August 7, 2024 // National

News Briefs: August 11, 2024

OSV NEWS

Vatican Officials ‘Saddened’ by Olympics’ Opening Ceremony

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – More than a week after the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, Vatican officials joined others who complained that a segment of the show featuring drag performers offended Christians. “The Holy See was saddened by certain scenes in the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris and can only join the voices that have been raised in recent days to deplore the offense caused to many Christians and believers of other religions,” said the statement published by the Vatican Press Office on Saturday, August 3. The statement did not specifically identify the July 26 performance, which featured drag performers, including one wearing a crown, seated at a table in a scene that reminded many of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper. “In a prestigious event where the whole world gathers around common values, there should be no allusions that ridicule the religious convictions of many people,” the statement said.

Pope Pleads for Restraint in Middle East after Killing of Hamas Leader

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As fears of a widening war in the Middle East grew again in early August, Pope Francis pleaded with the region’s leaders to exercise restraint and engage in dialogue. “Let us have the courage to resume dialogue so that there is an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and on all fronts, the hostages are freed, and the people are helped with humanitarian aid,” the pope said on Sunday, August 4, after leading the recitation of the Angelus prayer. “Attacks, even targeted ones, and killings can never be a solution,” the pope told thousands of people gathered in the midday heat to pray with him. The pope’s remarks came after the July 31 killing of a top Hamas leader in Iran. Attacks and killings, the pope said, never promote “the path of justice, the path of peace, but generate even more hatred and revenge.”

Pope Appoints Rhode Island Bishop to Succeed Cardinal O’Malley in Boston

BRAINTREE, Massachusetts (OSV News) – Ending months of speculation about the future leadership of the Archdiocese of Boston, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley and appointed Bishop Richard G. Henning of Providence, Rhode Island, to succeed him as the archdiocese’s 10th bishop and seventh archbishop. The resignation and appointment were publicized in Washington, D.C., on Monday, August 5, by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. According to offiials with the archdiocese, Archbishop Henning will be installed on October 31. Cardinal O’Malley remains archbishop of Boston until that date. According to rules set by Pope St. Paul VI, all bishops must submit their resignation to the pope at age 75, which the pope is free to accept or defer as he chooses. However, because the same rules dictate that cardinals lose their appointments in Vatican dicasteries and may not participate in the conclave to elect the next pope once they turn 80, it is typically expected that the pope will accept the resignation of active cardinals at or around that age. Cardinal O’Malley celebrated his 80th birthday on June 29. He has headed the Boston Archdiocese since July 2003. Archbishop Henning has headed the Providence Diocese since his May 1, 2023, installation.

Ohio Pastor Resigns for Destroying Evidence

MASON, Ohio (OSV News) – A pastor of an Archdiocese of Cincinnati parish has resigned from his post following complaints from parishioners regarding his admitted effort to destroy evidence of a fellow priest’s possession of pornographic images, including material that possibly involved the sexual abuse of children. In a letter dated Tuesday, July 30, Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr of Cincinnati told members of St. Susanna Parish in Mason, Ohio, that he had accepted the resignation of Father Barry Stechschulte and appointed retired archdiocesan priest Father Jeff Kemper as temporary administrator of the parish. In a July 12 letter, Father Stechschulte had apologized to parishioners for his decision in October of 2012 as pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in St. Mary’s, Ohio, ordering Deacon Martin Brown to destroy a hard drive containing pornographic images found on a computer used by the previous pastor, Father Anthony Cutcher. While Father Stechschulte and Deacon Brown later filed a 2018 report with police, the investigation was closed due to lack of evidence of child sexual abuse material. Father Cutcher was removed from ministry in 2021.

Jubilee 2025 Will Not Feature Diocesan Holy Doors

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While bishops around the world are asked to designate their cathedrals or other significant churches as special places of pilgrimage and prayer for the Holy Year 2025, Vatican officials are not asking them to dedicate and open a “Holy Door” at those churches. Officials with the Dicastery for Evangelization, which is coordinating the celebration of the Jubilee, issued a note on Thursday, August 1, praising “the pastoral and devotional motivations” of bishops who wanted to designate a local Holy Door but saying the only holy doors will be at the basilicas of St. Peter at the Vatican, St. John Lateran, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome and, perhaps, at a prison. In Spes Non Confundit (“Hope Does Not Disappoint”), the papal bull officially proclaiming the Holy Year, Pope Francis wrote that “in order to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I would myself like to open a Holy Door in a prison, as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.”

New Ohio law requires public schools to ‘reasonably’ accommodate students’ religious beliefs

COLUMBUS, Ohio (OSV News) – On Wednesday, July 24, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed the Religious Expression Days Act into law, which requires every public school to adopt a policy that reasonably accommodates the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of students. The new law also allows students in K-12 to be absent for up to three school days for religious expression per school year, in order that they may celebrate major religious holidays that are not already school holidays, without those days counting against their attendance record. The Catholic Conference of Ohio did not take a position on the law, HB 214, but the group did testify previously during the legislative session as proponents of a similar bill that would have also made accommodations for students in public schools to be excused for holy days. Brian Hickey, Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Ohio, told OSV News the group “welcomes the provisions of the Religious Expression Days Act that recognize the importance of holy days for Catholic families in Ohio.”

USCCB Backs Bill to Help Religious Groups Develop Affordable Housing

WASHINGTON, D.C. (OSV News) – Legislation under consideration in Congress would help faith-based organizations respond to a shortage in affordable housing by easing restrictions on the use of their land to develop affordable housing, supporters say. The Yes in God’s Backyard Act, introduced in March by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, would provide technical assistance to faith-based and nonprofit groups interested in using land they already own to respond to housing shortages in their communities, as well as technical assistance to local governments to facilitate training on best practices for working with such groups. In a July 12 letter to members of Congress, officials with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops urged lawmakers to pass the bill, arguing it would “would help faith-based and nonprofit organizations improve their capacity to meet the housing needs of poor and vulnerable community members.” Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, Chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, said: “The United States is in the midst of a profound and prolonged housing crisis. A systemic lack of affordable housing drives up housing costs for low-income households, exacerbating their financial insecurity.”

People pray at the tomb of Blessed Solanus Casey before Mass at St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit July 30, 2024. Blessed Solanus needs one more miracle attributed to his intercession to be declared a saint. (OSV News photo/Daniel Meloy, Detroit Catholic)