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Posted by bcadmin | Apr 1, 2020 | News, Today's Saint |
Hugh was born at Chateauneuf, France, in 1052. He became a canon (priest assigned to a cathedral) in Valence. He served as an aide of Bishop Hugh of Die and was very active in helping the bishop fight against the practice of buying and selling church offices. While attending a synod in Avignon in the […]
Posted by bcadmin | Apr 1, 2020 | Homily of the Day, News |
The Jews valued freedom very highly. They were therefore disgusted when Jesus talked to them about freedom, for they claimed that they were descendants of Abraham and had never been enslaved. But Jesus was speaking of another form of slavery, one that has persisted through the ages up to our time – the slavery to […]
Read MoreOrthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has postponed a scheduled visit to the US, which was to take place in May, because of the CO19 epidemic. The Ecumenical Patriarch was to visit Boston, New York, Washington, and South Bend, Indiana—…
Read MoreIn his regular weekly public audience on April 1, Pope Francis assured the faithful that the Lord offers “support and comfort in the midst of life’s tribulations.” Continuing his meditations on the Beatitudes, the Pontiff spoke on pur…
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Little Rock, Ark., Mar 31, 2020 / 07:01 pm (CNA).- An EF3 tornado blew through Jonesboro, Arkansas, this week, and although no deaths have been reported, Catholic Charities of Arkansas is gearing up to help those whose livelihoods will be affected by the disaster.
Patrick Gallaher, director of Catholic Charities of Arkansas, told CNA that he anticipates that their involvement with the disaster in Jonesboro will involve long term case management to help uninsured and underinsured families recover and settle into permanent housing.
Typically, with a tornado like this, Catholic Charities will work with Habitat for Humanity to help get underinsured people into a Habitat for Humanity house, he said.
“We have been in contact with the parish in Jonesboro, Blessed Sacrament Church, and with their local Society of St. Vincent de Paul Council, but have not received any reports of damage or need at this moment. Once we begin receiving information from Jonesboro, we will be able to craft a response to meet the specific needs,” Gallaher said.
The tornado damaged nearly 200 structures, including several factories. Governor Asa Hutchinson has declared a state disaster and the state is seeking a federal designation from the national government.
Though Catholic Charities of Arkansas is not part of the immediate emergency response, Gallaher clarified, first responders in the county, with state assistance, have set up an emergency shelter with care being taken not to spread the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Craigshead County, where Jonesboro is located, has eight confirmed COVID-19 cases. The state as a whole has around 500.
Gallaher said the main difficulties in helping victims of the tornado is a lack of volunteers and funds amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Most of my volunteers, my disaster volunteers, are elderly people. And I wasn’t even going to call them, I don’t want to take a chance,” Gallaher told CNA.
He also noted that fundraising has been made more difficult by the suspension of public Masses in the Diocese of Little Rock.
About three percent of the state’s population is undocumented immigrants, who will not be eligible for federal or state unemployment assistance, Gallaher said. With Jonesboro as a manufacturing hub, and much of the city’s factory capacity destroyed, Gallaher said he expects Catholic Charities will likely start receiving requests for assistance with food.
“I expect that as the protocols put in place to contain the epidemic continue, we will be hearing from families unable to meet their daily needs because of lack of employment. Although the federal and state response regarding unemployment insurance and direct payments will help most, there will be a segment of our population that is ineligible and will need assistance,” Gallaher said.
Posted by bcadmin | Apr 1, 2020 | Catholic school leaders, Coronavirus pandemic, Local News, Mayor Melvin Carter, News, St. Paul |
Leaders from 10 Catholic schools in St. Paul, including St. Agnes, St. Peter Claver and Cretin-Durham Hall, asked Mayor Melvin Carter to include Catholic school families and nonprofits in a proposed St. Paul Bridge Fund set to go before the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority April 1.
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CNA Staff, Mar 31, 2020 / 06:30 pm (CNA).- Kentucky’s attorney general has joined the national controversy over whether abortion clinics can continue to operate at a time when other surgeries and procedures have been canceled or delayed to conserve medical resources to combat the novel coronavirus.
“Abortion providers should join the thousands of other medical professionals across the state in ceasing elective procedures, unless the life of the mother is at risk, to protect the health of their patients and slow the spread of the coronavirus,” Kentucky’s Attorney General Daniel Cameron said March 27.
The attorney general has asked Kentucky’s Acting Secretary of Health and Family Services Eric Friedlander to certify that abortion providers are not essential under the governor’s executive order barring non-essential medical procedures. The certification is necessary to act against any abortion clinics in violation.
According to Cameron, the certification would advance the goals of conserving medical supplies and advancing the “social distancing” deemed necessary to slow the spread of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
“Acting Secretary Friedlander is on the front lines of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am confident that he understands, better than anyone, the necessity of ending abortion procedures during this health crisis,” Cameron said. “His certification will immediately trigger action by our office to stop elective procedures during the pandemic.”
The only remaining abortion clinic in the state is EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville. It continues to perform abortions.
Cameron, the current attorney general, is a Republican. He made the request to the administration of Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, who was Kentucky Attorney General from 2016 to 2019.
Beshear campaigned on a pro-abortion rights position and defeated deeply controversial incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin by about 5,000 votes in the November 2019 elections.
State legislators have proposed a bill to allow the attorney general’s office to proceed with legal action without a certification from the health and family services department, the CBS affiliate WLKY reports.
The State Senate could consider the legislation, House Bill 451, on Wednesday. A floor amendment could bar abortions during the response to the coronavirus outbreak.
CNA contacted the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.
Federal judges in Texas, Alabama, and Ohio on Monday halted state rules that would limit or halt entirely abortions during the coronavirus pandemic on the grounds they are non-essential surgeries. On Tuesday the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily reinstated the Texas rule.
Indiana, Oklahoma, and Iowa have similarly acted to limit abortions. A hearing on the Iowa law is pending and the others too could be challenged in court.
For their part, officials in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Oregon have said abortions may continue.
In Utah, judgment about the medical necessity of an abortion will be left to the doctor, a spokesperson for the Utah Department of Health told the pro-abortion rights website Rewire News.
Posted by bcadmin | Apr 1, 2020 | News, The Dispatch |
Just days after I wrote about the irresponsibility of environmental advocates looking for silver linings in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vatican News posted on Monday, and then quickly removed, a piece doing just […]
Read MoreCNA Staff, Mar 31, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Local media in Nicaragua are reporting that despite the nation’s bishops’ conference suspending Mass and prohibiting large gatherings, the mayor of Granada is going ahead with an annual pilgrimage …
Read MoreCallers choose the topics during Open Forum, peppering our guests with questions on every aspect of Catholic life and faith, the moral life, and even philosophical topics that touch on general religious belief.
Questions Covered:
19:05 – There …
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