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Eric Sammons, Editor-in-Chief of Crisis Magazine, discusses the debate within the Catholic world regarding the morality of abortion-tainted vaccines. Related links: Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Foetuses (Pontifical Academy for Life, 2005) Dignitas Personae (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2008) Note on the morality of using some […]
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Apr 9, 2021 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Cardinal Seán O’Malley urged religious leaders to be vigilant in preventing child sexual abuse and supporting survivors in healing at a virtual conference organized by Harvard University in partnership with the Vatican and other religious groups this week.
“We all have a moral and legal obligation to as best possible provide protection and care for the people we serve, especially minors, young people, vulnerable adults in all religious, civic, and social groups, and the people we serve rightfully expect that protection,” the archbishop of Boston said April 8 at the opening of the three-day symposium.
“We must be vigilant in supporting survivors and their loved ones in the journey toward healing,” he said.
The online symposium, “Faith and Flourishing: Strategies for Preventing and Healing Child Sexual Abuse,” taking place April 8-10, is aimed at connecting abuse survivors, health professionals, child welfare advocates, policy-makers, and religious leaders from different traditions.
Among the goals of the conference is the establishment of April 8 as the annual World Day for Child Sexual Abuse Prevention, Healing, and Justice.
“The participants in this symposium, notably those from Harvard University and the Catholic University of America, are professionals committed to correct the injustices of the past, as well as established advocates for the safeguarding of minors and vulnerable adults,” O’Malley said.
“Many work tirelessly to promote transparency, accountability, and zero tolerance in the Catholic Church and civil society, applying what we have learned from the tragic instances of the past to formulate a clear path for prevention and creating safe environments for our minors and vulnerable adults.”
O’Malley leads Pope Francis’ Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which co-sponsored the symposium, along with the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Centre for Child Protection, SNAP, Islamic Relief USA, the New York Board of Rabbis, the World Council of Churches, and a dozen other organizations.
Pope Francis sent a brief message to conference participants in which he expressed his hope that the symposium would “contribute to a greater awareness of the gravity and extent of child sexual abuse and promote more effective cooperation at every level of society in eradicating this profound evil.”
In his opening remarks, O’Malley said that the “betrayal of sexual abuse” is a “terrible and devastating violation of human dignity.”
“I want to acknowledge and thank all of the victim survivors who continue to come forward to share their stories,” he said.
“It is because of your courage that protection of children, youth, and vulnerable adults and victim assistance programs are becoming central components in all facets of our lives, but — as the program for this symposium makes clear — there is much work still to be done.”
O’Malley’s speech was followed by remarks from Queen Silvia of Sweden and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege, who also shared messages on the opening day of the virtual forum.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago, spoke on the second day of the symposium on the role of faith leaders in abuse prevention and healing.
He shared a personal story of a time when he met with a survivor of child sexual abuse when he was a bishop of a “mostly rural, small diocese” nearly 20 years ago.
“That survivor’s courage forced me to be an adult in a way that I had never experienced,” he said.
He went on to discuss the Archdiocese of Chicago’s ministry to assist abuse victims in healing, established by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, and the archdiocesan safe environment training office.
“Like Cardinal Bernardin and me, Pope Francis is motivated to take up the work of making major reforms in large part by his meetings with survivors who bravely share their stories and deep pain,” Cupich said.
“By his own admission, he has learned a great deal from those encounters. He has been decisive in removing cardinals and bishops — laicizing some — for misconduct and removing bishops for their mishandlings of cases.”
“Pope Francis wants all the Church’s leaders to not only have a full understanding of the devastating impact clerical sexual abuse has on survivors but also to accept ownership at a national, regional, diocesan, and parish level for effectively addressing this issue in a way that keeps all children safe.”
Posted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Articles, Featured Highlights, News |
‘Critical Race Theory’ is all the rage, so it is not much surprise that the historiographical device currently in vogue is the notion of ‘race’, and it has now targeted such harmless domains as music theory. In 2019 a City of New York University professor of music, Philip Ewell, spoke on “Music Theory’s White Racial[…]
The post A Brief Philosophy of Music appeared first on Catholic Insight.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Abortion, Catholic news, human dignity, News, News Briefs, prolife |
Nashville, Tenn., Apr 8, 2021 / 20:01 pm America/Denver (CNA). A bill on the burial of the bodies of aborted fetuses advanced through the Tennessee Senate and House earlier this week. The bill, HB 1181, […]
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Duke of Edinburgh, News, Prince Philip, Top Story |
“It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.” The statement from the Royal Family went on to say: “His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning [Friday, April 9, 2021] at Windsor Castle.”
The post RIP Prince Philip, 1921-2021 appeared first on Catholic Herald.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Anglican Church, Archbishop Justin Welby, Bishops Conference of England and Wales, Boris Johnson, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Catholic Church, Church in UK and Ireland, Church of England, Great Britain, lead, News, Queen Elizabeth II, United Kingdom |
Cardinal Vincent Nichols has offered his prayers for the repose of the soul of Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Friday at the age of 99.
Read MoreQueen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh attend the Trooping of the Colour in London, England, June 16, 2012. / Catchlight Media/Featureflash via Shutterstock.
CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2021 / 05:53 am (CNA).
Cardinal Vincent Nicho…
The Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Novgorod, Russia. / Credit: pd.
CNA Staff, Apr 9, 2021 / 05:35 am (CNA).
Authorities in Russia have returned a church to the Catholic community after a 25-year wait. The church of Sts. Peter…
Posted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Assisted suicide, Associated Press, Catholic Church, Church in the US, euthanasia, New Mexico, News, Physician-assisted suicide |
New Mexico has become the latest state to legalize medically assisted suicide for terminally ill patients.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Associated Press, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Catholic Church, Church in UK and Ireland, DUP, Great Britain, News, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Assembly, Sinn Fein, United Kingdom |
Gangs of youths threw stones and fireworks at police in Belfast who hit back with water cannons as violence flared again on the streets of Northern Ireland.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Associated Press, Catholic Church, Coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, News, Vatican, Vatican museums |
The Vatican Museums are aiming to reopen to the public starting on May 3, depending on status of the coronavirus.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Conversation, Divine Mercy, Divine Mercy Sunday, Faith, faith and life conversations, Fr. Michael Gaitley, From the Magazine, News, Q & A, Trent Beattie |
by Trent Beattie Fr. Michael Gaitley, MIC, is well known —not only for his speaking presentations on Divine Mercy, but for his written ones, as well. The 43-year-old priest from the Marians of the Immaculate Conception has a list of bestsellers that in…
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Catholic Church, Catholic News Service, Church in the Americas, Colombia, Colombian bishops, migrants and refugees, News, Venezuela |
Church groups in Colombia are mobilizing to support thousands of Venezuelan refugees who recently fled a military offensive and are stuck in a remote Colombian border town.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Associated Press, Catholic Church, Church in the US, Coronavirus, COVID-19, COVID-19 pandemic, News, Nuns, Religious Sisters |
The COVID toll on the Felician Sisters was almost too much to bear: 21 of their own, in four U.S. convents, who collectively served 1,413 years, all felled by the virus.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Camino de Santiago de Compostela, Jubilee Year of St James, News, Santiago de Compostela, Top Story, Travel & Pilgrimage, Way of St. James |
Saints and sinners, miracles and miscreants, and even Old Scratch himself … the literature associated with the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela abounds in characters and tales as colorful, instructive and entertaining as anything in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
The post Tales of St James appeared first on Catholic Herald.
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Assisted suicide, Canada, canadian bishops, Catholic Church, Catholic News Service, Church in the Americas, End-of-life issues, euthanasia, News, Physician-assisted suicide |
Canada’s Catholic bishops said the possible pressures the country’s new assisted suicide law will place on Canadians with mental illness or disabilities are “all too real, perilous and potentially destructive.”
Read MorePosted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Church, Featured, News, Weekly Headlines |
The statement “To Awaken Conscience” on so-called “abortion tainted” vaccines was meant to propose an ideal, not give arguments. I signed it because I agree with that ideal. But a philosopher should have reasons too, and here I wish to give them. These reasons also explain why I reject the statement recently offered by some […]
Posted by bcadmin | Apr 9, 2021 | Catholic Living, Featured, News, Weekly Headlines |
A home is not the same as a house. You can live or stay in a house and it is not a home. You can possibly live in a house many years and yet it never becomes a home. Home, the ancient expression goes, is where the heart is. While that might have become rather […]
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