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Notre Dame bells ring for the first time since devastating fire 5 years ago 

The rose window of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral is seen on Oct. 25, 2024, in Paris a few weeks before its reopening to the public scheduled for Dec. 8, 2024. / Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 8, 2024 / 16:40 pm (CNA).

The bells of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris have rung for the first time since April 2019, when a devastating fire broke out in the spire and roof of the historic French church. 

Notre-Dame of Paris passed the major milestone today at about 10:30 a.m., just one month away from its highly anticipated reopening on Dec. 8. Housed in the northern belfry of the cathedral — which had been partially destroyed by the fire — the bells rang out one at a time, then sounded out together, according to AFP.

Though authorities have not determined whether the fire was an accident, an initial investigation found that it could have been caused by an electrical malfunction. 

French President Emmanuel Macron immediately announced his intention to repair the cathedral within five years and even called for alternative contemporary proposals to reconstruct the church. For a brief period, debates swirled over whether the French government would sanction such an update instead of preserving Notre Dame’s original character. 

However, the French Parliament soon passed a bill stipulating that reconstruction efforts must “preserve the historic, artistic, and architectural interest” of the historic cathedral. Macron officially declared a year later, in 2020, that the reconstruction would seek to resemble the original structure in the interest of finishing the project ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Notre Dame Cathedral was built between the 12th and 14th centuries. Its spire was first completed in the 13th century but was ultimately replaced in the 19th century on account of damage. 

Law enforcement course correction underway in California

null / Credit: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 8, 2024 / 16:10 pm (CNA).

On Election Day, voters in California overwhelmingly approved a “tough-on-crime” ballot initiative to roll back a state law that had reclassified a number of felonies as misdemeanors.

The initiative’s success represents the electorate’s opposition to the excesses of an “unjust” progressive criminal justice reform movement, according to Catholic scholars interviewed by CNA.

Proposition 36 passed by a landslide margin of 40 percentage points in the state of California as of Nov. 7. Unofficial election results showed Proposition 36 projected to have passed with 70.2% of the vote as of Friday.

The amendment makes the theft of items worth $950 or less a felony rather than a misdemeanor in cases in which a “person has two or more past convictions for certain theft crimes (such as shoplifting, burglary, or carjacking).” 

The proposition also raises drug possession from a misdemeanor to a “treatment-mandated felony,” which requires those convicted on drug-related charges — specifically fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine — to complete treatment and have charges dropped or face incarceration. 

According to a local SFGATE report, Proposition 36 supporters raised approximately $16.8 million to pass the measure, while opponents raised about $7.7 million. Retail stores such as Walmart, Home Depot, and Target were the largest financial supporters of the amendment, according to the LA Times

The latest measure reverses Proposition 47, a ballot initiative passed in 2014 that reduced the sentencing of theft and drug-related crimes in an attempt to stave off overcrowding in the state’s prison system.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, after the 2014 proposition went into effect, shoplifting crimes accelerated to their highest rates since 2000. A recent study from the Manhattan Institute also found a 10.5% increase in chronic drug offenders since Proposition 47. 

Correcting a ‘deformity’

“Proposition 47 was a deformity,” Charles Nemeth, professor and director of Franciscan University of Steubenville’s criminal justice department, told CNA, explaining that the “so-called reforms” enacted through Proposition 47 had “generated chaos and really essentially undermined the criminal justice system.”

Reform initiatives such as Proposition 47, he explained, are “inconsistent with our notions of what justice is in both the Catholic context as well as even an Aristotelian context.” Nemeth, who is also director of the university’s Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics, emphasized that true criminal justice reform must “always keep in light the principle of proportionality.” 

“For every act, there has to be a consequence. And many of the so-called reforms that have taken place in criminal justice have thrown the concept of proportionality under the bus and replaced it with individual demands and individual rights that are rooted in disproportionality,” he told CNA. 

“One of the things I teach here at Franciscan constantly to our students about criminal justice policies, it has to uphold the common good,” he said. “It isn’t a question of individual rights all the time. It’s also the social and common good of any society or nation-state.”

The imperative of accountability

Nemeth said Californians passed the ballot initiative so readily because they recognize the notion that “when we don’t hold people accountable and they have no personal responsibility, you wreak havoc on societies and cultures.” 

In the year leading up to the election, California Gov. Gavin Newsom advocated strongly against the ballot initiative, according to local reports, stating that “Proposition 36 takes us back to the 1980s, mass incarceration; it promotes a promise that can’t be delivered.”

The governor also argued that Proposition 47 had saved taxpayer dollars by reducing incarceration for theft and that many counties across the state would be unable to provide mandated treatment. 

Public safety is “a very small expenditure” in the state of California’s “finite” budget, according to Lance Christensen, vice president of California Policy Center, who told CNA that the state has historically spent less than 10% of its budget on jails and prisons statewide, and closer to 5% to 7% in recent years. 

“If cost is an issue, then let’s have a conversation about the budget — but that’s not the issue,” Christensen said. “The issue is the government does not want to put people in prison for being criminals.” 

“There’s one essential function of a state government, and that’s to protect the people,” he continued. “If you can’t effectively protect the people, what exactly are you doing and spending money on? The idea that they’re trying to save money on public safety in prisons, it’s just garbage.”

Nemeth described the California governor’s prioritization of progressive social justice-centered reform as “tone deaf to what the general population wants and experiences.” 

“[Newsom] doesn’t understand the ravages of crime in the communities where these initiatives play out,” he observed. “It’s not just a commercial question or a business question — it’s also the safety and integrity of people in neighborhood by neighborhood.”

Nemeth also pointed to the results of the state’s local elections, which saw the mayor of San Francisco and the Los Angeles district attorney unseated. People are starting to “rise up” against “insanity,” the criminal justice expert said.

“All of these things are so-called reform initiatives that destroy the common good and the collective tranquility of the citizens. Eventually, the citizens do rise up against it because it produces unjust systems,” he said.

Nemeth told CNA he hopes that in the future other states that have enacted similar criminal justice reform measures will eventually “come to their senses” and reject decriminalization. He said states such as New York, which had also made theft of $950 and below a misdemeanor, have made a “total error” in enacting policies “completely inconsistent with the Catholic doctrine of personal responsibility and culpability.”

Catholic group urges Biden to commute federal death sentences before Trump takes office

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on July 25, 2024, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Nov 8, 2024 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

A prominent Catholic anti-death penalty group is urging outgoing President Joe Biden to commute the sentences of the 40 people currently on federal death row in anticipation of the second term of President-elect Donald Trump, who strongly favors capital punishment. 

Catholic Mobilizing Network (CMN), an advocacy group founded in 2009, said in a statement posted Nov. 6 that the federal death penalty is a “broken” system that “does not deter crime or make communities safer.” 

In light of the upcoming jubilee year in the Catholic Church — a special holy year of grace and pilgrimage, emphasizing God’s mercy, that takes place every quarter-century — Krisanne Vaillancourt Murphy, CMN’s executive director, noted that Pope Francis has emphasized forgiveness and an end to the death penalty. 

Vaillancourt Murphy said the group has “begun mobilizing our national Catholic network to petition President Biden — in the spirit of mercy and the kind of justice that upholds the dignity of all life, no matter the harm one has caused or suffered — to commute the sentences of all 40 men currently on federal death row.”

“President Biden was the first president to campaign on abolishing the federal death penalty,”  Vaillancourt Murphy said. “Given that his lame-duck period converges with the beginning of Jubilee 2025, it is fitting that he should act on his faith and do what is squarely within his constitutional authority to do.” 

Biden’s commuting the sentences “could mark the beginning of the end of capital punishment in the United States,” Vaillancourt Murphy said. 

“We know approaches to the federal death penalty can change quickly under new leadership. Regrettably, President-elect Trump has a sordid history with executions,” she continued. 

Under then-president Trump, in July 2019 Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons would resume federal executions after a hiatus of more than 15 years.

The announcement led to an outcry from Catholics, including the U.S. bishops, who reiterated that the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the death penalty “inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” 

“The Church’s opposition to the death penalty is clear, and we have made many requests that the federal government should not resume these executions. Yet, not only has the government done so, they have scheduled even more executions,” the U.S. bishops said in an August 2020 statement

All told, 13 inmates were executed in the final six months of Trump’s first term, including Lisa Montgomery, who murdered Bobbie Jo Stinnett in Missouri in 2004 in order to steal her unborn baby. Montgomery was the first woman to be executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years.

Biden called for an end to the use of the federal death penalty as a candidate for president, but that call marked a shift in position. According to the AP, in 1994, then-Sen. Biden helped pass laws that added 60 federal crimes that could be punished by death. 

In July 2021, under Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a moratorium on federal executions while the Department of Justice conducted a review of its policies and procedures to ensure the death penalty is being applied “fairly and humanely.” 

Despite overseeing the halting of new executions, the Biden administration has sought to uphold the death sentences of several prisoners already convicted, including the 2013 Boston Marathon Bomber. 

The administration also pursued the death penalty for the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue shooter, who was handed a capital sentence in 2023. The administration is still actively pursuing the death penalty for Peyton Gendron, the then-18-year-old man who in 2022 killed nearly a dozen Black shoppers at a Tops Friendly Market grocery store in Buffalo, New York. His trial is expected to take place during the next Trump administration. 

A group of Democratic senators introduced the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act in 2021 in a bid to abolish federal capital punishment. That bill died in committee. The senators reintroduced the bill during the current session of Congress.

The federal death penalty has been applied relatively sparingly since being reinstated in 1988. Just 16 people have been put to death by the federal government — 13 during the first Trump administration — compared with nearly 1,600 by the states. 

Pope Francis appoints new bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy in Arizona

Father Artur Bubnevych on Nov. 8, 2024, was named bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Artur Bubnevych

CNA Staff, Nov 8, 2024 / 13:55 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis named a New Mexico pastor as bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy, apostolic nuncio to the United States Cardinal Christophe Pierre announced on Friday.

Father Artur Bubnevych will serve as bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of the Holy Protection of Mary of Phoenix.

Bubnevych has served as a pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, since 2014. He was one of the five United States priests selected to attend a Synod on Synodality in Rome this year.

Bubnevych was born in Ukraine in 1975 in the small town of Perechin in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine. He graduated from the Uzhgorod Greek Catholic Seminary of the Blessed Theodore Romzha in 1998. He was ordained to the subdiaconate in 1999 and in 2001 earned an advanced theological degree from the International Theological Institute in Australia. He later worked as a project secretary at the chancery of the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Ukraine, from 2006 to 2013.

Bubnevych moved to the Eparchy of Phoenix to serve in a pastoral role and was ordained to the priesthood on Sept. 14, 2014.

The Byzantine Church is divided into five eparchies or dioceses in the U.S. The Eparchy of Phoenix ministers to more than 2,500 Catholics of the Byzantine-Ruthenian Church in 13 states in the Western U.S.

The Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church, known as the Byzantine Catholic Church in the U.S., is one of several Eastern Catholic rites in the United States, which include the Melkite, Maronite, Chaldean, and Ukrainian rites. These rites are in full communion with the papacy while retaining their own liturgical practices.

The Byzantine Church practices the Divine Liturgy, or Mass, as it was practiced in Greek-speaking Byzantium as well as Ukraine and Russia. Married men can be ordained to the priesthood in the Byzantine Church. Icons are usually prominently displayed in Byzantine parishes, which are usually smaller compared with Latin-rite parishes.

“It is a Church for all people; people who are attracted to our spirituality and Byzantine liturgy,” Bubnevych told CNA in April.

Archdiocese of New Orleans will release personnel files of clergy accused of sex abuse

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CNA Staff, Nov 8, 2024 / 13:25 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of New Orleans this week said it will release personnel files of priests accused of sexual abuse amid ongoing negotiations of a major abuse settlement there. 

The archdiocese in September proposed a bankruptcy settlement as part of its plan for addressing sexual abuse by clergy, offering a $62.5 million payout to victims. The abuse survivors have requested approximately $1 billion. 

On Thursday the archdiocese said in an announcement that it had agreed to “nonmonetary plan provisions to be included in the bankruptcy plan,” which will include “improving public accountability and transparency.”

Court documents filed on Thursday said the archdiocese would contract with a college or university to publish, in part, “personnel files” of any “clergy, former clergy, religious, or laity” identified by the archdiocese as a perpetrator of sexual abuse. 

The publication of the files would “promote healing and reconciliation” and help prevent child sexual abuse from occurring in the future, the court documents state. 

In a statement on Thursday, New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond said the Church “is committed to protecting children and preventing the evil of child sexual abuse from occurring in our Catholic parishes, schools, and ministries.”

“I welcome this progress in our reorganization, but more importantly, I welcome the new means to strengthen our existing, effective programs for the safety and security of our children in all of our ministries,” the prelate said. 

“It is my prayer that our work with the committee will continue to be collaborative keeping the survivors at the forefront of decisions.”

In the documents filed Thursday, the archdiocese also agreed that it would “mail written letters of apology to any individual” who filed a child sexual abuse claim there.

In addition, the archdiocese will post a public apology in the archdiocesan newspaper The Clarion Herald, addressed “to all known child sexual abuse claimants.”

The archdiocese will further allot space on its website for victims of abuse to share their stories and will also create “a place of remembrance” for sexual abuse victims at the diocesan chancery. 

And the archdiocese will “remove all plaques, pictures, statutes, or other public recognitions” on its properties of any diocesan officials credibly accused of sexual abuse. 

The archdiocese has been working through the bankruptcy proceedings for nearly half a decade, having first applied for bankruptcy in May 2020.

Last year the archdiocese announced the “difficult and painful decision” to consolidate 11 parish communities, permanently close seven churches, and consolidate three territories in order to ensure sustainability and vitality.

In September of last year the archbishop said the archdiocese would be asking parishes, schools, and ministries for monetary contributions in order to protect their assets during the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. 

Catholic priest discusses ‘special calling’ of military chaplains in new film

Father Adam Muda, a chaplain for the U.S. Army, celebrates Mass on the field with soldiers while in Germany. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Adam Muda

CNA Staff, Nov 8, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A new film about U.S. military chaplains, a diverse group of dedicated people who carry no weapons into battle, will be released in select theaters on Nov. 8.  

Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey” tells the story of former Army chaplain Justin Roberts as he travels to the funeral of Catholic priest and chaplain Father Emil Kapaun. Along the way, Roberts, who is Protestant, is inspired by the lives of 419 other U.S. military chaplains who have given their lives in service. The documentary explores the stories of several of these chaplains, including the beloved Kapaun. 

Several chaplains from different denominations provide commentary in the film including Father Adam Muda, an Army chaplain currently serving with the 3-1 Assault Helicopter Battalion at Fort Riley, Kansas.

Four years into his first assignment as a priest in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, Muda began to discern becoming a military chaplain. He began to pray about it and asked God for a sign. One day while exercising at the gym a man approached Muda and asked him if he was in the Army. 

“I said, ‘No, I’m not, but I’m a Catholic priest and I’m thinking and praying about becoming an Army chaplain,’” Muda told CNA in an interview. “Then he said, ‘Father, I am a soldier. I am on active duty in the Army and I know that we need more priests in the U.S. Army.’”

With that, Muda went to his bishop at the time and told him of his desire to become a military chaplain. Muda said he still remembers the bishop’s words well: “Father Adam, if God is calling you for this ministry, you have my blessing.”

“This is a calling, and I believe I received a special calling from God for that ministry,” Muda shared. 

He then spent three months at Fort Jackson in South Carolina attending the Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course, which is a 12-week intensive program where the chaplains go through physical, mental, and spiritual training to prepare themselves for work as a chaplain.

The first stage of training includes the chaplains taking part in nearly the same basic training soldiers take part in. The second and third stage focuses on academics and chaplaincy-specific training.

Father Adam Muda, a chaplain for the U.S. Army, during his time in Bulgaria. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Adam Muda
Father Adam Muda, a chaplain for the U.S. Army, during his time in Bulgaria. Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Adam Muda

The documentary emphasizes the fact that chaplains serve as the moral conscience of battle. Muda added to this point saying that one’s “spirituality is extremely important.”

“From a Catholic point of view, I have to be really good with my spirituality — frequent confessions, spiritual direction … but at the same time we have to be men of prayer,” he said.

Muda also spoke about the heroic life of Kapaun, whom he called an “amazing person” and “really holy.”

“As an Army chaplain, he was a man of selfless service. He put the needs of others before his own,” he said.

Muda said he believes Kapaun will be declared a saint one day and will continue to “intercede for us, for military chaplains, for the Army, for soldiers, and for our country.”

The Army chaplain hopes the new documentary will “inspire many more people to learn about the history of the Army and the brave men and women who served our country, who died for our country.” 

“I hope that more people will learn about the brave chaplains we have had in our history, like Father Emil Kapaun and many others, and that people will continue to research them and these stories will inspire them,” he added. 

“I believe that we chaplains, from all denominations — but especially Catholic priests — will learn from and be inspired by the life of Father Emil Kapaun and that we will all strive to be like him, serving those brave men and women in our military, in our Army, just like Father Kapaun did.”

Diocese reverses hymn ban in favor of ‘synodal’ selection of sacred music

null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock

St. Louis, Mo., Nov 7, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Just days after implementing a formal ban on a dozen “doctrinally problematic” hymns, a Missouri bishop has rescinded his original decree, instead opening a yearlong consultation process to determine how sacred music can best be used to encourage active participation in the liturgy.

In his original decree, dated Oct. 24, Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of the Diocese of Jefferson City listed a dozen commonly used contemporary hymns that were to be “absolutely forbidden” in the diocese after Nov. 1.

The list included such songs as “All Are Welcome” by Marty Haugen, “God Has Chosen Me” by Bernadette Farrell, “Led By the Spirit” by Bob Hurd, and “Table of Plenty” by Dan Schutte.

Acknowledging the “spirited discussion” that took place over his decree on social media and in various media outlets, McKnight wrote in a subsequent Nov. 5 decree that “it is now clear that an authentically synodal process of greater consultation did not occur prior to its promulgation.” 

Pointing to Pope Francis’ emphasis on “synodality” — the pontiff’s call for the whole Church, including laypeople, to collaboratively seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit through prayer, listening, dialogue, and openness — McKnight wrote that he has ordered a “more comprehensive consultation with the relevant parties within the diocese” related to sacred music.

The original decree was the result of a yearslong research effort led by Father Daniel Merz, a diocesan pastor and chairman of the diocesan liturgical commission, which included consultations with priests ministering in the diocese. 

While stating that it is “important to recognize that some hymns in current distribution may not be appropriate for use in Catholic liturgies,” the new decree does not include the specific names of any of the previously banned hymns. 

It instead lays out six criteria from the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine that pastors and liturgical ministers should consider when determining whether a song is suitable for the liturgy. 

In particular, “it is vital that we ensure the greatest care be taken to prevent scandal from marring the beautiful celebration of the Eucharist,” McKnight noted.

The new decree does retain a diocesan ban on the use of any music composed by persons who “have been found by his or her diocesan bishop or competent authority to be credibly accused of sexual abuse,” specifically mentioning David Haas, Cesaréo Gabarain, and Ed Conlin.

The new decree, echoing the previous one, also lays out four Mass settings approved for use in the diocese — three in English and one bilingual with Spanish — and with which every parish should “become familiar” for the sake of unity, though parishes are not explicitly obliged to use them.

They include the “Chant Mass,” the “Mass of St. Frances Cabrini” by Kevin Keil, the “Revised Mass of Creation” by Marty Haugen, and for Spanish-speaking congregations, the bilingual “Misa del Pueblo Inmigrante” (“Mass of the Immigrant People”) by Bob Hurd.

‘Moving forward with an open mind and an open heart’

According to a draft story for the Catholic Missourian, shared with CNA by the diocese before publication, McKnight has now tasked the diocesan liturgical commission with gathering feedback from musicians, music ministers, and “everyone else who has a perspective on the music used in liturgies across the diocese” by August 2025.

The liturgical commission will gather feedback and present a report to the diocesan pastoral council and presbyteral council that will offer advice to McKnight, who will then make decisions about liturgical music policies for the diocese.

The process will also involve the leaders of the diocesan chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, a membership organization for Catholic music ministers. 

“It is inspiring to see such passion and enthusiasm about the music that enlivens our Catholic liturgies. Whenever we see this kind of fervor among the faithful, our Church gives us the perfect way to respond — a synodal response,” McKnight said as reported by the Missourian. 

“Rather than the faithful being relegated to the outside as commenters on a decision, with their only response being either obedience or disobedience, it is better to invite everyone in our diocese into a discernment process. The Holy Spirit is working through each one of us. When the people of God speak, we have a responsibility to open ourselves to listen, even when that means changing course and trying a different approach.”

Both of McKnight’s decrees rely on a set of 2020 guidelines from the U.S. bishops, “Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church,” which lays out the aforementioned criteria for evaluating whether hymns sung at Mass are accurately conveying the truths that Catholics believe. 

Emphasizing the formative power of music and its influence on Catholics’ understanding and practice of the faith, that document warns that hymns with inaccurate or incomplete theology can lead to a distorted understanding of key doctrines, particularly the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

The bishops’ six criteria, which are categories of potential deficiencies with hymns, include: presentation of Eucharistic doctrine; presentation of Trinitarian doctrine; presentation of the doctrine of God and his relation to humans; presentation of a view of the Church that sees her as essentially a human construction; presentation of doctrinally incorrect views of the Jewish people; and presentation of an incorrect Christian anthropology.

“I am excited about moving forward with an open mind and an open heart,” McKnight said, speaking to the Missourian. 

“Music is such an important part of who we are as Catholics … I am eager to hear from everyone, in a synodal process of deep listening, as we embark on this process together.”

Pro-life advocates on election: ‘Americans have rejected Democrats’ abortion agenda’

A pro-abortion attendee stands during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. / Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Nov 7, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of abortion policy-related news this week.

Americans reject Democrats’ abortion agenda 

Pro-life advocates are calling attention to the significance of the defeat of a 2024 Democratic presidential candidacy that was largely centered on abortion.

“Americans have rejected the Democrats’ no-limits abortion agenda,” Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a post-election press release.

In the run-up to this year’s election, Vice President Kamala Harris amplified claims that women are dying from Republican abortion laws, though no state prohibits life-saving care for a pregnant woman. Harris vowed to restore Roe v. Wade-era standards and firmly rejected religious exemptions in federal abortion laws.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is known for the late-term abortion law he signed in Minnesota that has no limits on abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Dannenfelser noted that for her organization, its “paramount goal” in this election was “to deny Democrats the chance to pass a national all-trimester abortion mandate and wipe out protections for babies and women in all 50 states.”

Meanwhile, during the campaign now-President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly pledged not to institute a national ban on abortion. He also emerged as an outspoken advocate of in vitro fertilization (IVF), a process designed to help infertile couples have children but creates many embryos that are discarded during the process.

During the two candidates’ sole presidential debate, Trump said abortion laws should be left up to the states. He also pledged to consider reimplementing a ban on taxpayer funding for abortion overseas and providing religious exemptions related to any government program requiring health insurance coverage of IVF treatments.

Live Action attributes pro-life success to ‘effective education’ 

Pro-life forces prevailed in Florida and Nebraska in this week’s election despite being heavily outspent by their pro-abortion opponents in both states. In Florida, supporters of an abortion amendment had a campaign war chest of more than $118 million. In contrast, the principal pro-life campaign committees that organized in opposition to the amendment had only $12 million in funding

Nebraska was the only state to have two competing abortion ballot measures. According to Ballotpedia, the organizing campaign in support of the pro-abortion amendment had $13 million total in funding, while campaigners for the pro-life measure received $11 million in contributions. 

Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, cited “resources” to provide “effective education” as reasons for the success of pro-life causes in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota. 

“Life wins when there are enough resources to ensure voters know the truth and when we have political leadership that boldly leads,” Rose said Wednesday.

Exit polls: Abortion was not a top issue in this election  

Exit polls revealed that abortion was less of a priority than other issues for voters in this week’s election. Vice President Kamala Harris ran heavily on the abortion issue and lost her bid for the presidency.

Among five issues (foreign policy, abortion, the economy, immigration, and the state of democracy), exit polls by NBC News indicated that only 14% chose abortion as the most important issue to them in voting for the president.

Of that 14%, 74% were Democrats while 25% were Republicans. Top issues were the economy (32%), mostly for Republicans, and the state of democracy (34%), mostly for Democrats.

Michigan parish packs 100,000 meals for disaster victims in the South

Lori Stillwell, a volunteer and a member of the local Kiwanis Club, directs nearly 600 volunteers who gathered Nov. 2, 2024, at St. Isidore Parish in Macomb, Michigan, to package 100,000 meals in partnership with the Kids Coalition Against Hunger. The massive annual effort brought together volunteers from the Disciples Unleashed Family of Parishes as well as the local community to aid victims of natural disasters, including the recent hurricanes in the U.S. South. / Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

Detroit, Mich., Nov 7, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

This past Sunday, trucks carrying 100,000 meals headed south from Michigan to North Carolina and Florida to aid hurricane victims. 

The day before departure, more than 400 volunteers streamed into the social hall at St. Isidore Catholic Church in the Michigan township of Macomb to pack the meals.

Parishioners from St. Isidore and other churches were joined by members of local Kiwanis and Key Clubs, who supported the effort with funding as well as volunteers. There were high school honor societies and dance teams wearing matching jackets. There were individuals alongside entire families and groups of friends who wanted to help others in a tangible way. 

They arrived at 10 a.m. By noon, the boxes with more than 100,000 meal packets were packed and loaded onto trucks waiting outside.

Volunteers fill cups and bags with rice, vitamin-fortified crushed soy, a vitamin blend, and dehydrated vegetables at packaging stations set up in the St. Isidore social hall. The organized effort will allow those who receive the meals to simply add six cups of water to feed up to six adults or 12 children. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic
Volunteers fill cups and bags with rice, vitamin-fortified crushed soy, a vitamin blend, and dehydrated vegetables at packaging stations set up in the St. Isidore social hall. The organized effort will allow those who receive the meals to simply add six cups of water to feed up to six adults or 12 children. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

St. Isidore partnered with the Kids Coalition Against Hunger and with volunteer Lori Stillwell, who worked with parish staff to manage the many details of the massive effort. Forty tables were set up in U-shaped formations in the parish social hall, with 26 people stationed at each. 

The stations became assembly lines with bins of rice, vitamin-fortified crushed soy, a vitamin blend, and dehydrated vegetables. Recipients of the meals add 6 cups of boiling water to feed six adults or 12 children. The packet contains the nine essential amino acids, making it a nutritionally sound food source for those in crisis. Each meal cost 35 cents to make. 

As boxes were packed with 36 meal packets each, volunteers at some tables let out a celebratory cheer every time they sealed a box. At other tables, applause rang out when the food scale reached precisely 390 grams, the amount each pouch holds. The festive setting served as a model not only of efficiency but also of joyful service to others. 

Including the people who had set up the night before, as well as those who packaged the meals during the event and another group that cleaned up after the action-packed two hours, the volunteer count reached nearly 600 parishioners and community members.

Volunteers cut open new bags of rice to refill packaging stations at St. Isidore. The entire effort took just over two hours to pack 100,000 meals in an assembly-line format. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic
Volunteers cut open new bags of rice to refill packaging stations at St. Isidore. The entire effort took just over two hours to pack 100,000 meals in an assembly-line format. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

“We are doing what Archbishop [Allen H. Vigneron] challenges us to do, and that is to go out into the community and unleash the Gospel,” said Deacon Jeff Loeb, who coordinated the effort with Stillwell and a host of other St. Isidore staff members. “In addition to helping hurricane victims, this whole effort creates a ripple effect locally as well. Even though we’re packing these meals within our walls, we’re reaching out beyond the walls to bring people in.” 

Three moms — Amy Pagliaroli, Nicole Simonsen, and Audrey Kronzo — brought a group of teenagers from the Dakota High School’s National Honor Society, the Seneca Middle School National Junior Honor Society, and Girl Scout Troop 76395 to the event. 

“I want to show my daughter that doing nice things for people in need is important,” Simonsen said. 

Sixteen-year-old Ryan Comilla, a junior at Dakota High School, attended the food-packing event for the first time. His family attends St. Therese of Lisieux Parish in Shelby Township, Michigan.

High school students from nearby schools such as Dakota High School and Austin Catholic High School were among hundreds of volunteers who joined the effort on a Saturday morning. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic
High school students from nearby schools such as Dakota High School and Austin Catholic High School were among hundreds of volunteers who joined the effort on a Saturday morning. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

“I’m glad I came,” Comilla said. “It feels like you have a purpose when you do something like this and you’re helping someone who doesn’t have access to food.” 

Ten tables were filled by families who signed up to serve together. At several stations, three generations measured ingredients side by side. 

Monsignor John Kasza is the moderator for the Disciples Unleashed Family of Parishes, which includes St. Isidore, St. Therese of Lisieux, and St. Francis of Assisi-St. Maximilian Kolbe in Ray Township. 

“It’s good to support one another as one family of parishes,” Kasza said. “This was originally a St. Isidore event, so we partnered with the parishes to continue to do the work together while also extending it out to the community. It’s reminiscent of what we hear at the end of Mass: ‘May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.’” 

St. Isidore first packed meals for Kids Coalition Against Hunger in 2015, packaging more than half a million meals since then. Each year, the food is sent wherever there is a need domestically or internationally.

Deacon Jeffrey Loeb of St. Isidore Parish reads a passage from Scripture as volunteers pause to pray during a massive food packaging operation Nov. 2, 2024 at the Macomb, Michigan, church. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic
Deacon Jeffrey Loeb of St. Isidore Parish reads a passage from Scripture as volunteers pause to pray during a massive food packaging operation Nov. 2, 2024 at the Macomb, Michigan, church. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

Chris Kozlowski, the mission support director for the family of parishes, worked behind the scenes to make the event a success and to secure funds. With financial support from parishioners, Kiwanis Clubs, and other donors, more than $50,000 was raised, far beyond the original goal of $35,000. Excess funds will be saved to pack additional meals next year. 

“There are days I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the people of our three parishes. They are truly amazing,” Kozlowski said. “And, most importantly, it is a sign of God’s grace that so many people are willing to do so much for their neighbors in need. I can’t think of a more fitting event considering our Gospel reading from this past weekend was about loving the Lord with our hearts and loving our neighbor as ourselves.”   

Kozlowski encouraged other parishes not to “sell our God or the goodness in people around us short.” When the team at St. Isidore initially discussed the idea of packing 100,000 meals, they didn’t think it would be possible, he said. They wound up achieving the goal several years back-to-back, and the endeavor grows every year.

The annual packaging effort has taken place for several years, with meals benefiting victims of disasters and families wherever they are needed. In total, the project has sent nearly 500,000 meals, with the parish eyeing a goal of 1 million meals in the years to come. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic
The annual packaging effort has taken place for several years, with meals benefiting victims of disasters and families wherever they are needed. In total, the project has sent nearly 500,000 meals, with the parish eyeing a goal of 1 million meals in the years to come. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

“This is a result of hard work and vision, but most importantly, it is the result of giving all of the caring, wonderful people an opportunity to express their love for others through generosity and action,” Kozlowski said. “I also can’t say enough about the people at [Kids Coalition Against Hunger] for casting the vision for their mission.” 

The meal-packing event allows everyone to serve in some way, Kozlowski noted. Seniors might offer funding for the project, while young families pitch in for the physical part of the effort.  

Now that the rice has been vacuumed off the floor and tables have been put away, the parish is already looking ahead: They have set their sights on the milestone of 1 million meals and hope to reach it within a few years. 

Many young people participated in the annual packaging effort which has taken place for several years, with meals benefiting victims of disasters and families wherever they are needed. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic
Many young people participated in the annual packaging effort which has taken place for several years, with meals benefiting victims of disasters and families wherever they are needed. Credit: Steven Stechschulte/Special to Detroit Catholic

Volunteers can donate toward next year’s meal-packing effort at St. Isidore. Collecting funds throughout the year will help organizers plan for additional meals next year.

Learn more about Kids Coalition Against Hunger at https://kidscoalitionagainsthunger.org.

This article was first published by Detroit Catholic and is adapted and reprinted here with permission.

Archbishops’ World Series wager raises $20,000 for Catholic education

Archbishop José Gómez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (left) and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York announced a friendly wager on the 2024 World Series. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA; Jonah McKeown/CNA

CNA Staff, Nov 7, 2024 / 12:25 pm (CNA).

After the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series on Oct. 30 against the New York Yankees, the players and staff weren’t the only ones celebrating the victory — Catholic school students were as well.

Los Angeles Archbishop José Gómez and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York placed a friendly wager ahead of the World Series to benefit Catholic schools in their given archdioceses. 

More than $20,000 was raised from supporters using the site Baseball Unites. Since the Dodgers won the World Series, the Catholic Education Foundation of Los Angeles will receive 60% of the raised funds, while 40% will be given to the New York-based John Cardinal O’Connor School.

The two prelates also wagered some local treats: New York-style bagels from Dolan and donuts from the iconic Randy’s Donuts in Los Angeles from Gómez. Dolan is expected to give Gómez the bagels during the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ fall plenary assembly taking place Nov. 11–14 in Baltimore.

“What a great World Series. Not only because the Dodgers won. Certainly, that was great. But it was also just fun to watch; both teams played such good baseball every night,” Gómez said in an interview with Angelus News

“So, thank you to all the players, and a special thank you to everyone who supported our Baseball Unites campaign to help Catholic schools. I’m looking forward to some New York bagels. Go Blue!”

“Congratulations to the Dodgers on a great season and World Series and to my brother, Archbishop Gómez, and I hope he enjoys his bagels,” Dolan told the Los Angeles newspaper. 

“Even more, my thanks to all who participated in our Baseball Unites campaign in support of Catholic education and our great schools. That makes us all winners, especially our kids.”

Two players who took part in the World Series also had ties to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty attended middle school at Incarnation School in Glendale, California. And Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Catholic Education Foundation was established in 1987 and provides tuition assistance to needy students attending Catholic elementary and high schools in the archdiocese. Since its founding, it has provided more than 230,000 tuition awards in excess of $264 million.

The John Cardinal O’Connor School, meanwhile, was established to provide an affordable, Christ-centered, language-based academic curriculum for children in second through eighth grade with learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, or learning differences.