OUR NORTHLAND DIOCESE
NATIONAL
August 10, 2016
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Krakow in Capital festival brings World Youth Day to Washington By Kelly Seegers Catholic News Service WASHINGTON – About 1,300 young adults gathered in the nation’s capital for prayer, catechesis, fellowship, and a taste of Polish culture, an event designed for those who could not attend World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland. Krakow in the Capital was celebrated on the campus of The Catholic University of America July 30, coinciding with Pope Francis’s celebration of World Youth Day in Poland with more than 1 million pilgrims from around the world. “I always imagine World Youth Day as a very exclusive event; if you had the time and resources you could go,” said Evan Wescott, a recent Catholic University graduate who is now working as a campus minister at Duke University. “The fact that the archdiocese has made it available for everyone to participate in ... is a powerful way to connect in prayer.” At the opening prayer service for the stateside celebration of World Youth Day, Jonathan Lewis, director of Young Adult Ministry and Evangelization Initiatives for the Archdiocese of Washington, welcomed the young adults gathered in the Basilica of the National Shrine
Young adults carry the cross during Stations of the Cross at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington July 30 as a way of being in unison with World Youth Day pilgrims in Krakow, Poland. (Photo credit: CNS/Brian Searby, Catholic Standard)
of the Immaculate Conception. “Today prayer shatters time and space to unite us in solidarity with our fellow pilgrims and Pope Francis,” Lewis said. While some participants traveled just a few blocks and others traveled hundreds or thousands of miles, he said, “Each of us has a call today to make a pilgrimage of the heart.” During the prayer service, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville spoke to the young adults about the need to have love in their hearts during this difficult time in our world.
He encouraged them to embark on a peaceful “spiritual crusade” with an army of young people that has Christ as the “future and rock.” “I cannot stop asking you to pray for peace around the world, which is the fruit of justice,” Bishop Dorsonville said. The pilgrims gathered in the basilica prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet in five different languages: English, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Polish. Following the prayer service, the pilgrims were able to choose from 10 different catecheti-
cal session options, including a panel on forming community as young adults, a talk titled “Mercy Without Borders,” a talk about the corporal works of mercy and talks in Spanish and American Sign Language. During the sessions, they also had a chance for eucharistic adoration, to attend confession, and to venerate the relics of two patrons of World Youth Day, St. John Paul II and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. Catholic Relief Services set up a simulation of the refugee experience: Each person was given a card with a name, age, country and background of a refugee. They were taken through different stations to see what people encounter during their migration. The celebration included Polish food, dancing and music. While some people enjoyed pierogies and kielbasa outside, others gathered in the exhibit hall to watch the Ojczyzna Polish Dancers. Some participants even joined in the polka. In the evening, the young adults gathered inside the basilica for Stations of the Cross and a closing Mass, both celebrated by Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl. In his homily at the closing Mass, Cardinal Wuerl reflected on the message of Pope Fran-
cis, referring to the papal trip to Washington last September. “What the Holy Father proclaimed throughout his time here and what he will undoubtedly be announcing again in Krakow is that we are supposed to show God’s love and mercy to everyone,” said Cardinal Wuerl. “This is not a new teaching, but it rings fresh all over again as people hear it and are drawn to it.” Cardinal Wuerl encouraged young adults to “never underestimate the power of your witness,” even in the middle of a culture that “often says there is no place for God, (or) for the Gospel message of Jesus.” At the end of the Mass, Cardinal Wuerl reminded everyone to be grateful for the ability to freely profess their faith, when so many around the world face persecution for their faith. He urged participants to pray and speak out in solidarity for those suffering Christians. After the Mass, singer Marie Miller, who sang at the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, held an outdoor concert to conclude Krakow in the Capital. Some pilgrims, who planned to camp outside overnight, were welcomed into the Dominican House of Studies to spend the night, due to the inclement weather.
Some fast-food chains now blocking customers’ internet access to porn technology at their locations to block pornography and other sexually explicit material from WASHINGTON – When the U.S. being seen on customers’ cellbishops urged a national policy phones and laptops while there. of net neutrality, they wanted to They join the ranks of two make sure that internet access other nationwide eateries: Panewas made equally available to all ra Bread and Chick-fil-A, the people. latter of which already earned a A federal appeals court up- reputation by staying closed on held that principle earlier this Sundays since it was established year, agreeing with the Federal in 1946, in accordance with the Communications Commission’s religious beliefs of its Southern argument was that internet ac- Baptist founder, S. Truett Cathy. cess was a utility and should be Their numbers are considerregulated as such because it of- able. McDonald’s has 14,000 fers a public good. U.S. locations and Starbucks has But what of private internet 13,000, while Panera and Chickproviders? How many are there? fil-A have 2,000 each. There’s no readily accurate The effort to bring McDonestimate. But if you think of ald’s and Starbucks on board the number of restaurants and was started two years ago by the stores that offer free Wi-Fi to National Center on Sexual Extheir customers, then you realize ploitation, formerly known as the number is a mighty big one. Morality in Media, and Enough What makes this a big deal? Is Enough, another anti-porTwo of the United States’ nography group led by Donna most ubiquitous restaurant Rice Hughes, who in 1988 was chains, McDonald’s and Star- part of a scandal that tripped bucks, announced in mid-July up Gary Hart’s presidential bid they were installing filtering in 1988 but now is a wife, stepBy Mark Pattison Catholic News Service
mother and internet safety advocate. Enough Is Enough launched a “Porn-Free Wi-Fi” campaign that garnered about 50,000 signatures and drew support from 75 other organizations, among them the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which issues an annual “Dirty Dozen” report of companies it considers the worst purveyors of porn; its prime target is currently Verizon for offering pornography options for its FiOS customers. Among the other organizations signing on to the campaign were the Maryland Coalition Against Pornography, the National Children’s Action Center, the Preventing Abuse Foundation, the Parents Television Council, the Utah Coalition Against Pornography and the Salvation Army. Haley Halverson, a spokeswoman for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, told Catholic News Service in a July 29 telephone interview that their organization was a “ma-
jor partner” with Enough Is Enough. “We were a formative partner, not just some organization that signed on,” she said. Dawn Hankins, the center’s executive director, told CNN after the McDonald’s-Starbucks agreement was reached: “Thanks in part to the internet, it is now beyond an individual’s or a family’s capacity to adequately protect against, or overcome the harmful influences of, pornography.” Hankins added, “This reality requires a public health approach to raise awareness about the harms of pornography, provide resources to those struggling with it and to offer effective prevention strategies.” “We will vigorously continue to encourage other businesses and venues such as hotels, airlines, shopping malls, and libraries to filter pornography and child abuse images on publicly available Wi-Fi in order to protect children and families,” Hughes said in a statement issued after the agreement was
reached. Who’s next? Not the American Library Association, which has been on record as saying filters that block porn also tend to block legitimate sites. “Education is more effective than filters,” says a statement on the organization’s website. Still, what we’re seeing here are major corporations who find it is in their corporate interest to keep pornography out of reach of their patrons. Will we see next commercials touting this new stance? Not likely. Is it possible these fastfooderies will lose customers who want to stare at explicit sexual content while munching a sandwich or sipping a latte? Perhaps. But it’s their calculated guess that patrons like Little League coaches and families who “deserve a break today” will far outnumber those perturbed by what they can’t access on their smartphone.