Catholic News

• Ecumenical work brings joy in fellowship, Pope says at WCC anniversary celebration (Vatican Press Office)
  Speaking on June 21 in Geneva, where he is joining in celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, Pope Francis said that ecumenical work requires “rejecting worldliness.” The Pontiff remarked that from the world’s perspective, ecumenism may be seen as “a great enterprise operating at a loss.” Only the faithful, knowing that the work “requires constant conversion,” recognize its true value.
• President of US Conference of Catholic Bishops offers statement on Cardinal McCarrick announcement (USCCB)
  “My prayers are with all who have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse,” said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston. “I express my gratitude to Cardinal Dolan, who has carried forward with clarity, compassion for the victims, and a genuine sense of justice. With him, I express my deep sadness, and on behalf of the Church, I apologize to all who have been harmed by one of her ministers.”
• Dubia were hand-delivered to Pontiff, Cardinal Burke confirms (LifeSite News)
  Cardinal Raymond Burke has confirmed that the dubia were hand-delivered to Pope Francis in September 2016, two months before they were made public. The cardinal spoke after the Holy Father told the Reuters news service that he had only learned about the dubia from newspaper accounts. Cardinal Burke said: “The late Cardinal Carlo Caffarra personally delivered the letter containing the dubia to the papal residence...”
• Pope Francis arrives in Switzerland for ecumenical pilgrimage (YouTube (Vatican))
  The Pope sent a telegram to Italy’s president and spoke briefly with journalists before his arrival in Geneva. His one-day ecumenical pilgrimage commemorates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the World Council of Churches.
• Cardinal McCarrick acknowledges abuse complaint, ceases public ministry (CWN)
  Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired Archbishop of Washington, DC, has announced that he has been accused of sexual abuse and has accepted the decision of the Holy See “that I no longer exercise any public ministry.”
• National dialogue, brokered by bishops, again halted in Nicaragua (Fides)
  Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua called on the government and the police to stop attacking the Nicaraguan people, according to the report.
• Pope requests prayers for trip to Switzerland, recalls June is month of the Sacred Heart (Vatican Press Office)
  Following his June 20 general audience, the Pope requested prayers for his ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva, blessed papal crowns that that will be placed on the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in a Polish basilica, and recalled that “in June, popular piety makes us pray more fervently the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May that Merciful Heart teach you to love without asking for anything in return, and support you in the most difficult choices in life.”
• Mexican bishop: dialogue with criminal gangs has reduced violence (Fides)
  Bishop Salvador Rangel Mendoza, a Franciscan, leads a diocese in the state of Guerrero, where Acapulco is located.
• Cardinal Schönborn: female priests 'too great a change,' but deaconesses possible (Catholic Herald)
  Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna said that the ordination of women to the priesthood would be “too great a change,” but he favors accepting women as deaconesses. The Austrian cardinal made these remarks in an interview, clarifying an earlier statement in which he said that he did not expect that women would be ordained in the foreseeable future.
• Myanmar's army threatens Christian leaders over communication with rebels (AsiaNews)
  “The commitment of the Christian communities that maintain relations with the [rebels] is only linked to prayer activities,” a priest said. “We Christians have a duty to pray for them. We are not encouraging [them] to kill people.”
• US has admitted only 10 Christian refugees from Iraq and Syrian in 2018 (Religious Freedom News)
  Only 10 Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria have been admitted into the US thus far in 2018, the Christian Post reports; 468 Muslims from the region have been admitted over the same period. The number of Christian refugees admitted from the Middle East has dropped sharply under the Trump administration; in 2016, 1,315 Christians were admitted between January and mid-June.
• Worldwide survey finds increased restrictions on religion (Pew Forum)
  A worldwide survey by the Pew Forum finds a slight increase in the number of governments imposing “high” or “very high” levels of control over religious affairs. The countries with the tightest restraints on religion are found primarily in the Middle East, with predominantly Muslim nations joined in that category by China, Russia, Laos, Myanmar, and Singapore.
• Bishops criticize Canadian Supreme Court decision against Christian law school (CCCB)
  “The decision by the Court effectively means that provincial law societies can discriminate against lawyers on the basis of their religious affiliation and moral values,” the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said following a decision upholding denialing of accreditation to a Christian law school. LGBT groups had complained that Trinity Western University’s covenant, in which students pledge to refrain from “sexual intimacy that violates the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman,” is discriminatory.
• Catholic group offers update on 2018 Farm Bill (Catholic Rural Life)
  The House of Representatives has rejected an $868-billion version of the bill.
• USCCB: urge your representatives to vote against 2 immigration bills (Justice for Immigrants)
  In an alert described as urgent, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops called on Catholics to ask their representatives to vote against HR 4760 (the SAFE Act) and HR 6136 (the Border Security and Immigration Reform Act). Both bills are sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
• Court rejects challenge to Arkansas abortion law (Reuters)
  The Supreme Court recently declined to hear an appeal by Planned Parenthood against a 2015 Arkansas law governing the use of RU-486. The law “requires any doctor dispensing the drug to sign a contract with another doctor who would agree to handle any medical complications from it,” the Reuters news agency reported. “The contracted doctor also must have admitting privileges at a hospital designated to handle emergencies.”
• 1st US-born Syro-Malabar priests ordained (CNS)
  With 4.5 million members, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, based in India, is among the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches.
• Prelates welcome Trump executive order halting family separation policy (@ArchbishopGomez)
  “I welcome the President’s executive order ending the cruel family separation policy,” said Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, the vice president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth expressed similar sentiments.
• Report: pastor of St. John Cantius cleared of misconduct charges (Protect our Priests)
  Father C. Frank Philips, who was removed from his post as the pastor of St. John Cantius parish in Chicago in March because of misconduct allegations, has reportedly been cleared by the archdiocesan review board.
• Family life is changing in different ways across urban, suburban, and rural communities (Pew Research Center)
  Americans who live in urban counties are less likely to be married, while residents of rural counties are more likely to give birth out of wedlock. Nationwide, slightly over two-thirds of children are being raised by “two married parents.”
• More...