St. Bridget, St. Elizabeth & Sacred Heart

Church of Panagia tou Arakos, triumphal arch, wall paintings, Lagoudera, Cyprus — north side, St. John of Damascus. / Credit: Winfield, David, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Dec 4, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 4 we celebrate St. John of Damascus, also known as St. John Damascene.

A priest and religious, he became a doctor of the Church. He’s also the last Church Father.

Here are seven things to know and share about St. John of Damascus.

1. Why is he the last of the Church Fathers?

We need to divide history into different periods. The age of the Church Fathers was not the same as the ages that came before it or the ages that followed it.

But to do this, we have to divide history at somewhat arbitrary points.

Thus, it is customary to regard the age of the Church Fathers as ending in the East with the life of St. John of Damascus, who died around A.D. 749.

(In the West, the age of the Church Fathers is commonly reckoned as ending with St. Isidore of Seville, who died in A.D. 636.)

2. Who was St. John of Damascus?

As his name implies, he was born in the city of Damascus, in the modern state of Syria, which is just north of Israel.

It’s the same city that St. Paul was travelling to when he experienced his conversion on “the Damascus Road.” (In fact, it’s quite close by modern standards; Damascus is about 135 miles north of Jerusalem.)

John was born in A.D. 675 or 676, and he lived to about 75 years of age, dying around A.D. 749. He spent most of his life in the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem.

He is also known by the Greek nickname “Chrysorrhoas,” which means “streaming with gold” or “gold-pouring,” indicating the quality of his writings.

3. Why is he significant?

Pope Benedict XVI explained:

“Above all he was an eyewitness of the passage from the Greek and Syrian Christian cultures shared by the Eastern part of the Byzantine Empire to the Islamic culture, which spread through its military conquests in the territory commonly known as the Middle or Near East.”

4. What happened in his early life?

Pope Benedict XVI explained:

“John, born into a wealthy Christian family, at an early age assumed the role, perhaps already held by his father, of treasurer of the Caliphate.

“Very soon, however, dissatisfied with life at court, he decided on a monastic life and entered the monastery of Mar Saba, near Jerusalem. This was around the year 700.

“He never again left the monastery but dedicated all his energy to ascesis and literary work, not disdaining a certain amount of pastoral activity, as is shown by his numerous homilies.”

5. What theological controversy made him important?

It was the eighth-century controversy over whether images should be venerated — the so-called “iconoclast controversy.”

Pope Benedict XVI explained:

“In the East, his best remembered works are the three ‘Discourses Against Those Who Calumniate the Holy Images,’ which were condemned after his death by the iconoclastic Council of Hieria (754).

“These discourses, however, were also the fundamental grounds for his rehabilitation and canonization on the part of the Orthodox Fathers summoned to the Council of Nicaea (787), the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

“In these texts it is possible to trace the first important theological attempts to legitimize the veneration of sacred images, relating them to the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of the Virgin Mary.”

6. How did St. John Damascene contribute to the discussion?

Pope Benedict XVI explained:

“John Damascene was also among the first to distinguish, in the cult, both public and private, of the Christians, between worship (‘latreia’), and veneration (‘proskynesis’): The first can only be offered to God, spiritual above all else, the second, on the other hand, can make use of an image to address the one whom the image represents.

“Obviously the saint can in no way be identified with the material of which the icon is composed.

“This distinction was immediately seen to be very important in finding an answer in Christian terms to those who considered universal and eternal the strict Old Testament prohibition against the use of cult images.

“This was also a matter of great debate in the Islamic world, which accepts the Jewish tradition of the total exclusion of cult images.

“Christians, on the other hand, in this context, have discussed the problem and found a justification for the veneration of images.”

7. What did St. John Damascene write about this?

As Pope Benedict XVI explained, John Damascene wrote:

“In other ages God had not been represented in images, being incorporate and faceless.

“But since God has now been seen in the flesh, and lived among men, I represent that part of God which is visible.

“I do not venerate matter, but the Creator of matter, who became matter for my sake and deigned to live in matter and bring about my salvation through matter.

“I will not cease therefore to venerate that matter through which my salvation was achieved.

“But I do not venerate it in absolute terms as God! How could that which, from nonexistence, has been given existence, be God? ...

“But I also venerate and respect all the rest of matter which has brought me salvation, since it is full of energy and holy graces.

“Is not the wood of the cross, three times blessed, matter? ... And the ink, and the most holy book of the Gospels, are they not matter? The redeeming altar which dispenses the Bread of Life, is it not matter? ... And, before all else, are not the flesh and blood of Our Lord matter?

“Either we must suppress the sacred nature of all these things, or we must concede to the tradition of the Church the veneration of the images of God and that of the friends of God who are sanctified by the name they bear, and for this reason are possessed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

“Do not, therefore, offend matter: It is not contemptible, because nothing that God has made is contemptible” (cf. “Contra Imaginum Calumniatores,” I, 16, ed. Kotter, p. 89-90).

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register and has been adapted by CNA.

Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, and Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Most Holy Trinity Monastery in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: Diocese of Fort Worth; Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns

CNA Staff, Dec 3, 2024 / 16:35 pm (CNA).

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, announced on Monday that the Vatican had issued a decree of suppression to forcibly close the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. 

For nearly 19 months, a dispute between the bishop of Fort Worth and seven women who are members of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington, Texas, a Latin Mass religious community, has played out in court papers and public statements. 

Olson said the de facto head of the monastery, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, had admitted to engaging in illicit sexual activity with a priest and that he therefore removed her as prioress, in accord with his proper authority. Gerlach has denied the accusations and has claimed that the bishop has overstepped his rightful authority because he wants to acquire the monastery’s land. The bishop denies that claim.

The following timeline is based on court documents; news stories; public statements on the website of the Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas; and public statements on the website of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington. 

1958: Discalced Carmelite nuns take up residence in Fort Worth, Texas. 

1984: Discalced Carmelite nuns move to a new monastery (Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity) on a 72-acre wooded property in Arlington, Texas. 

2013: Bishop Michael Olson becomes bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

August 2020: Discalced Carmelite nuns ask permission from the Vatican to join a new association of Carmelites (known as the Discalced Carmelite Association of Christ the King), thus moving from the jurisdiction of a Discalced Carmelites provincial to the bishop of Fort Worth; in October 2020 the Vatican’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life grants the request.

April 24, 2023: Olson visits the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Arlington, Texas, saying he had gotten a report that the prioress, Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, had “committed sins against the Sixth Commandment and violated her vow of chastity with a priest from outside the Diocese of Fort Worth”; the bishop takes Gerlach’s computer, iPad, and cellphone, according to subsequent court papers.

May 3, 2023: Gerlach and another nun, Sister Francis Therese, file a state lawsuit in Tarrant County district court in Fort Worth against Olson and the Diocese of Fort Worth, claiming the bishop has abused his power and overstepped his authority and calling his charges of misconduct against Gerlach “patently false and defamatory.” 

May 16, 2023: Olson issues a statement saying that on April 24, 2023, he began a Church investigation of Gerlach after he received a report of misconduct by Gerlach; his statement notes that the Carmelite nuns filed a civil lawsuit against him. 

May 31, 2023: Olson announces that the Vatican has issued a decree appointing him “pontifical commissary” of the Carmelite monastery in Arlington, meaning he is what he calls “the pope’s representative in this matter.” 

June 1, 2023: Olson issues a statement saying he has dismissed Gerlach from the Order of Discalced Carmelites, saying he has found her “guilty of having violated the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue and her vow of chastity”; Gerlach appeals to Rome.

June 14, 2023: Diocese of Fort Worth releases photos that diocesan officials say show marijuana edibles and marijuana paraphernalia at the monastery; the diocese says the photos came from a confidential informant. A lawyer for the nuns suggests the drugs in the photos were staged by the diocese.

June 27, 2023: A lawyer for the Diocese of Fort Worth plays in open court a recording of a conversation between Olson and Gerlach in which Gerlach admits to having had inappropriate telephone contact with a priest, at one point saying: “I made a horrible, horrible mistake,” according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Gerlach has before and since the court proceeding denied allegations of misconduct — a lawyer for Gerlach says she has serious physical ailments and was suffering from the effects of medications designed to control seizures when she spoke with the bishop that day and that she underwent surgery the day after the interview.

June 30, 2023: A judge dismisses the nuns’ lawsuit, saying the court lacks jurisdiction.

Aug. 18, 2023: Gerlach announces that the Carmelite Monastery of Arlington is no longer under the authority of Olson and forbids him from coming onto the property.

Aug. 19, 2023: Olson issues a statement saying that Gerlach may have incurred “latae sententiae excommunication” — which canon law defines as automatic excommunication “upon the commission of an offense” (Canon 1314) — for what he calls her “scandalous and schismatic actions.”

According to the bishop, the statement Gerlach issued the previous day “publicly rejected my authority as diocesan bishop and pontifical commissary.” The bishop’s statement says the other nuns might have incurred the same type of excommunication, “depending on their complicity” in Gerlach’s actions; the bishop declares the monastery “closed to public access.” 

April 18, 2024: Olson announces that Mother Marie of the Incarnation, a Discalced Carmelite who is president of the Discalced Carmelite Association of Christ the King but who does not live at the Carmelite monastery in Arlington, is now the “lawful superior” of the monastery; the announcement is accompanied by a decree from the Vatican dicastery that oversees religious orders.

May 22, 2024: Olson announces that the Vatican has overturned his decree dismissing Gerlach from the Carmelites on the grounds that she did not abuse her authority as head of the monastery because she had no authority over the priest who Olson says took part in illicit sexual activity with Gerlach; the Vatican on April 30 also issues a decree upholding the bishop’s investigation and another decree upholding the bishop’s suspension of Gerlach as prioress. 

Sept. 14, 2024: The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington announce a formal association with the Society of St. Pius X, which will supply a priest for the nuns’ spiritual needs. (The Society of St. Pius X is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic association.) The nuns also announce that they reelected Gerlach as their prioress in August. 

Sept. 17, 2024: Olson announces that the Carmelite nuns’ actions are “scandalous” and “permeated with the odor of schism,” and he warns Catholics not to partake of sacraments at the monastery or give money to the nuns. 

Oct. 28, 2024: Olson announces that the prioress he appointed as what he calls the “legitimate superior” of the Arlington monastery, Mother Marie of the Incarnation, has dismissed the seven women of the monastery from the Order of Discalced Carmelites, returning them to lay status. 

Oct. 30, 2024: The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Arlington post a statement on the monastery’s website saying that “any ‘dismissal’ declared by Mother Marie of the Association of Christ the King is a moot point” because of the monastery’s association with the Society of St. Pius X. The nuns say their religious vows were “professed to God” and “cannot be dismissed or taken away.” They also say that they pray for Pope Francis and Olson every day and that “any claim that we have departed from the Catholic faith is ridiculous.”

Oct. 31, 2024: Olson announces that the Society of St. Pius X is “not in full communion or good standing with the Catholic Church” and that sacraments offered by the society under ordinary circumstances are valid but illicit. 

Dec. 2, 2024: Olson announces that the Holy See’s Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life has suppressed the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity as of Nov. 28.

null / Credit: addkm/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

The U.S. bishops are once more teaming up with Catholic charity organizations to encourage the faithful to donate to Catholic causes on Giving Tuesday. 

In partnership with #iGiveCatholic, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is inviting the faithful to support the Church’s efforts to “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and preserve our Catholic heritage for future generations.” 

“You are an important part of the Church’s mission,” the USCCB states on its donations page. “Thanks to Catholics like you, faith communities and struggling populations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world can face their challenges and thrive.” 

“Contributions are well-managed and put to use quickly,” the bishops added. “Every gift matters — by combining resources we make a tremendous impact and carry out more effectively our mission as Catholics.”

The #iGiveCatholic initiative is led by Archbishop Gregory Aymond of New Orleans; Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C.; and Bishop Joseph Kopacz of Jackson, Mississippi. It is responsible for leading the U.S. Catholic Church’s Giving Tuesday efforts. 

The organization is currently updating its donations “leaderboard” on social media. 

In its nearly eight-year existence, #iGiveCatholic has expanded to offer giving days year-round through its #iGiveCatholic Together platform, which hosts sites for charitable initiatives. 

According to its website, the first #iGiveCatholic on Giving Tuesday was held in 2015 in New Orleans by Aymond, who was the USCCB secretary at the time. 

“Orchestrated by the Catholic Foundation for the archdiocese for 112 of their parishes, schools, and ministries,” #iGiveCatholic was launched to encourage Catholic philanthropy and promote development throughout the New Orleans Archdiocese. 

Now, bishops and their dioceses across the country unite every year to accept donations from the faithful to support initiatives in the Church at home and abroad. 

The pillars of the South Portico of the White House are decorated in rainbow colors as guests attend a White House Pride Month celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 26, 2024. / Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 3, 2024 / 11:35 am (CNA).

When President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025, the incoming administration has the opportunity to reverse the promotion of gender ideology and abortion at the Department of Defense (DOD), according to those closely watching these issues. 

“[We hope] that President-elect Trump and his appointees will follow the law, promote health, and stop censorship,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Matt Bowman told CNA.

“The Biden-Harris administration radicalized the federal bureaucracy to promote abortion and dangerous gender procedures and suppress opposition to their agenda,” Bowman said. “We hope President-elect Trump’s appointed leaders will restore the rule of law, respect biological reality, and stop targeting free speech.”

Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the DOD has used taxpayer money to fund gender transitions and abortion-related travel expenses for service members and their families. 

During Biden’s presidency, the DOD also reversed a policy that restricted people with gender dysphoria from serving in the military. In addition, officials encouraged staffers to use gender-neutral language and pronouns that match a person’s self-asserted gender identity, even if they do not match his or her biological sex.

Trump announced he would nominate Pete Hegseth — a military veteran, Fox News host, and former executive director of Concerned Veterans for America — to serve as secretary of defense, which leads the DOD. This position requires a Senate confirmation. 

Hegseth has frequently criticized what he calls “woke” policies in the DOD, including policies related to gender ideology. Trump has said he intends to fire “woke” military generals. Hegseth is also pro-life and has referred to abortion in the United States as “generational genocide.” 

Promotion of gender ideology

Under current DOD policy, the Military Health System covers health care services through its TRICARE program, which serves about 9.5 million people, according to the Congressional Research Service. This includes service members, military retirees, and dependents covered through the health care program.

Both service members and dependents can receive some transgender services through this taxpayer-funded program, including transgender drugs. Although TRICARE does not cover transgender surgeries, the DOD can pay for such surgeries for service members through the taxpayer-funded Supplemental Health Care Program.

Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ended a rule from the first Trump administration that prohibited most people with gender dysphoria from serving in the military. In 2023, he issued a rule that service members should be referred to with gender-neutral pronouns such as “themself” when receiving military awards, although he later walked back that policy. 

Bowman said the incoming Trump administration should reverse the promotion of “dangerous gender procedures” and “mandating false pronouns,” telling CNA that DOD policies “should not be used to attack the life, health, and speech of innocent citizens.”

In 2019, the Trump administration issued a report on gender dysphoria in the military, which noted that people who identify as transgender “suffer from high rates of mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders.” It also found that service members with gender dysphoria are nine times more likely to have mental health encounters and eight times more likely to attempt suicide. 

According to the report, transgender surgeries will put a person on limited duty for more than five months while recovering. The report warned that allowing people with gender dysphoria who are seeking surgery or have undergone surgery to serve in the military would “undermine readiness, disrupt unit cohesion, and impose an unreasonable burden on the military that is not conducive to military effectiveness and lethality.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said in 2017 that “military readiness is of utmost importance to our servicemen and women” but went further, saying that the report did not “address the essence of the issue — the dignity of the human person.”

“Sexual orientation and gender identity issues reflect a rapidly increasing and incorrect societal attitude that individual behaviors in life should pursue immediate and personal choices rather than eternal truth,” Broglio said.

“In extending the maternal care of the Church to the faithful of this archdiocese, it is opportune to reaffirm that personal choices in life, whether regarding the protection of the unborn, the sanctity of marriage and the family, or the acceptance of a person’s God-created biology, should be made not solely for a penultimate reality on his earth but in anticipation of the ultimate reality of sharing in the very life of God in heaven,” said Broglio, who also serves as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

Funding abortion travel

Under Biden’s administration, the DOD also established a policy to pay for travel expenses and provide paid time off for members of the military who are obtaining an abortion. The policy also provides coverage for travel expenses for spouses and dependents of a military member who is seeking an abortion.

Although the Hyde Amendment, which has been in effect since 1980, prohibits the federal government from funding abortion in most cases, it does not explicitly ban funding for travel related to abortion or paid time off.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told CNA that Trump should reinstate “the commonsense policies” of his first administration and reverse what she called “the Biden-Harris administration’s unprecedented violation of longstanding federal laws.” 

“Among the actions he can take, we trust that he will stop the illegal funding of abortion through the Veterans Administration and Department of Defense, start enforcing nondiscrimination laws again so Americans are never forced to participate in abortion, reinstate the Protect Life Rule at home and abroad to stop funneling tax dollars to the abortion industry, and free the patriots unjustly put in prison for peacefully protesting the killing of unborn children,” Dannenfelser said.

Republican lawmakers sought to prohibit the funding of travel for abortions through the National Defense Authorization Act in 2023 but were unsuccessful.

In April 2023, Broglio called the policy “morally repugnant and incongruent with the Gospel, which the faithful are commissioned to share throughout the world.” 

“I implore the faithful of this archdiocese to continue to advocate for human life and to refuse any participation in the evil of abortion,” Broglio said. “As Pope Francis instructs, our defense of the innocent unborn must be ‘clear, firm, and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development.’”

Kash Patel speaks at the 2022 AmericaFest at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix. / Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Dec 3, 2024 / 11:05 am (CNA).

The announcement of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to nominate Kash Patel to become the next FBI director shocked the political world over the weekend, teeing up what is sure to be a fierce confirmation battle.

If confirmed, Patel, seen by many as a Trump loyalist bent on vengeance, will head an agency shrouded in controversy, including the targeting of traditional Catholics and pro-life activists in recent years.

Patel, who was born to Gujarati-Indian parents in New York, has served in numerous defense and intelligence roles. A former federal prosecutor, he was senior adviser to the director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and a U.S. National Security Council official. In November 2020, he was named chief of staff to the acting defense secretary. 

Patel was a strong defender of Trump during the “Russia collusion” controversy that engulfed American politics for the first three years of his presidency. While working as an aide to former Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, he authored the “Nunes memo” that detailed errors made by the Justice Department in obtaining a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrant to spy on Trump adviser Carter Page.

Some Catholic figures and groups hailed the selection, citing Patel’s eagerness to root out corruption in the FBI. 

“Every intel official in D.C. who lied in court to illegally spy on Trump and Americans is currently panicking frantically right now. Justice is on the way,” the political advocacy group CatholicVote posted on X. 

Conservative Catholic columnist David Marcus of Fox News wrote of the pick: “I feel confident that Kash Patel will not allow the FBI to spy on my Catholic Church. That alone is a massive upgrade.”

Former National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, Patel’s former superior, also hailed the pick. 

“I was able to count on him to get any job done no matter how complex or difficult the task,” he wrote on X. “He handled some of the nation’s most sensitive issues with care and discretion.”

Democrats and “never-Trump” Republicans, however, reacted with horror to the selection.

“[Patel] has no other agenda but revenge,” former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem told CNN. “I mean, it’s not like he has a theory of law enforcement, a theory of reducing crime or financial crimes. He exists for one reason, and he’s close to Trump for one reason, which is he will be the enforcer of what might be called sort of the revenge tour of this second term.”

Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, called Patel an “unqualified loyalist.”

Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI who was investigated for making false statements during the Russia-collusion investigation, took aim at Patel’s qualifications. 

“It’s a terrible development for the men and women of the FBI and also for the nation that depends on a highly functioning, professional, independent Federal Bureau of Investigation,” McCabe told CNN. “The fact that Kash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even, like, a matter for debate.”

Following his stint at the Pentagon, Patel remained a pro-Trump voice in the media, often making incendiary statements about seeking retribution against political opponents in government and beyond. 

“Yes, we’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,” Patel said on a podcast with Stephen Bannon in 2023. “We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly — we’ll figure that out. But, yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”

In 2022, Patel authored a children’s book called “Plot Against the King” that retold the Russia-collusion saga, with Trump cast as a king and Patel himself as “Kash the Distinguished Discoverer.”

Patel also authored the book “Government Gangsters” that argued for firing government employees who undermine Trump’s agenda should he retake the White House.

In February, Patel told the Conservative Political Action Conference: “We’re blessed by God to have Donald Trump be our juggernaut of justice, to be our leader, to be our continued warrior in the arena.” 

Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, a member of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and a former board member of the Catholic Information Center, wrote in his memoir that Patel had “virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency. … The very idea of moving Patel into a role like this showed a shocking detachment from reality.”

Other prominent Republicans saw the nomination differently. 

“I worked elbow to elbow with Kash,” said former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy on Fox News. “He’s a former federal prosecutor, a former federal public defender. I think he’s been unfairly maligned. You would not know about FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) abuse, and you would not know about Fusion GPS had it not been for the hard work of a guy named Kash Patel.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

Missouri’s bishops said citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution of Christopher Collings, who was convicted of the 2007 abduction, rape, torture and murder of a 9-year-old girl. Collings is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections

St. Louis, Mo., Dec 2, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Missouri death row prisoner’s appeal on the eve of his execution date, while lawyers for the condemned man argue that he was a frequent victim of physical and sexual abuse in his youth and suffered judgment-impairing brain injuries as a result.

The prisoner, Christopher Collings, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2007 abduction, rape, torture, and murder of a 9-year-old girl, Rowan Ford.

Police said Collings confessed to killing Ford after raping her in rural Stella, Missouri, in the far southwest corner of the state. Collings allegedly burned the evidence of his crime, including the rope used to strangle the child, and dumped her body in a sinkhole.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Collings’ case in a brief Dec. 2 order. Barring an intervention by the Missouri Supreme Court or Republican Gov. Mike Parson — who has never granted clemency during his governorship — Collings will be executed Tuesday by lethal injection. 

Collings’ clemency petition filed with Parson states that Collings’ brain is “multiply injured” and “structurally abnormal,” which causes him to suffer from “functional deficits in awareness, judgment and deliberation, comportment, appropriate social inhibition, and emotional regulation.” It also relates in detail the frequent and often violent physical and sexual abuse that Collings allegedly experienced as a child.

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates policy on behalf of the state’s bishops, had urged Catholics to contact the governor to express their opposition to Collings’ execution. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267).

“The death and other circumstances of Rowan’s murder are tragic and abhorrent, and though her death was a great injustice, it still would also be an injustice if the state carries out a man’s execution in lieu of confining him to life imprisonment,” the Missouri bishops said in a statement last month. 

“The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to the death penalty because it disregards the sanctity and dignity of human life,” they said.

The bishops said that citizens can reach out to the governor’s office to express opposition to the pending execution.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey had in April announced that his office had requested that the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date for Collings, claiming “no court has ever found any legal errors” with his conviction.

In contrast to the petition sent to Parson, the petition to the U.S. Supreme Court sent on Collings’ behalf did not mention the alleged abuse Collings endured, nor his brain development, but focused mainly on procedural issues.

Collings’ confession, which became a key piece of evidence at his trial, allegedly took place during an unrecorded conversation with now-deceased Wheaton Police Chief Clinton Clark. David Spears, the stepfather of Ford, the victim, also admitted to playing a primary role in the crime, though he was ultimately only charged with lesser offenses and eventually released from prison in 2015.

The Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns

CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has suppressed the Carmelite Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Arlington, Texas, following a long-running controversy in which the prioress was found guilty of having broken her vow of chastity. 

Bishop Michael Olson of the Diocese of Fort Worth announced on Monday that he received a decree of suppression last week from the Holy See. The decree follows the dismissal of the former nuns in October by their superior after a series of disagreements with the local bishop. 

The decree, dated Nov. 28, was signed by Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and Sister Simona Brambilla, MC, the secretary of the dicastery.

The dicastery found the community “extinct” and decreed the suppression of the monastery. The decree of suppression cited the “notorious defection from the Catholic faith,” which led to the dismissal of the five nuns as well as of the monastery’s only novice, amid the expiration of the vows of the seventh member, “thus, leaving the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity with no members.”

Olson announced the suppression on Dec. 2, emphasizing that the women at the monastery “are neither nuns nor Carmelites despite their continued and public self-identification to the contrary.”

He added that “the Holy See has suppressed the monastery, so it exists no longer, despite any public self-identification made to the contrary by the former nuns who continue to occupy the premises.”

In the letter, Olson reiterated an earlier announcement that Catholics should not attend Mass celebrated at the former monastery. He noted that any Masses or sacraments celebrated there “are illicit” and that “Catholics do harm to the communion of the Catholic Church by intentionally attending these ceremonies.”

The former nuns had not published a statement in response at the time of publication. Their website continues to identify them as “Discalced Carmelite Nuns.”

The controversy began last year when Olson launched an investigation into the monastery and Reverend Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach, who the bishop said had previously admitted to having conducted an affair with a priest.

The women in May 2023 filed a lawsuit against Olson over the investigation, claiming violations of privacy and harming the physical and emotional well-being of the sisters. Olson eventually dismissed Gerlach from religious life.

In April of this year, the Vatican declared that the Association of Christ the King in the United States of America would oversee the “government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges” of the Texas monastery.

The women, however, defied the Vatican order, going so far as to associate with the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), a traditionalist group that is not in full communion with the Catholic Church and has a canonically irregular status.

Mother Marie of the Incarnation, the president of the Association of Christ the King, who was appointed to oversee the women, announced in October that they were dismissed from the Order of Discalced Carmelites and “reverted to the lay state.” 

“I wish to repeat that since this sad series of events began to unfold in April 2023 when the former prioress self-reported to me her grave failure against the vow of chastity with a priest, I was obliged to begin the search, in accord with canon law, for both justice and mercy for all involved,” OIson said in his letter. 

Gerlach’s admission of “her grave failure against the vow of chastity with a priest,” Olson noted, “was recorded and entered into the public record at a civil court hearing” after the former prioress brought a civil lawsuit against Olson and the diocese.

During the June 2023 court hearing, Gerlach admitted to breaking her vows of chastity and said that the affair was conducted by phone. Gerlach’s lawyer, Matthew Bobo, said that Gerlach was under the influence of pain medication at the time of the hearing. Gerlach, who was hospitalized for seizures in November 2022, uses a wheelchair and feeding tube. 

In June 2023, the diocese released photographs appearing to show cannabis products at the monastery. Bobo called the allegations of drug use “absolutely ridiculous.” 

The former nuns’ most recent statement from Oct. 30 maintained that “these assertions are egregiously false.” The October statement rejected the dismissal by Mother Marie, citing their recent affiliation with the Society of St. Pius X as of August.  

Olson maintained that the diocese’s “response to their disobedient actions and calumny has consistently been guided by charity, patience, and has been in accord with the instructions of the Holy See.” 

Olson asked for prayers for the former nuns, noting that the event brought “great sadness” to the local Church and himself and “perpetrated a deep wound in the Body of Christ.”

“I ask all of you to join me in praying for healing, reconciliation, and for the conversion of these women who have departed from the vowed religious life and notoriously defected from communion with the Catholic Church by their actions,” Olson said.

“Now, as always, I wish them grace and peace in Our Lord, Jesus Christ,” he added.

In a Nov. 29 letter to Olson, the secretary of the dicastery assured Olson of the dicastery’s gratitude for his “heroic and thankless service to the local Church,” citing the “hardship and unwarranted public attention” toward the local diocese. The dicastery also called on the faithful to pray for the former nuns.

“This dicastery exhorts all the members of the Discalced Carmelite Order, as well as the faithful of the Diocese of Fort Worth, to pray earnestly that the hearts of such as have erred may repent and return to the unity of the truth bestowed on the Church by Our Lord, Jesus Christ,” the decree stated.

null / Credit: Katya Moon/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 2, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Several Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to clarify that the terms “male,” “female,” and “sex,” among others, refer to the biological distinctions between men and women when those words are used in laws. 

The Defining Male and Female Act of 2024, introduced by Sen. Roger Marshall from Kansas, aims to prevent government officials and courts from reinterpreting those terms through the lens of gender ideology by identifying men and women based on self-identification instead of biological distinctions.

Marshall said in a statement that he “didn’t think we would need legislation to tell us that there are only two sexes, male and female, but here we are.”

According to a news release, the legislation would restore the legal right to reserve girls’ and women’s sports and scholarships for biological girls and women. The news release also states that the bill would restore the sex separation of restrooms, locker rooms, dorm rooms, prisons, and shelters for victims of sexual assault. 

“As a physician who has delivered over 5,000 babies, I can confidently say that politicizing children’s gender to use them as pawns in their radical woke agenda is not only wrong, it is extremely dangerous,” Marshall said. “We must codify the legal definition of sex to be based on science rather than feelings. With our legislation, we can fight back against the Biden-Harris administration’s assault on our children.” 

Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said in a statement that “men and women have biological differences that must be recognized.” He added that “women and girls deserve to feel safe and respected in all spaces, public and private.” 

The legislation is designed to unwind policies that were enacted during the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Under the current administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reinterpreted the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on “sex” discrimination to include any discrimination on the basis of so-called “gender identity.” The rule was blocked by a judge but would have forced health care providers and insurers to cover transgender drugs and surgeries for both adults and minors. 

The administration also revised Title IX regulations to redefine sex discrimination to include any discrimination based on gender identity. This could have forced publicly funded schools and colleges to allow biological men in women’s locker rooms, dormitories, and athletic competitions. However, its enforcement is limited after multiple courts blocked implementation.

“Since taking office in 2021, the Biden-Harris administration has embarked on a radical transgender agenda, preying on vulnerable youth and endangering women and girls in sports and locker rooms,” Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois, said in a statement. 

“This agenda was soundly rejected by the American people on Nov. 5, and we now have a clear mandate to stop this insanity,” Miller said. “The Defining Male and Female Act will prevent any future administration from ever again redefining Title IX, and I’m thrilled to work with Sen. Marshall in sending it to President Trump’s desk next year.”

The proposed legislation would declare that “every individual is either male or female” and that “an individual’s sex can be observed or clinically verified at or before birth.” It adds that “in no case is an individual’s sex determined by stipulation or self-identification.”

The bill would further clarify that laws separating facilities and athletic competitions based on biological sex “do not constitute unequal treatment under the law.”

Under the law, the following words would be clearly defined based on biological distinctions: man, woman, male, female, boy, girl, mother, and father.

The proposal adds that the word gender “shall be considered a synonym for sex” and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role” unless the explicit definitions of that law indicate otherwise.

Team Saint Paul schedules frequent adoration for soldiers at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. / Credit: Team Saint Paul

CNA Staff, Dec 2, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Regina Fontana was in an airport on her way home from a pilgrimage to Italy when she realized she wanted to leave her job and pursue a calling from God — she just didn’t know what. 

It was only in the weeks after she turned down a job offer as a flight attendant — her dream for many years — that she came across Team Saint Paul. 

“I made this really big decision and I quit everything,” she recalled. “And here I am like, ‘What’s next, Lord? I don’t know what I’m doing here, so I need your help.’”  

Team Saint Paul, a new endeavor by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, places team members near military bases to help organize faith-based activities and build Catholic community in the area.

When Fontana came across the ministry, it seemed like an answer to her prayers.

Team Saint Paul is a new initiative of Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the USCCB and the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Modeled after FOCUS’ work on college campuses, the archdiocese sends several young adults to organize faith-based opportunities for service members at military bases.

“I ended up applying and prayed about it a lot,” Fontana told CNA. “And it was a really good fit. The rest is history.”

Fontana has now been working for Team Saint Paul for almost a year at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. She helps organize Bible studies, adoration nights, and community-building events. 

“What was really attractive was that our daily lives are rooted in prayer and Jesus,” Fontana told CNA. 

“Our day-to-day changes a lot,” Fontana said when asked what an average day looks like. “Every day we have Mass and Holy Hour. Those two things are always set.”

In addition to a daily structure of prayer and worship, Fontana organizes frequent events for the service members. 

“One of the first things we started implementing when we got here was adoration. We held adoration twice a week for the soldiers,” she said. “That was just something that we really saw they needed. We’re going to be starting a Bible study finally in January. We meet one on one with them. They have questions; we respond to them.” 

Team Saint Paul also coordinates activities on the weekends, from rock climbing to line dancing. 

“We’re really close to the Nashville Dominicans [the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation], and so one of the things … is we’ll go pray vespers with the sisters, and then go line dancing afterwards.”

“They love it so much. They do it on their own,” Fontana said of the service members. “If we’re busy, they’re like, no, we’re just going to go.” 

McKenzie Mauss, the program’s organizer and the associate director for Missionary Discipleship for the military archdiocese, told CNA that the goal of Team Saint Paul “is to minister to young adults in the military and form missionary disciples.”

“I think the greatest effect of Team Saint Paul has been cultivating authentic Catholic communities at the installations they currently serve that invite young adults to draw closer to Jesus Christ,” Mauss said.

Father Lukasz “Luke” Willenberg, a military chaplain for the 5th Group Special Forces (Airborne), noted that Mass attendance has been up by 50% since Team Saint Paul came to town.  

“Seeing more active-duty members in uniform attending daily Mass brings great joy to our hearts,” Willenberg said. “It is wonderful to observe how Caroline [McDermott, another Team Saint Paul member] and Regina use their gifts to personally engage with random Mass attendees, creating moments of encounter and bringing them closer to the Lord. After Sunday Masses there is a circle of young adults chatting, getting to know each other, and making plans to keep each other encouraged in the faith.”

When asked about the response of military members, Fontana said “many of them were just really hungry for community, authentic community.”

“This has been the first thing that we did when we got here was really just start fostering that community, meeting people, hanging out with them, introducing them to their peers who they didn’t know,” Fontana explained. “And through that, they’ve built close friendships with each other.”

“We got here and we met people so quick, and they were just so eager for that community that we couldn’t even keep up with [it],” she recalled.

Fontana said one of the biggest challenges is navigating it as a pilot program and “figuring it out as we go along.”

Currently, there are programs at Travis Air Force Base in California and at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but the team is hoping to expand to a third location. 

One of the most memorable events for Fontana was attending the National Eucharisitc Congress with a group of soldiers.

“Almost every single one of them had some just crazy encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist,” she said of the service members. “One of them was like, I think he had been praying about whether or not he wanted to reenlist, to continue or to get out of the Army. And he just heard God being like, ‘No, just stay where you’re at.’ And so he got a huge answer there.”

When asked about the lasting impact, Fontana said she hopes that other service members will be inspired to lead ministries when they are transferred. 

“It’s so hard because the nature of the military is so fluid,” she explained. “People are always moving. People are in and out. So even when you have those good leaders who take initiative to do things, you have them for maybe two years, and then they’re gone.”

She said she hopes service members will learn to build community as they go to new areas.

“Then they can take it to the next place, even if there’s no missionaries there and they can start their own community,” Fontana said.

The Daughters of St. Paul during their annual Christmas concert. / Credit: Courtesy of The Daughters of St. Paul

CNA Staff, Dec 1, 2024 / 07:30 am (CNA).

A group of religious sisters is getting ready to hit the road for its annual Christmas concert. The Daughters of St. Paul Choir announced the dates for its “Come to Bethlehem: A Christmas Concert with the Daughters of St. Paul” tour, which will make stops this year in New York, Boston, and New Orleans.

The Daughters of St. Paul is a religious community that focuses on evangelization through social communications and media. They often release professionally produced Christmas and religious song albums as a means of spreading the faith.

The sisters have been putting on their annual Christmas concert for over 25 years, featuring original choral arrangements, inspirational stories, and audience participation all while focusing on the true reason for the season — the birth of Jesus. 

This year the choir is made up of seven sisters: Sister Margaret Timothy Sato, Sister Anne Joan Flanagan, Sister Fay Pele, Sister Sean Mayer, Sister Mary Martha Moss, Sister Amanda Marie Detry, and Sister Tracey Dugas. 

The tour will stop in New York on Dec. 5, in Boston on Dec. 14–15, and in New Orleans on Dec. 18.

Dugas told CNA in an interview that the concert serves for many as a “kickoff to what they need to feel like, ‘OK, this is how I’m going to integrate the real meaning of Christmas with all the hustle and bustle I have to face after this.’”

Dugas has been taking part in the Christmas concert since 1992. She first became involved by singing for the studio recording and then had her first live concert experience in 2007. 

She shared her memory of hearing the sisters sing for the first time when she was just visiting the community and recalled feeling “moved and touched by the Holy Spirit.”

Now, being one of the sisters herself and part of the choir, she explained that they felt called to put on this concert because they realized that “music is such a sacred part of our worship of God.”

“It’s an expression of our prayer life,” she said. “So, the singing is much more an act of worship than it is a performance … We’re just leading out brothers and sisters in prayer and just inviting them to let their hearts be lifted.”

“We see it in people’s faces that something reaches into their memory or their hearts or their relationships where it’s God’s work.”

Dugas said she hopes those who attend a concert leave feeling “the closeness of God to every individual person” and knowing that “he cherishes, loves, and values us and just wants us with him forever.”

The Daughters of St. Paul was founded in 1915 by Blessed James Alberione in Italy. With the help of Mother Thecla Merlo, he created a community for religious sisters to communicate the Gospel through the “apostolate of the Good Press.” It wasn’t until 1932 that Mother Paula Cordero along with another sister landed in New York and established the sisters’ American presence through the publishing of books. 

Dugas explained that in any of the sisters’ book centers, chapels, or houses, visitors will see statues of Mary where, instead of holding Jesus to herself, she is actually handing him away.

“That idea is that Mary gives Jesus away to the world and so that’s the position that we are in — we give Jesus through the word, through music, through image, through social media presence, through speaking, whatever means,” she said.

“Our mission is to reestablish or to reintroduce or re-announce that we are made for our ultimate goal, which is heaven. So being a culture saturated in communication that is always happening and how often it disintegrates us we’re called to be … as our mother foundress would say, ‘We’re just a drop in the bucket but we’re a drop that makes ripples.’”