BY ZOEY MARAIST
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) - The topic of transgender- ism is discussed routinely in the news, on television shows and in schools. This prevailing ideology - that a person can change his or her gender - is im- pacting Catholic families, too, said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington. So, following consulta- tion with experts in theolo- gy, bioethics, clinical coun- seling, civil and canonical law, as well as with priests, Bishop Burbidge issued "A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideol- ogy" Aug. 12. He also released policies relating to the human per- son and gender ideology to be followed in Catholic schools and faith forma- tion and youth ministry programs. As a Catholic Church, we have a sacred duty and obligation - out of our love for our young people and God's family - to speak the truth," said Bishop Bur- bidge. "Not only to speak the truth but to explain why we believe what we do and to give Catholics the language they need to ex- plain this to others." This resource was in- tended to assist all Catho- lics, but especially adults and parents of children who experience gender identity confusion. Many reach out for help to priests such as Father Stephen Schultz, who in ad- dition to serving as chap- lain of St. Paul VI Catholic High School in Chantilly, Virginia, ministers to indi- viduals in these situations. It's really picked up among younger people," said Father Schultz, one of the many people consulted in the drafting of the cat- echetical resource. "There's been times this year that in a week, I've gotten two or three calls from parents of middle school-age chil- dren who are reporting sexual identity dysphoria." The topic of transgender- ism is very much a part of the cultural conversa- tion right now, said Father Schultz, "but it feels like a one-sided conversation. There are these move- ments that think we can totally define ourselves and that we are completely self-creating individuals." The Catholic Church teaches differently. "Our bodies are a gift and we need to receive them as a gift and understand our- selves - body and soul - in the light of God's love," he told the Arlington Catholic Herald newspaper. The resource begins by explaining the Catholic understanding of the na- ture of human beings. "To be a human person means to be a unity of body and soul from the moment of conception," the document said. As a result, our God- given bodies are "neither foreign nor a burden, but an integral part of the per- son." Part of that person is his or her gender. Men and women of different times, cultures and personalities may express their feminin- ity and masculinity in a variety of ways, and some may have interests that are more associated with the opposite sex. But none of that changes their sex as male or female, the docu- ment said. The resource advises Catholics on how to speak the truth about transgen- derism with love.
First Haitian American bishop in U.S. dies at 86
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) - Retired Auxiliary Bishop Guy A. Sansaricq of Brooklyn, who had ministered in the Diocese of Brooklyn since 1971, died at the rectory at St. Gregory the Great Church in the Crown Heights neighborhood Aug. 21. He was 86. "Bishop Sansaricq was the first Haitian American bishop in the United States. He was a symbol of the progress of the Haitian people here and, as someone who served as a bishop, gave the Haitian community some recognition and stature as immigrant people, a ministry he served very well," Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio said Aug. 23. A wake for the late bishop was scheduled for Aug. 31 at St. Jerome Church in Brooklyn and Sept. 1 at St. Gregory the Great Church. His funeral Mass will be celebrated Sept. 2 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Brooklyn.
Phoenix-based Byzantine eparchy bishop resigns
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Bishop John S. Pazak of the Holy Pro- tection of Mary Byzantine Catholic Eparchy, which is based in Phoenix. On Aug. 13, Bishop Pazak turned 75, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. The pope appointed Latin-rite Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix as ap- ostolic administrator of the eparchy. The changes were announced in Washington Aug. 23 by Msgr. Seamus Horgan, charge d'affaires at the apostolic nunciature in the temporary absence of Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. "Over the past three years, I have served as apostolic administra- tor 'sede plena' of the eparchy. With the Holy Father's decision, I shall continue as apostolic administrator until a new bishop of the eparchy has been named," Bishop Olmstead said Aug. 23.
Benefit increase helps people meet needs
WASHINGTON (CNS) - A U.S. Department of Agricul- ture's recalculation of the Supplemental Nutrition As- sistance Program and a major increase in the benefit for those in need "will be a meaningful improvement in the lives of millions of people who rely on SNAP for basic nutrition," Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Okla- homa City said Aug. 21. He issued the statement as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Develop- ment. "The U.S. bishops have repeatedly called for strengthening and improving SNAP so that it provides an adequate level of support that doesn't leave families hungry at the end of the month," Archbishop Coakley said. His statement came in reaction to the USDA's Aug. 16 release of a reevaluation of its Thrifty Food Plan, used to calculate benefit amounts provided to needy families through SNAP. The report prompted the Biden administration to permanently raise this benefit by over 25%, the largest single increase in the program's history, according to news reports. The increase takes effect in October and will be available to all 42 million.
Bishop: Church has 'sacred duty' to speak truth about human person, gender
Leaders raise concerns over censorship of religious speech
BRIEFSI
AUGUST 27, 2021 THE CATHOLIC FREE PRESS
ACROSS THE NATION 3
BY CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) - YouTube's blocking of a theologian's talk on the Christian view of sex as a "content vi- olation" raises serious concerns that religious speech is being censored online," San Francisco's archbishop and Focus on the Family's president said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed they co-wrote. Today's sexual politics function as a new kind of fundamentalism, one that presents a deep problem to a diverse and democratic society. ... Social media enables the new funda- mentalism, enforced by the mysteri- ous rules of big tech's quasi-monop- oly," wrote Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and Jim Daly. In their Aug. 12 op-ed, they ex- plained that twice on Aug. 7 a live broadcast by the Rev. Carl Trueman, a scholar, best-selling author and Presbyterian minister, "was booted off the air." He was giving a series of talks at the Sacramento Gospel Conference that were livestreamed on the You- Tube channel of the conference's host, Immanuel Baptist Church in Sacramento, California. Viewers were informed that the first interruption was due to a copy- right violation, possibly the result of Christian music that the conference organizers played during a break," the archbishop and Daly wrote. "But in the second, more mysterious in- stance, Mr. Trueman's presentation went dark because of a 'content viola- tion.'" Neither Rev. Trueman nor Immanu- el Baptist have been told if "a human being or an algorithm on automatic pilot" intervened in the broadcast, they said. Equally unclear is the specific na- ture of the alleged content violation," they said. "Nothing in Mr. Trueman's talks encouraged hatred, vulgarity or violence. On the contrary, he of- fered a thoughtful analysis of Ameri- can cultural attitudes toward sex through the lens of classic Christian thought, citing sources from Freud to the philosophers Rousseau and Charles Taylor." In a recent essay in Deseret Maga- zine, Rev. Trueman wrote that "when traditional attitudes toward sexual behavior collide with modern no- tions of identity, religious conserva- tives may be labeled as anti-social or harmful to the sexual identity of others." When the belief that bodies are fundamental to who we are, and therefore no one can be 'born in the wrong body,' crashes up against the notion of inner identities," he wrote, those who hold such views are con- sidered bigoted." In their op-ed, Archbishop Cordil- eone and Daly said that after the You- Tube incidents, Rev. Trueman "is un- derstandably worried that religious speech is being censored online. So are many other religious believers." And for good reason," they contin- ued. "We sense that the First Amend- ment guarantee of religious liberty is being dismantled, and with it the profound contributions that religion makes to American unity and self- government." An Aug. 17 opinion piece in the De- seret News by writer Cassandra He- delius echoed the concerns raised by Archbishop Cordileone and Daly. "It's chilling," she wrote, "to think that internet media giants might be side- lining, or even censoring, traditional religious beliefs." In the new public square of the internet, power displaces liberty and conscience," said the op-ed by the archbishop and Daly.
Little Sisters mark 150 years of care of elderly
WASHINGTON (CNS) - Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory celebrated a Mass Aug. 14 to mark the 150th anniver- sary of the arrival in Washington of the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order whose service to the elderly poor in the nation's capital began just after the Civil War and continues in the digital age. "Arriving here in the United States 150 years ago from France, most had to learn English and American customs and ways," Car- dinal Gregory said in his homily during the Mass cel- ebrated in the chapel of the Little Sisters' Jeanne Jugan Residence in Northeast Washington. When they arrived in Washington, they "found hundreds if not thousands of neglected poor people," he said. "They went right to work and quite successfully to become sisters of these forgotten individuals. They continue to do so 150 years later."
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Scripture, Homily, Novena Prayers Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Mondays, 7:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Beginning September 13
Bishop Robert McManus Sept. 20
Rev. John Gavin, SJ
Oct. 11
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10th Annual Novena to St. Joseph
FOSTER FATHER OF JESUS PATRON OF A HAPPY DEATH
CHRIST THE KING PARISH 1052 Pleasant Street, Worcester To pray for the Seriously & Terminally Ill To stop Doctor-Prescribed Suicide
HOMILISTS
Rev. Walter Riley Nov. 8 Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan Sept. 13
Send names of the sick to: Novena, 1052 Pleasant Street, Worcester, 01602 / Or call: 508-754-5361 / email: tsullivan5@mac.com
Kris Correira Oct. 4 Catherine Pimley Oct. 18 Marc Tumeinski Sept. 27
Jo' Massarelli Oct. 25
Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan Nov. 1
Bioethics center praises Wisconsin bishops for respecting conscience on vaccine mandates
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Catholic Bio- ethics Center on Monday praised the bishops of Wis- consin for their statement supporting conscience exemptions to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. We applaud the Wiscon- sin Catholic Conference for its defense of the sanctity of conscience with regard to the COVID-19 vaccines," the center said in its Aug. 23 tweet. The National Catholic Bioethics Center, a think tank that provides guid- ance on human dignity in health care and medical research, has been vocal about its opposition to mandatory immuniza- tion for COVID-19. While acknowledging that recep- tion of COVID-19 vaccines is morally permissible, the center has maintained sup- port for the rights of Catho- lics to refuse the vaccines because of conscience- based concerns. The five bishops of Wis- consin on Friday issued a statement encouraging vac- cination against COVID-19, while maintaining that people ought not be forced to accept a COVID vaccine. The bishops added that, in the cases of Catholics con- scientiously objecting to receiving a vaccine, clergy should not be intervening on their behalf. We encourage those eligible to receive the CO- VID-19 vaccine ... We are all morally responsible to pro- tect our lives and the lives of others," they wrote.
Mark the dates and plan to come and bring a friend. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Our Lady of Loreto Parish 37 Massasoit Road, Worcester, MA
This year's speakers are: Tuesday Sept. 7 7:00 p.m. Fr. Frederick Fraini Tuesday Sept. 14 7:00 p.m. Fr. Nicholas Desimone Tuesday Sept. 21 7:00 p.m. Fr. Alfredo Porras Tuesday Sept. 28 7:00 p.m. Fr. Walter Riley Tuesday Oct. 5 7:00 p.m. Bishop Robert J. McManus Tuesday Oct. 12 7:00 p.m. Deacon Paul Audette Tuesday Oct. 19 7:00 p.m. Deacon Donald Pegg Tuesday Oct. 26 7:00 p.m. Msgr. James Moroney Tuesday Nov. 2 7:00 p.m. Fr. Richard Polek
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Our Lady's Annual Miraculous Medal Novena
We begin on Tuesday, September 7th for 9 consecutive Tuesdays, ending on Tuesday, November 2nd. A great opportunity for graces and the tremendous power of intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, patroness of our parish.
'As a Catholic Church, we have a sacred duty and obligation - out of our love for our young people and God's family - to speak the truth.'
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge,
Arlington, Virginia
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