Pope Francis disagrees with identifying Islam as violent

Vatican City, Jul 31, 2016 / 03:37 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has questioned the claim that Islam should be identified with violence, in contrast to the Islamic State militant group, which he says is a fundamentalist sect of the religion.

“I do not believe it is right to identify Islam with violence,” the Pope told journalists during the July 31 papal flight to Rome following his apostolic journey to Poland. “This is not right and it is not true.”

“I don’t like to speak about Islamic violence,” the Pope said, taking into account that one sees violence every day in the newspapers, even at the hands of baptised Catholics.

“There are violent Catholics!” he said. “If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence.”

The Pope expressed his belief that every religion has its fundamentalist groups, including Catholicism.

Such fundamentalism, when it is present, can “kill with language,” he said, citing the worlds of the Apostle James.

Francis’ remarks came in response to a question put by a journalist regarding the murder of a French priest at the hands of Islamist militants, an attack which Pope Francis condemned. The journalist asked the Pope why he never refers to Islam when decrying these sorts of terrorist acts committed by Islamist militants.

Fr. Jacques Hamel, 86, was killed Tuesday after two armed gunmen stormed a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray during Mass. The assailants entered the church and took the celebrating priest and four others hostage.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was carried out by Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Nabil Petitjean, both 19.

Two more men – Farid K, 30, a cousin of Petitjean, and Jean-Philippe Steven J, 20 – have been placed under formal investigation in connection to the murders, according to the BBC.

During the in-flight conference, Pope Francis explained he had a long discussion with the Al-Azhar University’s grand iiman, and so understands Muslims. “They seek peace, encounter,” he explained.

Moreover, he said that according to the nuncio to an African nation (which the Pope did not specify in the conference), many of those who pass through the Jubilee Year of Mercy Door, who go to pray at the altar of Our Lady, are Muslims who wish to take part in the Jubilee.

Francis also recalled the Muslims he encountered during last November’s trip to the Central African Republic, including the imam who at one point joined him in the popemobile.

Acknowledging that there are fundamentalist groups, the Pope stressed that there are many young people, including Europeans themselves, who “have left empty of ideals, who have no work,” and who turn to drugs and alcohol and “enlist in fundamentalist groups.”

“One can speak of the so-called ISIS,” the Pope continued, “but it is an Islamic state which presents itself as violence.”

The group thus shows its “identity card,” he said, making reference to the group of Egyptians whose throats were slit on the coast of Libya.

“This is a small fundamentalist group called ISIS,” he said. But “I do not believe it is true or correct that Islam is terrorist.”

“Terrorism is everywhere. You think of tribal terrorism of some African countries,” he said. “Terrorism grows when there are no other options, and when the center of the global economy is a the god of money and not the person – men and women – this is already the first terrorism!”

“You have cast out the wonder of creation – man and woman – and you have put money in its place. This is a basic terrorism against all of humanity! Think about it!”

Sunday evening’s in-flight press conference came at the end of Pope Francis’ July 27-31 trip to Poland, where he presided over World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow.

Body of missing Wichita seminarian found

Wichita, Kan., Aug 1, 2016 / 12:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The body of a Kansas seminarian who drowned after rescuing a woman in the Arkansas River has been found.

Wichita Police said Brian Bergkamp’s body was discovered July 28 in the Arkansas River, according to the Wichita Eagle.

Bergkamp, age 24, had finished his second year at seminary. He was scheduled to be ordained a priest in 2018.

The seminarian was kayaking with four friends July 9 on the Arkansas River. They hit rough water, and one of the women in the group fell out of her kayak.

Bergkamp plunged in after the woman and was able to help her reach safety, but he was then pulled under by the strong current, according to officials.

A July 18 memorial Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was attended by more than 1,000 people.

Those who knew the seminarian described him as selfless and said they were not surprised by his act of self-sacrifice to save the life of another.

“He would go out of his way to help someone and forget about his own, probably, self in the process. So what he did was a very natural thing for him,” said Mt. St. Mary’s University Vice Rector, Father Kenneth Brighenti, to KSN News.

“He said he just had a desire to help people, to save people. He thought about being a fireman or a paramedic or a policeman, but decided the priesthood was what he wanted to do,” added Jan Haberly, director at Lord’s Diner, which serves meals to those in need. Bergkamp had been an intern at the diner this summer.

Fellow seminarian Jimmy Schibi described Bergkamp as deeply faithful and generous.

“He was never about himself, always looking to do something for others, never thinking of himself,” Schibi told the Wichita Eagle. “He cared. He totally cared about each little individual job he was doing.”

“He gave up his life to be a priest, but before he could do that, he gave up his life for another,” Schibi said. “Probably one of the most selfless individuals that I’d ever met.”

Pope creates commission to study women deacons

Vatican City, Aug 2, 2016 / 05:21 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has instituted a new commission for the study of women deacons, the Vatican announced Tuesday.

The decision comes several months after a papal audience with a group of religious sisters, during which Pope expressed his willingness to consider forming a commission to study women deacons, such as they existed in the early Church.

According to the Aug. 2 press release, the pontiff came to the decision after a period of “intense prayer and mature reflection.”

The new commission will be headed by Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, who will lead a group comprised of twelve members, half of whom are women.

Both lay and religious women have been chosen for the commission, including Sr. Mary Melone, rector of the Antonianum university, Prof. Phyllis Zagano at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and Marianne Schlosser, professor of spiritual theology at the university of Vienna and member of the International theological commission.

Also included in the list is Fr. Robert Dodaro, president of the Augustinianum University in Rome.

The Vatican statement mentioned the May 12 papal audience with members of the International Union of Superiors General, during which the question of women deacons was raised during a Q&A session.

At the audience, one sister asked why the Church does not include women in the permanent diaconate. The sister had referred to an ancient tradition in the Church in which there were female deacons (albeit not-ordained), and suggested that a commission be established to study the possibility.

Reports quickly circulated following the event that Pope Francis was paving the way for the ordination of women deacons, and potentially even women priests. Holy See press office director, Fr. Federico Lombardi clarified in a May 13 statement that the Pope had no such intention.

During an in-flight press conference after his trip to Armenia last June, the Pope spoke of cases in the early Church where women were given similar roles to deacons. For instance, women would be employed to baptize other women for the sake of modesty, since at that time the practice involved full immersion.

The subject of women deacons has previously been studied by the Church, including a 2002 document from the International Theological Commission, an advisory body to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pope Francis further told journalists during the June 26 press briefing there was no change in the works to allow for the ordination of women to the deaconate.

The Catholic Church desperately needs artists

By Mary Rezac

New York City, N.Y., Aug 3, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA).- “Man can live without science, he can live without bread, but without beauty he could no longer live, because there would no longer be anything to do to the world. The whole secret is here, the whole of history is here.”

So wrote Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Demons, one of four of his greatest novels. The Russian Orthodox novelist would find himself in agreement with a Polish Roman Catholic Pope, who more than a century later wrote of the Catholic Church’s need for beauty, and artists who could create that beauty.  

“Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God…” wrote Pope John Paul II in his 1999 Letter to Artists.

Himself an artist as an accomplished actor and poet, Pope John Paul II saw the need to appeal to artists in particular to put their talents to use for the Gospel and the salvation of the world. He desired stronger collaboration between the world of art and the Church, once one of the world’s greatest incubators for the world’s greatest artists like Michelangelo, who created such enduring works as the Sistine Chapel and La Pieta.  

“With this Letter, I turn to you, the artists of the world, to assure you of my esteem and to help consolidate a more constructive partnership between art and the Church. Mine is an invitation to rediscover the depth of the spiritual and religious dimension which has been typical of art in its noblest forms in every age,” John Paul II wrote.

It’s no secret that the Michaelangelos of the Church seem to be few and far between in this age, where some modern churches more closely resemble spaceships than houses of God, church bulletin design seems to be stuck in the 1980s, and some church choirs consist of two people who’ve never taken a music lesson.

However, a slow but sure movement towards rediscovering the importance of art and beauty seems to be afoot in the Catholic Church. Here’s how three different groups are working to put Pope John Paul II’s call for artists into action.

Bringing artists to Christ, and Christ to artists

Emily Martinez loves the arts. In particular, the theater.

She studied acting during her undergraduate years at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and she also also fell in love with Jesus, thanks to some missionaries she met through the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS).

But while she loved Jesus and acting, she longed to see these two parts of her life intersect more. FOCUS had specific outreaches to Greek students and student athletes - why not artists?

Martinez wanted to change that. Partnering with a FOCUS missionary who had studied graphic design, Martinez created CREATE - Catholics Redefining Everyday Art Through Excellence. Every month, the group hosted different speakers and presenters from a vast array of the arts - dance, music, film, writing, theater - who spoke or performed in front of an audience of 30-50 students each time, and explained how they were using their craft to glorify God.  

“It just made sense to me that we would be reaching out to people who are artists, because they’re going to be creating things their whole lives, things that are going to impact a lot of people,” she said. “And what if Christ was at the center of that? What if the beauty that they were creating pointed us back to God in some way?”

By the end of her senior year, Martinez’s plans to move away and go to grad school for theater had changed. Instead, she felt the Lord calling her to be a FOCUS missionary. Certain she’d be sent to a school without a strong arts program, Martinez mentally prepared herself to temporarily set aside her passion for art.

Until she received her assignment at New York University, one of the best art schools in the country.

“It was a gift, and I got to work with so many artists, because it’s New York City,” she said. “So I kind of just dove right in and started meeting as many artists as possible.”

She invited art students (typically freshman, who were looking for a home anyway) to join her bible study, which in some ways was more like a Christ-centered art class. They’d discuss religious paintings, plays and sacred music.

They read John Paul II’s Letter to Artists, which “just blew their minds” knowing that there was a Pope encouraging artists to create their art to the best of their abilities, she said.

At the end of the year, Martinez had her bible study put on a show. They each created pieces specific to their personal medium of art (acting, dance, fashion), based on the passage from the bible about the woman at the well, about a time that they encountered Christ, perhaps while looking for something different.  

The show was a hit, Martinez said. The girls invited their friends, many of whom were not Catholic, to attend. They told their stories of encountering Christ in a way that was authentic and beautiful.

“It was cool to be able to demonstrate what their art can be outside of this bible study,” Martinez said. “You can do this all the time, you can ask God to be with you in your art.”

The following year, Martinez said she was able to go a little deeper with the young women in her bible study, since they had already bonded over their common passion for art. Now, she’s working on writing up a bible study for all of FOCUS to use, based on what she did with her study at NYU.

“I just did this, I didn’t know if I was allowed,” Martinez said of her artist bible study. “And soon a  bible study will be out for all FOCUS artists.”

Catholic Creatives: Faithful artists come together

Like Martinez, brothers Marcellino and Anthony D’Ambrosio were millennial Catholic artists who longed to see more intersection between the Church and good art.

Both former youth and music ministers turned digital marketers and designers, the two would often meet with another creative friend of theirs Edmund Mitchell, to complain about the state of affairs with art and the Church.

“We’d end up talking about how bad Catholic dating is or how bad Catholic design or media is,” Anthony told CNA. “We’d have these sessions and so we were like well, what if we got more people together and actually tried to do something productive?”

The men started reaching out to other Catholic creative professionals and youth ministers they knew, and they decided to meet for the first time in Dallas, Texas.

The first topic to tackle? Terrible Church bulletin design.

“The invite was come, bring a six-pack of beer and an ugly bulletin, and we’ll solve this,” Marcellino said.

“And it was crazy. People drove from all over the place, they came from Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, people were sending in bulletins from Minnesota... it was like the first time anyone was like, oh my gosh, yes, I’d like to have a voice in this.”

After that initial meetup, the group, Catholic Creatives, was born. A collaboration of Catholic artists and creative professionals from across the United States, the group now has a website, a podcast, and a Facebook group just shy of 1,000 members, all advocating for better art in the Catholic Church across their respective fields.

One of the biggest obstacles to great art in the Church today, Anthony and Marcellino said, is the defensive posture that the Church has taken in modern times.

“In the last century, Church culture has put an extreme emphasis on truth over goodness and beauty. The orthodox Catholic apologetics movement that’s been so big over the last 50 years or so says we must defend the Church’s teachings. And so we have conferences and events about defending the church’s teachings, how to catechize kids and teach them the truth. It says that we need to make sure that people understand the Mass, if they just understood, they would come more, they would care more,” Marcellino said.

“But if Mass is in a really crappy building, and you have a choir that’s way off-key, and you have really ugly bulletins, and the priest is bored and boring, it doesn’t matter if they understand it. People who understand it are going to stop coming! Because it’s not what it’s supposed to be,” Anthony added.  
 
Beauty, Anthony said, is an easy way to impact people’s hearts for the Gospel. It’s part of the reason Christ became man, he added - men need to encounter truth and beauty in a person, not just to understand it intellectually.

“It’s really hard to argue with a sunset,” Anthony said. “Beauty impacts people in a way that short circuits this whole defense mechanism.”

The goal of the group is “to be able to make change,” Anthony added. Not a change in the Church’s teachings or orthodoxy, but “to return Catholic art to the forefront of the world’s conversation. Not just the church but the world. We need to get the world to recognize the face of Christ again through good art, media and evangelization.”

Making Churches beautiful: The job of a liturgical projects consultant

It’s not just Church bulletins and other by-products of evangelization that need help. Modern Church history has produced some equally displeasing Church buildings and designs.

But Patrick Murray’s job as a projects consultant for Granda Liturgical arts is to bring beauty back to Churches. From projects as simple as finding new saint statues to as large-scale as retrofitting a Church for new windows and interior renovations, Murray works with Churches to create fitting houses for God.

“When it comes to big projects, my job is to go and provide some initial thoughts based on what I know about liturgical norms, and what I know about art history and architecture,” he said.
 
“Sometimes they want to really get back to traditional styles that are heavily based on traditional church elements, and so we help them figure out a way those can be applied to buildings from the 60s,” he said.

A millennial and art history buff, Murray said that within the world of Church design, there has been a slow but definite movement toward Neoclassicism, which is a return to the more classic and traditional forms of design and architecture such as Greek, Gothic and Romanesque.

“It doesn’t take an art history professor to go into an ugly suburban church and say this place feels like a spa waiting room or something,” Murray said.

“And I think that’s a pretty common experience unfortunately. You can tell when things are ugly and not fitting for sacred worship and when they are, and more than a particular style or movement, it seems to me that we’re slowly but distinctly starting to regain the sense of what is fitting, and I hope it continues, because I’m on board.”

Murray’s personal favorite style is Neoromanesque, a style that several new Churches have adopted very beautifully, he said.

He also loves strong, vibrant colors in a church because “if church is supposed to look like heaven, I’m pretty sure heaven is not beige.”

The importance of beauty in the structure and interior of a Church is something that was impressed upon Murray at an early age. Soon after high school graduation, he was a cradle Catholic lukewarm in his faith when he moved to Chicago with his family. Always someone interested in art history, Murray found himself in awe of the beauty of the art and architecture at his new parish.

“The whole church is based on Christ, but it’s gorgeous, and that was the first time I as a young Catholic person realized that all of this, and by extension all of the Basilicas in Rome and the Cathedrals in Paris, and everything else, belong to me, they’re my birthright as a baptized Catholic, just as much as to Pope John Paul II or St. Peter,” he said.

“So not only did I get interested in this and get a job in sacred art, but it also saved me from a lifetime of lukewarm (apathy) about Catholicism,” he said. “It got me interested in my faith and in how sacred art can lead people to Christ. I believe so strongly that sacred art lifts our hearts and minds, but it also connects us to the traditions that the Church has preserved for so long.”

How the Church can support artists
 
Because of the power of art to lift people’s minds and hearts to God, good art should be something that the Church is willing to sacrifice for, Murray said.

“We’re doing this for God, we’re building these beautiful churches and making these beautiful statues for God. If this is a worthy goal, it requires sacrifice on our part, and therefore we should make that sacrifice - which these days is usually monetary - to support those artists who are doing this great work and participating in the creative power of God.”

Anthony also said that “artists need to be able to support a family. Good art is not produced by people that do it on the weekends as a part-time thing when they get around to it.”

“Good art, excellent art, Sistine Chapel kind of art, that comes from people who dedicate their lives to their craft,” he said.

Marcellino added that the Church needs to stop operating out of fear, and needs to take a more aggressive approach to evangelization through good art.

“Bishops and priests have to stop operating out of fear, they have to stop putting the decisions of ministry in the hands of lawyers and insurance companies,” he said. “Because when safety is valued over and above good expression and over innovation, it shuts downs artists being able to do their thing.”

Anthony also stressed the need for artists in the Church to not become discouraged, and to continue to hold themselves to the highest of standards.

“Don’t settle for mediocrity,” he said. “There is such a low bar for art in the Christian world that you can get away with being mediocre.”

“The world needs excellence to reach the 90 percent of people that think that Catholicism is totally archaic and meaningless, those are the people your art is supposed to reach.”

You probably know someone who's been domestically abused

Washington D.C., Jul 12, 2016 / 03:53 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Every minute, 20 people in the United States alone are victims of intimate partner violence.

Nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men have been victims of sexual violence other than rape at some point in their lives.

The numbers are staggering. But amid the silent epidemic of domestic violence, Catholics are banding together to work for change.

“Now is really a privileged moment in the Church,” said Dr. Christauria Welland, founder of the group Pax in Familia, which works to prevent domestic abuse.

Dr. Welland spoke with CNA at the “Help, Hope, and Healing” symposium exploring a Catholic response to domestic abuse and violence, held July 7-8 in Washington, D.C.

She recalled how the Vatican had sent out a questionnaire ahead of the synods on the family, asking about challenges for families around the world. She looked at the questions, reached out to her bishop, and talked to him about the challenges of domestic violence. It was an opportunity to bring the issue from the shadows into the spotlight, she said.

“That was the first time that I can remember that anyone asked me as a Catholic for feedback,” she said, noting that she eventually spoke on domestic violence at the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. “Maybe this will go somewhere really great.”

The symposium was hosted by the National Catholic School of Social Service at The Catholic University of America. Other organizations also helped with the conference, Catholic Charities USA, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Catholics for Family Peace.

The event was a response to the Pope’s apostolic exhortation on the family Amoris Laetitia, the university noted. In paragraph 204 of the letter, Pope Francis insisted that “good pastoral training is important ‘especially in light of particular emergency situations arising from cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse’.”

Shocking statistics, devastating consequences

Violence and abuse within families is everywhere, Dr. Welland said in her Thursday address on awareness.

An estimated 35 percent of women have been victims of physical or sexual violence some time in their lives. “Some national studies,” U.N. Women reports, “show that up to 70 percent of women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime.”

Globally, 30 percent of women who have been in a relationship have been abused by an intimate partner, according to the World Health Organization.

And as much as 38 percent of the murders of women worldwide were committed by an intimate partner, according to WHO. In 2010 in the U.S., 1,095 women were murdered by intimate partner, according to the CDC.

Women aren’t the only victims: 28 percent of men in the U.S. have been raped, stalked, or physically assaulted by an intimate partner at some point, the CDC says. However, women reportedly suffer from the physical and emotional consequences of abuse at a rate of three times that of men.

Domestic abuse takes several forms – most notably physical, sexual, or emotional. Pope Francis, noted this in his recent apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia:

“I think particularly of the shameful ill-treatment to which women are sometimes subjected, domestic violence and various forms of enslavement which, rather than a show of masculine power, are craven acts of cowardice. The verbal, physical, and sexual violence that women endure in some marriages contradicts the very nature of the conjugal union.”

The impacts of abuse also take multiple forms, as Dr. Welland noted at the conference.

There are the immediate physical injuries stemming from physical abuse, but also severe disabilities, as in one case when a woman’s husband ran her over with his car and gave her a lifelong physical disability, she said.

Women can also contract sexually-transmitted infections from sexual abuse.

Stress-related injuries, like gastrointestinal problems, heart issues, chronic pain, and migraine headaches, can result from domestic violence.

The hidden problems – like mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder – are no less real. Anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem, trust issues, sleep disturbances, and ineffective parenting can all be consequences for victims of spousal abuse and child abuse.

And the children suffer greatly, both from being abused themselves and from witnessing spousal abuse, noted Dr. Mindy Thiel, a social worker in Maryland who spoke at the conference.

“Those who grow up with domestic violence are 6 times more likely to commit suicide and 50 times more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol,” the Childhood Domestic Violence Association says. Such children are also “74 times more likely to commit a violent crime against someone else.”

Children can also develop anxiety disorders, eating and sleeping disorders, or fears of leaving an abuse victim at home with the aggressor. They can exhibit depression by either withdrawing or “acting out” at school.

Stress can take its toll on children’s health. In one case where an angry father punched a hole in the wall above a baby in a crib, the child’s body essentially shut down for several days from the stress of witnessing the incident, Thiel noted.

Anger can be a “huge emotion” for children, she added, noting that they might grow up taking out their anger on others and even become abusers themselves.

For the Church, an issue ‘very much on the radar’

Recent popes – and the U.S. bishops – have spoken out forcefully against domestic violence, and the issue is “very much on the radar” of Pope Francis, Dr. John Grabowski, an associate professor of theology at the Catholic University of America, said at the conference.

In his 1995 letter to women, Pope St. John Paul II wrote that “the time has come to condemn vigorously the types of sexual violence which frequently have women for their object and to pass laws which effectively defend them from such violence.”

Pope Francis, in Amoris Laetitia, cited the bishops of Mexico in saying that “violence within families breeds new forms of social aggression.” He added that “surely it is legitimate and right to reject older forms of the traditional family marked by authoritarianism and even violence.”

The U.S. bishops had released a statement on domestic violence, “When I Call for Help,” in 1992, condemning violence against women as “never justified” and offering resources for parishes and priests to combat the problem.

What recourse is out there for women who are abused or who see their children abused? Oftentimes they are not met with the sympathy and support that they need.

If a victim’s mother was herself an abuse victim, noted Kathy Bonner of the National Council of Catholic Women, she might advise her daughter that the abuse was simply part of marriage and part of her cross she has to carry.

While ignorant of the abuse, the woman’s pastor might know the abusive husband as a leader in the parish. He might suggest couples’ counseling for their predicament. The husband may then twist the counseling sessions to strengthen his own position of authority in the marriage.

This is a common problem, Dr. Eileen Dombo told CNA. Dr. Dombo is the Assistant Dean and Chair of Masters of Social Work Program at The Catholic University of America’s National Catholic School of Social Service.

The abuser needs personal therapy to overcome his own problems, she said. With couples counseling, however, it often becomes an opportunity for the abuser to justify him or herself and “attack the victim through the lens of therapy.”

Other members of a parish or family members might be ignorant of the extent of domestic violence in their locality, and might even normalize it as just a part of marriage. Simply telling an abuse victim “it is your Cross and you must bear it” can be harmful and contradict Catholic Social Teaching, Dr. Welland emphasized.

Local solutions

More can be done on the parish and diocesan level to help embattled women and children, leaders insisted at the conference. The purpose of the July 7-8 event – the first national Catholic symposium on domestic violence in recent memory, one organizer said – was to connect leaders from across the country on the issue.

Resources should be available to support and empower abuse victims to make the best decision they can for their well-being and the good of their family, experts agreed.

Fr. Chuck Dahm, O.P., who directs the Archdiocese of Chicago’s domestic violence outreach, was blunt about “one of the major challenges” to fighting domestic violence at the parish level – “our priests.”

Priests may be overworked or feel like they are not an expert on the issue, he acknowledged, and therefore may be reticent to speak out from the pulpit. Some fear they might appear to be “promoting divorce” if they speak out against domestic violence, he added.

Yet Fr. Dahm works hard to pitch his ministry any way he can on the parish level. If he succeeds at convincing his way into the parish, he might preach at Mass.

“After I preach, then the priests get it,” he said. Once he speaks at a parish, he calls a meeting afterward where anyone can show up – he usually gets 12 to 45 people – and the issue is discussed in the open.

The goals of his ministry, he said, are first, to create awareness through preaching and parish meetings, and then to connect the parish to domestic violence agencies close-by.

Laura Yeomans is another Catholic working to fight domestic violence. She is the Parish Partners Program Manager for Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Washington, and explained how domestic violence ministry must be “survivor-focused.”

That “means that we listen to the survivor. We listen to her needs,” she said of her ministry. “We don’t know the safety consequences of any recommendations that we might have.”

A victim knows her situation and her family better than anyone, Yeomans continued, so simply leaving the house could prove to be a fatal mistake for a victim who lives with an angry abuser.

Rather than simply tell a victim what to do, “we develop a fierce respect for the survivor,” she said, and look to “empower them” and “offer choices,” including “information about what women might have found.”

Such information can include local domestic violence agencies, but also national centers like the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Domestic Violence Resource Center, and LoveIsRespect.org.

Dr. Dombo at the National Catholic School of Social Service recommended those national resources as part of a compassionate response by a parish worker to an abuse victim.

Parish workers should be trained to recognize signs of a healthy relationship versus signs of an abusive relationship, she stressed. “A lot of times people will talk about what’s going on in their relationship, and they won’t necessarily identify what’s going on as abuse.”

So a worker can “think through the lens of power and control” to help someone understand abusive behavior directed at them.

In a healthy relationship, there’s equality, she said. “Your opinion is valued, your desires are validated, there are decision-making processes that are shared.”

In an abusive relationship, it’s dictatorial, she continued. “One person wants to centralize all that power” over the couple’s living situation, the social life, and other areas.

Abuse victims generally don’t “want the relationship to end,” she maintained, but just “want the abuse to end.” They should be helped to understand that they “can’t fix” their abuser.

Resources – like domestic violence hotlines and signs of an abusive relationship – can also be posted in “safe spaces” like women’s restrooms, she said.

There is progress being made at the parish and diocesan level in fighting domestic violence, Fr. Dahm maintained. Local parishes have met and shared information on successes and challenges. And there will be a Mass said for domestic violence at Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, which Fr. Dahm called a “major victory.”

He would like the issue to be discussed in greater depth in more seminaries, and to be incorporated into marriage preparation programs. He noted the efforts of dioceses which are planning or wanting to train clergy on domestic violence, including Kansas City, Portland, Kalamazoo, Laredo, Oklahoma City, and Washington, D.C.

Ultimately, helping victims of domestic violence is about empowerment, and being honest about the problem is an important step in fighting it, Dombo said.

“I just think that the more you’re able to validate for people that nobody deserves to be treated that way, and…that behavior is not part of a healthy relationship, that’s emotional abuse or psychological abuse….to name that, the more that empowers somebody who is feeling powerless, feeling victimized, to come forward,” she stated.

Gammarelli legacy passes to sixth generation of papal tailors 

Rome, Italy, Jul 15, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News) - For five generations the Gammarellis have dressed and shod the Vicar of Christ through their family business, Rome’s historic Ditta Annibale Gammarelli.

Now, after the recent death of manager Annibale Gammeralli, the business will pass to the hands of the sixth generation.

Established in 1798 by Giovanni Antonio Gammarelli, the “Ditta” was founded under Pius VI as a tailor for the Roman clergy. After Giovanni died, management of the shop passed to his son Filippo, and then to Filippo’s son Annibale.

In 1874 Annibale moved the shop from its original location to its current spot on Via Santa Chiara 34,  just steps away from the Pantheon. It's located inside the building of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the institute that forms future Vatican diplomats.

When Annibale died, his sons Bonaventura and Giuseppe decided to keep the name “Ditta Annibale Gammarelli” as a homage to their father – a name that has since become known to clergy throughout Italy and the world.

In an additional act of homage, Bonaventura decided to name his own son after his father: making the late Annibale Gammarelli the second to carry the name of the family business and to carry it forward.

Annibale passed away July 12 in Rome after a long career managing the sartorial workshop, leaving it in the care of his son Stefano Paolo and his nephews Maximillian and Lorenzo, who are the sixth generation to sew garments for the Pope.

During each conclave the Gammerellis are charged with making three white cassocks in different sizes –  small, medium and large – which sit ready and waiting for the new Successor of Peter.

And though Francis doesn’t use it, the white cassocks are always accompanied by the red mozzetta (the papal half-cape of choir dress that buttons in the front and covers the shoulders), as well as the white pellegrina (the buttonless white shoulder cape worn with a cassock and open in front), the white fascia (the waistband typically embroidered with the papal coat of arms, though Francis opted out of this), and the white zucchetto (or skullcap).

(A point worthy of noting is that Popes typically change cassocks more or less every two months, since the silver cross they wear oxidizes, leaving a stain on the white fabric).

In 2000 the Ditta Annnibale Gammarelli was added to the list of historic shops in the city of Rome, and is likely the oldest shop to still be managed by the direct descendants of its founder.

The shop has served thousands of priests and hundreds of bishops and cardinals, and sewn garments for the Roman Pontiffs since Blessed Pius IX, who was elected Bishop of Rome in 1846.

Photos of the past nine Popes decorate the walls inside the workshop, which will continue to dress Popes under the guidance of yet another generation of Gammarellis.

Why Starbucks and McDonald's are blocking porn from their WiFi 

 Washington D.C., Jul 19, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Two of the largest chain restaurants with free WiFi in the United States, McDonald’s and Starbucks, are adding pornography filters to their internet.

Following the campaign of anti-porn group Enough is Enough and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, McDonald’s has added internet filters to its public WiFi throughout the country, a change that was announced last week.

“McDonald’s is committed to providing a safe environment for our customers, and we are pleased to share that Wi-Fi filtering has been activated in the majority of McDonald’s nearly 14,000 restaurants nationwide,” a spokesperson for the fast food restaurant said in a statement.

“We had not heard from our customers that this was an issue, but we saw an opportunity that is consistent with our goal of providing an enjoyable experience for families.”

McDonald’s and Starbucks had already implemented pornography filtering at its locations in the U.K. Smaller chains like Panera and Chik Fil A already provide pornography filtering in the U.S.

Enough is Enough and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation have appealed to Starbucks to follow McDonald’s lead. On Friday, Starbucks said it plans to implement filtering in its stores throughout the world, once they are sure that the filtering doesn’t unintentionally block additional content.

“In the meantime, we reserve the right to stop any behavior that interferes with our customer experience, including what is accessed on our free Wi-Fi," a Starbucks spokesperson told CNNMoney.

Enough is Enough (EIE) is a non-profit with the goal of making the “internet safer for children and families” by seeking to block illegal pornography and to stop the sexual exploitation of children through the internet. In 2014, EIE launched its "National Porn Free Wi-Fi" campaign" encouraging McDonald's and Starbucks to lead Corporate America in filtering Wi-Fi.

In two consecutive statements following the announcements of the filtering by both chains, Donna Rice Hughes, president of EIE, praised both McDonald’s and Starbucks for recognizing pornography as a public health crisis and as a threat to children’s safety.

"Internet safety is now the fourth top-ranked health issue for U.S. children with peer- reviewed research confirming Internet pornography as a public health crisis. Pervasive online child pornography, which is the actual sexual abuse of children, is a crime to produce, distribute or download,” Hughes said.

“We commend both Starbucks and McDonalds for leading the way for corporate America to provide safer Wi-Fi. We will vigorously continue to encourage other businesses and venues such as hotels, airlines, shopping malls, and libraries to filter pornography and child abuse images on publically available Wi-Fi in order to protect children and families.”

Fight the New Drug, an organization dedicated to education on pornography’s effects on the brain and society, also praised McDonald’s filtering in a blog post.

“The Golden Arches restaurant has 99 billion served when it comes to hamburgers, and now hopefully it will be reaching another number when it comes to porn accessed in its restaurants: zero.”

The changes come at a time of increasing awareness about the harmful effects of pornography. Last fall, Hyatt Hotels cut off access to on-demand video pornography in all of their hotel rooms across the globe. In March, the Utah legislature declared pornography a public health hazard and TIME Magazine extensively covered pornography addiction. In April, Australian bishops said exposing children to pornography amounted to abuse. The Republican Party is also expected to declare pornography a public health crisis at its convention this week.

Who is 'the Black Madonna' and why is she so important? 

Rome, Italy, Jul 19, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Our Lady of Czestochowa, also known as the “Black Madonna,” will be one of Pope Francis' primary stops during his visit to Poland at the end of this month for the global World Youth Day gathering.

The image, which has been crowned the “Queen of Poland” and is highly venerated throughout Europe, is almost a given stop for any Pope who visits the country.

Located in southern Poland, Czestochowa was the location of the 1991 global WYD gathering – the first major world event after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and which also marked the first time youth from Eastern European countries were able to set foot in the Western half.

In comments made to CNA in March, Cardinal Stanisalw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, noted how the WYD celebration this year falls on the 25th anniversary of the 1991 WYD at the Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine, which was a key year for the end of Cold War tensions.

“For the first time in history, young people coming from the Eastern countries, from beyond the Iron Curtain, took part in World Youth Day. It was the first time World Youth Day was a really a worldwide event,” Cardinal Dziwisz said.

Now, 25 years later, Pope Francis will follow in his predecessors' footsteps, and will go to venerate the image during his July 27-31 visit to Poland.

He is set to visit the monastery of Jasna Gora, which houses the image, July 28, where he will offer Mass for the 1,050 anniversary of the baptism of Poland.

But while the image holds significant meaning for Europe and for Poles in particular, what is the story behind the Black Madonna?

Legend has it the image dates back to the time of the Twelve Apostles, and was painted by the hand of St. Luke the Evangelist, who is believed to have used a tabletop from a table built by Jesus during his time as a carpenter.

According to the legend, it was while Luke was painting Mary that she recounted to him the events in the life of Jesus that would eventually be used in his Gospel.

The same legend states that when St. Helen came to Jerusalem in 326 AD to look for the true Cross, she also happened to find this image of Our Lady. She then gave it as a gift to her son Constantine, who built a shrine to venerate it.

In a major battle with the Saracens, the image was displayed from the walls of Constantinople and the Saracen army was subsequently defeated, leading many to credit the portrait with saving the city.

The image eventually fell to the care of Charlemagne, who presented it to Price Leo of Ruthenia (northwest Hungary). It was placed in the Ruthenian palace where it remained until an invasion in the 11th century.

Fearful for the fate of his city, the king prayed to Our Lady to assist his small army. The result, according to legend, was that a darkness overshadowed enemy troops, leading them to attack one another.

In the 14th century the image was transferred to Jasna Gora in Poland as an answer to a request made in a dream of Prince Ladislaus of Opola. The history of the image is better documented in while in his care.

In 1382 Tartars invaded the Prince’s fortress at Belz, and during the attack one of the Tartar arrows struck the painting and lodged in the neck of the Madonna. The prince, fearful that the image would fall into the enemy’s hands, fled during the night and stopped in the town of Czestochowa.

The painting was placed inside a small church, and the prince later had a Pauline monastery and church built at the location to ensure the painting’s safety.

However, in 1430 the Hussites overran the monastery, attempting to take the image. In the process one of the looters took the painting and put it into a wagon and tried to drive away. But when the horses refused to move, he struck the painting twice with his sword. As he raised his hand to strike it again, he suddenly fell over writhing in pain and died.

Despite previous attempts to repair the scars from the arrow and the blows from the sword, restorers had trouble in covering them up since the painting was done with tempera infused with diluted wax. The marks remain visible to this day.

Later, in 1655 when Poland was almost entirely overrun by King Charles X of Sweden, only the area surrounding the monastery remained unconquered. Miraculously, the monks who lived there were somehow able to defend the portrait throughout a 40 day siege, and Poland was eventually able to drive out the invaders.

After the miraculous event, King John II Casimir Vasa crowned the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa as Queen of Poland, placing the entire country under her care and protection.

More recent stories surrounding the image involve the Russian invasion of Poland in 1920, holding that when the Russian army was gathering on the banks of the Vistula River and threatening Warsaw, they saw an image of Our Lady in the clouds over the city, prompting them to withdraw.

The image of Our Lady of Czestochowa gets its nickname “Black Madonna” from the soot residue which discolors the painting as a result of centuries of votive lights and candles burned in front of it.

Since the fall of communism in Poland, pilgrimages to the image have significantly increased.

As many as 2.5 million pilgrims expected to gather in Krakow for this year’s WYD event. While not all of them will join Pope Francis in Czestochowa, his visit will surely attract more pilgrims to the spot.

In his comments to CNA, Cardinal Dziwisz said that given the history of WYD and the Czestochowa image, this year’s gathering is particularly significant for European countries, such as Ukraine, who are facing dramatic conflicts.

“We mustn’t forget that the World Youth Day which took place in Czestochowa 25 years ago was the first with youth who came from the countries of the east. There were around 200,000, coming from Ukraine, from Russia and Belarus,” he noted.

“For the first time, that event was truly global. We must help youth from the Eastern countries to come…above all from Belarus and Ukraine,” he said, adding that while the Ukraine conflict makes travel in the region difficult, “we don’t exclude anyone.”

Only Christ offers answers in our violent world, Baton Rouge bishop says 

Baton Rouge, La., Jul 18, 2016 / 02:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - Jesus Christ’s triumph over death, despair and hate should move us forward after a deadly attack on law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge, the city’s bishop said Sunday.

“Words cannot express the emotions we feel for those who have lost loved ones in the tragic events of this day. Their entire lives have been unexpectedly and terribly turned upside down,” Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge said.

On July 17, a gunman identified as Gavin Long of Kansas City, Mo. ambushed and killed two police officers and a deputy, while wounding three more, CNN reports. The officers were responded to reports of shots fired. Long, a former Marine sergeant, was killed in a gun battle with police.

The FBI is investigating Long’s possible links to an anti-government group. The gunman claimed to be a member of the Nation of Islam, though an official told CNN that there is no indication he was directed by the group.

The shooting comes on the heels of two weeks of heightened tensions across the country.

On July 5, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed by police in Baton Rouge. He had been selling CDs outside a convenience store when a homeless man approached him and asked for money persistently. Sterling showed the man his gun and asked him to leave him alone, according to CNN. The homeless man then called 911 and said Sterling had been brandishing a gun.

The next day, 32-year-old Philando Castile, an African American man in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, was shot four times by a police officer and later died, after being pulled over for an alleged broken tail light.

In both cases, videos of the encounter with police or its aftermath surfaced online, reigniting racial tensions that had already been smoldering in some parts of the country. Protests were held in numerous cities, many linked to the Black Lives Matter movement.

On July 7, five Dallas police officers were killed in what authorities called a “sniper ambush” at the end of one of these peaceful protests.

The latest shooting brings with it a new wave of shock, horror and grief, Bishop Muench said Sunday.

Bishop Muench and diocese vicar general Father Tom Ranzino visited two of the families affected by the shootings. They prayed and offered support.

The bishop reflected on a faithful response to the attack.

“Prayer is a powerful path to follow when tragedy happens, but even the most devout of us sometime question: ‘What good could come of this?’” he said.

“Only the Word of God has the answer to the questions that shake our faith: The answer is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus, hope ultimately triumphs over despair; love ultimately triumphs over hate; and resurrection ultimately triumphs over death,” Bishop Muench said.

The Bishop of Baton Rouge cited two of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called ‘children of God’” and “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

Bishop Muench renewed his previous call for prayer and fasting across the diocese.

Last week, in response to the violence against both African-American men and police officers, the bishop had asked members of the diocese to fast and pray, “so that we may gain wisdom and courage to become personally and communally involved in building bridges across everything that divides us to become better brothers and sisters to each other.”
 

Vatican condemns Nice attack as 'homicidal madness' 

Vatican City, Jul 15, 2016 / 02:52 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Updated July 15, 2016, at 12:23 local time to include a letter from the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, His Excellency André Marceau, Bishop of the diocese of Nice.

After a truck plowed through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing 84, Pope Francis voiced his sorrow for the act of “blind violence,” and assured the French people of his prayers.

In a July 15 letter signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope expressed “his deep sorrow and spiritual closeness to the French people,” entrusting the dead to God’s mercy and uniting himself in the pain of grieving families.

He offered his sympathy to the wounded and to rescuers, praying that the Lord “sustain each one in the event” and grant “the gift of peace and harmony” to the grieving and to the entire French nation.

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ also expressed his grief and solidarity with the victims, firmly condemning all acts of terrorism and hate.

“We condemn in the most absolute way every manifestation of homicidal madness, of hate, of terrorism and of every attack against peace,” he said in a July 15 statement.

Having followed news of the attack with “great concern,” the spokesman, on behalf of Pope Francis, expressed the Vatican’s participation and solidarity in the suffering of the victims and of the French people as a whole on “what should have been a day of great celebration.”

The Vatican’s statement comes the day after a large truck ploughed through crowds along 1.2 miles of the Promenade des Anglais in the southern French city of Nice, killing 84, including several children, and wounding roughly 50 others, 18 of whom remain in critical condition, according to BBC News.

Crowds had been celebrating Bastille Day, which marks the day of France’s independence and is traditionally the country’s biggest public holiday.

Shortly after the end of a fireworks display on the seaside, the truck turned onto the pavement and began driving through the crowd at 25-30 mph, zigzagging in an attempt to hit as many people as possible.

When stopped by police, the driver, believed to be a French-Tunisian criminal known to police but not on a terrorist watch list, opened fire before being shot dead by officers. Upon searching the vehicle, police reportedly found guns and grenades inside the truck.

The attack prompted French president Francois Hollande to extend the countrywide state of emergency imposed after a chain of attacks in Paris left nearly 130 people dead Nov. 13, 2015. The state of emergency will now be effective until July 26.

In a nationwide address, President Hollande said France was in tears and had been “badly hit,” but was strong. “We need to do everything we can to fight against” such attacks, he said, adding that “all of France is under the threat of Islamic terrorism.”

He announced that “operational reserves” would be deployed to support the army and security forces throughout France, particularly on the country’s borders.