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Irish voters mull constitutional amendments downgrading traditional family structure

Maria Steen, an Irish barrister, makes the case for rejecting proposed amendments to Ireland's constitution. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News Nightly

CNA Staff, Mar 8, 2024 / 15:35 pm (CNA).

Voters in Ireland went to the polls today to decide on whether or not to strip from the country’s constitution recognition of the central role of the traditional family founded on marriage as well as the societal value of women within the home. Final results from the vote aren’t expected until Saturday.

In an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol, Maria Steen, an Irish barrister, made the case for rejecting the proposed “Family Amendment” that would both remove a clause about the importance of marriage and family to society as well as legally redefine “family” as either “founded on marriage or on other durable relationships.”

“Now, the government isn’t able to tell us what ‘durable relationships’ means, and although it has been put to them many times, they say it will be up to the courts to decide,” Steen told Sabol. “So, in effect, the Irish people are being asked to vote on something with no definition, that they don’t know who the parties to it are, or the effects that it will have.”

In addition to the “Family Amendment,” the proposed “Care Amendment” would also remove a constitutional clause noting that the “state recognizes that by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.”

The proposed “Care Amendment” would also remove an article of the Irish Constitution that says “the state shall, therefore, endeavor to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labor to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

“The government is talking about deleting the word ‘woman,’ the word ‘mother,’ and the word ‘home’ from our constitution,” Steen noted. 

These clauses would be replaced by an article noting that the state will “strive to support” the care that “members of a family” give to one another “without which the common good cannot be achieved.”

When asked about the response of the women of Ireland to the proposal, Steen noted that there’s “a lot of concern.”

“There’s a feeling among women that the idea, the symbolism of erasing the words ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ from the constitution is, in effect, grotesque,” she said. 

When asked about the effects of these amendments, Steen said it could have unintended consequences for things like family inheritance. 

“The benefit of marriage is that everybody knows what they’re getting into,” she said in reference to civil marriage, adding: “... Because it is publicly witnessed, everybody knows that both parties have consented to it.”

Without this “external evidence,” the legal category for long-term couples is unclear, she explained. 

Steen also noted that the “durable relationship” would be “put at the same level” as a marriage. 

“So, for instance, somebody could make a claim for inheritance or maintenance from a former boyfriend or girlfriend at the same level as a husband or wife could,” she explained. “And the other person had never consented to being in a marriage or a marriage-like relationship.”

‘God never tires of forgiving’: Pope Francis hears confessions at Roman parish

Pope Francis presides over a penitential service at St. Pius V Parish in Rome on March 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

Rome, Italy, Mar 8, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).

Choosing the theme “Walking in the New Life,” the pope stressed that the Lenten journey is a moment of interior reflection and transformation. 

Biden promises legal abortion nationwide in State of the Union address

President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 8, 2024 / 14:05 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden on Thursday night promised to support a law that would legalize abortion nationwide in response to the repeal of Roe v. Wade two years ago.

The president said during his 2024 State of the Union address that if he is reelected — and if Congress is in control of pro-abortion politicians — he will restore the nationalized abortion standards that were established in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. 

“If you, the American people, send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again,” Biden said. 

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, allowing states and the federal government to substantially restrict abortion for the first time in about five decades.

Democratic lawmakers introduced the Women’s Health Protection Act last year to codify Roe’s abortion standards into federal law. The proposed bill would prohibit states from restricting abortion after the point of viability, which is when the preborn child can survive outside of the womb. 

The bill fails to impose a specific week-based limit to define viability, which pro-life advocates have warned could allow abortionists to define viability any way they want, effectively legalizing abortion until the point of birth. 

Biden criticized former President Donald Trump for appointing three of the six justices who voted to overturn Roe. 

“My predecessor came to office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned,” Biden said. “He’s the reason it was overturned and he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted.”

“Those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot,” the president added. “We won in 2022 and we’ll win again in 2024.”

Biden also referenced Kate Cox, who was in attendance as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden. Cox was denied an abortion in Texas but aborted her preborn child in another state. The child had been diagnosed with the genetic condition trisomy 18. Only about 5%-10% of babies born with this condition will live past their first birthday. 

“There are state laws banning the freedom to choose, criminalizing doctors, forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states to get the treatment they need,” the president said during his remarks.

Several pro-life organizations criticized the president’s claims about abortion.

“Democrats tell pregnant mothers they can’t succeed in life and have their child, but when they encounter the loving support of the pro-life safety net made up of thousands of pregnancy centers and maternity homes nationwide, time after time they realize they can,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a statement, referencing the work of pro-life pregnancy resource centers.

“Now the Biden-Harris administration wants to take that support away and push them toward one option as the cure-all — abortion on demand at any time for any reason, even brutal late-term abortions when babies feel pain,” Dannenfelser added. 

Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a new rule that would prevent pregnancy resource centers from accessing funds through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. 

Chelsey Youman, the national legislative adviser for the pro-life Human Coalition Action, accused Biden and congressional Democrats of “hijacking what should be a moment of national unity to promote the mass death of children in the womb.”

“The plight of vulnerable women seeking abortion should be off limits for politicization, yet President Biden wants to use the killing of an innocent child with disabilities to boost his chances of reelection,” Youman said. 

“This is horrifying. Women like Kate Cox need and deserve care and support — not to be used as props for the abortion industry.”

Biden and Republicans embrace IVF 

Notably, both Biden and Republicans on Thursday espoused support for the medical practice of in vitro fertilization (IVF) — the president through his address and the Republican Party in its response.

The president pointed to another guest, Latorya Beasley, who had one child through IVF and had intended to have a second child through IVF. Her plan to undergo the procedure the second time was delayed after numerous IVF clinics paused the procedure following the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that human embryos are covered under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. 

“What her family has gone through should never have happened,” Biden said. “Unless Congress acts, it could happen again. So tonight, let’s stand up for families like hers. To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep this waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF. Guarantee it nationwide.”

Alabama Sen. Katie Britt, in the Republican response to the address, nearly mirrored the president’s message on IVF. 

“We want families to grow,” Britt said. “It’s why we strongly support continued nationwide access to in vitro fertilization. We want to help loving moms and dads bring precious life into this world.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill on Thursday that provides IVF clinics with immunity from criminal or civil action when damaging or destroying embryonic human life, effectively bypassing the state supreme court’s ruling last month.

IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church because it separates the marriage act from procreation and destroys embryonic human life. Through IVF, doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos. While some are implanted and ultimately born, most are either destroyed or frozen indefinitely. Millions of preborn children have been killed or indefinitely frozen through IVF since the 1980s. 

Acknowledging the advances in science available today to those seeking help having children, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warns Catholics on its website of the ethical issues involved.

“The many techniques now used to overcome infertility also have profound moral implications, and couples should be aware of these before making decisions about their use,” the guidance reads.

Connecticut latest state to consider ‘human composting’ amid Catholic opposition

null / Credit: Martchan/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 8, 2024 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

Connecticut is the latest among several states to consider legalizing the controversial practice of “human composting,” a method of burial that the U.S. bishops have said fails to respect human remains in accordance with Catholic teaching. 

The measure under consideration in the state Legislature, H.B. 5354, seeks to “authorize the natural organic reduction of human remains as a final disposition of such remains,” a practice known as “terramation.” A public hearing for the bill is scheduled for Friday of this week.

The process of “human composting” involves placing a deceased’s body in a vessel or receptacle, after which it is covered with organic materials such as wood chips and straw and then allowed to decompose. The body is then broken down into what one human composting company calls a “nutrient-rich soil,” which loved ones are permitted to dispose of as they see fit. 

The Connecticut law under consideration would permit such facilities to operate in the state and would stipulate how they must operate. The legislation includes rules such as the directive that the decomposing receptacles must be “thoroughly swept” after bodies have been composted inside of them. 

A similar bill last year failed to advance in the legislature. State Rep. Christine Palm, who sponsored both last year’s legislation and this year’s bill, told the Connecticut Examiner this week that the measure represents “a new model for funeral parlors,” one that offers an “alternative to the existing ways we have of disposing of a human corpse.”

If the bill becomes law, Connecticut will become the seventh state to legalize human composting after Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, New York, and Vermont.

Catholic teaching stresses respect for bodily remains

The Catholic Church as a whole does not have an official teaching on the composting of human bodies. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last March issued a statement reiterating the Church’s preference for burial of the deceased and stating that newer methods — namely alkaline hydrolysis and human composting — do not show respect for earthly human remains. 

“In recent years, newer methods and technologies for disposition of the bodies of the deceased have been developed and presented as alternatives to both traditional burial and cremation,” the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine wrote at the time. 

“A number of these newer methods and technologies pose serious problems in that they fail to manifest the respect for last remains that Catholic faith requires,” the prelates said. 

“At the end of the human composting process, the body has completely decomposed along with accompanying plant matter to yield a single mass of compost,” the bishops said, noting that the composting process leaves “nothing distinguishably left of the body to be laid to rest in a sacred place.”

Palm, the Connecticut state representative, argued on Thursday that claims of bodily disrespect regarding human composting are “absurd on the face of it.” 

“When I was being raised as a Catholic, I got ashes every Ash Wednesday, and was told ‘Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return,’” she told CNA.

“This is returning us to the dust as promised,” she argued. “It is the most respectful way to treat a human being.” She argued that the Catholic Church was “opposed to cremation until the early ’70s” and that “it is time for them to update their thinking.” The Vatican first explicitly allowed cremation for Catholic burials in 1963.

State Rep. Tom O’Dea, meanwhile, said none of his constituents have voiced any support or desire for the measure. “I don’t understand the need for it; I don’t know anyone who wants to do it,” he said. 

The idea of human composting, O’Dea said, conflicts with his Catholic faith. “It’s not the proper way we’re supposed to honor our remains,” he said. 

He further disputed the environmental benefits of the practice. “My understanding is there’s a CO2 component to it, because cremation creates carbon,” he said. “And my response is, there’s a whole lot of ways to address carbon without having human composting.”

O’Dea said the measure seems unlikely to pass with what little time lawmakers have left. “In Connecticut we’re in a short session,” he said. “I don’t see it passing in Connecticut this year. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to bring it up again, but I don’t see a strong desire for it during an election year.”

In 2022, the California Catholic Conference raised objections similar to the U.S. bishops when that state moved to legalize human composting that year.

Kathleen Domingo, the executive director of the California Catholic Conference, said at the time that the use of a body composting method originally developed for farm animals creates an “unfortunate spiritual, emotional, and psychological distancing from the deceased.” 

In addition, she said, the process “reduces the human body to simply a disposable commodity.”

Catholic opposition has also been raised in the state of Maryland, where a measure introduced last year sought to greenlight the use of “natural organic reduction” in state crematorium facilities.

The Maryland Catholic Conference said in a statement last year that the human composting process “reduces the human body to a disposable commodity.” 

“The practice of respectfully burying the bodies or the honoring of ashes of the deceased comports with the virtually universal norm of reverence and care towards the deceased,” the conference said. The proposal is reportedly coming before the Legislature again this year.

The Connecticut law, meanwhile, stipulates that human composting be available in the state no later than 2026. 

Each Life has Immeasurable Value from the Moment of Conception, says Bishop Burbidge on IVF Issues

WASHINGTON - Each person’s life is a unique gift and has immeasurable value from the moment of conception, said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, and it is for that precise reason that the Catholic Church cannot condone procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) that result in a loss of life at a massive scale. In response to the growing attention to assisted reproductive technologies, Bishop Burbidge, as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, spoke about the gift of life. Recognizing the desire to have children is good and given the challenges many couples face, Bishop Burbidge called for greater focus on ethical treatments addressing the root causes of infertility. Additionally, other approaches that may be sought by some couples seeking to expand their families, such as foster care and adoption, should be offered more support. The chairman’s full statement follows: 

“The national conversation in the news about laws related to in vitro fertilization and other technologies creates an opportunity and a necessity to speak about protecting the gift of life itself. Each of our lives has immeasurable value from the moment of conception. In this way, we know that the deeply-rooted desire to bring about new life by having children is good. As priests and bishops, we grieve with and accompany in hope and love the increasing number of families suffering with an experience of infertility. We also encourage restorative, often-overlooked, treatments that can help to address the root causes of infertility.

“It is precisely because each person’s life is a unique gift that we cannot condone procedures that violate the right to life or the integrity of the family. Certain practices like IVF do both, and they are often not effective even for their own purposes.

“Children have a right to be born to their married mother and father, through a personal act of self-giving love. IVF, however well-intended, breaches this bond and these rights and, instead, treats human beings like products or property. This is all the more true in situations involving anonymous donors or surrogacy. This of course does not mean that our brothers and sisters who were conceived by IVF are somehow ‘less than’ anyone else. Every person has immeasurable value regardless of how he or she was conceived – and that applies, absolutely, to all children created through IVF, the majority of whom have not been and may never be born.

“The fact is that, in the IVF industry, many embryos are never transferred to a mother’s womb, but are destroyed or indefinitely frozen, and, of those who are transferred, only a fraction survive to be eventually born. All told, there are millions of human beings who have been killed or potentially permanently frozen by this industry. This cannot be the answer to the very real cross of fertility challenges. In efforts to bring about new life, we cannot turn our face from the many more lives that are cut short and extinguished in the process.”

Bishop Burbidge was joined by three other bishop chairmen in a letter to the U.S. Senate on February 28, opposing the Access to Family Building Act and similar legislation that would greatly widen the use of various problematic assisted reproductive technologies nationwide. For more on infertility, including ethical restorative reproductive medicine and research, see https://www.usccb.org/topics/natural-family-planning/infertility.

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Priests suspend YouTube program after making ‘comments in bad taste’ about Pope Francis

Four of the six priests who regularly appear in "The Sacristy of the Vendée" program on YouTube. / Credit: Screenshot/Sacristy of the Vendée

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 7, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).

A group of priests have suspended “until further notice” their YouTube program following the controversy sparked by comments about Pope Francis.

The last prophecy of St. Thomas Aquinas before he died 750 years ago

St. Thomas Aquinas uttered a last prophecy and an emotional prayer before his departure to Heaven. / Credit: Renata Sedmakova - Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 7, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

St. Thomas Aquinas uttered a last prophecy and an emotional prayer before his departure to heaven.

Alabama governor signs bill for IVF clinic immunity in deaths of human embryos

null / Credit: Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 7, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed legislation that grants immunity to clinics when they “damage” or cause the “death” of human embryonic life in the process of providing in vitro fertilization (IVF) fertility treatments to women.

Although the deaths of human embryos are an integral part of the IVF industry, Ivey claimed in a statement that IVF works to foster a “culture of life.” Millions of preborn children have been killed or indefinitely frozen through the IVF process since the 1980s.

“Let me say clearly: Alabama supports growing families through IVF,” Ivey said after signing the legislation. “From protecting the unborn to supporting IVF, Alabama is proud we are a pro-life, pro-family state.”

IVF is a fertility treatment opposed by the Catholic Church because it separates the marriage act from procreation and destroys embryonic human life.

Acknowledging the advances in science available today to those seeking help having children, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops warns Catholics on its website of the ethical issues involved.

“The many techniques now used to overcome infertility also have profound moral implications, and couples should be aware of these before making decisions about their use,” the guidance reads.

The new law shields clinics from civil or criminal liability related to the damage or deaths of human embryos. It further prevents any criminal or civil action in relation to those deaths against any individual providing or receiving IVF services.

The law was effective immediately upon the governor’s signature on March 6. It also applies retroactively, meaning that the immunity applies to actions taken prior to the law going into effect.

Alabama lawmakers introduced the legislation late last month after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that human embryos are covered under the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. The 8-1 decision ruled that the law covered “all children, born and unborn,” which had allowed couples to sue an IVF clinic following the unintentional deaths of human embryos in their care.

The lawmakers intended to bypass that court ruling to prevent such lawsuits through this legislation.

IVF is a fertility treatment in which doctors fuse sperm and eggs to create human embryos and then implant some of the embryos in the mother’s womb without a sexual act. Embryos that are intended to be implanted at a later date are frozen, but many remain frozen indefinitely. Human embryos that are undesired are routinely destroyed or used for scientific research, both of which kill the preborn children.

In 2019, Ivey received praise from pro-life organizations when she signed a pro-life bill to ban most abortions in the state. That law went into effect in June 2022 after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

However, many of those same pro-life groups were not on her side when she signed the IVF bill into law. Thirteen pro-life organizations signed a letter that urged Ivey to veto the legislation. 

“If enacted, this sweeping legislation would slam the door on any protections for the most vulnerable Alabamians, prevent families from seeking justice for the death or harm caused to their children, and leave a trail of destructive, immoral implications in its wake,” the letter warned.

Democratic lawmakers voiced strong support for IVF procedures following the Alabama ruling. In recent weeks, a growing number of Republicans have joined them to promote IVF. 

Fake priest robs New York church of $900 in multistate impersonator scam

The priest impersonator enters American Martyrs Church in Queens, New York, on March 3, 2024. / Credit: Diocese of Brooklyn

CNA Staff, Mar 7, 2024 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

A scam artist who impersonated a priest across multiple U.S. states recently targeted a Catholic church in New York City, managing to steal nearly $1,000, according to police.

NYPD Crime Stoppers said in a post on X on Wednesday that it was offering a $3,500 reward for tips leading to the arrest of a man who impersonated a priest to gain access to a Queens church. 

On Sunday, March 3, a priest at American Martyrs Church “was approached by an unknown individual who impersonated a priest to obtain access into [the parish],” the post said, adding that, “while inside, the individual removed $900 in cash from the victim’s unlocked bedroom.” 

Local media reported that Father Peter Rayder, the pastor of the church, said the fake priest “must have done his research because he knew their names, used vocabulary a priest would, and knew where to go.”

“He’s a vulture, he’s a vulture, gypsy, he knows what he’s doing," Rayder told network WABC.

Diocese of Brooklyn spokesman John Quaglione told CNA on Thursday morning that the scammer “made another attempt in the Diocese of Brooklyn in October at St. Thomas Aquinas in Flatlands.”

“At that time, he also said that he was a visiting priest who left his keys in the rectory,” Quaglione said. “The sacristan called the pastor who informed him that he had no visitors, so they told him to wait, but the guy left.”

The individual impersonating a priest after being let it to St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Brooklyn. Credit: Diocese of Brooklyn
The individual impersonating a priest after being let it to St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Brooklyn. Credit: Diocese of Brooklyn

The crook also reportedly targeted the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville’s motherhouse on Long Island earlier in March, where he also claimed to be a priest.

“He said he wanted to go into the chapel and pray while he was waiting for his friend,” Quaglione said. “Once he got past reception he did go to one of the units in the building and knocked on a sister’s door who, not recognizing him, immediately slammed the door.”

The man left the mother house shortly thereafter without taking anything. The nuns, Quaglione said, identified the scammer from the Queens church as the same man.

Surveillance footage appears to show the impersonator at the Sisters of St. Dominic in Amityville, New York. Credit: Diocese of Brooklyn
Surveillance footage appears to show the impersonator at the Sisters of St. Dominic in Amityville, New York. Credit: Diocese of Brooklyn

“Photos of this man were shown to all pastors in the Diocese of Brooklyn and an alert is going out to all clergy regarding this incident,” Quaglione said. 

Quaglione said on Thursday morning that “there have been no arrests and no leads that we are aware of at this time.”

The Diocese of Rockville Centre, in which the Sisters of St. Dominic of Amityville’s motherhouse is located, did not respond to a request for comment on the incident on Thursday.

This is apparently not the first time the scammer has successfully impersonated a priest to rob a Catholic church. 

Last October a man calling himself “Father Martin” attempted to infiltrate several Texas parishes and reportedly succeeded in stealing several hundred dollars from one Houston parish.

Security footage of the Texas scammer showed a man identical in appearance to the impersonator who showed up in New York this month. 

The man in Texas also reportedly attempted to perpetrate the scam in several Dallas parishes and may have been active in California and Oregon as well. The Diocese of Dallas said last year that the scammer “has active warrants issued for his arrest for theft and burglary offenses he has committed across several states.”

St. Thomas Aquinas’ relics carried in procession for 750th anniversary of his death

The purported skull of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Italian town of Priverno. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Rome Newsroom, Mar 7, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Bishop Mariano Crociata led the procession to honor the medieval philosopher and theologian widely considered one of the greatest thinkers in Western civilization.