The Good Samaritan isn't just a parable, it's a way of life, Pope says 

Vatican City, Jul 10, 2016 / 05:56 am (CNA/EWTN News) - On Sunday Pope Francis said the parable of the Good Samaritan isn’t just a nice passage to reflect on, but signifies a concrete choice we make in deciding how to live and treat those around us.

“The Good Samaritan indicates a lifestyle, the center of which is not ourselves, but others, with their difficulties, who we meet on our path and who challenge us,” the Pope said July 10.

It’s us who choose this lifestyle or choose to reject it, he said, explaining that the attitude of the Good Samaritan tests our faith, since faith without works “is dead.”

“Let us ask ourselves: is our faith fertile? Does it produce good works? Or is it rather sterile, and so more dead than alive? Do I make neighbors, or do I just pass by?” Francis asked, adding that these questions would be good to ask ourselves often, since in the end “we will be judged on the works of mercy.”

The Lord, he said, will remind us of the situations in which we saw him in those around us and either helped, or did nothing.

“Do you remember that time on the street of Jerusalem and Jericho? That man who was half dead was me. Do you remember? That hungry child was me. Do you remember? That migrant who many times they wanted to throw out was me.”

“Those grandparents, abandoned in the nursing home, was me. That sick person in the hospital, who no one visited, was me,” the Pope said, explaining that these are the questions we will be asked.”

It is through good works, done with love and joy toward our neighbor, which makes our faith sprout and bear fruit, Francis observed.

He spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square who braved the Roman heat to participate in his Sunday Angelus address, focusing his entire speech on the parable of the Good Samaritan.

In his address, Pope Francis noted how Jesus used the parable to dialogue with the doctors of the law on the twofold commandment of loving God with one’s entire heart and loving one’s neighbor as oneself.

When Jesus’ disciples ask him “who is my neighbor?” it’s the same question we must each ask ourselves today, he said.

Turning to the parable itself, the Pope noted how out of the three men who pass the dying man on the road, the first two, who did nothing, were a priest and a Levite. It was the third man, an inhabitant of Samaria “despised by the Jews because they didn’t observe the true religion,” who stopped.

“It was precisely he, when he sees the poor unfortunate man, who had compassion,” Francis said, noting how the Samaritan went above and beyond just rescuing the man, but cared for him and paid for all the expenses involved in curing him.

At this point Jesus asks the doctors of the law which of the three men was a neighbor to the one beaten and left for dead, to which they all naturally respond was “the one who had compassion on him,” the Pope observed.

By doing this, Jesus “completely overturned the initial perspective of the doctors of the law,” which is frequently our own perspective as well, he said.

Francis cautioned that we mustn’t “catalogue others to decide who is my neighbor and who isn’t,” explaining that being a neighbor entails adopting the same attitude as the Samaritan toward the people we meet who need help, “even if they are a stranger or even hostile.”

The Pope then pointed to how Jesus tells his disciples to “go, and also you do the same.” Jesus, he said, repeats the same commandment to each one of us: “go and to the same, be a neighbor to the brother and sister you see in difficulty,” whether they are a stranger, a migrant, elderly or sick.

He closed his address by praying that Mary would help us to walk along the path of the Good Samaritan, which is the path “of generous love toward others.”

“May she help us to live the principal commandment that Christ left us. This is the road to enter into eternal life.”

Wichita seminarian missing after rescuing woman in Arkansas River 

Wichita, Kan., Jul 11, 2016 / 12:48 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - The Diocese of Wichita is offering prayers for a seminarian who is missing after rescuing a woman in the Arkansas River on Saturday.  

Brian 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.

Search crews are still looking for the missing seminarian, and prayer services are being held every evening at St. Anne Catholic Church in Wichita until he is found.

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.”

Knights of Columbus launch novena for peace in response to US shootings

New Haven, Conn., Jul 9, 2016 / 02:18 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In the wake of violence across the nation this week, the Knights of Columbus have issued a campaign encouraging people to join them in praying for peace. 

“The violent episodes of the past week have shocked the conscience of our country,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. 

On July 7, five Dallas police officers were killed in what authorities called a “sniper ambush” at the end of a peaceful protest against police shootings of African Americans earlier in the week.

Two days earlier, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed after an encounter with police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

The following day, Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man, was shot and killed during a traffic stop for a broken tail light in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. His fiancée, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed the aftermath on Facebook as her four-year-old daughter sat in the car’s back seat. 

In a July 9 announcement, Anderson invited Knights, their families, and all people of goodwill to join in praying a novena for peace by praying St. Francis of Assisi’s “Prayer for Peace” from July 14 to 22. 

“Through this prayer, each of us has the opportunity to help transcend hatred and violence by personally committing to the concepts of love of neighbor, peace and forgiveness that are central to an authentic embrace of Christianity,” he said.

“It is our hope that, from coast to coast, those who pray this prayer will become true instruments of peace.”

Supreme Chaplain of the Knights, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, also encouraged people to join in prayer for “an end to violence and senseless killings.”

“Through our prayers and good works, may we help build a society that is merciful, just, and peaceful.” 

St. Francis of Assisi’s prayer for peace can be found below: 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

This priest died in a Korean prison camp. Will the Catholic Church beatify him? 

Wichita, Kan., Jul 2, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News) - There's good news in Kansas: former army chaplain Father Emil J. Kapaun has taken a step closer to possible beatification and sainthood.

But for Scott Carter, coordinator for the Father Kapaun Guild, the story of the priest himself is the real news.

“If someone who grew up so close to us, in circumstances fairly similar to us, is able to achieve sainthood, it’s inspiring,” he told CNA June 30.

“It really makes the faith hit home. It really brings it to life and makes us realize that everything we talk about, the gospel, Jesus' promises, all of this is real and it is possible to achieve.”

Carter reflected on the impact that Father Kapaun's life still has on the Catholic faithful and other admirers.

“It's a great mixture of God's grace and human effort. I think that's probably what attracts most people,” he said. “You hear amazing stories, you realize he's only able to do what he does because of God.”

Carter spoke of the number of times the Korean War-era priest survived battles and his runs onto the battlefield to rescue the wounded. The priest's pipe was shot out of his mouth several times.

Fr. Kapaun was born in Pilsen, Kansas to a farming family. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Wichita in June 1940. He served as a U.S. Army chaplain from 1944 through 1946, then re-joined the military chaplaincy in 1948. He was sent to Korea in July 1950, where he became known for his service with the U.S. Army's Eighth Cavalry regiment.

The priest would stay up at night to write letters home on behalf of wounded soldiers.

He was captured by Chinese soldiers at Unsan in North Korea. As a prisoner, the priest carried a fellow prisoner sixty miles, even though the man weighed 20 pounds more than he did. He would share food and wash the clothes of prisoners and pick lice off of the clothes.

After he was placed in a prisoner of war camp, Fr. Kapaun helped his fellow prisoners solve problems and keep up morale. His efforts helped them to survive in a harsh winter. For those who did not survive, he helped bury their corpses.

Fr. Kapaun would celebrate the sacraments for his fellow prisoners, hear their confessions, and say Mass.

The priest eventually developed a blood clot in his leg and fell ill with dysentery and pneumonia.

He died May 23, 1951 and was buried in a mass grave on the Yalu River.

In April 2013, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military honor.

Now the Catholic Church is considering whether he should be beatified.

Six historical consultants of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints have evaluated the documents in his case for completeness and accuracy. They approved them at a June 21 meeting in Rome.

“This news cannot be perceived as anything but a great sign,” Fr. John Hotze said June 23. The priest of the Wichita diocese is the episcopal delegate of the Office of Canonization of Fr. Emil Kapaun.

“This is a great step forward and recognition of the work we’ve done and of the life of Father Kapaun, and has happened much more quickly than I had anticipated.”
    
Fr. Hotze said that canonizing a saint has never been taken lightly.

The vote sends Fr. Kapaun's cause to the theological consultants who will review the priest’s writings and teachings for conformity with Catholic doctrine and teaching. Their approval would send the case to a panel of the congregation’s cardinals and bishops, which could vote to send the case to Pope Francis for final approval.

Separately, medical consultants are examining evidence of alleged miracles attributed to the priest’s intervention. One miracle must be approved for Fr. Kapaun’s beatification, and a second for his canonization.

Pope rejects conflict with 'ultraconservative' Catholics in new interview 

Vatican City, Jul 4, 2016 / 10:42 am (CNA/EWTN News) - In his most recently-published interview, Pope Francis expressed his dislike of conflict with so-called  “ultra conservative” Catholics, but added that he's not held back by it.

“They do their work and I do mine,” the Pope said in Spanish during his interview with Joaquín Morales Solá, a journalist of the Argentine daily La Nacion, published July 3.

It was Morales who used the term “ultraconservatives” in his question.

Francis responded, saying, “I want an open, understanding Church which accompanies wounded families,” whereas ultraconservatives in the Church “say no to everything.”

However, the Roman Pontiff suggested he was undeterred by such attitudes.

“I continue my path without looking over my shoulder,” he said. “I don't cut off heads. I have never liked doing that.”

“I repeat: I reject conflict.”

Morales said Francis smiled when he gave his final, cryptic remarks to the question.

“Nails are removed by applying pressure to the top. Or, they are set aside to rest, when retirement age arrives.”

The question regarding ultraconservatives was an aside from the bulk of the interview.

The interview with La Nacion, which is based in Buenos Aires, was largely centered on Argentine politics and the state of the Church in that country.

The story behind the Catholic Church in the United States 

Washington D.C., Jul 4, 2016 / 12:22 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - Both the Catholic Church and the tradition of religious freedom can trace their roots in the United States to the earliest days of the founding of Maryland, says a new documentary premiering on EWTN over the Fourth of July Weekend.

Greg Hendrick, producer of the documentary, “Catholic Beginnings: Maryland,” told CNA that “many of the roots of Catholicism in America originated in Maryland.”

“It’s an essential part of U.S. history, not just for Catholics, but for all interested in exploring the grounds on which religious freedom and tolerance were founded.”

The eight-part series premiered on EWTN beginning July 3 at 6:30 p.m. EST.
 
While Maryland was not the first place to have Catholic populations in what would become the U.S.  – Spanish colonies and French trading outposts were settled first – the EWTN series focuses on Maryland because of its major role in both American history and Catholic history in the U.S.

The first episode of the series opens by tracing Maryland’s roots from before the nation’s founding, when it was the only predominantly Catholic British colony. This opening for religious tolerance within the British colonies later grew, as Maryland would go on at the time of the American Revolution to serve as a model of religious freedom for the fledgling nation.

King James I granted the charter for the proprietary colony of Maryland to George Calvert on June 20, 1632, allowing Calvert to decide what to do with the land. Following Calvert’s death, his brother, Leonard Calvert, brought a group of settlers to the new colony on board two small ships, the Ark and the Dove. When they landed on March 25, 1634, on St. Clement’s Island, a Jesuit priest, Fr. Andrew White, offered the first Mass in the British colonies.

Along with Fr. White, another Jesuit priest, Fr. John Altham, and a Jesuit Brother, Thomas Gervase, were also part of the initial colonizing expedition.

“This is where the colonists first landed, this is where the first Mass was said, and everything, everything starts from St. Clement’s Island in St. Mary’s County in Southern Maryland,” Fr. Charles Connor, S.T.L., explained in the documentary.

However, understanding the significance of that first Mass requires an understanding of the British Catholics who were trying to make their way in the new colony. Fr. Connor continued.

George Calvert, who had been a close advisor of King James I made the decision to convert to Catholicism in 1625, and his conversion was a public one, rather than a quiet refusal to participate in the Church of England. This public rejection of the King’s Protestant faith for the Roman Catholic Church cost Calvert his position as one of the Secretaries of State and other positions of importance, Fr. Connor expounded.

Yet, although his conversion cost him dearly, Calvert’s friendship with the King also enabled him to secure the grant for the land of the colony of Maryland for himself, and, after death, his family members. Furthermore,  Calvert’s reputation enabled him to “gather about him a number of very wealthy individuals, both Catholic and Protestant, who were going to make their way to the new world, to the Chesapeake,” and to fund and staff the founding of the new colony.

Many of the Catholic members of the expedition also sought to flee the persecution they faced in England and looked forward to practicing their faith in the new colony. “That’s the reason.  The hostility was terrible. And Maryland was going to offer the refuge,” Fr. Connor said.

These beginnings – colonists fleeing religious persecution, the cooperation of both Catholic and Protestant backers and colonists – helped lay the foundation of the Maryland Toleration Act in 1649, one of the first religious toleration laws, and helped lay the beginnings of a framework of religious freedom.

This thread and other developments that sprung forth from the earliest days of Maryland – from the first Mass on St. Clement’s Island and from the colony’s founding itself, set the stage for the whole of Church history in the United States, Fr. Connor said.

“This really and truly is where the Catholic Church began in the United States.”

Pope to world leaders: if you want to help Syrians, stop funding the war 

Vatican City, Jul 5, 2016 / 04:34 am (CNA/EWTN News) - In his message for a new campaign promoting peace in Syria, Pope Francis called out world leaders who speak of ending the conflict, but at the same time fund the war through the sale of arms.

“While the people suffer, incredible quantities of money are being spent to supply weapons to fighters,” the Pope said in his video message, published July 5.  

He noted that some of the countries supplying the weapons “are also among those that talk of peace. How can you believe in someone who caresses you with the right hand and strikes you with the left hand?”

Francis encouraged people of all ages throughout the world to use the Holy Year of Mercy as an occasion to “overcome indifference and proclaim with strength that peace in Syria is possible! Peace in Syria is possible!”

His message accompanied the launch of a new campaign by Catholic charity organization Caritas Internationalis titled “Syria: peace is possible.”

The Syrian civil war, already in its fifth year, is the largest relief operation undertaken by Caritas. Since the conflict began it has claimed the lives of more than 270,000 people. There are more than 4.6 million Syrian refugees in nearby countries, and an additional 8 million Syrian people are believed to have been internally displaced by the war.

Among other things, Caritas provides food, healthcare, essential necessities, education, housing and psychological care to refugees. In 2015 alone national Caritas branches in the conflict area provided assistance to 1.3 million people.

In their campaign, promoted on Twitter and other social media sites with the hashtag: “#peacepossible4syria,” asks that Caritas supporters throughout the world “put pressure on their governments,” according to a July 5 press release.

This pressure, the release read, ought to ensure that all parties involved in the conflict “unite to find a peaceful solution;” that they support the thousands of people suffering due to the consequences of war and that they provide Syrians both inside and outside the country “dignity and hope.”

In his message, Pope Francis said that the Syrian conflict is a situation of “unspeakable suffering” and “saddens my heart a lot.”

Syrian people, he noted, “are victims” of this suffering and are “forced to survive under bombs or to find escape routes to other countries or areas of Syria that are less war-torn: to leave their own home, everything.”

He also turned his thoughts to the Christian communities and the “discrimination they have to bear,” giving them his full support.

Francis extended the invitation for people and world leaders everywhere to pray for peace in Syria and for its citizens at events such as prayer vigils, awareness-raising initiatives, in parishes and in communities, so that the message of peace, unity and hope is spread.

“Works of peace then follow prayer,” he said, and urged those involved in peace negotiations “to take these agreements seriously and to make every effort to facilitate access to humanitarian aid.”

Everyone must recognize that “there is no military solution for Syria, but only a political solution,” he continued, stressing that the international community “must therefore support the peace talks heading towards the construction of a government of national unity.”

Pope Francis encouraged people at all levels of society to “join forces” in ensuring that “peace in Syria is possible.” That, he said, “will be a great example of mercy and love lived for the good of all the international community!”

Pope Francis meets with parents of American student killed in Rome 

Vatican City, Jul 6, 2016 / 03:50 am (CNA/EWTN News) - After the tragic death of Beau Solomon in Rome late last week, Pope Francis met with the young student’s parents, who traveled to the city once they heard that their son was missing.

“This morning…around 9 a.m. the Pope met with the parents of Beau Solomon, the young American student found dead in the Tiber during the past few days,” a July 6 communique from the Holy See Press Office read.

Francis, it said, expressed his sentiments of “deep sympathy and compassion,” as well as his closeness in prayer to the youth, who “so tragically passed away,” and his family.

Beau, 19, was a sophomore visiting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a five week summer study abroad course at Rome’s John Cabot University. He arrived in the Italian capital Thursday, and was reported missing by his roommate when he failed to show up for an orientation meeting Friday morning.

According to reports, Solomon had been with a group of friends at a pub in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood Thursday night, and was last seen around 1 a.m.

In a statement issued Sunday, John Cabot said that on Friday, Solomon’s roommate became “worried when he did not see Beau at orientation that morning,” and contacted the school authorities, who then notified the Italian police.

Beau's body was found in the Tiber River Monday with a head wound. According to the Telegraph, his parents had called their son’s credit card company when he went missing, and discovered it had been stolen with roughly 1,500 euros worth of charges. The young man's cell phone had also been stolen.

On Tuesday, Italian police arrested a homeless man, Massimo Galioto, 40, in relation to Beau’s death. According to Italian news agency ANSA, police said the man was detained “as a suspect of the crime, seriously suspected of aggravated homicide.”

John Cabot said Tuesday that it was “greatly saddened” by Beau’s death. In the statement, published on the university’s website, they committed to assisting his family and sought to reassure students about their safety in Rome.

“There have not been any indications of elevated threats to our students or the local community,” the statement said. “The university continues to work tirelessly to ensure the safety and well-being of all our students.”

As a child, Beau had survived a rare form of cancer and in 2005 was able to meet his favorite American football player, Brett Favre, through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

In comments to NBC News before Beau’s body had been found, his older brother, Jake Solomon, said that “in our family, (Beau) is the one who does it all right. He's an incredible athlete. He is the one that keeps us all together.”

END

Supreme Court ruling blasted for pro-abortion bias in Texas ruling

 By Matt Hadro

Washington D.C., Jun 27, 2016 / 04:35 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In striking down Texas’ regulations of abortion clinics, the Supreme Court showed favoritism toward the supposed “right to abortion” over states’ interests in the health of women and normal court proceedings, critics said Monday.

“The Court has rejected a common-sense law protecting women from abortion facilities that put profits above patient safety,” said Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for pro-life communications at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities.

In a 5-3 vote, the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that included two key regulations of abortion clinics – abortionists had to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, and clinics had to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers.

The court ruled that the law put an “undue burden” on a women’s right to an abortion, saying that it posed a “substantial obstacle” to that right without showing the necessary benefits of its regulations to women’s health.

Regarding the admitting privileges requirement, the court majority said there was already a “working arrangement” in place between hospitals and abortionists. Because of the new requirement, around half the clinics in the state closed, they said, citing “sufficient evidence” from “the record.”

The court also said that requiring clinics to meet the standards of ambulatory surgical centers, “provides few, if any, health benefits for women, poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an ‘undue burden’ on their constitutional right to do so.”

Since clinics closing meant longer waits, longer distances between clinics, and more crowds at each clinic, this all presented an unconstitutional “undue burden” on a woman’s “right to abortion,” the court said.

The dissenting justices sharply disagreed. The closing of clinics in one part of the state shouldn’t mean that clinics in another area should be free from the law, Justice Samuel Alito argued.

“The possibility that the admitting privileges requirement might have caused a closure in Lubbock is no reason to issue a facial injunction exempting Houston clinics from that requirement,” he stated.

Justice Clarence Thomas added that the “decision perpetuates the Court’s habit of applying different rules to different constitutional rights - especially the putative right to abortion.”

After the Court’s ruling, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton defended the Texas law, saying it “was an effort to improve minimum safety standards and ensure capable care for Texas women.”

Other Catholics spoke out against the majority opinion.

“The Catholic Church in Texas, in communion with millions of Catholics across America and the world, will continue its efforts to protect life and human dignity from conception to natural death,” the Texas Catholic bishops stated.

“Surgical abortion is an invasive procedure that poses numerous and serious medical complications,” they said. “The state has a legitimate interest in ensuring the maximum level of safety for the woman subjected to the procedure and that viable emergency care is available if complications such as hemorrhage, infection, uterine perforation, blood clots, cervical tears, or allergic reactions occur.”
 
The Court’s opinion in Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt is problematic for a number of reasons, legal experts warned.

First, the Court continued its trend of having a special preference for protecting abortion rights, Rick Garnett, law professor at the University of Notre Dame, noted, calling it the Court’s “tendency to bend its own rules in abortion-related cases.”

There was “no language” about “the government’s interest in ‘preserving and promoting fetal life’” in the decision, said Lucia Silecchia, a law professor at The Catholic University of America. This was expressed in a previous case – Planned Parenthood v. Casey – but the Court didn’t invoke it in Monday’s ruling, she said.

“To have the Supreme Court address abortion without addressing this interest in any meaningful way is a new low in abortion jurisprudence,” she told CNA.

That third parties with financial interest brought the case to the Court, and not women directly affected by the law, undermined the argument that the case was about women’s rights, Silecchia added.

“Despite the fact that they dubiously asserted the rights of women, their real interest in this case was not women’s health but their own profit,” Silecchia said of “the abortion industry and abortionists” who brought the case. The clinics could have abided by the regulations, she added, but “it would cost a substantial amount of money to retrofit facilities or purchase new land.”

Justice Thomas noted the problem of hearing third parties bring a suit, writing in his dissent that “ordinarily, plaintiffs cannot file suits to vindicate the constitutional rights of others.”

“But,” he continued, “the Court employs a different approach to rights that it favors.”

Also, “the majority disregarded entirely the state's interest in protecting fetal life and instead second-guessed the state legislature's judgments about health and safety,” Garnett said.

That deference to the states shouldn’t apply in all cases, but it should have applied in this particular case, Silecchia clarified.

The Texas law came after a massive grand jury report on horrific abuses at the Philadelphia clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, which became the subject of national outrage. This and other reports of abuses in abortion clinics “should make state legislatures interested in greater regulation, not less,” Silecchia said.

The majority opinion in the ruling acknowledged Gosnell’s behavior at “terribly wrong,” but added that “(d)etermined wrongdoers, already ignoring existing statutes and safety measures, are unlikely to be convinced to adopt safe practices by a new overlay of regulations.”

This court opinion “will make it harder” for states to regulate such abuses in the future, Silecchia said. “After this opinion, there is no meaningful guidance to states as to how they can protect the health of women post-Hellerstedt.”

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her concurrence, argued that abortion is now a safe procedure and doesn’t merit such regulations posed by the Texas law. “Many medical procedures, including childbirth, are far more dangerous to patients, yet are not subject to ambulatory surgical-center or hospital admitting-privileges requirements,” she said.

However, Silecchia insisted, “women deserve higher standards of care, not lower.” And yet the ruling will “make it harder for states to pass legislation that raises the standards of care that women receive.”

As to the Court’s claim that the previous “working arrangement” between hospitals and doctors nullified the need for “admitting privileges” for abortionists, Silecchia said the Court’s term “is vague and it is hard to tell whether this is a meaningful safeguard.”

“Having a local hospital grant admitting privileges is, at least, a minimal assessment of the physician's medical competence,” she said, adding that an abortionist with an admitting privilege might be “more likely to err on the side of transport to a hospital” in case of a medical emergency.”

Vacation Bible School is a light in darkness for Syrian children 

Aleppo, Syria, Jun 21, 2016 / 02:57 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - For children growing up in Aleppo, Syria, life is anything but easy. In a city devastated civil war, bombings are common and death is never far away.

But for some 350 Christian children in the city, there is a light amid the chaos: Vacation Bible School.

The children gather under the motto “Be merciful as our Father is merciful” to pray for their country and to pray for the conversion of the jihadists.

“We're not afraid because every day we challenge the bombs and death with our joy of living,” Father Firas Lutfi told Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

The priest is in charge of the Vacation Bible School at Saint Francis Roman rite parish in Aleppo.

The Vacation Bible School is made of up children from different Christian confessions, both Catholics and Orthodox. They range in age from 3 to 15. During school time they also sing, play and make friends.

 Fr. Lutfi said the initiative is “a light for a martyr city of the Syrian civil war.”

Over 250,000 have died in the war and millions of people have been displaced.

This year, the Pro Terra Sancta Association, which serves the Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land, asked Italian parishes to join the efforts. They can hold similar “Vacation Bible School” as a work of mercy so the Syrian children feel they are not alone.

Organizers hope that through this initiative, Italian children will learn what life is like for Christians in the Middle East.

Fr. Lutfi reflected on the outreach to Italy, saying “we need this communion with you.”

Father Ibrahim Alsbagh, the pastor at Saint Francis church, said that even in a partially destroyed Aleppo, Christians can manage to overcome their circumstances with the joy of being together and through an experience of life and friendship in the name of Jesus.