Classroom in a Catholic school. / Credit: Wuttichai jantarak/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 16:08 pm (CNA).

A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit from an aggrieved substitute teacher who was not rehired by a Catholic school after it was revealed he had entered into a same-sex union, violating the school’s moral code.

The ruling affirmed that religious schools can hold employees to the moral teachings of the Church.

“Religious groups have the freedom to choose who carries out their religious mission,” Luke Goodrich, a vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law — the group that represented the school in court — said in a post on X. 

“This ruling is a win for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation,” Goodrich added.

Charlotte Catholic High School ended its relationship with teacher Lonnie Billard in 2014 after he posted on Facebook that he was engaged to another man and planned to enter into a civil “marriage” with this man. This violated the Church’s teachings about marriage and sexual morality and put Billard at odds with the school’s code of conduct, which prohibits employees from engaging in conduct contrary to the Catholic faith. 

Billard had previously taught English and drama full time but had become a substitute teacher by 2014. He sued the school in 2017, when the school stopped asking him to work, claiming that the school engaged in sex discrimination.

A federal court ruled in favor of Billard back in 2021, but an appellate court overturned that ruling on Wednesday and found that the school was protected under the First Amendment’s right to religious freedom. 

“Faith infused [the school’s] classes — and not only the expressly religious ones,” the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its decision. 

“Even as a teacher of English and drama, Billard’s duties included conforming his instruction to Christian thought and providing a classroom environment consistent with Catholicism,” the decision read. “Billard may have been teaching ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ but he was doing so after consultation with religious teachers to ensure that he was teaching through a faith-based lens.”

In addressing discrimination laws, the court found that the school is constitutionally protected under the “ministerial exception” in its hiring and firing decisions for that position because the role requires the person to minister the faith to students. The exception, set by the United States Supreme Court, exempts religious institutions from certain discrimination laws in ministerial roles when such laws would prevent them from adhering to their mission of ministering the faith. 

“The ministerial exception protects religious institutions in their dealings with individuals who perform tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature,” the court found.

“The ministerial exception remains just that — an exception — and each case must be judged on its own facts to determine whether a ‘particular position’ falls within the exception’s scope,” the court stated. “But when the exception does apply, it unambiguously commands that [the courts] ‘stay out’ [of these decisions].”

Billard was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU issued a statement criticizing the court’s decision. 

“This is a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves,” the statement read. “Every worker should be entitled to equal protection under the law, and the Supreme Court held as recently as 2020 that this fundamental freedom extends to LGBTQ workers.”

Goodrich said in a post on X that the court’s decision is in line with long-standing precedent on religious freedom. 

“The court’s ruling is consistent with a long line of Supreme Court precedent upholding the freedom of religious schools to select teachers who uphold their faith,” he said.

Father Ricardo Mata. / Credit: Garland Police Department

CNA Staff, May 8, 2024 / 14:27 pm (CNA).

Police in Texas this week announced the arrest of a priest with the Diocese of Dallas over allegations of inappropriate contact with two minors. 

The Garland Police Department said on its Facebook page that officers had arrested Father Ricardo Mata on Monday “on two counts of indecency with a child, a second-degree felony.”

“The allegations are based on reports of inappropriate contact with two juvenile victims, which occurred during a visit to a residence in Garland,” the police said. Investigators are in contact with the Diocese of Dallas, the police said. 

Mata’s bonds were set at $75,000 and $100,000, the police department said. 

In a Tuesday statement on its website, meanwhile, the Diocese of Dallas said that it had been “recently made aware of an allegation by a juvenile girl of inappropriate touching involving a priest.”

“Upon learning of the allegation last week, diocesan officials immediately filed a report with Child Protective Services and law enforcement,” the diocese said.

Mata “was immediately removed from all public ministry when the Diocese of Dallas learned of the allegation,” the statement continued. 

“We are grateful for law enforcement’s thorough response,” Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said in the statement. 

“Let us come together in prayer, respecting the dignity of all involved, seeking strength and guidance from our faith during this challenging time.”

Until recently Mata had been listed as the vicar at the Dallas-area Cathedral Guadalupe. That listing had been removed from the cathedral’s website as of Wednesday.

The priest was born in Mexico and raised in Dallas; he was ordained in 2022. 

Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr. / Credit: Archdiocese of Cincinnati

CNA Staff, May 8, 2024 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

Archbishop of Cincinnati Dennis Schnurr has been diagnosed with cancer, the archdiocese revealed this week, with the prelate set to begin preparing for chemotherapy treatment this week. 

An archdiocesan spokesman told CNA on Wednesday morning that on Friday the archbishop “received a post-operation diagnosis of stage 3 small bowel cancer.” 

“His doctor noted that, generally speaking, the archbishop’s health is excellent, and that is certainly a source of optimism for the success of the treatment,” the archdiocese said.  

“The treatment plan includes a regimen of chemotherapy over the next six months, preparation for which will begin this week,” the statement continued. 

“We ask all Catholics and people of goodwill to please keep Archbishop Schnurr in their prayers,” the archdiocese added. 

Schnurr was installed as the Cincinnati archbishop in 2009; he had served as the coadjutor archbishop there from 2008. Before that, he served as the bishop of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, from 2001. 

Schnurr turned 75 last year, the traditional age at which a bishop submits his resignation to Pope Francis. 

The archdiocese this week indicated that Schnurr’s retirement may not be imminent; the archbishop ​​“plans on continuing to work while receiving treatments,” the Wednesday statement said. 

The French 19th-century three-masted barque Belem is seen from the Palais du Pharo in the southern port city of Marseille on May 8, 2024, before the Olympic Flame arrival ceremony, ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Belem is set to reach Marseille on May 8 and ten thousand torchbearers will then carry the flame across 64 French territories. / Credit: SYLVAIN THOMAS/AFP via Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 11:52 am (CNA).

As 206 countries prepare to send their top athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, the Vatican is organizing an event to look at the relationship between the Catholic Church and sports, through both a spiritual and anthropological lens.

“In the current context of wars tearing our world apart, Olympism is first and foremost a message of peace, and the commitment of the universal Church, like that of France, is essential. The role of the Church in promoting Olympism is well known,” said Florence Mangin, the ambassador of France to the Holy See, during a press conference held on Monday at the Vatican. 

The three-day international conference on sport and spirituality, titled “Putting Our Lives on the Line,” is a joint effort between the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Embassy of France to the Holy See. It will be held May 16-18 at the Institut Français Centre Saint Louis (the French cultural institute of Rome), which sits adjacent to the Piazza Navona.

“At first glance, observing a conference on sport organized by a Dicastery of the Holy See seems a bit eccentric,” said Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, during the press conference. 

“But starting from the words of Pope Francis, when he compares sport to holiness, we realize the many points of connection that exist between sport and spirituality.” 

Mendonça noted that the conference will look at sports today in order to “understand why it is so popular,” as well as to “identify its risks” and “assess its relevance for building a more fraternal, tolerant, and equitable society.” 

The conference will bring together some 200 participants, including representatives from the Vatican, athletes, sports club managers, journalists, academics, pastoral representatives from different European dioceses, and philosophers for a series of roundtable discussions. 

“In essence, there are two fundamental questions that we want to answer with this conference: What does sport have to say to the Church? What does the Church have to say to sport?” Mendonça said. 

The first day, based on the theme “Church and Sport: A Relationship We Need to Deepen,” will include a series of discussions on these fundamental questions, including: “The Church at the Olympic Games,” “Sport in the Parish,” and “Catholic Schools and Sport.” 

“If we look at the history of sport in parallel with the history of the Church, there have been many moments in which sport has been an inspiration and a metaphor for the life of Christians, or Christianity itself has enriched sport with its humanistic vision,” Mendonça said. 

The second day will take a philosophical and anthropological approach, aimed at understanding the connection between mind, body, and sport through a different panel discussions such as “Sport: A Challenge for Humanization,” “Resurrection of the Body through Sport,” and “Disappearance of the Self and the Body.” 

“We will address the implications of a certain technicalization of sports practice, brought forward by the constant search for performance if not for records,” Mangin said.  

“The dazzling progress of Paralympic athletes, increasingly better equipped, provides an exceptional vision of the evolution of the human body, which some already wish to increase,” she said.  

The event will close on Saturday, May 18, with “The Relay Race of Solidarity” held at Rome’s iconic Circus Maximus at 4 p.m.

Pope Benedict XVI on April 21, 2007, in Vigevano, Italy. / Credit: miqu77/Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 11:07 am (CNA).

The man arrested for the theft of a pectoral cross bequeathed by the late Pope Benedict XVI to a parish in his native Bavaria is now facing time behind bars.

According to CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, the Traunstein district court on Monday sentenced a 53-year-old Czech citizen to two years and six months in prison.

The perpetrator, whom authorities described as a serial thief with a history of crimes across several European countries, left traces at the crime scene that led to his identification and arrest.

However, local media reported that the cross is still missing, and the verdict may yet be appealed.

The court heard from the accused’s lawyer that his client had stolen the pectoral cross because he felt it was “worth stealing” and selling on due to its appearance: The cross, measuring approximately 5.9 inches in length, is crafted from gold-plated silver and adorned with a gemstone. 

Despite the judge interrupting the trial twice to give the defendant and his lawyer time to call an associate to whom he allegedly had given the cross “for safekeeping,” all attempts to contact the associate were unsuccessful — leaving the cross’ whereabouts still unknown.

Before the verdict was announced, the defendant personally addressed the court, saying he knew that the list of his previous convictions was so long that he did not appear credible. Nevertheless, he promised that the cross would come back to Traunstein, Bavarian state media reported. 

The value of the cross to the Catholic Church is “not quantifiable,” the police said at the time of the theft. 

Former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was born in the small Bavarian community of Marktl am Inn. When Joseph was 2 years old, his father moved the family to Traunstein, where he studied at the seminary.

The late pontiff celebrated his first Mass as a newly ordained priest at St. Oswald’s in 1951. After the renovation in 2020, the cross was exhibited in the now-broken display case.

Aboriginal dancers perform an Indigenous welcome ceremony at the opening Mass formally celebrating the start of World Youth Day 2008 at Barangaroo on July 15, 2008, in Sydney. / Credit: Sergio Dionisio/Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 10:22 am (CNA).

On Tuesday, Australia’s Catholic bishops officially approved a liturgy used in a remote Western Australian diocese that incorporates elements of Aboriginal language and culture. 

The liturgy has been celebrated for over 50 years in the Diocese of Broome, where some 13,000 Catholics live in nine parishes across an area about the size of Texas, with a total population of just over 50,000.

The Mass of the Land of the Holy Spirit — in Latin, “Missa Terra Spiritus Sancti” — now awaits the Vatican’s official recognition after the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference passed the motion at its plenary meeting in Sydney on May 7.

Bishop Administrator Michael Morrissey of Broome said the decision was a milestone. “After a lengthy period of engagement, it’s a significant acknowledgment by the Australian bishops.”

Two Indigenous elders, Maureen Yanawana and Madeleine Jadai, presented the Mass to the bishops and shared its impact on their community. “Singing at the top of our voices brings us peace,” Yanawana shared during the presentation at the bishops’ meeting in Sydney’s Mary MacKillop Place, highlighting the spiritual enrichment it brings.

This Mass features multiple local Aboriginal languages and has been a fixture in the Diocese of Broome since it was first authorized for use on an experimental basis in 1973. 

Originating from Bidyadanga, the largest remote community in Western Australia, it was developed when Father Kevin McKelson collaborated with local elders to translate and adapt the Roman rite to resonate with Indigenous cultural and linguistic contexts.

After rigorous refinement, the current version of the Mass was published in 2018. 

According to the Australian Bishops’ Conference, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council described the Mass as a harmonious blend of Catholic and Aboriginal traditions. In a letter of endorsement, the council praised the Mass as a concrete demonstration of the Church’s dedication to embracing Indigenous peoples’ spiritual and cultural dimensions, promoting an environment of inclusivity and respect.

This development echoes St. John Paul II’s words during his historic 1986 visit to Alice Springs, when he emphasized the essential contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to the Church in Australia.

“You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you,” the pope wrote at the time. “And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.”

Pope Francis addresses pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square during his Wednesday general audience on May 8, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 09:13 am (CNA).

During the papal general audience on Wednesday Pope Francis focused on the importance of the theological virtue of hope, noting that it is both a fundamental building block of the Christian life, orienting believers toward the future, as well as a powerful antidote to nihilism. 

“Christians have hope not through their own merit. If they believe in the future, it is because Christ died and rose again and gave us his Spirit,” the pope said to thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. 

“We say that hope is a theological virtue. It does not emanate from us, it is not an obstinacy we want to convince ourselves of, but it is a gift that comes directly from God,” he continued.

Looking to St. Paul as an example, Francis observed that the apostle established a “new logic of the Christian experience” for many “doubting Christians” when he explained that the “resurrection of Christ” is a bedrock upon which a new life is born, and that “no defeat and no death is forever.” 

The pope reflected on the central role hope plays in the daily lives of Christians, noting that it is an “answer offered to our heart,” thereby enabling Christians to confront pressing existential questions such as: “What will become of me? What is the purpose of the journey? What is the destiny of the world?”

The pope cautioned that the absence of hope “produces sadness,” which, in turn, could impress a nihilistic attitude where one falls into the belief that there is “no meaning to the journey of life,” a tendency the pope sharply rebuked as antithetical to Christian life. 

“If hope is missing, all the other virtues risk crumbling and ending up as ashes,” Francis warned. 

He added that the sins against hope can manifest in “bad nostalgia,” “in our melancholy,” “when we think that the happiness of the past is buried forever,” or when “we become despondent.” 

Looking up from his prepared remarks, the Holy Father repeated twice the affirmation: “God forgives everything; God always forgives.” 

“The world today is in great need of this Christian virtue,” Francis declared, noting that the virtue of hope is closely linked with patience, which, when both are taken together, form the fundamental attributes of those seeking peace. 

“Patient men are weavers of goodness. They stubbornly desire peace,” the pope said. “Those who are inspired by hope and are patient are able to get through the darkest of nights.”

null / Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Montana’s Catholic bishops have issued a joint letter denouncing a proposed pro-abortion constitutional amendment they say would pave the way for late-term abortions, partial-birth abortions, and an elimination of the state’s parental notification requirement for minors in Montana.

In their May 3 letter, the bishops called the initiative an attack on the “recognition of the infinite dignity enjoyed by all persons” that fails to respect “life as a precious gift from God and recognize our sacred duty to nurture and protect every human life.”

“This recognition of the infinite dignity enjoyed by all persons informs our understanding of the basic rights and protections to which all human beings are entitled,” the letter stated. “When those rights are threatened, the Church must speak up with clarity and boldness.”

The statement — signed by Bishop Austin Vetter of Helena and Bishop Jeffrey Fleming and Bishop Emeritus Michael Warfel of Great Falls-Billings — urged Catholics in the state to refrain from signing the petition and to pray for the initiative’s defeat.

The proposed amendment, officially called Constitutional Initiative 128 (CI-128), would “provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” according to the language approved by Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, and would “prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability,” which is generally interpreted to mean at about 22 weeks.

Jacobsen on April 5 authorized supporters of the initiative to begin collecting the more than 60,000 signatures of registered voters required to place the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.

In a separate video statement, the bishops emphasized that the proposed amendment would eliminate the existing requirement for parents to be notified before a minor has an abortion.  Fleming said this move would foster a “culture of secrecy” and “undermine families.”

Montana’s initiative comes as pro-abortion groups in more than a dozen states seek to have measures placed on the November ballot.

Thousands of pro-life activists participate in the Ireland March for Life on May 6, 2024, marching from St. Stephen’s Green in central Dublin to the Irish Parliament. / Credit: Courtesy of Pro Life Campaign

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Thousands of pro-life activists participated in the Ireland March for Life on Monday, marching from St. Stephen’s Green in central Dublin to the Irish Parliament.

The Irish Catholic, a Dublin-based news source, reported that thousands of pro-lifers attended the march. Video of the event posted online shows large crowds of pro-life activists, many of whom appear high school and college age, holding balloons, banners, and signs with pro-life messages. 

The crowds appear joyful with many marchers smiling and cheering. 

Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, head of the Irish Episcopal Conference, participated in the march along with several other Catholic leaders. He called the event “uplifting and positive” in “contrast to the dismal, negative messages of aggression, violence, and death that threaten to overwhelm us at times.” 

Ahead of Ireland’s elections, speakers urged march attendees to “think pro-life” this year. 

This comes just days after Ireland passed a “Safe Access Zones” bill that mandated 100-meter (about 300 feet) zones around abortion provider entrances and exits in which “certain conduct aimed at impeding access or influencing decisions in relation to termination of pregnancy services will be prohibited.” 

Eilís Mulroy, one of the march organizers and speakers, urged Irish citizens to prioritize voting for pro-life candidates and parties amid abortion rates he said are currently “soaring” and having a “devastating” effect on Irish society.

Abortion became legal in Ireland in 2018 and is currently allowed until 12 weeks of pregnancy. Before 2018, Ireland’s eighth amendment allowed abortions only in cases in which the mother’s life was in danger.

A commission set up to review legislation introduced after the 2018 referendum passed is considering eliminating a three-day waiting period, removing criminal penalties for medical professionals performing abortions, and changing the legal definition of fatal fetal anomalies.

According to Irish news source Offaly Independent, Ireland saw an all-time high of 9,218 abortions in 2023. This is up from 8,876 abortions in 2022 and approximately 7,000 abortions each year from 2019 through 2021. In total, there have been approximately 38,018 babies killed by abortion in Ireland since the procedure was legalized in 2018. 

Shortly before the march, Martin and several other bishops and priests celebrated a Mass at nearby Newman University Church. 

Bishop Kevin Doran of the Diocese of Elphin, chairman of the Irish bishops’ Council for Life, gave the homily in which he said: “We are called — in whatever we do or whatever we say — to be witnesses to the love of God made present in Jesus Christ. For us, that inevitably means bearing witness to the inherent value of every human life.”

Alluding to the Safe Access Zones law, Doran added that “nothing — no law, no public policy, and no peer pressure from neighbors or colleagues can remove our right and indeed our responsibility to advocate publicly for those who are most vulnerable, especially at the beginning and at the end of life.”

Children look on during a procession at the General Assembly that was held in Mingende in the Kundiawa Diocese in 2022. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Catholic Bishops' Conference of Papua New Guinea & Solomon Islands

CNA Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Children and youth will be central to Pope Francis’ visit to Papua New Guinea from Sept. 6–9, according to Father Giorgio Licini, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands.   

Licini, who is on the organizing committee of the Holy Father’s 2024 visit, said young people are central in the planning of the papal trip to Papua New Guinea. In the Catholic Church, “the level of participation by laity and youth is high,” he said. “Everything is ‘young’ in PNG: church, country, modern civilization.” 

“It was only in early October 2023 that our bishops’ conference was told that the pope still had a great desire to visit Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea in Oceania,” Licini told CNA. 

As part of his apostolic journey, Pope Francis is expected to visit a safe house for young girls in Vanimo and then, in the nearby village of Baro, greet missionaries, staff, and students of a school he helped develop. In Port Moresby, the Holy Father intends to meet with children supported by the archdiocese’s ministries for the care of street children. 

“The youth here greatly suffer for lack of education and employment opportunities. The breakdown of the family adds to neglect, poverty, and micro-criminality,” Licini explained. “Besides education and health, nowadays the social services of the Catholic Church focus on family life, child protection and promotion, domestic violence, and sorcery accusations related [to] violence, corruption awareness, and justice, peace, and reconciliation, mainly in [areas affected by tribal violence].” 

The last appointment of the papal visit in Papua New Guinea will be a youth festival at the city stadium in Port Moresby.

Isabella Saleu, a young laywoman working for Caritas Papua New Guinea — the justice, peace, relief, and development agency of the Catholic Church in the country — said she looks forward to the youth festival planned with the pope and believes his visit will be a “spiritually enriching experience” that will reinforce the Catholic identity in the country.

“The world needs us young people and all the enthusiasm we have to make it better, safer, happier and more Christ-like,” Saleu told CNA. “Over the years, the Church has not only evangelized but [also] has contributed immensely to delivering basic services by providing schools and institutions, hospitals, clinics and aid posts, safe houses, and facilities for pastoral and social services.” 

“Considering also the recent fateful events of ‘Black Wednesday’ on Jan. 10 that resulted in deaths and hospitalization, as the country came to a standstill when thugs took over the streets of the capital city Port Moresby who looted and burned down shops and caused the city to tremble in fear as police ceased duties, we hope that the papal visit raises our spirits to continue to move forward as a nation,” she added. 

To date, over 98% of Papua New Guinea citizens identify as Christian. Catholicism represents the largest Christian denomination in the country with an estimated 4 million people — about 25% of the total population. 

Pope Francis’ visit to Papua New Guinea will be his first trip to the country as part of his 11-day Asia Pacific apostolic journey in September. Pope John Paul II visited Papua New Guinea in 1984 and 1995.