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Eucharistic Adoration at Lucas Oil Stadium during the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, Indiana. July 17-21,2024. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

CNA Newsroom, Jul 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The National Eucharistic Congress which gathered more than 50,000 Catholics together last week in Indianapolis was “powerful,” “moving,” and filled with “extraordinary reverence,” according to religious sisters, a priest, a seminarian, and a bishop who attended the culminating event in the U.S. bishops three year Eucharistic Revival.

Religious and clergy were well-represented at the congress, with more than 1,170 priests, 1,200 religious brothers and sisters, 610 seminarians, and 200 bishops. CNA spoke to some of them about what moments and reflections were most life-changing and memorable.  

Reverence permeated the Congress 

“The most powerful moments were the moments of adoration in Lucas Oil Stadium, when everybody was on their knees, adoring the Lord in praise and in silence, too,” recalled Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Bishop Conley remembered seeing everyone, including his brother bishops “caught up in the mystery of the beauty of God” during adoration.  

“The common denominator that ran through all of the liturgical encounter was reverence; that we were recognizing God as our Lord, in silence and in song,” he said. “St. Augustine is famously quoted as saying, ‘Only the lover sings,’ and the only proper response to the love of God is to sing with our hearts.”

Aidan Aguero, a 19-year-old seminarian with the Archdiocese of Seattle, recalled being moved during the silence of adoration by “seeing that everyone was having some encounter with Christ.”

“[With] all 60,000 people there adoring our Lord in the Eucharist, people encountering our Lord in the Eucharist,  there was something moving there,” he said. “Nobody can deny that something was moving in that stadium, and as Catholics, we believe that's the Holy Spirit. We believe that it's Christ in the Eucharist.”

Sister Mary Aloysius of Jesus Kim, the General Sister Servant for the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), also recalled the “prayerfulness” of adoration, calling it “stunning. ”

“Just imagine this football stadium filled with people, and when our Lord comes out, the lights are out, it's dark, and there's just light shining on the monstrance, and the place is quiet. These 50,000 people are adoring our Lord silently,” she said. 

“That was so moving, so beautiful, so stunning, that it just moves us to tears,” she recalled. “And even now, when I look back on it, I am still moved to tears.”

The whole body of Christ 

Unlike many retreats or conventions which focus on one age group, the Congress brought together Catholics of every age and vocation. 

“The whole body of Christ, from pregnant moms with children in tow to grandparents and great-grandparents in wheelchairs, and everything in between,” was there, Bishop Conley observed. 

“It was the experience of the whole body of Christ coming together,” he said. “Every vocation and every dimension of the Church, the Body of Christ.”

More than 100 sisters of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist attended the congress.  Sister Mary Michael Carlton, their Vicaress General, recalled that there was a natural friendliness of attendees toward whoever they encountered — workers, locals, homeless people.

“We had one sister singing on the street with one of the homeless people, and he ended up coming to the Congress — somebody registered him for the Congress, and he was later in the procession with his congress badge on,” she said. “They weren't in the periphery. They were part of this movement, too.”

“There was a lot of ministry to the poor and homeless during those days,” Conley added. 

Christ in the City, a Catholic organization that uses a relational approach to ministry to the homeless, organized street walks for ministering to the poor and homeless, he recalled. 

“It wasn’t just an internal ad intra experience, but it was going out of ourselves and out into the streets to proclaim that Christ is risen, he's alive, he loves you, and to present him to everyone who will listen,” he continued. 

A web of processions

The Body of Christ then took to the streets in a eucharistic procession through Indianapolis, Conley recalled.

“I saw that [procession] as taking Christ to the streets and claiming the city for God,” Conley reflected. “Taking Jesus to the streets and proclaiming that Jesus Christ is King and that he is the king of the world. He's the center of everything, and he's not just in our churches — he's out on the streets with the poor.”

“People that were in their office buildings and people who were in their shops and their restaurants; they saw this happening,” he noted.

Anyone who attended the Congress will tell you about the great procession through the streets of Indianapolis of more than 60,000 people. But there was also a “spontaneous web of processions” back at the convention center, that one priest said was “deeply moving.”

The liturgical team needed to move the Blessed Sacrament throughout the convention center for different periods of adoration, but there weren’t enough back ways, and the halls were thick with crowds of people moving between break-out sessions, explained Father Patrick Briscoe, a Dominican priest and liturgical organizer for the event. 

So, the priests took Jesus through the crowd in the monstrance. In the rush of switching sessions, the people paused, and knelt quietly as Jesus passed by. 

“People in these jam-packed hallways, trying to scramble from one session to the next, dropped to their knees,” he recalled. “They shouted out, ‘Jesus is coming,’ and dropped to their knees and waited and prayed until the Blessed Sacrament had walked past them.”

“Our people's devotion was extraordinary,” Briscoe continued. “And part of that was a new posture that they had been taught as a result of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which had taught and modeled the reverence one should show the Blessed Sacrament, but also the spirit of the event made it a very natural thing.” 

“It was deeply moving because in another context, it could have been inconvenient or unexpected,” he added. “And so to see our people respond with patient and extraordinary reverence really touched my heart as a priest.”

A defining moment for the decades 

“It showcased the strength of our tradition, and it demonstrated to people that the Church is alive,” said Briscoe. “It allowed people to express their love for the Church. To show up for a celebration that wasn't political, that wasn't charged with the fraught and polarizing climate that so many other activities and events are charged with today, was supremely liberating.” 

World Youth Day 1993 in Denver with St. John Paul II was a defining moment for a generation. The call to a “New Evangelization” reverberates through the decades. 

The movement was both the fruit of WYD93, and a new form of it, Sister Aloysius observed. 

“I do think it's like a World Youth Day in Denver, and it will be one of those moments where we go back and remember, and people will find their vocations or hear God speaking to them in these talks, and then say, ‘When I was in Indianapolis in 2024, that's when my life changed,’” Sister Mary Michael reflected.  

“I do think powerful conversions were happening at the Congress itself,” she added. “And these people who attended will go back to their parishes and start their own revivals. They'll start drawing people back to the faith in their families or in their local communities that haven't been to Mass in a long time.”

“The Lord planted so many beautiful seeds in his garden of his church,” Aguero reflected. “And the Lord, in our faith and hope in him, will, through the Holy Spirit, nurture and grow those seeds for the flourishing of his church.” 

The event was so effective because it was “led by liturgy,” Bishop Conley observed. 

“I'm convinced that the New Evangelization will never take place, never really be truly fruitful without an experience of the liturgy and the transcendence,” he said. “You can have all the apologetics in the world. You can have all of the instruction and Bible studies and all of that, but unless you have this experience of beauty — the beauty of God in a transcendent prayerful worship experience, which really takes you out of yourself into the mystery of the love of God through prayer and through the sacrament — then that's where we truly encounter the living Lord.”

“We meet him, and we have this heart-to-heart encounter that really goes beyond reason to worship. When we were caught up into the beauty and love and mercy of God through prayer and sacrament. And that's what we had. That's what we experienced.”

Go forth: Taking the message home 

“I think the most important thing is, yes, it was amazing, but at the end of the day, we have to experience our own personal revival, and I think that's what really made a difference,” Sister Aloysius said.

“For me, I can say it really did touch my heart, and it deepened my love for our eucharistic Lord. So there definitely was a personal revival within me,” she said. “From there, the message, especially on the last day, was to go out and share what we have tasted, heard, and seen with our own eyes to others. And that is going to be the impact. We have to go through our own personal revival through repentance.” 

“The message [of the conference] was to now take this experience that you've had of unity, of encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist — this really intimate, powerful experience of Christ's love and mercy in the Eucharist. Take that now, and take that back with you to your homes,” Conley said. 

“Reach out to those who have either fallen away or who no longer go to church or who are still questioning and looking for answers: this is what I hope will be the fruit, and this is what the message was,” he continued. 

“But for me, I think seeing how on fire Catholics were for the eucharistic Lord and going out to the streets to tell people about Jesus, it really increased my zeal for souls,” Sister Mary Michael Carlton said.

“It facilitated [revival] for us there, but then what I hoped that it did, at least did in me, was that it showed that you don't need to get 60,000 people together and all these bishops, all these sisters — you don't need to get all these people together to have that encounter in the Eucharist,” Aguero said. 

“The Eucharist that was there is the same Eucharist that comes down every single Sunday during Mass, every single day at daily Mass,” he concluded. “It's the same Eucharist that awaits us in our chapels for when we are going home.” 

Seminarians and their teachers at St. Augustine Major Seminary in Jos, Nigeria. / Credit: Father Peter Hassan

ACI Africa, Jul 27, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Seminarians in Africa are not allowed “to be themselves” and must find ways “to get by,” a Catholic priest from Nigeria has said, challenging institutions that form future priests to encourage better communication between seminarians and those who form them. 

In his presentation at the seventh session of the ongoing synodal conversations being held ahead of the October session in Rome, Father Augustine Anwuchie, a Fidei Donum priest serving in Niger, decried the “lack of authenticity” in priestly formation in Africa, noting that some seminarians are forced to adopt a “survival mentality” in their interactions with their superiors. 

“During my formation, I had the opportunity to study in two seminaries in Nigeria. I saw ‘survival mentality’ where seminarians, because of how formation is structured, adopt ways to survive around their formators — how to survive around bishops, around Christians and in Christian communities,” Anwuchie said.

“I have been a vice rector at a seminary and I saw a lack of openness. You see lack of authenticity,” he said during the July 19 meeting that the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network organized in collaboration with the Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar.

The Nigerian-born priest, who serves as assistant pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Niger’s Diocese of Maradi, continued: “I am not saying that we should copy everything that is done in Europe. But there are aspects of formation that formators in Africa can borrow from other places, including encouraging openness, communication, and authenticity with seminarians.”

According to Anwuchie, priests who are not formed “to be authentic” experience difficulties when relating to other Christians. “Instead of becoming men, we continue to live as boys and this is not helping in our pastoral work,” he said.

He lamented that in many major seminaries in Africa, aspects of human formation and the expansion of emotional intelligence are neglected while what seminarians “ought to do” and how they “ought to behave” is emphasized.

Seminarians become reactive to situations, he said, which continues when they become priests.

Anwuchie expressed concern that most parishes in his native country of Nigeria, and in Africa generally, are experiencing crises between clergy and laity because priests are not imparted with “emotional intelligence” during their formation.

The July 19 meeting was the latest in a series of digital meetings that theologians and other experts in Africa have organized to deepen their understanding of the synthesis report that came out of the October 2023 session of the multiyear Synod on Synodality. 

Participants in the virtual event explored the theme “The Revision of Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis in a Missionary Synodal Perspective” based on the December 2015 document of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy translated as “The Gift of the Priestly Vocation.”

The online discussions, also known as “palavers,” were structured around present-day seminary formation in Africa, with participants reflecting on what is working and what is not working based on experiences from different parts of the continent. 

In her presentation, Sister Dominica Dipio pointed out the disconnect and said she had observed it in seminaries and in the life of priests in parishes and in communities.

The Ugandan-born member of the Missionary Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church and consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture expressed concern that many priests do not continue with formation, which participants at the July 19 palaver agreed should be ongoing.

“Most of the priests are overwhelmed by their assignments and they quickly burn out. They hardly have time to engage in their own formation, which is supposed to be ongoing,” said Dipio, who is also a professor of literature at Uganda’s Makerere University.

“I have met priests in retreats who have for years not had the experience of retreat. The involvement in mission takes all their time and burns them out,” Dipio said, appealing to bishops to allow priests “to reconnect with God as the center.”

“For our priests, ongoing formation is quite a challenge and we need to support them, especially the young ones,” Dipio said.

Cardinal Stephen Brislin from the Archdiocese of Cape Town in South Africa reminded participants at the palaver that the ongoing formation of priests is a responsibility of each episcopal see and religious order.

Brislin noted that seminaries in Africa are already doing “an excellent job” in terms of academic formation, intellectual stimulation, and teaching students discipline and routine.

However, Brislin said that seminarians should be involved in the joys and struggles of ordinary people, adding: “To the extent that seminaries are not providing that, I think it is incumbent that dioceses supplement it during holidays, to put them in communities and situations where they can be with people and people can take some responsibility as well in this formation.”

This article was first published by ACI Africa, CNA's news partner in Africa, and has been adapted by CNA.

A picture taken on March 27, 2019, shows a scaffold during the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in Paris. / Credit: LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jul 27, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The city of Paris is hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics beginning July 26 through Aug. 11. More than 10,000 athletes from 206 countries are expected to compete in 32 different sports. Paris is one of only three cities to have hosted the Summer Games three times — in 1900, 1924, and now 2024. 

For Catholics visiting the historic city for the games, there is a plethora of Catholic holy sites and landmarks worth visiting. Here’s a closer look at five of them:

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notably the most famous cathedral in Paris — and one of the most famous in the world — the Notre Dame Cathedral is a must-see. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the French Gothic-style cathedral is visited by more than 12 million people each year. Due to a fire in 2019 that caused significant damage to the historic landmark, entry inside the cathedral is not permitted until December. However, visitors are still able to view the cathedral from the outside.

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal at Rue du Bac

The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal was first built in 1815 and was dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Fifteen years later, in 1830, the chapel would become the location of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Catherine Labouré, a sister of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Three apparitions took place in July, November, and December in which the Blessed Mother told Catherine to have a medal cast based on the images she allowed her to see. Roughly 3 million people visit the shrine each year.

Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre

The Basilica of Sacré Coeur de Montmartre, commonly known as Sacré Coeur Basilica, is a Catholic church and minor basilica in Paris also dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The basilica also serves as a sanctuary for perpetual adoration, which has been taking place 24/7 at the sanctuary for almost 140 years. Visitors can take part in Eucharistic adoration as well as visit the chapels to admire the different mosaics and climb up the dome for an incredible view of Paris.

Notre Dame des Victoires 

Built in 1629 by Louis XIII, the Shrine of Our Lady of Victories in Paris is a well-known Marian site that has a special connection with St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her parents, Sts. Zelie and Louis Martin. In letters written by the Martin family, they mention their love for Our Lady of Victories and thank her on several occasions for her intercession. The shrine has two chapels dedicated to the Martin family — one for Thérèse and the other for Zelie and Louis where, since 2012, relics of the holy couple are housed.

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

The Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is a church in Paris dedicated to the city’s patron St. Genevieve, who was known for her piety, healings, and miracles. It is said that thanks to her prayers, Paris was saved from being destroyed by the Huns under Attila in 451. The church is also home to relics of St. Genevieve and the tomb of St. Blaise Pascal. 

In reparation for the blasphemy, Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, called on Catholics to “fast and pray, renew our devotion to the Eucharist, the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary.” / Credit: "EWTN News Nightly" / Screenshot

CNA Newsroom, Jul 27, 2024 / 01:17 am (CNA).

A drag queen-led parody of the Last Supper featured during Friday’s opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics has sparked a wave of incensed reactions and denunciations.

In a statement released Saturday, the French Bishops’ Conference criticized the “scenes of derision and mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore.”

“We thank the members of other religious denominations who have expressed their solidarity. This morning, we think of all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes,” the French bishops said.

One of the best known prelates of the Catholic Church in the United States, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota, called on Catholics to “make their voices heard” in response to what he called “the gross mockery of the Last Supper.”

In a post on X, Barron said the blasphemous act was emblematic of a “deeply secularist postmodern society” that identifies Christianity as its enemy. 

Meanwhile, in reparation for the blasphemy, Bishop Donald Hying of Madison, Wisconsin, immediately called on all Catholics to “fast and pray, renew our devotion to the Eucharist, the Sacred Heart and the Virgin Mary.”

“May Jesus be adored and loved in every tabernacle throughout the world,” Hying added in a post on X in which he thanked the Lord for the Eucharist, the Last Supper and his “love for us.”

Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas was also quick to share his reaction, stating “My vocabulary is not varied enough to find a word for the feeling in the pit of my stomach” and asserting that people of Christian faith “deserve more respect.”

Flores’ sentiments were also echoed by non-Christians. “Even as a Jew, I am infuriated by this outrageous insult to Jesus and Christianity,” said Dr. Eli David. He panned the opening ceremonies as reflecting a Europe that is “culturally dying.”

The world’s materially richest man, Elon Musk, also called the spectacle “extremely disrespectful to Christians.”

For his part, United States Senator Marco Rubio, a Catholic, responded to what he called the Olympic “freak show” by quoting Jude 1:18 “In the last time there will be scoffers who will live according to their own godless desires.”

Updated July 27, 2024, to include the French bishops’ reaction.

The motto of the modern Olympic Games, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” was coined by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon. / Credit: Pixabay / Public Domain

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

The motto of the modern Olympic Games, “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” was coined by French Dominican friar Louis Henri Didon, who became friends with the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, five years before the 1896 Athens Games.

The motto, originally formulated in Latin as “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” was used before the modern Olympic movement at St. Albert the Great School in Paris, where the Dominican friar was the principal.

Born in 1840, Didon entered the Rondeau Minor Seminary in Grenoble, France, beginning at the age of nine, and during his youth, he stood out for his ability as an athlete. After visiting the Carthusian monastery in Grenoble, he decided to follow a religious vocation and took the habit of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) at the age of 16. Six years later, after a period of formation in Rome, he was ordained a priest at age 22.

Military chaplain, prisoner, and refugee

Didon soon gained fame as a preacher. During the brief Franco-Prussian War, which broke out in July 1870, he was a military chaplain and for a time was held as a prisoner. When he fell ill, he ended up as a refugee in Geneva, Switzerland. From there he was sent to Marseille, where he resumed his sometimes controversial preaching activity, which led to his being sent to Corsica in 1880. 

A decade later he was appointed principal of St. Albert the Great School in Paris where he established sports as part of the school's educational program and promoted sports competition. This decision was the result of belief in the value of sports and the contact he had had with Pierre de Coubertin since 1891.

In the first race they organized, the Dominican decided to embroider on the school flag the famous motto, which would become an Olympic motto in 1894, during the first Olympic Congress held in Paris in 1894.

Two years later, Athens hosted the first Olympic Games, which have since been held every four years, interrupted only three times due to World Wars I and II (1916, 1940, and 1944) and postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Norwegian players Christian Sorum (L), Anders Mol (2ndL) and Australian players Zachery Schubert (2ndR) and Thomas Hodges (R) take part in a practice session ahead of the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Eiffel Tower Stadium in Paris on July 24, 2024. / Credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images

Vatican City, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:26 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis and Athletica Vaticana, the official Holy See sports association, have invited all athletes participating in the 2024 Olympic Games to harness the “great social power of sport” to unite people and be witnesses of peace, particularly during these times of international tensions and conflict.  

Around 300,000 spectators welcomed thousands of athletes representing 206 countries at the opening ceremony of this year’s summer games in Paris today.

The ceremony to open the two-week international festival took place at 7:30 p.m. in Paris (1:30 p.m. ET). The Olympic Games, which take place between July 26 and Aug. 11 this year, are expected to draw approximately 800,000 tourists to France and an additional one billion viewers who wish to watch the sports events on TV or other digital channels. 

During his Sunday Angelus address on July 21, Pope Francis expressed his hope that this year’s Olympics will bring athletes and spectators together and “peacefully unite people from different cultures.”

“I hope that this event may be a beacon of the inclusive world we want to build and that athletes, with their sporting testimony, may be messengers of peace and authentic models for young people,” the Holy Father said.    

Over 10,000 athletes from around the world will compete in 32 different sports in this year’s summer games. This year’s Olympics will debut surfing, sport climbing, skateboarding, and also breakdancing.

The Paralympic Games will also take place in Paris this year from Aug. 28 - Sept. 8. Approximately 4,400 athletes will participate in 22 sports — including sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball — in venues across the city such as at the Eiffel Tower, the Château de Versailles, and the Grand Palais. 

Athletica Vaticana sent an open letter addressed to Olympians and Paralympians yesterday on the vigil of the opening ceremony and encouraged all athletes to “win the medal of fraternity” this summer.  

“The Olympics and Paralympics can be strategies for peace and antidotes to war games,” reads the letter. “The Games can be opportunities for hope.” 

Prior to the Olympics opening ceremony, a Mass of Peace was celebrated on July 19 in France. Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and Archbishop Emmanuel Gobilliard of Digne concelebrated the Mass which was attended by the president of the International Olympic Committee, athletes. and diplomats. 

Since the inception of the modern-day Olympics in 1896, Paris has twice been selected to host the summer games. This year marks 100 years since Paris first hosted the Olympics in 1924. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Russian Orthodox Church Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev during a state ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on September 22, 2016. / Credit: Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Jul 26, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Budapest-Hungary has been temporarily suspended following reports about an ongoing investigation of sexual misconduct with a young staff member.

According to the online news site Novaya Gazeta Europe, Georgy Suzuki, who served as the bishop’s personal assistant between Oct. 2022 and Jan. 2024, was sexually harassed on several occasions by the 58-year-old high-ranking prelate.

Alfeyev has reportedly denied all allegations made by Suzuki. 

Earlier this month, Church Times reported that 11 Russian Orthodox priests in Budapest signed a joint statement defending Alfeyev who, they believe, is innocent and a victim of a “dirty slanderous campaign.”    

Yesterday, Novaya Gazeta Europe published several photos as well as details of private messages shared between Suzuki and Alfeyev, highlighting the bishop’s sexually inappropriate behavior and materially-excessive lifestyle. Alfeyev reportedly purchased mansions in France and Hungary as well as expensive watches, and spent holidays on yachts and at expensive beach resorts.

Though Suzuki told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Alfeyev’s advances never led to sexual encounters, he said he and his family suffered coercion, blackmail, and retaliation from the bishop who, in turn, accused Suzuki of sexually inappropriate behavior.   

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has appointed metropolitan Bishop Nestor of Korshun and Western Europe as temporary administrator of the Budapest-Hungary diocese while investigations are underway. 

Alfeyev has subsequently been permanently dismissed as president of the Synodal Theological Commission, and as chairman of the Theological Committee. However, it is not the first time the Russian metropolitan has been removed from a prominent position in the Orthodox Church. 

In 2022, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow dismissed Alfeyev as president of the Department of External Church Relations and as a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. That same year, he was also removed as metropolitan bishop of Volokolamsk and then transferred to Hungary and appointed as metropolitan bishop of Budapest. 

A 2022 article published by The Orthodox Times speculates that his dismissals two years ago were not linked to sexual misconduct but to the bishop’s “mild stance” on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which contrasted to that of Patriarch Kirill’s “full identification” with the Russian government’s hardline on Ukraine.     

In light of the publicity of the allegations of sexual misconduct by former church worker Suzuki, the Russian Orthodox Church has created a special committee to further investigate the case against Alfeyev.  

First row (L-R) Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina. Bottom row (L-R) Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain/Official Photo

National Catholic Register, Jul 26, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

Kamala Harris is the Democrats’ presumptive nominee for president, bringing with her a long track record of promoting abortion and curtailing religious liberties.

But where do her potential vice presidential picks stand on these critical issues?

The dearth of national-level Democrats open to even modest restrictions of abortion and robust protections for religious liberties — a byproduct of the party’s strong shift to the left over the past decade — means that Harris will likely end up with a running mate who shares her views on the issues.

Here is a breakdown of the abortion and religious liberty views of eight VP contenders, along with what they could bring to the Democratic ticket.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, Arizona 

Kelly, 60, offers Harris a chance to have a veteran on the ticket from a battleground state Biden narrowly won in 2020, after Trump won it in 2016. 

The former U.S. Navy pilot and astronaut could be portrayed as a centrist pick since he has criticized the Biden administration for not welcoming more oil and natural gas production and for not securing the country’s border with Mexico.

On abortion, though, Kelly is in lock step with his party’s positions. 

Kelly, who says he grew up Catholic, supports codifying Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide for more than 49 years, until it was overturned by the court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.

On religious freedom, the Arizona senator made a point of highlighting the inclusion of protections for religious groups and individuals in his statement celebrating the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022. Kelly’s statement also noted that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had backed the bill, which enshrined the right to same-sex marriage into federal law.

The U.S. bishops, however, had opposed the legislation, calling the religious liberty guarantees “insufficient.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania 

Shapiro, 51, is a popular governor in a pivotal swing state, making him an attractive possibility on Harris’ ticket. He beat out a Trump-backed candidate in 2022 by nearly 15 points to become Pennsylvania’s top executive after serving six years as the Keystone State’s attorney general. 

Shapiro has also cited his Jewish faith as an inspiration for his political involvement, which some believe could help the Harris campaign appeal to religious voters.

But religious voters, especially Catholics, might be less excited about his position on abortion. As governor, Shapiro has taken steps not only to expand access to abortion but also to limit alternatives. He ended a 30-year Pennsylvania program that funded pregnancy resource centers and instead launched a website to connect residents with abortion services. 

Earlier this month, Shapiro said his administration wouldn’t defend a state law that prohibits Medicaid fundings from being used on abortion after the law was challenged in court. 

As Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Shapiro sued the Trump administration for giving broad religious exemptions from a contraception mandate, a move that religious liberty experts feared could affect groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

In 2018, he also released a grand jury report of more than 1,000 cases of alleged clergy sex abuse in Pennsylvania since 1940, which was described by a former New York Times columnist as “grossly misleading, irresponsible, inaccurate, and unjust.”

Gov. Roy Cooper, North Carolina

Cooper is the second-term Democratic governor of a swing state that leans Republican and went for Trump in 2016 and 2020. 

Cooper, 67, is a member of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., and has previously taught religious education and served as a deacon. In 2023, he received the Faith Active in Public Life Award from a North Carolina council of Protestant denominations and congregations.

In 2019, Cooper vetoed a bill called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act, which sought to require doctors to save the life of a baby born alive after an attempted abortion. Cooper called the bill “an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients” and said it “would criminalize doctors and other health care providers for a practice that simply does not exist.”

In May 2023, Cooper vetoed a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks, which the Republican-controlled state Legislature subsequently enacted by overriding his veto. 

In May 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, Cooper limited church services to 10 people, a measure ultimately barred by a federal judge who said the move “appears to trust citizens to perform nonreligious activities indoors (such as shopping or working or selling merchandize) but does not trust them to do the same when they worship together indoors.” 

Earlier in his tenure, the governor was accused by social conservatives of infringing upon the religious liberties of North Carolinans after he signed a 2017 executive order expanding nondiscrimination protections to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.”

Gov. Andy Beshear, Kentucky 

Beshear, a second-term Democratic governor in a solidly Republican state, would offer Harris a seasoned politician who is used to making his messaging sound moderate. 

At 46, the former corporate lawyer and son of a former governor of Kentucky is considered a rising star in the party.

While he is a pro-abortion governor in a pro-life state, Beshear aims for a moderate tone on the issue, offering a different approach from that of the national Democratic Party. 

“I’ve been very clear that I support Roe v. Wade, but I also support reasonable restrictions, especially on late-term procedures,” Beshear told a local television station in 2019.

In April 2020, during the coronavirus shutdowns, Beshear ordered Kentucky state police to take down license plate numbers outside Maryville Baptist Church in Louisville, which held a service despite the governor’s order banning it. 

However, three years later the practicing member of the Disciples of Christ signed a religious liberty bill into law. The new legislation prohibits the government from restricting religious organizations more severely than “essential” businesses and organizations and provides a legal route for religious groups “to sue the government if discriminated against.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan 

Like Shapiro, Whitmer is a popular governor from a key battleground state. She won a second term as Michigan’s governor in 2022 by nearly 11 points.

The 52-year-old’s proven record of sparring with Trump and his allies could be an asset on the campaign trail, though most analysts think Harris is more likely to opt for a male running mate to balance the ticket.

But Harris could pick Whitmer if she wants to make the election all about abortion. 

The mother of two has shared her story of being raped as a college student to make the case for abortion exceptions for pregnancies resulting from abuse. After the fall of Roe, she helped repeal a law on the books that banned abortions in Michigan and followed that by signing legislation in 2023 that undid a slew of abortion regulations, including a ban on partial-birth abortions. 

On religious liberty, Whitmer supported an amendment that added sexual orientation to Michigan’s nondiscrimination laws. The bill did not include religious liberty protections called for by Catholics and other religious groups. 

The governor also signed off on a 2024 ban of “any intervention that attempts to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” which some Catholic counselors said would prevent them from counseling children struggling with their gender identity in a way consistent with their faith.

Secretary Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Department of Transportation

As a 2020 contender for the Democrats’ presidential nomination, the 42-year-old Buttigieg already has some national recognition. 

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would bring a dose of Midwest likability to Harris’ ticket and has already demonstrated the kind of talking points he’d employ against GOP vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. 

As Biden’s secretary of transportation, abortion hasn’t exactly been a top issue for the Democrat over the past four years. 

But during his 2020 run, Buttigieg made it clear that he supports legal abortion, and he also called for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which limits federal funding for abortion. And as “Mayor Pete,” the then-local politician vetoed a city council decision to allow a crisis pregnancy center to open next door to an abortion facility.

The Episcopalian may have been given a fellowship at Notre Dame, but his conception of religious liberty is “minimalistic,” according to The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson. Buttigieg makes “no provision for religious institutions such as colleges to admit or hire according to their traditional religious standards,” Gerson wrote.

Buttigieg, who is in a civil marriage with a man and has twin children via adoption, has criticized those who appeal to religious liberty protections, claiming that their approach makes “it lawful to harm people so long as you remember to use your religion as an excuse.” 

Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota 

Walz as Harris’ running mate wouldn’t likely make a difference in more-blue-than-purple Minnesota, but the 60-year-old, two-term governor would bring executive experience to the Democrats’ ticket. 

Additionally, Walz spent over a decade as the U.S. representative of a more conservative district in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, showing some capacity to appeal to moderates. 

As governor of Minnesota, Walz has aimed to turn the state into a “refuge” for abortion. In 2023 he signed legislation that would make it easier for out-of-staters to get abortions in Minnesota and codified a right to abortion in the state earlier in the year. 

Walz has already said that abortion will play a “major role” in this November’s presidential election and said voters will have the choice “to continue on making sure that women have bodily autonomy, or to turn that clock back.” 

A Lutheran, Walz approved a bill this year adding religious exemptions to Minnesota’s nondiscrimination statutes, which the Minnesota Catholic Conference and other religious groups said was needed to ensure that faith-based organizations, churches, and schools could act on their beliefs when addressing gender-identity issues. 

However, in 2023 Walz signed legislation that prevented high school students from attending classes at religious colleges for high school credit because these colleges require a statement of faith from all students. Parents and religious colleges have sued the state, and the case is still pending. 

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois

Pritzker, 59, is a second-term governor of a solidly Democratic state who would bring serious money to a presidential ticket. A member of the family that founded the Hyatt Corporation, he has a net worth of $3.5 billion and spent $171.5 million of his own money in his successful 2018 campaign to become Illinois’ top executive.

In a party that values access to abortion, Pritzker might boast of having the best credentials of anyone on most VP short lists.

He has approved new legislation repealing both the state’s requirement of parental notification for minors seeking abortion and its ban on partial birth abortions. In the latter case, the new statute allows abortion until viability, and then after that if a “health care professional” determines “the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the patient.” 

In 2023, Prtitzker signed a bill banning “deceptive practices” by pro-life crisis pregnancy centers but it was blocked by a federal court after the Thomas More Society sued claiming the law is illegal because it sought to unconstitutionally restrict free speech.

Beyond Illinois, Pritzker founded a political fundraising organization primarily to stump for access to abortion nationwide called Think Big America. He referred to opponents of abortion as “far right” and “extremists” in a YouTube video promoting the organization.

The Illinois governor, who was raised a Reform Jew, caught fire from religious liberty groups in 2020 after limiting religious services to no more than 10 participants as a COVID-19 related measure. The Thomas More Society called it a “stomp on the religious liberty of the people of Illinois.” Following a slew of lawsuits, Pritzker changed the mandates to “guidelines.”

This article was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA's sister news partner, on July 25, 2024, and has been adapted by CNA.

null / Credit: Brian A Jackson / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 26, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of the legality of a law that restricts abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy and prohibits doctors from performing sex change surgeries on minors, which allows both rules to remain in effect in the state.

Nebraska lawmakers passed the law in 2023, which covers both issues: abortion and sex change procedures for minors. The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit which argued that the legislation violated Nebraska’s single subject rule, which states that “no bill shall contain more than one subject.”

The state supreme court rejected that argument, noting in the majority opinion that “single subject challenges are rare, and single subject violations even rarer.” According to the ruling, the law addresses the subject of “public health and welfare,” which encompasses both abortion and sex change procedures. 

“Prior cases have also emphasized that a bill may enact multiple policies, so long as those policies are united under a common purpose or object,” the judges wrote in the ruling.

“We disagree with Planned Parenthood’s contention that it is not possible to identify a single purpose of [the bill] that withstands single subject scrutiny,” the opinion continued. “[The law] does regulate both abortion and gender-altering care, but both abortion and gender-altering care are medical procedures, and [it] prescribes rules that define if and when such procedures can be performed.”

In response to the ruling, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen said he is “grateful for the court’s thorough and well-reasoned opinion upholding these important protections for life and children in Nebraska.”

“There was a dark moment last year when many feared that a victory for unborn babies was impossible and that the pro-life coalition might break apart,” the governor continued. “I was honored to partner with faithful allies and leaders across the state to combine the abortion ban with protections for kids against irreversible sex change surgeries. We worked overtime to bring that bill to my desk and I give thanks to God that I had the privilege to sign it into law.”

Ruth Richardson, president of Planned Parenthood North Central States, called the decision “heart-wrenching and infuriating” in a statement.

“This ban has already devastated Nebraskans’ lives and will undoubtedly widen dangerous health inequities for people in rural areas, people of color, people with low incomes, and young people,” Richardson said.

Nebraska law prohibits elective abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy but still allows for abortions in cases of rape, incest, and medical emergencies. Lawmakers failed to pass a law that would prohibit most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy after one Republican abstained from the vote.

The law also prohibits sex change surgeries for patients younger than 19. However, it still allows doctors to provide sex change drugs to minors in certain circumstances, such as when the “individual has a long-lasting and intense pattern of gender nonconformity or gender dysphoria.”

Although the law remains in effect, Nebraskans will vote on a referendum on Nov. 5, which would establish a constitutional right to abortion in the state constitution. Pro-life activists are trying to get a separate referendum on the ballot, which would restrict abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, similar to current law.

Omaha Archbishop George Lucas in a 2011 photo. / null

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 26, 2024 / 15:40 pm (CNA).

Omaha Archbishop George Lucas has categorically denied accusations that he sexually abused two minors several decades ago while he was dean of education at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary in Missouri.

Lucas is one of several dozen priests, nuns, and lay men and women accused of sexual abuse of minors in a series of five separate lawsuits filed by 27 anonymous plaintiffs on Wednesday.

The abuse is alleged to have occurred over the span of several decades, with some of the purported crimes allegedly having occurred as recently as 2015.

The lawsuit naming Lucas was filed in the St. Louis County District Court. It alleges that as a priest Lucas coerced a 16-year-old boy identified as “D.S.” and another student into performing sexual acts with him at the St. Louis school. 

The suit alleges that Lucas first met D.S. at the school in 1988 and that the now-archbishop of Omaha began regularly sexually abusing the victim when he was a junior in high school, including manipulating him into performing a sexual act for better grades on at least one occasion.

Lucas strongly denied the accusations in a statement to CNA on Friday.

"I categorically deny the accusation made by an anonymous person. I have never had sexual contact with another person,” the prelate said.

The archbishop said he has “referred the matter” to the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, “for his guidance."

The five lawsuits were filed within 24 hours of each other in five different Missouri counties within the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. 

The suits are seeking compensation for damages by the alleged abusers from the Archdiocese of St. Louis and its head, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski.

Rozanski, who has been head of the diocese since 2020, is not being accused of sexual abuse, though the suit accuses Rozanski of knowingly covering up “multiple decades” worth of sexual abuse of minors.

According to David Clohessy, a spokesman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), ten of the accused persons named in the lawsuits are still living.

Clohessy said that the testimony in the suits would encourage others to also come forward and would help heal victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

“Among the most devastating consequences of childhood sexual abuse is a feeling of utter helplessness. So, when victims are able to speak and take action and expose wrongdoers it helps victims feel like they're making progress and turning their pain into something that can be helpful to others,” he said.

The anonymous plaintiffs in the suits are being represented by attorneys from the law firms Bailey & Glasser, Levy Konigsberg, and Randles Mata.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis did not immediately respond to a query from CNA.