Outer details of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Chicago. / Credit: Eric Allix Rogers

CNA Staff, May 15, 2024 / 12:12 pm (CNA).

Catholics and city preservationists in Chicago are scrambling to try to preserve a historic parish on the city’s North Side, one that has survived a century of the city’s development including being fully moved to a new location after it was first built. 

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish will hold its final Mass on Sunday, May 19, before the parish merges with nearby St. Mary of the Lake. The consolidation is part of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s ongoing “Renew My Church” initiative that has closed and merged dozens of parishes in order to address shrinking budgets and priest shortages. 

The archdiocese announced the Lourdes parish merger in 2021. Katerina Garcia, the president of the Our Lady of Lourdes Church Preservation Society, told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol this week that parishioners at the parish dispute the archdiocese’s reasons for closing the church, particularly the claim that Mass attendance had dropped steadily there. 

“We disagree with that statement because before the merge, Our Lady of Lourdes Church had the highest attendance compared to [other nearby churches],” Garcia told Sabol. 

“They decreased the Masses that we had. So of course that’s going to decrease attendance,” she argued.

Even as the parish’s final Mass looms, Garcia said efforts are underway to save the parish, possibly by purchasing it from the archdiocese. She noted the parish’s remarkable history, including its wholesale move from one side of the street to the other. 

The parish was “literally across the street on the east side of Ashland Avenue,” she told Sabol. “And Daniel Burnham, who was a prominent architect and urban developer in Chicago, wanted to widen the [city streets].” 

“In order for them to widen Ashland Avenue, they had to move the church literally across the street,” she said. “They had 150 men and horses, and they put the 10,000-ton church on top of 400 rails and 3,000 rollers and literally moved it across the street, inching it.”

Once the building was moved to its new location, builders “rotated it 90 degrees” and then “cut the church in half and added a 30-foot insert,” increasing capacity by roughly 50%.

“Back then, 1929, that’s such a very … I can’t even think of the word. It’s just an engineering feat,” Garcia said. 

‘It’s facing an uncertain future’

On its website, the Our Lady of Lourdes Preservation Society says its goal is to “preserve Our Lady of Lourdes Church as a historical landmark, reopen and revive it as a holy shrine.”

The group, formed in 2021 after the merger announcement, wrote on Facebook that it is “going full force to make sure [the property] is preserved as a historical landmark,” with group members aiming to “bring it back to its old glory with a new order in charge.”

Ward Miller, the executive director of the nonprofit Preservation Chicago, said his group has been working to get the building designated as a Chicago landmark. 

The group has highlighted the building’s historical qualities in the past. The parish was “modeled in the Spanish Renaissance-style architecture to resemble a church in Valladolid, Spain,” Preservation Chicago says. Among its many notable features includes a “faithful replica of the grotto in Lourdes, France,” which years ago was made a “perpetual adoration site” and remains ”the area’s only chapel open 24/7 for worship.”

The structure is “facing an uncertain future,” Miller told CNA on Wednesday. “We don’t know if it’s facing a demolition threat or not.”

The building is rated “orange” in the city’s Historic Resources Survey, Miller pointed out, which indicates that it “possesses potentially significant architectural or historical features.”

The Archdiocese of Chicago did not respond to a query on Wednesday regarding the status of the church building and what will become of it after the final Mass this week. 

The parish school, meanwhile — which closed in 2004 — has already been sold, with plans to turn the structure into apartments. 

Garcia told Block Club Chicago earlier this year that she attended the school and that her children were baptized in the parish.

The parish “just has a lot of memories,” she told the outlet. “I actually made the calligraphy on the sign by the grotto entrance, so there are parts of the church I was involved in. There’s so much history there for me and my family.” 

“Every part of that church is important to me,” she said. 

Pope Francis addresses the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his Wednesday general audience on May 15, 2024, at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, May 15, 2024 / 09:10 am (CNA).

During his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis reflected on charity — what he described as the “culmination” of the theological virtues — observing that it is the highest expression of Christian love, predicated on truth and underscored by forgiveness. 

“Love is charity. We immediately realize that it is a difficult, indeed impossible love to practice if one does not live in God. Our human nature makes us love spontaneously what is good and beautiful,” Pope Francis said to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on a sunny morning in Rome.

Pointing to the Sermon on the Mount and repeating twice the Christian maxim “love your enemy,” the pope noted that this teaching represents the highest expression of Christian love, as it “embraces what is not lovable; it offers forgiveness.” 

“It is a love so ardent that it seems almost impossible,” the pope continued, “and yet it is the only thing that will remain of us. Love is the ‘narrow gate’ through which we will pass in order to enter the kingdom of God.” 

Looking at the various manifestations of love, the pope noted that Christians “are capable of all the forms of love in the world” such as that expressed toward friends, civic love, and “the universal love for all humanity.” 

But Francis stressed that it is the theological virtue of charity that enables Christians to love “those who are not lovable” and “those who do not care for us and are not grateful.” 

“This comes from God, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us,” he added. 

Pope Francis also centered his catechesis on St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, noting that the apostle was speaking to a community divided and “anything but perfect in fraternal love.” 

Francis observed that Paul is urging the Corinthians to embrace “not the love that rises but the one that descends.” 

“Paul,” the pope added, “is concerned that in Corinth — as among us today too — there is confusion and that there is actually no trace of the theological virtue of love.” 

The pope contrasted the theological notions of love and charity with contemporary notions such as the one “on the lips of many ‘influencers’” or heard “in the refrains of many songs.”

At the end of the general audience, the pope stressed the importance of the Holy Spirit in light of the solemnity of Pentecost, which will be celebrated on Sunday.

The pope implored the faithful to “be docile to the action of the Holy Spirit,” which he described as “a source of relief for everyone in their trials.” 

The pope also prayed for those affected by recent flash flooding in northern Afghanistan, which has left over 300 people dead and injured more than 1,600. 

“I pray for the victims, in particular for the children and their families, and I appeal to the international community to immediately provide the aid and support necessary to protect the most vulnerable,” the pope said. 

Gloria Purvis, Cardinal Robert McElroy, Bishop Daniel Flores, and Bishop Robert Barron discuss polarization in the Catholic Church during a panel discussion hosted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, Glenmary Home Missioners, and the Jesuit Conference on May 14, 2024. / Credit: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Live Stream YouTube channel

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 15, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Three Catholic bishops warned of a growing ideological polarization within the Church and the need for civil dialogue among those with disagreements during a livestreamed panel discussion on Tuesday afternoon.

“Politics is almost a religion and sometimes it’s a sport, [but] it’s not supposed to be either,” Bishop Daniel Flores of the Diocese of Brownsville, Texas, said during the discussion. 

“It’s supposed to be a civil conversation … to seek what is good and make the priority how to achieve it and how to avoid what is evil,” Flores said. “And I think if we could stay focused on that, we can kind of tone down the caricature and the rhetoric that seeks to dehumanize people.”

The panel discussion included Flores, Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Diocese of San Diego, and Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota. It was moderated by Gloria Purvis, the host of “The Gloria Purvis Podcast” at America Magazine, and co-sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic Charities USA, Glenmary Home Missioners, and the Jesuit Conference.

The panel discussion was part of the USCCB’s “Civilize It” initiative, which is meant to foster civility in important ideological debates. As part of the initiative, the bishops ask Catholics to sign a pledge to affirm the dignity of every human person — including those with different ideological beliefs — and to work with others in pursuit of the common good.

According to the panelists, American society and the Church have grown more polarized when it comes to ideological differences — and debates about those differences have become less civil.

Barron, who founded the Catholic media organization Word on Fire, said disagreements within the Church are nothing new, but the way people approach those disagreements has changed: “What’s broken down is the love that makes real dialogue possible.”

“It’s a tribalism that’s lost the sense of love in dialogue,” Barron said.

The bishop warned that people are more focused on winning arguments and being loyal to an ideological identity than on love. He said these problems are very noticeable in discussions on the internet and encouraged people to ask whether “this comment [is] an act of love” before saying anything. 

“Is it born of love?” Barron said people should ask themselves. “Is it born of a desire to will the good of the other? If it’s not, there’s like a thousand better things to be doing than sending that statement.”

McElroy said too much dialogue today “is meant to be confrontational” to the point at which people “can’t enter into a genuine dialogue.” 

“People are coming toward each other in the life of the Church looking first at that label: What are you? Where do you stand in the war-like culture politics of our country?” the cardinal said.

People focus on this “rather than [on] what unites us: where do we stand in terms of our identity as Catholics and with a Christological outlook,” he added. 

McElroy also built on the concerns Barron highlighted regarding dialogue on the internet.

“When you’re writing the Tweet, imagine Jesus is there with you and when you think through that question ‘should I do this?’” McElroy said. 

Similarly, Flores emphasized the need to remember what Christ would do. 

“He would not be unkind, especially to the poor and especially to those who had no standing in the world,” Flores said. “And also he would never commit an injustice in order to promote justice.”

Easter Vigil at the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross) in Austria. / Credit: Stift Heiligenkreuz

ACI Prensa Staff, May 15, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross) in Austria is the oldest in the world, dating back almost 1,000 years, and currently has more than 100 monks living there. It has never had “interruptions” in its history and is now an oasis of the Catholic Church in Europe, with love for God and others at the center of its work and with the beloved Pope Benedict XVI as an “ally.”

Heiligenkreuz is located about 18 miles from Vienna, the capital of Austria. The monks, explained the Italian newspaper Avvenire, have an average age of 49, which means they are “young” in current Church terms, especially in Europe where there has been a precipitous decline in vocations.

Four or five men each year join the historic abbey, founded in 1135, almost a thousand years ago, making it the oldest Cistercian abbey in the world.

Among the abbey’s current 103 monks, there are 11 with temporary vows and six novices, all led by Abbot Maximilian Heim.

“The most important thing is love for God and others. In a Benedictine monastery [the Cistercians follow the rule of St. Benedict]; this is fulfilled with the triad ‘ora, lege et labora,’ that is, pray, read, and work,” the abbot explained.

For the superior of the abbey, it’s also important to “honor the commandment of Jesus ‘that they may all be one’: unity within the community without egalitarianism and with the necessary freedom for each individual, as well as unity with the Church in practice, which means unity within the order, as well as with the pope and the diocesan bishop.”

Rescuing other monasteries in Europe

On Nov. 21, 2021, the last two Benedictine nuns at the Sabiona monastery in the town of Chiusa in the Italian province of Bolzano left after 335 years of the order’s presence there.

The bishop of Bolzano-Bressanone, Ivo Muser, and Abbess Maria Ancilla Hohenegger lamented what had happened and expressed their wish that the monastery located in the Italian region would continue to be a place of pilgrimage and a center of contemplative life. However, that was only possible some time later, thanks to the Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

After numerous consultations, the conventual chapter of Heiligenkreuz Abbey decided on March 14 to take over the Sabiona monastery with the aim of creating a “spiritual center” on the so-called “holy mountain,” as the place where it is located is known, explained Father Johannes Paul Chavanne to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner.

The monks who will go to the Sabiona monastery will do their pastoral work there but will continue to belong to the Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

Another monastery that received help from Heiligenkreuz Abbey was a Cistercian monastery located in the German Diocese of Görlitzer on the border with Poland.

In 2018, the bishop of Görlitz, Wolfgang Ipolt, asked for help for the Cistercian monastery of Neuzelle and succeeded in getting the Heiligenkreuz Abbey to send six of its monks there in September of that year.

With their presence it was possible to bring back contemplative life to the region after 200 years, as CNA Deutsch reported at the time.

Pope Benedict XVI and Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Next to Heiligenkreuz Abbey is the Benedict XVI School of Theology, which was recognized as a pontifical institution in 2007. Renowned academics such as Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz, one of the greatest experts on the work of the theologian Romano Guardini and of St. Edith Stein, and the canonist Alfred Hierold, former rector of the University of Bamberg, teach there.

The school currently has 342 students from 39 countries such as Germany, Austria, India, Italy, Nigeria, the United States, and Vietnam.

Heim, the abbot of Heiligenkreuz and a member of Pope Benedict XVI’s circle of former students, received the Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation Prize in 2011.

“In addition to being a monk and theologian, he treats topics concerning faith and theology through conferences and the publication of a series of books: Both initiatives are called ‘Auditorium,’” Cardinal Camillo Ruini explained at the time.

On Sept. 9, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the monks of Heiligenkreuz, reminding them that they lived in “the oldest Cistercian monastery in the world that has continued to be active without interruption. I wanted to come to this place rich in history, to draw attention to the fundamental directive of St. Benedict, according to whose rule the Cistercians also live.”

Benedict XVI’s secretary and Cardinal Koch

In April, a conference titled “Beauty, Demands, and the Crisis of the Priesthood” was held at the abbey, in which Archbishop Georg Gänswein, former secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, participated as well as Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.

According to CNA Deutsch, the cardinal spoke about the importance of the Eucharist for the Church, also for the first Christians, while Gänswein highlighted the need to promote “a solid theology of the priesthood that can withstand the misunderstandings of the modern world.”

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

Our Lady of Medianeira is among 31 flooded churches in the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre, Brazil. / Credit: Courtesy photo

ACI Digital, May 14, 2024 / 18:31 pm (CNA).

The heavy rains that have pounded the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul since the end of April have flooded 31 churches in the four vicariates of the Archdiocese of Porto Alegre.

“Due to the height of the water, we lost all the items for Mass, equipment, liturgical books, everything,” Father Fabiano Glaser, pastor of Our Lady Mediatrix Parish in the town of Eldorado do Sul, told ACI Digital, CNA’s Portuguese-language news partner.

The largest flood in the history of Rio Grande do Sul has already affected 450 of the state’s 497 municipalities, nearly 90% of its territory, according to the daily Civil Defense bulletin issued May 14 at 9 a.m. local time. So far there are 147 dead, 125 missing, 806 injured, and more than 538,000 homeless.

More than 76,000 people and 11,000 animals have been rescued. The level of the Guaíba River, which had dropped to 15.5 feet last Friday, May 10, rose again today to 17 feet. According to forecasts from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the water could reach close to 18 feet throughout the day Tuesday.

Catholic churches flooded

Glaser said the parish is located in an urban area that was 100% affected by the heavy rains. The parish includes six churches and only one was not inundated by the waters because it is located in a “neighborhood called Eldorado Park that did not have flooding,” so it was able to accommodate some “homeless people.”

According to the priest, “people are very discouraged because it is the third flood in nine months” and “many people” have said they will leave the city. “Even parish leaders,” the priest added.

“So it’s going to be a long, hard job of rebuilding. I am trying to stay in touch with the parishioners by WhatsApp, by video, and I am trying to stay close [to them] with messages of perseverance,” the priest said.

Since the water invaded the rectory, Glaser said he is taking refuge in the Our Lady of Fátima Parish in Guaíba, a neighboring city. “I am in the rectory with a family of parishioners and there are around 140 people sheltering in the parish hall,” he said.

“Here in the parish I am saying Mass,” the priest said. “So every time there is Mass, I tell the people and those who are nearby to come and participate.”

A parish rescues 1,200 people

Immaculate Conception Parish, which has been in the Rio Branco neighborhood for 72 years, was “the first church devastated by the rains” in the town of Canoas, according to the parochial vicar, Father Rodrigo Barroso. “The water went through the pews and entered the sacristy and the parish office. We lost a lot of material goods,” Barroso told ACI Digital.

According to the priest, the parish “was the rescue point for about 1,200 people who began arriving at the church looking to be rescued” by boat.

Barasso reported that Immaculate Conception School, run by the Franciscan Sisters of Penance and Christian Charity, which is next to the church, “was also badly damaged.” The nuns had to close the church because some people were “looting places and the church was at great risk,” he said.

“With the force of the water, we couldn’t even close the doors of the church. Today I was there and we managed to close the parish,” he added.

The vicar said he doesn’t know how long it will take to “return to normal” in the neighborhood, so Masses are being celebrated in St. Louis Gonzaga Parish in midtown Canoas.

‘Worse than a hurricane’

Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the Harmonia neighborhood of Canoas and its 13 communities were also under water.

“Everything was lost, nothing was saved,” the pastor, Friar Juan Miguel Gutiérrez Mendéz, told ACI Digital.

“All the houses” in the neighborhood “are under water” and this “is a very sad, very distressing, and very desperate reality,” he added.

A native of the Dominican Republic, the Capuchin friar said that the situation in Harmonia is “like a horror movie.”

“In my life, I have never experienced a situation like this; it’s the first time. In the Dominican Republic, which is a land where there are hurricanes every year, I had never experienced a situation like this,” the friar noted. “It’s a very difficult time we are going through.”

According to Gutiérrez, the flooding in Harmonia began on the night of Friday, May 3. “It was exasperating,” he continued. He and another friar managed to save more than 40 people.

“We went up to the third floor of the parish, to the catechism room, and we were able to stay there until almost Saturday night, when we were rescued by the firefighters,” he said.

According to Gutiérrez, “the reality the faithful are experiencing is very sad,” because “many people are falling into depression, with enormous sadness.”

Faith and liturgy

“People are worried about the material things they have lost, but this is the time to encourage all members of the parish by telling them: We’ve lost everything, we have lost material things, but we have to ask God to increase our faith. With a strong, fortified faith, we can believe that better days will come, that we hope to rebuild, to start again,” the priest declared.

St. Pius X Parish in the Mathias Velho neighborhood of Canoas is also run by the Capuchin Friars Minor. According to Gutiérrez, the 10 friars who are there are in Porto Alegre parishes and three friars are still there in Canoas as volunteers because of the flood.

Two friars from Mathias Velho neighborhood who are at the La Salle School in Porto Alegre are celebrating Masses and broadcasting them on the internet. As for the faithful who are in the shelters, the friar reported that “they are being helped with food, but also in their spiritual life with Masses.”

According to the friar, “of the 350,000 people who live in Canoas, I think 150,000 were affected by the floods. There are many people, families who are in shelters.”

Gutiérrez highlighted something important to him: “the solidarity of the people. How many people have called me: ‘Friar, we are praying for you there in Canoas.’ How many people are contributing financially so that the people in the shelters can eat and be well,” he noted.

Gutiérrez also said that on May 12 he received news from a friar from the parish in the town of Amaral informing him that the leaders of this parish “are ready to go to Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish” and to the St. Pius X Parish in Mathias Velho.

“These people are going to go there when the water goes down to clean the chapels and then make an evaluation of what is missing in each chapel, so that later we can carry out a recovery campaign for all the communities,” he stated.

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

Members of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, biological women’s sports activist Riley Gaines, and lawyers from the Independent Women’s Law Center approach the 10th Circuit Courthouse in Denver on May 14, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Independent Women’s Forum

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 18:11 pm (CNA).

Six members of Kappa Kappa Gamma at the University of Wyoming are suing their sorority for admitting a man who identifies as a woman.

Represented by the Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC), the sisters argued their case before a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Tuesday. 

The women are alleging that the sorority’s decision in fall 2022 to admit a man, Artemis Langford, violated its bylaws, which state that all members be women. The sisters have also said that Langford has harassed them in their sorority house by watching them change, taking photos, and asking “invasive” sexual questions. 

Allie Coghan, a Kappa Kappa Gamma alumna from the class of 2023 and one of the plaintiffs in the suit, told CNA that Langford’s admission into the sorority caused her and her sisters to feel very unsafe in their own home.

“We never used to lock our doors at night. I would sleep with my door open all the time and then all of a sudden it became me locking my door and just hoping that I wouldn’t hear heavy footsteps in the hallway while I’m sleeping because I knew who it would be,” she explained. “All of a sudden it became very uncomfortable to go to the bathroom and shower because you never know who’s going to be sitting there waiting or watching.”

Coghan said that some of her friends in the sorority caught Langford staring at them when coming out of the shower and that there were other instances that made them feel very scared.

“In the sorority house, there are women who have been sexually assaulted in the past, and so that’s why living in a sorority house is so comforting to them,” she explained. “It’s just a safe haven, and they were stripped of that. We were all stripped of it.”

Rather than listening to their fears and negative experiences, Coghan said, the sorority began ostracizing anyone who disapproved of Langford’s admission, labeling them “transphobic” and using “bullying tactics” to pressure them to agree.  

“Sororities are not meant to be political. One of the beautiful things about it is all the diversity that is in there,” she said, adding that “the one thing that holds us all together is that we are all women.”

In August 2023 federal Judge Alan Johnson dismissed the sisters’ lawsuit on the grounds that a woman is clearly defined in the sorority’s bylaws and is thus open to the group’s interpretation. 

The six sisters appealed the decision to the 10th Circuit Court in October, continuing to argue that Kappa Kappa Gamma “subverted their own bylaws and other governing documents and did so in bad faith by changing their membership criteria.” 

On Tuesday the three-judge panel appeared skeptical that they had jurisdiction to rule on the case. The panel pointed out that the lower court’s dismissal left open limited grounds for the sisters to refile their suit. 

May Mailman, an attorney for the sisters, admitted that they could possibly refile the suit but that would still not change the lower court’s decision that Kappa Kappa Gamma can interpret its bylaws to include biological men. 

Natalie McLaughlin, the attorney for Kappa Kappa Gamma, meanwhile maintained that the sorority is entitled to interpret its definition of a woman however it pleases.

A representative for Kappa Kappa Gamma told CNA that it “will continue to vigorously defend against attempts by plaintiffs to use the judicial system to take away a private organization’s fundamental rights and cause lasting damage to individuals and to our membership.”

“Today, Kappa Kappa Gamma defended in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado our right as a private organization to interpret our bylaws and standing rules,” the representative said, adding: “We are confident the federal court will uphold the decisive ruling of a federal judge in Wyoming and bring a swift resolution to this matter.”

Outside the courthouse, the Independent Women’s Forum and several other groups held a “Save Sisterhood” rally in which biological women’s sports activist Riley Gaines and several members of Kappa Kappa Gamma spoke out in support of the sisters’ lawsuit. 

Hannah Holtmeier, a current Kappa Kappa Gamma member and one of the plaintiffs in the case, also spoke at the rally, saying: “I can attest to the toll it takes on young women mentally knowing that at any point I could step out of the bathroom or walk out of the shower to a 6’2’’, 260-pound man is terrifying.” 

“To girls across our great country, and their mothers and fathers, if you think you’re in a situation where this won’t affect you, think again,” she went on. “Odds are if we don’t speak up to at least define women’s spaces, you, your daughter, or any other woman in your life will be affected.” 

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 16:22 pm (CNA).

An English pediatrician who led a comprehensive review of the safety and efficacy of prescribing transgender drugs to children is warning that health associations in the United States may be misleading the public.

In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Dr. Hilary Cass warned there is no comprehensive evidence to support the routine prescription of transgender drugs to minors with gender dysphoria. 

Cass published the independent “Cass Review,” commissioned by the National Health Service in England, which prompted England and Scotland to halt the prescription of transgender drugs to minors until more research is conducted.

As England, Scotland, and other European countries scale back their use of transgender drugs for minors, most doctors’ associations and health associations in the U.S. continue to endorse these medical interventions. In more than half of the states in the United States, it is still legal to prescribe transgender drugs to children and to perform transgender surgeries on them.

“What some organizations are doing is doubling down on saying the evidence is good,” Cass said in the interview. “And I think that’s where you’re misleading the public. You need to be honest about the strength of the evidence and say what you’re going to do to improve it.”

Speaking specifically about the American Academy of Pediatrics — which is the largest pediatric association in the country — Cass said the group “does massive good for children worldwide” but also “is fearful of making any moves that might jeopardize trans health care right now.”

She added: “I wonder whether, if they weren’t feeling under such political duress, they would be able to be more nuanced, to say that multiple truths exist in this space — that there are children who are going to need medical treatment, and that there are other children who are going to resolve their distress in different ways.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics announced it would undertake a “systematic review” of its guidelines in August 2023 but also reaffirmed its support for “gender-affirming care” for children, which includes the prescription of transgender drugs. The organization did not respond to CNA’s request for comment.

“I respectfully disagree with them on holding on to a position that is now demonstrated to be out of date by multiple systematic reviews,” Cass said in her New York Times interview. 

Cass noted that her comprehensive review of studies related to the prescription of transgender drugs for minors found that “the evidence is very weak compared to many other areas of pediatric practice.”

“We have to stop just seeing these young people through the lens of their gender and see them as whole people and address the much broader range of challenges that they have, sometimes with their mental health, sometimes with undiagnosed neurodiversity,” Cass added. “It’s really about helping them to thrive, not just saying ‘How do we address the gender?’ in isolation.”

Mary Rice Hasson, the director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA: “Cass’ rigorous evidence reviews, four years in the making, confirmed what Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway — all early adopters of medical ‘gender transitions’ in minors — discovered.” 

“There’s no good evidence to support the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in identity-distressed kids,” Hasson said. “They need psychotherapy and holistic treatment — not the ‘fast-track’ to lifelong hormones and repeat surgeries.”

Hasson said: “The arrogance and deceit of the U.S. gender industry is shocking [because] they insist there’s nothing new in the Cass Review, which makes me wonder if they’ve even read it.” However, she said, “more likely, they are digging in their heels at the behest of trans activists and ideologically-driven funders.”

“It’s no secret that LGBTQ lobby groups have put tremendous pressure on U.S. health care to support ‘LGBTQ inclusion,’ particularly ‘transgender’ demands for body modification,” Hasson added.

In addition to the Cass Review — which was published in April — a series of other studies that were published this year call into question the efficacy of prescribing transgender drugs for and offering transgender surgeries to children.

For example, a Mayo Clinic study from April found that puberty-blocking drugs may cause irreversible damage to testicular cells in young boys. A study out of the Netherlands that was published in February found that most children who have transgender inclinations will outgrow those feelings. A third study out of Finland found that transgender surgeries for minors do not reduce suicides in children and young adults who struggle with their gender identity.

Father Eduardo Chávez has been immersed in the study and dissemination of the message of the Virgin of Guadalupe for more than 40 years. / Credit: David Ramos/ACI Prensa

ACI Prensa Staff, May 14, 2024 / 15:52 pm (CNA).

Father Eduardo Chávez, director of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies and postulator of the cause for canonization of St. Juan Diego, was recently confirmed as “master Guadalupan theologian” by Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, the primatial archbishop of Mexico.

The decision was made May 9 in conjunction with the Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, headed by its rector, Father Efraín Hernández.

Chávez, who also holds a doctorate in Church history from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, shared with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, his gratitude for this appointment, committing himself to “deepen knowledge of the Guadalupan event, to disseminate it throughout the world.”

Chávez noted that “the Virgin of Guadalupe places Jesus in the heart of every human being, of every culture,” so his work as master Guadalupan theologian is to convey this message as well as “deepen, investigate, analyze, and in so doing also form” more people in the “Guadalupan event,” as the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico are also known.

The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to the Aztec Indian St. Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill Dec. 9–12, 1531, expressing her wish that a Catholic church be built on the flat area at the foot of the hill.

Juan Diego then went to see the first bishop of Mexico, Franciscan Friar Juan de Zumárraga, to present Our Lady’s request. As proof of the veracity of the apparitions, the Indian brought the flowers Our Lady told him to cut from a non-native rose bush miraculously growing out of season on Tepeyac Hill.

To carry the flowers, Juan Diego folded his tilma or cloak over them. When he opened the tilma to present the flowers to the bishop, those present saw that the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared on the cloth.

The tilma of St. Juan Diego is currently preserved in the Guadalupe Basilica, situated at the foot of Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City.

Since 1978, Chávez has been immersed in the study and dissemination of the message of the Virgin of Guadalupe, playing an important role in the beatification process (1990) and the subsequent canonization of St. Juan Diego (2002).

The priest was also one of the founders of the Higher Institute of Guadalupan Studies in 2003, together with Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, then primatial archbishop of Mexico, and the late Monsignor José Luis Guerrero, who was the vice postulator of the cause of canonization of St. Juan Diego. The ISEG, created from research and studies approved by the Holy See, has become the main center to continue the study of the Guadalupan event.

Chávez said that his work is guided by the message of the “Morenita del Tepeyac,” an affectionate term that refers to Our Lady’s brown mestiza complexion on the tilma. The priest shared that he finds his work “very moving and exciting,” an assignment “I definitely don’t deserve.” However, he trusts that “it is the Virgin of Guadalupe who is present throughout all of this.”

Chávez’s appointment becomes even more relevant with the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico approaching in 2031, as well as the Extraordinary Jubilee of the Redemption in 2033, which will commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago.

According to Chávez, various activities and events are being planned, with the theme “Going to Jesus through Mary” in line with the preparations for these dates.

In addition, he explained that the Holy See is collaborating through the Pontifical International Marian Academy along with other institutions such as the Pontifical University of Mexico.

“It’s incredible what the Virgin of Guadalupe is doing: She is more powerfully present than ever in so many things, and we see it there in the basilica when so many pilgrims come from Vietnam, South Korea, Poland, the United States, not to mention all of Latin America,” Chávez said.

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

Archbishop Julian Porteous. / Credit: Archdiocese of Hobart

CNA Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 15:22 pm (CNA).

An Australian archbishop has been criticized for his pastoral letter addressing human dignity and legislative challenges to religious and parental freedoms.

Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart released the four-page document titled “We Are Salt to the Earth” on May 2. The pastoral letter was sent to Catholic parishes and schools in the Tasmanian archdiocese.

In the letter, Porteous reiterated the Church’s teaching on the complementarity of the sexes, the sanctity of marriage, and the protection of life from conception to natural death.

“Believing in God as creator we see our identity as male and female as a gift. Thus, we see efforts to disconnect gender from biological sex as denying the reality of who we are and the precious identity we have as a man or a woman,” Porteous wrote.

“God created male and female as sexually complementary. This means that, sexually speaking, we have literally been made for the opposite sex. He intended that man and woman would be drawn to each other, desire a lifelong union in marriage, and so provide a stable and loving environment for the generation and nurturing of children.” 

The archbishop expressed concerns over the impact of abortion and euthanasia and proposed changes to antidiscrimination laws at the state and federal levels.

Drawing on Dignitas Infinita, the prelate wrote: “We see efforts to disconnect gender from biological sex as denying the reality of who we are and the precious identity we have as a man or a woman.”

Equality Tasmania, an LGBT advocacy group, strongly opposed the letter, saying it “stigmatized LGBTIQA+ people,” according to a report by the Australian Catholic Weekly. 

Group President Rowan Richardson called for a “right of reply” to be distributed in the Catholic schools that received the archbishop’s letter.

According to a report by public broadcaster ABC, independent member of Parliament Kristie Johnston — whose child attends a Catholic school — condemned the letter as hateful and alienating for young people questioning their sexual identity. 

Porteous has faced similar controversies before. In 2015, he distributed the booklet “Don’t Mess with Marriage” during the same-sex marriage debate, which led to legal action. 

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Hobart told ABC: “Archbishop Porteous wrote a pastoral letter that was sent to Catholic parishes and Catholic schools. The letter expresses his concern about threats to religious freedom from the Albanese government’s proposed legislation. In particular, the letter expresses the archbishop’s concern about the freedom of Catholic institutions to teach and uphold the Catholic faith.”

“EWTN News Nightly” host Tracy Sabol speaks with Dr. Erin Lothes, a Catholic environmental theologian and senior manager of the Laudato Si’ Animators Program with the Laudato Si’ Movement, on on May 9, 2024. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly” screen shot

CNA Staff, May 14, 2024 / 14:52 pm (CNA).

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service released data showing that April was the hottest month on record for global sea surface temperatures. It was the 13th consecutive month that temperatures hit a record high of 68.97 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The report comes as the Vatican hosts a summit this week on climate change, bringing together politicians, civic leaders, lawmakers, and researchers from around the world.

The three-day conference from May 15–17 titled “From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience” will be held at the Casina Pio IV, the seat of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, which sits in the Vatican Gardens. It will feature a series of roundtable discussions and culminate in the signing of a new international protocol that will be submitted to the United Nations.

Pope Francis has been vocal about the need for Catholics to take responsibility for the health of the environment, releasing two apostolic exhortations regarding the topic: Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum.

In light of the alarming data about ocean temperatures, “EWTN News Nightly” host Tracy Sabol on May 9 spoke to Dr. Erin Lothes, a Catholic environmental theologian and senior manager of the Laudato Si’ Animators Program with the Laudato Si’ Movement.

“The ocean has now broken temperatures every day for more than a year,” she explained, emphasizing that this is “absolutely a big concern,” as it “causes suffering around the world.”

“It reduces biodiversity and diminishes fisheries and huge numbers of people globally depend on fish for their food, for their protein, and also for their livelihoods,” Lothes added. 

Lothes referenced Laudato Si’ in which “the pope reminds us that we all have a moral responsibility to care for creation.”

“He says, ‘This is neither optional nor secondary for every Christian,’” she explained. “And in Laudate Deum he strongly reminds us that we need to take action. We need to raise our voices and work for change.”

“He describes this in Laudato Si’ as ‘civic and political love,’ which is a wonderful way of looking at how we enact our love for each other by raising our voices, sharing our values, and calling for the change that we need in our energy systems so that it truly can be healthy for all people.”

She pointed out that Catholics have a “tremendous opportunity to take action” thanks to the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. The platform — an initiative of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development — provides resources for the Church to achieve real and lasting solutions to environmental problems. 

The platform offers guides and templates that can be used for churches, institutions, communities, and families to map out a path of action. Users can also take a self-assessment that is customized to their unique situation to help them understand where they stand today in terms of how they’re caring for the environment and actions they can take to start doing more. 

There are also hundreds of resources provided on the platform on different environmental topics that can be useful for spreading awareness. Users can connect with other participants and take part in events around the world.

The full “EWTN News Nightly” interview with Lothes can be viewed below.