BY APRILLE HANSON SPIVEY
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (CNS) - Shadab, 18, was ready to leave Afghanistan to travel nearly 7,500 miles to begin his senior year of high school at Subiaco Academy - a Benedictine high school which is both a day school and a boarding school - just before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The student knows six languages and had high hopes of studying at an American college next year. The college-preparatory environ- ment and challenging curriculum at the all-boys school in Subiaco drew him in after just a simple internet search of U.S. schools. He knew that's where he wanted to study; he applied and was accepted. But within a month, his entire world changed. We have no future," Shadab said bluntly, with the sting of desperation in his voice during a phone call from Pakistan with the Arkansas Catholic, diocesan newspaper of Little Rock, Aug. 31. Shadab, who preferred to use only his first name, had his student visa denied a second time Aug. 26. I have no future, my younger sis- ter has no future because I'm not able to go to school anymore. As an im- migrant in Pakistan, I'm not allowed to do my school in Pakistan," he said. My visa got denied, I can't go back to Afghanistan as I have American doc- uments with me as well. I'm scared now. I'm more scared now." Shadab's plight is a familiar one for countless young people after the Taliban overtook Afghanistan Aug. 15, entering the capital of Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani fled. The U.S. withdrew its final troops Aug. 30, after 20 years. Shadab was born in the Ghazni province of Afghanistan as a Hazara Muslim. Representing just 9% of the population, Hazaras are one of the most persecuted religious minorities by the Taliban, according to Amnesty International. The family moved to Kabul when he was 7. His uncle and grandfather were murdered by the Taliban in Ghazni. He declined to go into detail about what happened. Marion Dunagan, assistant head of enrollment management at Subiaco Academy, said Shadab is "the kind of kid that Subiaco really wants." Academically, he's exceptional," she said. The office of Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is working with the school about helping the prospective stu- dent's visa application process.
False narrative' being pushed about St. Serra
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (CNA) - Archbishop Jos H. Gomez and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco say that misinformation and deliberate dis- information continue to surround the memory of St. Junpero Serra, the Apostle of California. Most recent- ly, the California legislature overwhelmingly passed a bill that essentially declares Serra to be a kind of mor- al monster: "Enslavement of both adults and children, mutilation, genocide, and assault on women were all part of the mission period initiated and overseen by Father Serra." Assembly Bill 338, which passed 66-2 in the Assembly and 28-2 in the Senate, has been sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom. It repeats the unsubstantiated al- legations found in online petitions and other misinfor- mation spread last summer by Black Lives Matter and other activist groups to justify vandalizing statues of the saint. The legislature's claims are a "slander" against Serra and push a "false narrative" about the missions, say Archbishop Gomez and Archbishop Cordileone in an essay published in the Wall Street Journal. "None of that is true," they write. "While there is much to criticize from this period, no serious his- torian has ever made such outrageous claims about Serra or the mission system."
Renewed call of sainthood for Franciscan priest
WASHINGTON (CNS) - The 20th anniversary remem- brances of the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States is renewing a canonization push for the first identified casualty: Franciscan Father Mychal Judge. Father Judge, a New York Fire Depart- ment chaplain, was at the World Trade Center site praying with and minis- tering to attack victims when debris falling from the ruins of the twin tow- ers struck and killed him. Even then, some Catholics were saying Father Judge should be considered for canonization. Twenty years later, there has been only a bit of move- ment toward advancing the priest's sainthood cause. A representative of the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes said Father Judge would be a good fit for sainthood as an "offerer" - based on Pope Francis' 2017 motu proprio, "The Offerer of Life" - as "someone who offers his life for others," according to Francis De- Bernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a group that advocates for LGBT Catholics. DeBernardo, in a Sept. 10 phone interview with Catholic News Ser- vice, said the group collected interviews with people who knew Father Judge, who died at age 68 after 40 years as a priest. But sainthood is a lengthy and time- consuming process.
Afghan refugee's plan to attend Catholic school in Arkansas halted
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For Catholic veterans, 9/11 changed trajectory of their military careers
BY KATIE PETERSON
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) - On Sept. 11, 2001, Deacon John Krenson went to work like it was any other day. He walked into his business and his colleagues were glued to the television set following the first plane crash into the World Trade Center. At the time, he was an officer in the Tennessee Army National Guard and he remembers saying after the second plane crashed into the other twin tower: I don't know if it's going to be in two weeks, two months or two years, but I guarantee you, I'm go- ing somewhere because of this." Although he had been serving in the National Guard since 1986, his typi- cal service included only one weekend a month, a few weeks of training in the summer, and some schooling. His only deploy- ment experiences were to Panama and Bulgaria for training exercises. Service was just part of my life," he said. "It didn't consume much of my life, but that all changed after 9/11," he told the Tennessee Register, diocesan newspa- per. The anticipated deploy- ment came in August 2003, when he went to Afghani- stan to be a liaison with U.S. forces embedded with NATO forces. His deploy- ment to Afghanistan lasted through May 2004, but he was deployed to Iraq in 2010. Six years later, he retired from the National Guard but much about his year in Afghanistan still sticks with him. When asked about the U.S. troops leaving Af- ghanistan this summer, he said he feels devastated and frustrated adding: "I feel we've abandoned our Afghan allies and people, especially the most vulner- able ones." He said the "veteran net- work has kicked into high gear," with people checking in on each other, calling or texting almost daily but now he is more worried about the Afghans. I don't think people real- ize how veterans feel about our brothers and sisters in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "We're not anti-Mus- lim. We've served with Mus- lims, and Muslims had my life in their hands many times in both countries. That means a lot to me, and I'm very, very worried for them." John Schuller, a retired chief warrant officer and a parishioner at Immacu- late Conception Church in Clarksville, served in the Army from 1976 to 2006. Before 9/11, he said he was planning to retire, but when the planes hit the twin towers in New York, he knew his unit, 5th Spe- cial Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, would be one of the first to deploy in response. We were out of the country by the beginning of October," Schuller said and his unit remained in Afghanistan until spring of 2002. He deployed three times to Iraq after that. For him, the U.S. de- parture from this region seems like our blood and treasure were wasted in the way that we left the (Afghans) without any sup- port. It seems like we took an easy way out." We left a lot of people we made commitments to," he said referring to Afghan interpreters and soldiers that the U.S. military "said we'd always be there for and we're not now. ... It's heartbreaking." Schuller said his experi- ence has pushed him more toward his Catholic faith. I had some really bad times when I first got out of the military until I got the help I needed ... and belief in God and church helps me, too," Schuller said. "All I can hope is that sometime in the future there is go- ing to be some good come of it."
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CNS PHOTO KATIE PETERSON, TENNESSEE REGISTER
Deacon John Krenson, retired colonel in the Tennessee National Guard, poses next to the American Flag Sept. 9 at Operation Standdown in Nashville, Tenn.
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Shadab leans on his hands in a home where he's staying in Pakistan Sept. 1.
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Rescue workers carry Franciscan Father Mychal Judge out of the debris.
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