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OSV NewsFiled Under: Movie & Television Reviews
"hoc facite in meam commemorationem." Lucas 22:19
The final session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality has opened with a “No” regarding the possibility of women deacons presently, though it appeared to suggest that the issue may still be looked into in the longer term, while also emphasising that women do indeed have an important role to play in the Church.
The study group responsible for evaluating the female diaconate has said that, while still exploring other forms of women’s involvement in the Church, they will not become deacons.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, made the announcement during the synod’s afternoon session on 2 October, the first official working day of the synod running 2-27 October.
“We would like to share from the outset that, based on the analysis conducted so far – which also takes into account the work done by the two Commissions established by Pope Francis on the female diaconate – the dicastery judges that there is still no room for a positive decision by the Magisterium regarding the access of women to the diaconate, understood as a degree of the Sacrament of Holy Orders,” Cardinal Fernández said.
“The Holy Father himself recently confirmed this consideration publicly,” he said, while adding that the Dicastery “judges that the opportunity to continue the work of in-depth study remains open”.
Read the rest: https://catholicherald.co.uk/synod-opens-with-a-no-to-women-deacons/
ANALYSIS: Tuesday’s ‘women’s ordination’ event, which synod delegates were invited to via mass email, is a good illustration of how side events attempt to influence the process.
In the next day or two, don’t be surprised to see a fresh round of news stories about support for ordaining women at the Synod on Synodality.
It’s a reasonable prediction, given that, earlier today, an advocacy group blasted out an email, obtained by the Register, inviting synod delegates to join them tomorrow at an event promoting the cause.
Hosted by AmerIndia, a network of progressive Latin American Catholics, and entitled “Called to Be a Woman Deacon,” the Oct. 15 pizza luncheon will feature a handful of women sharing why they’re convinced they’re being called to sacramentally ordained ministry (which the Church teaches is not possible).
Sympathetic journalists are likely to amplify the event, making sure to note that the presenters come from multiple continents, possibly even implying that this undercuts the criticism that women’s ordination is a “niche issue” pushed by rich Westerners. They’re also likely to point out the number of synod delegates who are in attendance — that is, if the total is favorable.
ANALYSIS — CLERICAL SEXUAL ABUSE
The Vatican Secretariat of State’s “extraordinary procedure” to reinstate a laicized priest, blocked this week by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, may prove to be the most significant Vatican story of the year.
Little is known, as yet, about why sostituto Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra issued an order trying to reinstate a man convicted of child sexual abuse by two interdiocesan tribunals in Argentina.
But his decision to do so, and the DDF’s move to publicly void the attempt, raises real questions about the role of Pope Francis, the rule of law, and the exercise of power in the Vatican.
According to canon law, Ariel Alberto Príncipi’s case was clear — convicted on multiple counts of abuse of minors by two local courts and laicized, his line of appeal was to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and ultimately to the pope personally, but through the same department.
Instead of that process, “subsequent evidence presented by some diocesan bishops of Argentina” (though it is not clear to whom it was presented) led to the a statement from the deputy of the papal secretariat, saying he had overturned the entire canonical process and its results and convened his “extraordinary procedure” to reinstate the priest to limited ministry, finding him guilty only of unspecified “reckless” behavior.
It is not known who else, if anyone, was involved in Peña Parra’s attempted star chamber process, which seems to have considered only the “evidence” presented by advocates and allies of Príncipi, and to have proceeded without reference to the victims, Church prosecutors, or the Vatican department with sole jurisdiction of the case.
To canonical ears, the entire process seemed as obviously “illegal” as it was “extraordinary.” The emphatic action from the DDF’s Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy to void the whole attempt and declare the case closed suggests his department came to the same conclusion.
But if the law is clear, and the canonical results now settled, it remains strikingly unclear how or why Peña Parra imagined his intervention could possibly stand — or how he came to be involved in a case nowhere near his office’s remit in the first place.
Regarding the latter question, there are several possible answers.
For years, officials in the DDF’s disciplinary section have complained privately about attempted interference from the Secretariat of State in high profile abuse cases. Often, this is because local bishops will direct their own lobbying efforts via the papal nuncio, who in turn passes what he’s asked or told up to the state department in Rome.
And it is possible that in the Príncipi case, the priest’s supporters among the Argentine episcopate did just that. Still, that goes nowhere to resolving the question of why the sostituto took it upon himself to try to overturn an entire canonical process and convene his own.
The more likely answer is that appeals on Príncipi’s behalf were presented outside of any ordinary channel of communication and made their way to Pope Francis personally, who handed the matter off to his chief of staff with some instruction — either direct or implied — for Peña Parra to resolve the matter.
Of course, if the pope were to circumvent the entire canonical process for handling accusations of child sexual abuse — a process he has staked much of his pontificate on strengthening, at least on paper — to reinstate a guilty priest as a favor to friends, it would be a scandal of cataclysmic proportions for Francis.
October 2024
Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge Chairman,
USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities
We are living in an exciting time of revival. Our National Eucharistic Congress, and the Eucharistic processions that led to it, involved hundreds of thousands of Catholics who will never be the same. The revival continues, and is so needed, especially in our efforts to defend human life.
Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist, gives us the fullness of life. He calls each of us to respect that gift of life in every human person. While we live in a society that often rejects those who are weak, fragile, or vulnerable, they are the most in need of our care and protection. Pope Francis reminds us that “every child who, rather than being born, is condemned unjustly to being aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who even before he was born, and then just after birth, experienced the world’s rejection.”1
The law and millions of our brothers and sisters have yet to recognize this reality. We thankfully no longer live under the regime of Roe v. Wade, and our elected officials are now empowered to reduce or end abortion. But what we now see is that fifty years of virtually unlimited abortion has tragically created a national mindset where many Americans have become comfortable with some amount of abortion. This allows the abortion industry to continue to provide any amount of abortion. Given this challenge, the U.S. bishops have affirmed that, while it is important to address all the ways in which human life is threatened, “abortion remains our pre-eminent priority as it directly attacks our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, destroying more than a million lives each year in our country alone.”2 “We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life...”
In a tragic way, abortion has become the pre eminent priority for others as well. We see many politicians celebrating the destruction of preborn children, and protecting access to abortion, even up until the moment of birth. Few leaders are standing up to limit the harm of chemical abortion (abortion pills) to mothers and children, which is now the most common form of abortion. And heading into the November elections, as many as ten states face gravely evil ballot initiatives that would enshrine abortion in their state constitutions.
Pope St. John Paul II’s words resonate today: “we are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil, death and life, the ‘culture of death’ and the ‘culture of life’ … we are all involved and we all share in it, with the inescapable responsibility of choosing to be unconditionally pro-life.”3
And so we need a revival of prayer and action:
"We must renew our commitment to work for the legal protection of every human life, from conception to natural death, and to vote for candidates who will defend the life and dignity of the human person.
"We must call for policies that assist women and their children in need, while also continuing to help mothers in our own communities through local pregnancy help centers and our nationwide, parish-based initiative, Walking with Moms in Need. "
"We must likewise continue to extend the hand of compassion to all who are suffering from participation in abortion, through the Church’s abortion healing ministries like Project Rachel Ministry.
"Most importantly, we must rededicate ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of life.
I invite all Catholics to join me in a concerted effort of prayer between now and our national elections, by daily praying our Respect Life Month “Prayer for Life to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament”:
Jesus, you came that we might have life— and have it in abundance. Together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, you form us in our mothers’ wombs and call us to love you for all eternity. As your most precious gift of human life is attacked, draw us ever closer to your Real Presence in the Eucharist. Dispel the darkness of the culture of death, for you are the light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. By the power of your Eucharistic Presence, help us to defend the life of every human person at every stage. Transform our hearts to protect and cherish all whose lives are most vulnerable. For you are God, forever and ever. Amen.
Through the graces of this revival, may we witness, work, and vote so that all children in the womb will be protected in law and welcomed in love, and that all mothers and families will be strengthened by our support and accompaniment.
For information on October Respect Life Month, visit https://www.respectlife.org/.
Agroup of Catholics held a Rosary Rally outside the home of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday, after the Democrat sparked backlash with a Doritos video that critics alleged made mockery of a sacred Christian rite.
The "Rosary Rally for Religious Respect" was organized by CatholicVote.
The rally comes in response to a controversial social media video in which Gov. Whitmer wore a Harris-Walz campaign hat and fed Doritos to a kneeling liberal podcaster named Liz Plank.
The video followed a TikTok trend whereby someone, acting in a sensual manner, is fed by another person who stares uncomfortably into the camera while "Dilemma" by Nelly and Kelly Rowland plays in the background.