “Signing up isn’t the point, it’s knowing Jesus and serving Jesus and his people, and I think those are the key issues.”

Bishop Silva told Catholic News Service the distinction is important because his experience has shown that “when you say, don’t proselytize, it almost discourages evangelization,” because most Catholics think evangelization is bringing people to church, “opening the doors, being hospitable, having good liturgies, having good programs for them.”

“I think the Holy Father emphasizes, yes, those things are important, but they are not evangelization,” the bishop said. “We need to let Jesus out of the church so that he can touch people’s lives who wouldn’t be touched by the church.”

The Catholic Church has programs for people of all ages, but only “if people come to us,” he said. “If they don’t come to us, then we have really nothing for them.”

Catholics could be creative and think of nonchurch venues for catechetical events, he said.

“For example, you could reserve a room in the parish to hold (Bible study) in or you could have it at Starbucks or Denny’s or wherever so that you make people curious about what you are doing and maybe attract some others who might not otherwise find themselves in the parish,” he said.

Pope Francis, he said, “absolutely” wants the church to grow, “but he thinks that growing the church means getting out” and sharing the Gospel by example and by word.

Bishop Silva said some bishops also asked the pope about increasing incidents of suicide and the need to give needed attention to people with mental health issues.

One bishop “even suggested to the Holy Father that he might write a pastoral letter about that issue because it’s an epidemic in many places. And the pope said, ‘I will give that some thought and it could very well be a helpful thing for me to write about.'”

U.S. BISHOPS EXAMINE CHALLENGES FACED BY CHURCH, SOCIETY

BALTIMORE (CNS) — On the agenda for the U.S. bishops’ Nov. 11-13 meeting in Baltimore were elections and discussions of key challenges in the church and the nation. Unlike recent previous meetings, their response to the clergy abuse crisis was mentioned but was not the primary focus.

On the second day of the meeting, Nov. 12, the bishops elected Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles to a three-year term as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit as conference vice president.

Archbishop Gomez, the first Latino to be elected to this role, was chosen with 176 votes from a slate of 10 nominees. He has been USCCB vice president for the past three years and his new role begins at the end of the Baltimore gathering.

Among the other votes Nov. 12, the action item that received the most discussion was about new materials to complement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their long-standing guide to help Catholics form their consciences in public life, including voting. The bishops voted to approve the additions, including the addition the statement prompting the discussion that called abortion the preeminent social issue of our time.

The second day of bishops’ meeting coincided with oral arguments at the Supreme Court over the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA and bishops at the Baltimore meeting spoke up in defense of DACA recipients on the floor and in interviews with Catholic News Service.

Bishops also heard a wide-ranging report on immigration Nov. 12 which included updates of policy, how programs to resettle refugees, including those run by the Catholic Church have closed or reduced activity because the administration has moved to close the country’s doors to those seeking refuge, and efforts on the border to help asylum cases.

After the report, Major-Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia said that no community, more than Catholics in the U.S., know what it’s like to be an immigrant in this country.

The bishops’ second day of meetings also included a presentation of the pope’s document “Christus Vivit,” which was issued following the 2018 Synod on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia and Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut, collaborated on the presentation, which included two young adults.

Brenda Noriega, a young woman from the Diocese of San Bernardino, California, said the document “lays out some areas that are especially important to encounter, including young people impacted by marginalization and poverty, young people feeling overwhelmed by culture, family or judgment, young migrants and refugees and immigrants and those impacted (by the) immigration situation.” These areas also are important, she added, to youth who are bullied or ostracized online young, people who feel unloved, “youth or young adults experiencing or witnessing abuse in all forms.”

In the document the pope reminds them of love and of hope, she said, telling them they are not worthless, alone and that Christ is alive.

The bishops also heard that a new “pastoral framework for marriage and family life” should be ready for a vote by the U.S. bishops by next November at the latest, according to Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

He said the document might be ready for a vote when the bishops meet in June 2020 but stressed that it is not a “plan,” since it is intended to be applied within parishes and dioceses. “It was never meant to be a single comprehensive national plan but a resource towards the development of pastoral plans at the diocesan/eparchial levels.”

On the first day of the meeting Nov. 11, the bishops raised pressing issues that included the priesthood shortage, gun violence, young people leaving the church and the need to provide support services for pregnant women.

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States, mentioned some of these challenges in his opening remarks, along with the need to welcome migrants and fight racism. He also urged the bishops not just to focus on the challenges before them but to consider how they could further develop collegiality and collaboration with one another.

In his final address as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston told his fellow bishops that it has been “an honor to serve you, even in the difficult times.”

The 70-year-old prelate thanked the bishops, whom he called brothers, for the past three years and was thanked by them in return when the group gave him a standing ovation at the end of his nine-minute presentation.

“Let’s begin anew,” he said, at the close of his address, veering away from prepared remarks, and quoting St. Augustine.

The cardinal, who suffered a mild stroke earlier this year, did not elaborate on specifics of the abuse crisis in the church, particularly highlighted this past year, but spoke of the bishops’ continued work of transparency related to dealing with the crisis. He said the abuse measures adopted by U.S. bishops at their meeting last June are “only a beginning. More needs to be done.”

At the start of the meeting, Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, asked for an update on the Vatican’s report on the McCarrick situation, which many of the bishops, by voice vote, also said they wanted to hear.

In a brief presentation, Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley told the bishops the Vatican has not yet published a report about its investigation of now-defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, but a report could be ready by Christmas, or in the new year.

He said he and other bishops at the Vatican for their recent “ad limina” visit said they were “anxious to receive the Holy See’s explanation of this tragic situation, how he could become an archbishop and cardinal, who knew what and when.” He also stressed that the “long wait has resulted in great frustration on the part of bishops and our people and indeed a very harsh and even cynical interpretation of the seeming silence.”

In another vote, the bishops voting overwhelmingly on a revised set of strategic priorities to take them into the next decade. They also discussed upcoming votes during their gathering, such as news materials to complement “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” their long-standing guide to help Catholics form their consciences in public life, including voting.

Retired Army Col. Anita Raines, who chairs the National Advisory Council, said in a report to the bishops that the group supported the prelates’ effort to promulgate its “Faithful Citizenship” document and supplemental materials.

To help ensure the document’s wide distribution to parishes and individuals, the council recommended the USCCB implement “a strong communications strategy fully leveraging social media.”

This wasn’t the only mention of social media during the start of the meeting.

Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles urged the bishops to promote social media in their dioceses as one way to link young people with the church. He said the church is losing young people in greater numbers and must face the challenges of how to get the religiously unaffiliated, or “nones,” particularly young people, back to the Catholic Church.

The bishop presented a three-minute video on the issue and spoke of his concerns and ideas for bringing young people back to church which involved: not dumbing down the faith and involving young people in the social justice aspects of the church.

His presentation led to discussion that lasted for more than an hour with bishops from across the country agreeing that this issue is of great concern and sharing other ideas to bring young people back which primarily involved catechism but also an increased devotion to Mary.

Bishop Barron, chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, who is known for his website, “Word on Fire,” and for hosting the documentary series “Catholicism,” initially brought up this topic during the bishops’ spring meeting. He said at the time, and reiterated Nov. 11, that this topic needs to be a priority for the church today.

The bishops also heard about societal issues such as gun violence and Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, said Catholic clergy and lay leaders can play a role in bringing together people along the rural-urban divide to build understanding of the need for sensible policies that can end the scourge of gun violence.

The bishop, who is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, outlined the USCCB’s long-held stance of the need for “common sense” legislation that governs the availability of guns. But he also said it was time for people to come together so that there is greater understanding of how gun violence affects urban communities in particular.

He told Catholic News Service that the USCCB’s work on the legislative front was important, but that a pastoral response to gun violence was needed.

“It’s time for a different approach,” he said.

In a new approach for the bishops’ pro-life efforts, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, invited his fellow bishops to devote a year of service to pregnant women starting next March.

He said Catholic parishes can be one of the first places a woman facing an unexpected or challenging pregnancy can turn to for assistance rather than think of seeking an abortion and they could offer a variety of support services to women who may be thinking about whether to carry their child to term.

The bishops also heard about plans to revise the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ existing Program of Priestly Formation for U.S. dioceses.

In his homily at the Nov. 11 Mass in the hotel ballroom, Cardinal DiNardo stressed that St. Martin of Tours, whose feast was celebrated that day, offered them a fitting example.

He said little is known about what the saint wrote in the late 300s but plenty is known about what he did: “reconciling the Christian community and reconciling the clergy, even then.”

“Brothers, we have someone to imitate tonight,” he told them.

The bishops referred to another saint from long ago in their assent Nov. 12 to the call to have St. Irenaeus declared a doctor of the church.

“This is perhaps a way to correct an oversight of history,” said Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, about the saint who was born sometime between A.D. 120 and A.D. 130 in Smyrna in Asia Minor.

US BISHOPS ARRIVE IN ROME FOR AD LIMINA VISIT WITH POPE FRANCIS

Vatican City, Nov 5, 2019 / 02:01 pm (CNA) – Every American diocesan bishop will travel to Rome over the next four months for meetings with Pope Francis assessing the state of the Church in the U.S.

The U.S. ad limina visit will be not only the first with Pope Francis, but the first since the Church in the US was shaken by a crisis of mistrust in episcopal leadership due to mishandling of sexual abuse allegations against Theodore McCarrick and others.

An “ad limina apostolorum” visit is a papal meeting required for every diocesan bishop in the world to provide an update on the state of one’s diocese. The trip to Rome, usually made together with all the bishops from a country or region, also serves as a pilgrimage to “the threshold of the apostles,” giving the bishops, who are the successors of the apostles, the opportunity to pray at the tomb of St. Peter and St. Paul.

Ad limina visits typically take place every five years, as the world’s more than 5,300 bishops rotate through Rome. However, some countries have gone 10 years without an ad limina visit, as was the case with Taiwan. During Benedict XVI’s pontificate, bishops from nearly every diocese in the world visited within seven years.

The last U.S. ad limina was with Benedict XVI in 2011-2012. Since then much has changed in the American landscape, from the Obergefell U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage in 2015 to the heightened tension over immigration debates under President Donald Trump.

The Catholic environment in the US has itself undergone considerable transformation since Pope Francis’ trip to the United States in the fall of 2015.

In the last two years alone, Catholics in the US have reeled from the public revelations of McCarrick’s sexual abuse, the Pennsylvania grand jury report, letters from Archbishop Carlo Vigano, Bishop Michael Bransfield’s serious financial misconduct, and the resulting crisis of mistrust in episcopal leadership.

The first rounds of U.S. bishops to come to Rome come from dioceses in the northeast U.S., the hardest hit by these scandals.

The American ad limina visits are divided into 15 regions. Pope Francis will meet with bishops from New England Nov. 4-8, New York Nov. 11-15, and New Jersey and Pennsylvania Nov. 25-29.

Bishops from New England began the first round of visits Nov. 4 with a Mass in Santa Maria Maggiore. They are also celebrating a Mass Nov. 5 in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, and Nov. 7 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“We feel very keenly today, all of us, the weight of human sinfulness, of infidelity, of scandal, of the sin that weighs down the Church,” Archbishop Leonard Blair of Hartford said in his homily during the Mass in Santa Maria Maggiore, according to CNS.

Before meeting the pope, bishops on an ad limina trip also typically visit all of the Vatican dicasteries and can schedule personal meetings with the head of each dicastery to discuss particular matters.

During such visits, bishops’ conferences deliver exhaustive reports, called Quinquennial Reports, describing the status of the Church in their country.

Previous to Francis’ pontificate, the meeting of the bishops with the pope included an exchange of speeches from both the president of the bishops’ conference and pope, who delivered a speech providing pastoral recommendations and priorities. After the exchange of speeches, the pope then held a short conversation with each bishop individually.

Pope Francis changed the format of these visits to an open group conversation among the visiting bishops, who are allowed to ask questions of the pope for up to two hours. He also added an additional meeting presided over by himself with the bishops and the heads of some of the dicasteries. In past visits, this has included representatives from the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for Clergy, the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

The American ad limina visits coincide with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ General Assembly and election Nov. 10-13. Bishops from the state of New York will therefore be absent from the General Assembly and will vote remotely from the North American College in Rome.

Before the end of 2019, Pope Francis will meet with bishops from Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and the U.S. Military Archdiocese, in addition to New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

After a short hiatus for Christmas, the Latin rite bishops of the remainder of the territory of the US, and the country’s Eastern Catholic bishops, will make their ad limina pilgrimages in 2020, from mid-January through the end of February.

BISHOPS TO VOTE FOR USCCB PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT AT FALL ASSEMBLY

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The U.S. bishops are scheduled to elect the next president and vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their upcoming fall general assembly taking place Nov. 11-13 in Baltimore.

Each office is elected from a slate of 10 candidates who have been nominated by their fellow bishops. Released Oct. 9 by the USCCB, the slate of candidates for president and vice president is as follows:

— Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese of the Military Services.

— Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

— Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City.

— Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco.

— Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas.

— Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles.

— Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki of Milwaukee.

— Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois.

— Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.

— Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit.

The president and vice president are elected to three-year terms, which begin at the conclusion of the fall assembly. The current president, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, and the current vice president, Archbishop Gomez, will complete their terms at this meeting.

USCCB bylaws provide that the first election is that of president by a simple majority vote of members present and voting. In a special exception to this bylaw approved by the bishops at their June assembly, 17 bishops in Rome for their ad limina visits from the New York region will be allowed to participate remotely in the election as well.

Following the election of the president, the vice president is elected from the remaining nine candidates. In either election, if a candidate does not receive more than half of the votes cast on the first ballot, a second vote is taken. If a third round of voting is necessary, that ballot is a run-off between the two bishops who received the most votes on the second ballot.

During the meeting, the bishops also will vote for new chairmen of six committees: Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance; Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs; Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis; Committee on International Justice and Peace; Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People; and the Committee for Religious Liberty.

BISHOPS AT SUMMIT CONSIDER 21 ACTION ITEMS TO HANDLE, PREVENT ABUSE

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Immediately after asking bishops and religious superiors to be concrete in confronting the clerical sexual abuse crisis and the need to protect children in the church, Pope Francis handed them a list of 21 action items to consider.

From publicizing the contact information for reporting cases of abuse to cooperating with local law enforcement, the action items were drawn from suggestions made by bishops from around the world, the pope said, and should “assist in our reflection.”

The 21 items are “a simple point of departure,” he said, and “are not meant to detract from the creativity needed in this meeting.”

Several survivors of abuse, however, expressed surprise about and unhappiness with the list.

The first item on the list is “to prepare a practical handbook indicating the steps to be taken by authorities at key moments when a case emerges.”

Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna of Malta, who deals with abuse cases for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, later told reporters that his office is preparing such a handbook — in a simple question-and-answer format — and it should be ready for publication within a few months.

The archbishop said the 21 items “govern practically all the aspects of getting it right,” but they must be discussed by summit participants. “These are not decisions taken, otherwise we could go home today.”

The action items also included suggestions that dioceses have “trained and expert people” on hand for an initial “discernment” of accusations and insisted that the diocese “inform the civil authorities and the higher ecclesiastical authorities in compliance with civil and canonical norms.”

Archbishop Scicluna insisted on the importance of involving local police and other authorities, especially because while bishops exercise spiritual authority over their priests, they have no actual “coercive measures — and we don’t have any nostalgia for the coercive measures of the Inquisition” — to force priests to cooperate with investigations and obey when punishment has been imposed.

Another suggestion on the list was to establish “specific protocols for handling accusations against bishops,” a matter that was highlighted in 2018 when the public was informed of credible allegations made against then-Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick.

Participants at the Vatican summit Feb. 21-24 also were asked to discuss ways to “accompany, protect and treat victims, offering them all the necessary support for a complete recovery” and to offer healing and support to the communities where abusive priests ministered.

Perhaps more controversially, the possible action items also included considering “penitential and recovery routes for the perpetrators” and an insistence on the “presumption of innocence” found both in natural law and canon law.

To protect the rights of an accused, one suggestion said, “it is necessary to prevent the lists of the accused being published, even by the dioceses, before the preliminary investigation and the definitive condemnation.”

Archbishop Scicluna said being accused of abuse is not reason enough to release the person’s name publicly; there must at least have been a review of the allegation and determination that it is credible. A criminal court trial or full canonical process finding the person guilty would be what consists defining the allegation as “substantiated,” he said.

One item not on the list that Archbishop Scicluna said should be included is a clearer policy on keeping victims informed of the status of cases against their abusers. The canonical procedures of the church are not criminal trials, but he said the local church should assign someone to keep in contact with the victims as the process proceeds, and the victims have a right to be informed about the process’ conclusion.

“Many victims are hurt by the fact that they do not receive the final report,” he said. “It’s a lack of respect.”

Another suggestion on the list was that the church “observe the traditional principle of proportionality of punishment with respect to the crime committed,” including when deciding whether “priests and bishops guilty of sexual abuse of minors leave public ministry” or are dismissed from the clerical state all together.

Also on the list was the idea of changing the Code of Canon Law “to raise the minimum age for marriage to 16 years.” The current code says the minimum age is 16 for males and 14 for females, but bishops in many countries have passed particular laws, approved by the Vatican, that establish 16 as the minimum age for both.

Apparently in some parts of the world, the sexual abuse of a 14- or 15-year-old girl is not considered abuse of a minor since she is old enough to marry. However, in cases of clerical sexual abuse, current church law defines a minor as any person under 18 years of age.

Leona Huggins, who represents the survivor’s network, SNAP, in British Columbia, told Catholic News Service that she found the list of suggestions to be “absolutely shocking,” especially because she and the 11 other survivors who met with the summit organizing committee Feb. 20 were there to have their voices heard.

None of their suggestions made it onto the list, she said. Their No. 1 priority is to get the church to mandate a policy of zero tolerance for abusers and those who cover up their crimes.

Huggins said the list actually rolls expectations and protection efforts “backwards.”

She and another survivor were especially struck that the first item on the list was producing a “handbook” when “I think we all know what the right thing to do is” when an allegation is made that an adult has raped or assaulted a child.

Back in 1992, when Huggins found out the priest who had abused her was starting a youth group: “I knew to go to the police. I don’t have expert training. … I don’t have years of theological training that these men have. But I knew.”

Peter Isely, spokesman for the Ending Clergy Abuse coalition, said while some officials described the list as a “road map,” he saw it as drawing “a circle” leading the church back to where it started 20 years ago.

Asked if he was disappointed with the first day of the summit, Isely said: “Children don’t need for us to be disappointed, discouraged and hopeless, it just doesn’t matter. All that matters is zero tolerance so that I can say to those … children and families there’s zero tolerance now. That’s all that matters.”

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