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Critics: Democrats’ Aim to Codify Same-Sex Civil Marriage Imperils Religious Freedom Push Comes In Wake of Dobbs Decision BY L AU R E T TA B R OW N S TA F F W R I T E R
WASHINGTON — An aggressive push to enshrine same-sex civil marriage into federal law has arisen in response to Justice Clarence Thomas’ remarks to revisit the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in his concurrence in the June 24 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Thomas wrote that the justices should “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents,” including Obergefell, and “‘follow the text of the Constitution, which sets forth certain substantive rights that cannot be taken away, and adds, beyond that, a right to due process when life, liberty, or property is to be taken away.’ Substantive due process conflicts with that textual command and has harmed our country in many ways.” He added that “after overruling these demonstrably erroneous decisions, the question would remain whether other constitutional provisions guarantee the myriad rights that our substantive due process cases have generated.” While Justice Samuel Alito emphasized in the majority opinion for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision that it “concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” Democrats have seized the moment to not only push an expansion of the redefinition of marriage, but paint Republicans who support traditional marriage as out of touch and bigoted ahead of the midterm elections. The “Respect for Marriage” bill, which July 19 passed the House, requires that states cannot deny “full faith and credit to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State pertaining to a marriage between 2 individuals, on the basis of the sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin of those individuals.” It also establishes for “any Federal law, rule, or regulation in which marital status is a factor, an individual shall be considered married if that individual’s marriage is valid in the State where the marriage was entered into.”
Religious, Polygamy Concerns While the bill’s sponsors in the Senate claim it would “repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), enshrine marriage equality in federal law and provide additional legal protections for marriage equality,” opponents of the legislation argue that it expands the definition of marriage beyond the Obergefell ruling in troubling ways and could result in more discrimination against Americans with a traditional understanding of marriage. Eighty-three groups, led by the religious-liberty law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., July 27 highlighting their concerns with the legislation. They wrote that the measure “would require federal recognition of any one state’s definition of marriage without any parameters whatsoever. This would include plural marriages, time-bound marriages, open marriages, marriages involving a minor or relative, platonic marriages, or any other new marriage definition that a state chooses to adopt, including through undemocratic imposition by a state Supreme Court.” They added that the bill applies to those acting “under color of state law,” which could include religious foster-care providers and socialservice organizations. This effectively “deputizes activist groups to sue religious individuals, organizations, and businesses that operate according to their sincerely held religious belief that marriage is between one man and one woman,” since “the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized this as a term that might apply where a private organization participates in a joint activity with a state, is performing a function traditionally performed by the government, or even when its operations are entwined with government policies.” The groups warned that “the Internal Revenue Service could rely
CONCERNING BILL. Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, is shown above in 2018 at the office of Health and Human Services in Washington. He said the ‘Respect for Marriage’ bill ‘will do nothing on the ground with respect to same-sex marriage benefits and privileges, so they’re attacking a problem that doesn’t exist in order to take a swipe at people of faith.’ Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press on this congressional declaration requiring full recognition of samesex marriage to strip 501(c)(3) organizations of their tax-exempt status if they continue to adhere to their belief that marriage is only between one man and one woman.”
‘Assault on Religious Freedom’ Roger Severino, vice president of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, which signed on to the letter, told the Register that the bill was “an assault on religious freedom of people who deserve to be treated with respect and affirm the same beliefs that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and President Joe Biden had just a few years ago with respect to the purpose and meaning of marriage.” Severino, who served as the director of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services from 2017 to 2021, said the bill “will do nothing on the ground with respect to same-sex marriage benefits and privileges, so they’re attacking a problem that doesn’t exist in order to take a swipe at people of faith,” thereby threatening their tax-exempt status, licensing and access to grants and contracts. THE SENATE DEMOCRATS WOULD NEED 10 REPUBLICANS TO CROSS THE AISLE AND SUPPORT THE MEASURE FOR A 60-VOTE, FILIBUSTERPROOF MAJORITY. He said that the section requiring “the federal government to recognize any union that a state adopts as a marriage for all federal purposes,” with no limit on the number of people in such unions, brings up concerns about “plural marriages.” Such concerns are not “purely theoretical,” he added, pointing out that in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts, plural marriages are already recognized for domesticpartnership purposes. “All it takes is one state Supreme Court to say, under the logic of Obergefell, there’s no reason to say three people who love each other should not be recognized as a marriage.” The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, per Church teaching, has also been very vocal in its opposition to the measure. The U.S. bishops call on the faithful to ask their senators to oppose the bill, saying it “would prevent states from restoring the authentic understanding of marriage between man and woman if given the opportunity by the Supreme Court. Moreover, it could even require the federal government to honor polygamous ‘marriages’ in states that move to allow it.” Robert Vega, an attorney and policy adviser for the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth, told the Register that the bill “codifies what already exists, which is the concept of same-sex civil marriage as a result of the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision in 2015, but it does so in a way that opens up some
new problems and fails to resolve some other problems.” He said that the bill “fails to address the religious-liberty conflicts that have arisen since the nationwide redefinition of marriage,” including “attacks on foster care and adoption agencies and wedding vendors.” The measure not only “makes no attempt to address that, but has provisions that could be used to make life more difficult for faith-based foster care and adoption agencies.” Vega added that this bill seems unnecessary, as it “has been put forward as a response to the Dobbs decision even though the majority of the court in the Dobbs decision explicitly said that Obergefell was not affected by that ruling.”
Public Opinion Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell, public support for same-sex civil marriage has risen from 60% in 2015 to 71%, according to Gallup, with last year’s poll finding that more than half of Republicans backed same-sex marriage. The polling group noted this year that weekly church attendees are “holdouts” on the issue, with 40% in support of same-sex marriage, close to the 37% of weekly church attendees in support in 2015. Regarding the changing public opinion, Vega quoted the words of Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Gospel of Love), that “as Christians, we can hardly stop advocating marriage simply to avoid countering contemporary sensibilities, or out of a desire to be fashionable or a sense of helplessness in the face of human and moral failings. We would be depriving the world of values that we can and must offer.” “In all of this, we very much want to ensure that people who experience same-sex attraction or same-sex relationships are loved,” Vega added. “That is distinct from still upholding the definition of marriage that has always been known and understood as the foundation of the family and the basic building block of society.” Republican Support Forty-seven House Republicans, including 14 who identify as Catholic, crossed the aisle to join with every House Democrat, including 75 self-identified Catholics, in supporting the measure last month. Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, backed the measure. When running for Minnesota governor in 2010, Emmer opposed same-sex marriage and described marriage as the “union between one man and one woman.” He did not release a statement regarding his recent vote and did not respond to the Register’s request for comment. He is not the only politician to have changed his mind on the issue. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, passed Congress on a widely bipartisan basis in 1996. Among those who voted for it was then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden. In 2006, Biden said in an interview that “marriage is between a man
and a woman,” and in a 2008 vicepresidential debate with Sarah Palin, he said he opposed “redefining from a civil side what constitutes marriage.” However, by 2012, he said in an interview that he was “absolutely comfortable” with allowing samesex couples to marry, and that comment reportedly pressured thenPresident Barack Obama to come out with a similar statement. The Biden White House released a statement of policy last month calling DOMA “an unconstitutional and discriminatory law” and saying the “Respect for Marriage” act would “strengthen civil rights and ensure that the promise of equality is not denied to families across the country.” Carl Trueman, a Christian theologian and professor at Grove City
College in Pennsylvania, told the Register that there has been “a rather interesting silence from an awful lot of Republicans on the issue,” and “the impression is that they don’t want to upset either wing of their base on this” due to the shift in public opinion. He said religious-freedom concerns would be intensified with the legislation, as they have ever since the Obergefell decision, because “when you decide that belief in gay marriage is a point of social orthodoxy for being welcomed in polite society, then those who disagree with that position find themselves in a very difficult spot.” Regarding the Republicans who are changing their stance on the issue, he cautioned that “it’s really impossible to maintain any coherent form of conservatism and vote for gay marriage” because “once you start watering down the importance of the biological difference between men and women and how that connects to important social institutions such as marriage, you’ve really let the genie out of the bottle.” “I think you’re hard-pressed to find a society that has ever proved to be even modestly successful that doesn’t have some clear and coherent understanding of the family and some clear and coherent understanding of parents’ responsibilities towards children,” Trueman said. “If that’s the case, then clearly the government does have an interest in how families are defined because the government has an interest in the well-being of society. Once you unleash this potentially anarchic understanding of marriage and therefore family, you’re really moving into very uncharted territory that I don’t think we fully know where this is going to lead.”
Future of the Bill The future of the measure in the Senate is still uncertain. While
some Republicans have stated their support for traditional marriage, many are opposing the bill simply because they see it as unlikely that the Supreme Court would revisit Obergefell. It is unclear when the bill will come up for a vote, as some Democrats tested positive for the coronavirus recently, causing a delay, and Republican support is still uncertain. “We are working real hard to get 10 Republican senators,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters last Tuesday. “Between that and the illnesses, we’re not there yet.” The Democrats would need 10 Republicans to cross the aisle and support the measure for a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority. There are currently four Senate Republicans, Sens. Thom Tillis (North Carolina), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rob Portman (Ohio), who have indicated support for the measure. A fifth Republican, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, told reporters he saw “no reason to oppose” the bill, but has since gotten pushback from Wisconsin Family Values, which described the bill as “a direct threat to religious freedom.” Many Republicans have refused to comment on the bill until it is brought for a vote. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told CNN that he believes the bill is a “stupid waste of time” and that “there is zero chance, below zero chance, that the Supreme Court or anyone is going to outlaw gay marriage in this country.” Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., told CNN that he saw the bill as “an attempt to distract from the Democrats’ failed agenda,” but added that his “views on marriage have not changed, and I would not support codifying same-sex marriage into law.”
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Vocations Among Indian Youth Increase Amid Persecution BY A N T O A K K A R A REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
RAIKIA, India — Church historian Tertullian penned the dictum: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” after chronicling the history of the early Christian Church at the time Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity and made it legal with the Edict of Milan in A.D. 313. This adage is being literally demonstrated in the communities of the remote Kandhamal jungles of eastern Odisha state that have witnessed the worst persecution in modern Indian history, with the orchestrated anti-Christian violence of 2008 and subsequent harassment of Christian communities. “My husband was hacked [to death] in Drepangia village, with nobody trying to rescue him, when a mob attacked him,” Pushpanjali Ponda, the widow of Christian pastor Dibya Sundar Digal, told the Register July 11. A group of people had come to her house in the town of Raikia in a mini-truck, asking for the whereabouts of the her husband, who had gone to Drepangia, 8 miles from their house, for pastoral service. It happened during the antiChristian violence that engulfed Kandhamal following the mysterious murder of Hindu nationalist monk Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati in his ashram (hermitage) in Kandhamal on Aug. 23, 2008. Touting the Hindu leader’s murder as a “Christian conspiracy,” Hindu extremists carried the body of the 81-year-old slain monk across Kandhamal in a “funeral procession” for two days, calling for revenge on Christians. When Christians rejected demands to forsake their faith, nearly 100 of them were brutally murdered; 300 churches and 6,000 houses were plundered in the continuing violence, rendering 56,000 homeless. Thousands of Christians had to languish outside Kandhamal for years because they could not return to their villages after refusing to recant their faith, as demanded by Hindu nationalists who enjoyed impunity from prosecution. “Since there was no response from him [to cellphone calls] even in the night, I got scared. I walked to the village with my 8-year-old daughter, Monolisa. When we reached there, my husband’s body was lying soaked in blood on the road,” recounted the widow, who brought her husband’s dead body to Raikia with the help of Hindu youth. “It was a dreadful memory. But now, I have no fear in going to Drepangia. Several [Hindu] families have become Christians there after the martyrdom of my husband, and they are friendly to me when I go there,” Ponda told the Register after a meeting in Raikia of widows of the Kandhamal violence. The reason, Ponda pointed out, is that several people had healing experiences after praying at the spot where her pastor husband was murdered. Ponda herself was healed from near paralysis after she went there in 2014 with her cousins and joined the prayers.
Vibrant Persecuted Church The vibrancy of the persecuted Christian church in Kandhamal was manifest when Archbishop John Barwa of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, which encompasses Kandhamal, visited St. Paul’s parish church at Baliguda on May 15 for confirmations and the silver jubilee of the parish priest, Father Clement Bagsingh. Colorful traditional dancers enthused by buoyant tribal drum beats welcomed the archbishop to the solemn service held under tents, as the church could not accommodate the large crowd. As the faithful were awaiting the solemn procession to begin, a catechist of the parish brought in his Hindu friend and confided that the prominent Hindu leader is eager “to join the Church.” “When our younger brother Rasanand was burnt alive, there were only around 40 Christian families here,” Rabindra Pradhan, a retired Indian soldier, told the Register from Gadragam village. The youngest of the four Prad-
WITNESS TO FAITH. Top, a group of widows of the persecution gather in Kandhamal at the Raikia church May 17. Above, the faithful welcome Archbishop John Barwa at St. Paul’s parish at Baliguda on May 15. Left, convert Bijay Kumar Pradhan stands outside of Christ Church Piserama. Anto Akkara photos
“WE HAVE MORE THAN 200 CHRISTIANS IN THIS CHURCH, AND 90% OF THEM ARE HINDU CONVERTS. SEVERAL OF THOSE WHO HAVE ATTACKED CHRISTIANS HERE [IN KANDHAMAL] ARE NOW CHRISTIANS AND SPREADING THE MESSAGE OF LOVE CHRIST HAS PREACHED.” — BIJAY KUMAR PRADHAN han brothers, 28-year-old Rasanand became the first martyr of Kandhamal, when the young man, paralyzed by a stroke, was torched alive inside his house by a mob of hundreds that attacked the Christian families in the village during the orchestrated violence.
“The atmosphere here has changed altogether. Dozens of Hindus, including those who attacked us, have become Christians here,” Pradhan reported. The “Seven Innocents” of Kandhamal — Christians who were convicted on unsupported charges of the murder of Swami Lakshmanananda and who were released on bail by India’s Supreme Court in 2019 — reported that a Hindu who had been jailed for the antiChristian violence of 2008 attended their regular prayer meetings inside the prison and had embraced the Christian faith upon being released. Bijay Kumar Pradhan was a former disciple of the slain swami since the late 1980s. In 1992, Bijay and his friend Trilochan Pradhan were assigned to shoot a prominent pastor at a Christian convention at Raikia. “Though we had been trained in shooting and given a good gun, the trigger did not work when my
friend tried to shoot the preacher. We went to nearby jungle and tried it on the trees, and it worked,” recounted Bijay. “We sensed that there was something wrong, and this experience made us gradually embrace Christianity,” said Bijay. “Swami used to tell us to destroy churches and banish Christianity, and he even sent Hindu leaders to call us back. But we never went back,” Bijay said. “We have more than 200 Christians in this church, and 90% of them are Hindu converts,” said Bijay, who approached a Christian schoolteacher with a special request for “Bible instruction” after his friend gave him the Gospels, which he found interesting when he was studying in college. “Swami had come here with us and asked us to destroy the church,” Bijay recounted, standing in front of the new Christ Church at Piserama, to which he had come as an assailant in the 1990s. “Now, I am manager of this church,” Bijay said proudly. “Several of those who have attacked Christians here [in Kandhamal] are now Christians and spreading the message of love Christ has preached,” said Bijay, who is a contractor by trade.
Abundant Vocations Kandhamal is indeed literally fulfilling the famous dictum of Tertullian, with vocations growing among youth who spent days and months in jungles and refugee camps during the prolonged persecution. While at Indore in central Madhya Pradesh state in March, this correspondent was invited by the superior of a formation house of nuns to address 50 nuns and novices there. Of the 29 novices present, 28 were from Kandhamal. Anto Akkara writes from Bangalore, India.
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Augustine Institute Releases ‘Word of Life’ Catechesis Series Aimed at Children, Middle-Schoolers BY H A N N A H C O T E
Last summer, the Augustine Institute partnered with Ignatius Press to launch the “Word of Life” catechesis program. Grades K-5 are currently available, and grades 6-8 will follow next summer. The kindergarten program launched last summer, and this summer, grades 1-5 were released. Aug. 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption, had been a guiding launch date for grades 1-5. This date signifies the founding of the Augustine Institute, as well as when the partnership alliance between Ignatius Press and the Augustine Institute was formed, according to Ben Akers, the Augustine Institute’s chief content officer. Akers said that as an educational apostolate, the Augustine Institute works to help Catholics understand, live and share their faith. The content office exists to produce material in an integrated and focused approach across all platforms. “The pedagogy that we’re trying to use in ‘Word of Life’ is to help people know Jesus Christ and know how God has revealed himself in salvation history,” Akers said. “We’re imitating God’s pedagogy in that way. With the full revelation of the Son, we learn how we’re incorporated into God’s great story in our lives as Christians living in the Church.” “Word of Life” offers a unique approach to catechesis because the curriculum not only forms students in and out of the classroom, but also provides formation and content to teachers and parents, Akers said. “We have this multipronged approach where there are resources for the teachers that are communicating and teaching information, and then there’s also information for the parents,” Akers said. “While their students are going through a traditional classroom at a Catholic
LEARNING THE FAITH. The Augustine Institute has partnered with Ignatius Press to create the ‘Word of Life’ catechesis program. ‘Training children of God’ to live the faith well is the goal. Courtesy of Augustine Institute/Ignatius Press school or in a parish program, the parents also have information available to them.” Christian Smith, a Catholic sociologist at the University of Notre Dame, discovered that what keeps kids Catholic into their adulthoods — and even keeps kids faith-filled — is if their parents talk about God with them on a day that isn’t Sunday, Smith said. “We have found one of the strongest factors during the teenage years associated with youth being more committed to and practicing their faith later in their emerging adult years is having had parents who talked about religious matters during the week,” he continued. Smith discovered this during his Notre Dame “National Study of Youth and Religion,” a project formed to deepen understanding of the spiritual lives of American youth, from adolescence to adulthood. He also has two books, Handing Down the Faith: How Parents Pass Their Religion on to the Next Generation, and Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, that delve into this topic. “It’s that simple and basic,” Akers said. “It’s just the fact that the faith applies to me every day. So
we’ve curated a journey for the parents that matches and complements what their kids are learning, so that the parents are equipped to also share the faith and have holy, spiritual conversations about the faith.”
The Four ‘Golden Threads’ In the “Word of Life” series, the curriculum is organized by four “golden threads,” or pillars, that not only provide faithful teaching but explain why the faith is relevant in modern culture. “The [threads] mirror our great patron at the institute, Augustine,” Akers said. “Augustine talks about the ‘golden thread’ of teaching the faith and how the golden thread for reading Scripture is love. There’s God’s love for humanity, and then we are invited into this great love because God loved us first. We respond by love.” The four threads include “Salvation History,” “Christian Anthropology,” “Heroic Virtue and Character Formation” and “Learning Through Discipleship.” In “Salvation History,” students, parents and teachers are rooted in the narrative of sacred Scripture and learn about how God made
himself present in history, became incarnate in Jesus Christ and revealed our identity, Akers said. “We have to know our story first,” Akers said. “One of the greatest crises [in modern life] is this crisis of identity and mission, who we are and what we’re called to do.” In “Christian Anthropology,” questions on gender, identity and personhood are answered with Christian human anthropology, revealing that we were made in the image and likeness of God. “There is a brokenness to us, our passions are disordered, but then we learn that Christ ... allows us to overcome those things,” Akers said. In “Heroic Virtue and Character Formation,” “Word of Life” aims to teach young people how to live in a virtuous, heroic way. Akers said that saints are recognized by their heroic lives and that the virtues we receive to live heroically are a gift from God. “If we say ‘Yes’ to God’s grace in our brokenness, which is the gift of being a son and daughter given to us in baptism, then we’re infused with the life of the Spirit,” Akers said. “That’s why we use the language of heroic virtue. We’re not only called to form the mind to make scholars or little theologians. We’re actually
training children of God.” Finally, in “Learning Through Discipleship,” the curriculum is formed to reinforce the idea that our faith is not just lived out on Sundays, Akers said. Rather, our whole life depends on our faith and living as a disciple of God.
Working With Ignatius Press The Augustine Institute and Ignatius Press have partnered for many years, and both organizations had been reflecting on creating a catechetical series, said Mark Brumley, CEO at Ignatius Press. “Our work goes beyond just instructing, but actually evangelizing and facilitating conversion and believing and celebrating and living out the faith,” Brumley said. “The teaching is important, but also presenting it in a way where people are challenged to undergo conversion.” Brumley said one of the biggest challenges the Church faces is helping young people move beyond a superficial, nominal attachment to Catholicism and instead undergo true conversion of heart. “It’s important to be part of the Catholic culture. But at the core of what it means to be part of a Catholic culture is a living, personal rela-
tionship with the Lord and a living, dynamic participation in the Church and the life of the Church,” Brumley said. The solution, Brumley said, isn’t just to provide accessible information, but to form and evangelize people who know and believe in the faith. “It’s not enough to know that they’re committed as Catholics,” Brumley said. “You have to know the faith, and you have to be a personal witness to the faith. That’s one of the things that ‘Word of Life’ helps with.” Emily Williams, coordinator of religious education at Christ the King School in Atlanta, is using “Word of Life” for the first time this fall. “This series felt like an answer to a prayer, honestly,” Williams said. Many of the textbooks that Williams used in her teaching contained accurate Catholic doctrine but were disorganized and hard to follow, she said. With “Word of Life,” Williams said she is already impressed with the number of provided resources. There are pictures and diagrams in the textbooks teachers can draw on boards, and video resources are included, she said. “Our teachers have already told us they’re just so excited to have those resources available to them,” she said. Many parishes and schools have already signed on to make the curriculum switch to “Word of Life,” said Kevin Clemens, director of curriculum development. Clemens also said he’s excited to continue developing the catechesis for grades 6-8. Overall, as Brumley put it, “With God’s help, we would like to help facilitate a real revolution of catechesis in the United States, so that the next generation of young people can themselves undergo a conversion and be able to participate fully in the Church’s life, but most importantly, the Church’s mission of evangelizing the world.” Hannah Cote, who is a senior studying English and journalism at Hillsdale College, is the Register’s summer 2022 intern.
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American Catholics Play Vital Role in Saving Lives, Ending Suffering in Poor Communities Catholic ministry leaders in Haiti discovered a problem. Poor rural families living in remote areas had no transportation and were unable to reach medical services when they suffered a life-threatening injury or illness. What could be done, they wondered, to ensure those men, women and children received the care they desperately needed? The solution they came up with is as wise as it is compassionate. Rather than insist poor families come to them for care, Catholic clinics are taking their medical teams and services into the remote communities where they can address the need directly. “Taking people and medical services out to the patient isn’t a concept most
traditional hospitals would ever consider, but it is the approach many Catholic ministries are now using — thanks to U.S. Catholic donors. Those benefactors help us fund on-site visits and mobile medical clinics,” confirmed Jim Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic Outreach, a leading Catholic relief and development ministry serving the poor of Haiti. “You can’t imagine the relief that parents in a remote village feel when a medical team comes to their community. Mothers line up to have their children examined and cared for because they know that timely medical interventions can save lives. The visiting medical teams are often able to catch serious medical problems before patients’ suffering becomes worse
or the damage being done becomes irreversible.” Cavnar added that Catholics should be proud of their Church’s dedication to serving the poor, because great sacrifices are often required. “Catholic Church ministries have long been recognized for their willingness to serve in the locations that others consider too difficult or hazardous to reach. To help the poor, Catholic mission teams will cross the roughest terrain and travel into the most remote areas you could imagine. It’s because they believe every life is precious and every person matters. The fact that poor communities often suffer most is what drives them to go further and push past every obstacle.” The commitment and compassion of Catholic medical ministries have undoubtedly had a big impact in Haiti. Thousands there who otherwise might never have seen a doctor or received treatment for their injuries and ailments are finally being helped. (See the related story on the opposite page.) The Catholic medical ministries recording these success stories range from programs providing emergency relief after disasters to long-term missions set up to provide more routine care. Some also offer very specialized outreach initiatives that address specific issues. Examples include programs to fight malnutrition, improve sanitation or safeguard women’s health by providing breast cancer screenings. Some also
Providing proper medical care requires a steady ow of effective medicines. Cross Catholic Outreach is expert at locating, acquiring and shipping these lifesaving resources to mobile medical clinics and other Catholic medical missions. offer prenatal care for pregnant women and special services for newborn babies. While priests and religious sisters are often the organizers of these outreach efforts, Cavnar made a point of commending the many compassionate American doctors, nurses and other medical volunteers who freely give of their time and talents to serve in the mission field. “Some people revere sports figures and celebrities, but in my opinion, these medical workers are the real heroes and heroines of our age,” he said. “Their compassion and dedication are incredibly inspiring. The least we can do is support them with the medicines
and other resources they need to serve in these challenging conditions.” Readers interested in supporting Cross Catholic Outreach’s many relief programs to help the poor can contribute through the ministry brochure inserted in this issue or send tax-deductible gifts to: Cross Catholic Outreach, Dept. AC02115, PO Box 97168, Washington, DC 20090-7168. The ministry has a special need for benefactors willing to make gifts on a monthly basis. Use the inserted brochure to become a Mission Partner or write “Monthly Mission Partner” on mailed checks to be contacted about setting up those arrangements.
Cross Catholic Outreach Endorsed by More Than 150 Bishops, Archbishops Cross Catholic Outreach’s efforts to bless the poor and marginalized in developing countries continues to be recognized by a growing number of Catholic leaders in the U.S. and abroad. “We’ve received more than 150 endorsements from bishops and archbishops,” explained Jim Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic Outreach. “They’re moved by the fact that we’ve launched outreach initiatives in more than 85 countries and have undertaken a variety of projects — everything from feeding malnourished children and building
safe homes to supplying safe water and supporting educational opportunities for the poorest of the poor. “Catholic prelates have also been impressed by Cross Catholic Outreach’s direct and meaningful responses to emergency situations, most recently by helping refugees fleeing Ukraine and by providing food, medicines and other resources to partners in Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala impacted by natural disasters.” Bishop Ronald W. Gainer of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, supports this mission. He writes,
“What a joy it is to be part of the Lord’s redemptive work and to manifest his mercy on earth by caring for our neighbors in need.” In addition to praising the ministry’s accomplishments, many of the bishops and archbishops are encouraged that pontifical canonical status was conferred on the charity in September 2015, approving it as an official Catholic organization. This allows Cross Catholic Outreach to participate in the mission of the Church and to give a concrete witness to Gospel charity, in
collaboration with the Holy Father. “Your work with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is a strong endorsement of your partnership with the work of the universal Church,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said. “By providing hope to the faithful overseas by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, delivering medical relief to the sick and shelter to the homeless, and through self-help projects, you are embodying the papal encyclical Deus Caritas Est.”
Catholic Medical Outreach Is “Answer to Prayer” for Poor Families Living in Developing Countries In the hours following Haiti’s devastating 2021 earthquake, thousands of injured men, women and children were suddenly thrust into a frightening battle for survival. Even during normal times, these poor families found it extremely challenging to locate and afford medical care, so most of them expected the worst after the disaster. How, they wondered, would they survive their bleeding gashes, broken limbs and the illnesses that would likely follow from drinking unsafe water and living in makeshift shelters? These earthquake survivors had every reason to be discouraged, but through God’s grace, help came through the heroic work of Catholic medical outreaches. For example, in the areas surrounding the city of Jérémie, thousands received the care they desperately needed from the Grand’Anse Health and Development Association (GAHDA), led by its lay Catholic executive director, Bette Gebrian, a public health nurse and medical anthropologist. “Bette is a remarkable woman, and we’re proud to have worked with her for many years,” said Jim Cavnar, president of Cross Catholic Outreach, one of the leading Catholic relief and development ministries serving the poor in Haiti and many other developing countries around the world. “She chose to live and raise her family in Jérémie, and she has been involved in outreach to needy communities in the southwest region of Haiti for decades now. When the earthquake hit her local area, the families there knew they had a friend in Bette. Her team did everything they could to help overcome the medical challenges the people were facing in those terrible weeks following the disaster.” Though Cavnar didn’t mention it, his ministry — Cross Catholic Outreach — played a significant role in supplying medical supplies to help earthquake survivors, using donations from its Catholic supporters in the U.S. In fact, in the weeks following the 7.2-magnitude
earthquake, his ministry teams airlifted 3,200 pounds of relief supplies to GAHDA alone, and those resources were distributed to more than 15 rural health clinics responding to the disaster. As important as Catholic medical outreach is when disasters strike, Cavnar insists the more lasting value of such missions can be seen year-round as compassionate health workers address the day-in, day-out health challenges of poor families. “You have to remember that most of these people — especially those living in remote areas — are extremely poor and have few, if any, options for care,” he said. “When they get sick or injured, there are no cars or ambulances to take them to a hospital. They often have to walk to clinics, and when they get there, most are afraid they won’t be able to afford treatment. It can be hard for Americans to understand living with those hardships and under that kind of pressure. You have to see it firsthand and hear the stories of these families to appreciate the challenges they face every day. Once you do, you realize how much these families rely on the mercy of the Church and on medical missions like Bette’s to survive.” The story of Wildine Zepherin is a good example of the hardships Cavnar described. She is the primary caregiver for her elderly mother and young son in the community of Enot, Haiti. Any member of Zepherin’s household who falls ill must travel to the city of Chambellan, which lies on the other side of a river. Because there is no bridge in the area, mothers like Zepherin must wade through the water, carrying their children in their arms. If it has rained recently and the river is too high, they cannot reach the hospital at all. “I ask God to give me direction to protect my child, my family and me,” Zepherin said, describing how she handles those trying situations. In reflecting on Zepherin’s hardships, Cavnar shared his concern about parents
Haitian parents eagerly await the arrival of Catholic medical teams. Were it not for such programs, many poor families would forgo medical care entirely, either because they did not have transportation to reach a clinic or because they could not afford its treatments and more costly medicines. By taking services out to remote areas, Catholic medical ministries can save more lives. with young children who hold off on medical treatments because they either can’t afford the expense or there are no medicines available in their area. “An untreated cut or illness may seem like a minor thing, but that’s not the case when you live in a remote area with poor sanitary conditions. Untreated, a seemingly insignificant injury or burn can easily become infected, and what began as a minor issue can even become life-threatening in time,” he said. “That is why Catholic missions providing medical care are so important — and why we encourage American Catholics to support their work. With that support, the medical missions can address problems quickly and effectively, avoiding what could become greater suffering — or even the untimely death of a child.”
It is Cavnar’s hope that American Catholics will again respond to this need by contributing generously to Cross Catholic Outreach’s work in Haiti and other developing countries in the world. “Church leaders are eager to provide
the kind of health care these poor families need, but they must have our support to offer those services,” he said. “There are urgent medical needs in countries like Haiti, and to provide solutions, we must all get involved.”
How To Help To fund Cross Catholic Outreach’s effort to help the poor worldwide, use the postage-paid brochure inserted in this newspaper, or mail your gift to Cross Catholic Outreach, Dept. AC02115, PO Box 97168, Washington, DC 20090-7168. The brochure also includes instructions on becoming a Mission Partner and making regular monthly donations to this cause. If you identify an aid project, 100% of the donation will be restricted to use for that specific project. However, if more is raised for the project than needed, funds will be redirected to other urgent needs in the ministry.
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NAT IONA L CAT HOL IC R EGIST ER , AUGUST 14, 2022
ARTS & Entertainment TV Picks
Aug. 14-27 All Times Eastern By Daniel J. Engler
Checking Out of Heartbreak Hotel Despite Success and Acclaim, Elvis Presley Remained Unfulfilled, Incomplete
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BY K .V. T U R L E Y
MONDAY, Aug. 15, live Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary EWTN At 8am is the Solemn Mass of the Assumption in Our Lady of the Angels Chapel in Irondale. (Re-airs noon, 6:30pm and midnight.) At 11:30am is Father Benedict Groeschel’s Meditations on the Assumption of Our Lady. At 3:30pm is the Solemn Mass of the Assumption in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
MONDAY-FRIDAY, Aug. 15-19, 5:30pm Be Fruitful EWTN Passionist Father Cedric Pisegna’s topics are “Make the Most of Your Time”; “Be Still and Know”; “You Are God’s Image”; “God Is Your Healer”; and “The Death Experience.”
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 4pm Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES Self-sacrifice is at the core of this 1944 World War II classic about the Doolittle air raid over Tokyo in 1942. Based on the same-named 1943 book by real-life raider Ted Lawson, the film is accurate. Van Johnson, Phyllis Thaxter and Spencer Tracy star.
SATURDAY, Aug. 20, 8pm A Place at the Table: African-Americans on the Path to Sainthood EWTN This 2022 documentary from Stella Maris Films tells the inspiring stories of Venerables Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), Henriette DeLille (1813-1862) and Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) and of the Servants of God Mother Mary Lange (1789-1882), Julia Greeley (d. 1918) and Sister Thea Bowman (1937-1990).
MONDAY-THURSDAY, Aug. 22-25, 5:30pm Last Call: Stories of Late Vocations EWTN Philosopher and author Ronda Chervin interviews priests and seminarians about how they heard and responded to God’s call to the priesthood.
WEDNESDAY, Aug. 24, 9pm Nova: Operation Lighthouse Rescue PBS Engineers transport an 1856 lighthouse on Martha’s Vineyard to save it from erosion.
FRIDAY, Aug. 26, 9pm Great Performances: Vienna Summer Night Concert 2022 PBS In this two-hour program at the Schönbrunn Palace Park on June 16, cellist Gautier Capuçon was the soloist and Andris Nelsons conducted the Vienna Philharmonic in Beethoven, Lysenko, Mascats, Saint-Saëns, Rossini, Enescu, Smetana and Dvorák.
SATURDAY, Aug. 27, 2pm The Popes’ Photographer: Arturo Mari EWTN Photographer Arturo Mari (b. 1940) was at L’Osservatore Romano for 55 years. In this documentary, he describes the vast pictorial record he created of Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI and his close friendship with St. John Paul II.
Upcoming
MONDAY, Aug. 29, 10:30am Mother Angelica Live Classics: Modesty EWTN Mother reminds viewers that they are God’s temples and created in his image and so should always be conscious of modesty and be careful about what they wear. Dan Engler writes from Santa Barbara, California.
ll I want is to know the truth, to know and experience God. I’m a searcher.” It has been 45 years since Elvis Presley checked out of Heartbreak Hotel. On Aug. 16, 1977, as night fell on Memphis, Tennessee, Presley was found dead. He was just 42 years old. As the news of the death spread around the world, the overriding emotion beyond shock at so untimely a passing was one of sadness. For all Presley’s success and acclaim, there was something about him that remained unfulfilled, incomplete. For a man who had been held up to the world as an incarnation of the American dream, his end — he was found sprawled unconscious on a bathroom floor — seemed to belie this. His worldly success in all its forms brought him no peace, seemingly little happiness, no joy. The teenage sullenness appeared to many a pose, a phase he would grow out of; he never did. Perhaps, like numerous other performers, he was never allowed to “grow” beyond the image the world saw when he first emerged upon its stage. What many failed to notice, however, was that Presley appeared sad, even as his ascent to stardom began — and as he progressed on that trajectory, the more melancholy he seemed to become.
At the End of the Lonely Street One can speculate as to the root of this sadness: the loss of Presley’s twin brother, Jesse, at childbirth? A solitary childhood, marked by poverty first in Tupelo, Mississippi, and then later in Memphis? Then there were his parents: Vernon and Gladys. Vernon failed to make a career of any sort and ended up in prison for check fraud. Gladys went from being an attractive, smiling young woman at the birth of her son in 1935 to a prematurely aged individual with a mournful look in her eyes. She, too, would die at 42 years old. Unhappy with her weight, her use of diet pills worsened existing health problems. She lived to see her son’s initial success but did not live long enough to witness its extent or, perhaps more importantly, to allow him to share it with her. In fact, in 1958, when Gladys died at Graceland, Presley’s newly acquired Memphis mansion home, Elvis was on another continent, serving with the U.S. Army in Germany. Whereas he had idolized his mother, his relationship with his father had always been different — soon it became distant, as his father quickly remarried after Gladys’ death. When, in 1960, at 23 years old, Elvis returned to the States from Europe, he had lost not one but both parents. Maybe it is this motif of premature loss that is key to understanding Presley. Despite being surrounded by hangers-on, fans and the media, Presley remained essentially a loner. Even when he married Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967, this sense of personal isolation seems only to have worsened. Perhaps inevitably, by early 1972, the marriage had failed, and divorce ensued the following year. From then on, Presley endured weight challenges, just as his mother had, and continued to do so, until his death in 1977. Yet, until his death, he had continued to tour — more alive on stage than off. “On the road” he was the center of attention for his entourage, collectively known as the “Memphis Mafia,” many of whom had been with him for years. They ensured he had whatever he needed — and what he did not need — all the while telling him how “great” he was and laughing at his jokes, if he could be bothered to tell any. Needless to say, by then, Elvis was more alone than ever. There is a telling scene in the 1972 movie Elvis on Tour. That documentary is a filmed record of performances across America, with endless footage of concert performances interspliced with the singer running from the stage to the waiting limousine, which was once more to whisk him away from rows of screaming fans. In one of those segments, the camera remains with the
PROMISING CAREER. Clockwise from above, Elvis Presley is shown promoting Jailhouse Rock, highlighting his first national television appearance on CBS in 1956 and signing autographs in Minneapolis in 1956. Public domain
singer inside one of those vehicles: Elvis is with the Memphis Mafia. The latter guffaw loudly, high on the reflected glory of the center of their universe. And yet their lodestar sits silent, sullen, with sunglasses masking his sad eyes. We watch, as the meaningless chatter continues to reverberate, and while it does, the singer turns to stare out of the car window. In a split second, for all to behold there on screen, we see a man hemmed in by fans and flunkies — and, yet, utterly alone.
So Lonely, You Could Die Perhaps the clues to the source of Presley’s sadness were there all the time; and, also, clues as to how this was all going to end. His first major hit was Heartbreak Hotel. A more melancholy and desperate song would be hard to find. The story — more myth than documented fact — goes that the lyrics were based on a Miami Herald report telling of a suicide. The man in question, after having destroyed all his identity papers, jumped to his death from a hotel window. He left a suicide note of one line: “I walk a lonely street.” Whatever the origins of the song’s funereal lyrics, Heartbreak Hotel would become Presley’s first million-seller, upon its release in January 1956, and one of the best-selling singles of the year. From then on, his career was set; so too, it could be argued, given the prophetic nature of what he sang, was his life’s course. Crying in the Chapel And, in his life, there was little to counter such existential misery. Presley’s faith affiliation is often listed simply as Assembly of God, the Christian group that Presley attended as a boy. But his religious adherence to any Christian denomination was at best vague, his faith being more private than public. His favorite form of music was gospel, but whether this was because of the folk and cultural influences of his youth rather than any deep religious sentiment is open to conjecture. Still Presley had a keen, if eclectic, interest in religion. He even recorded some Catholic (Marian) songs in his career. While in Hollywood in the early 1960s, he became fascinated by various esoteric beliefs, from which he was to construct his own belief system — a personalized and heady mix of what he had read of Hinduism, Judaism, numerology, theosophy, mind control, positive thinking and Christianity. A seeker till the end, it is reported that at the time of his death Elvis was reading A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus by Frank Adams, a then-pop-
ular inquiry into, and a positive assessment of, the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin. Curiously, the day Presley was to die, Aug. 16, is the East-
ern Orthodox feast of the Acheiropoietos icon — a relic consisting of a square or rectangle of cloth upon which a purported miraculous image of the face of Our Lord had been imprinted. Perhaps, by then, Presley’s search had begun to point in one direction only? Be that as it may, earlier in Sep-
tember 1972, at a concert in South Bend, Indiana, Presley is caught on tape talking with fans about a sign they are holding whereby they proclaim him “king.” Elvis gently corrects them, stating instead that there is only one King: Jesus Christ. K.V. Turley is the Register’s U.K. correspondent.
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NAT IONA L CAT HOL IC R EGIST ER , AUGUST 14, 2022
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TRAVEL History&Saints
Be Sober and Serious in Securing Salvation
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User’s Guide To Sunday
unday, Aug. 21, is the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Isaiah 66:1821; Psalm 117:1, 2; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13 and Luke 13:22-30. In the readings today, the Lord describes a danger: our tendency to make light of judgment and not be sober that one day we must account for our actions. The Lord has a desire to save us, but we must understand that our will, our “Yes,” is essential to our salvation. Gospel The opens with a question, “Lord,
cares of the world, and unrepented sexual sins, such as fornication, homosexual acts and adultery. Wealth also creates difficulties that make it hard to enter the Kingdom. Still others cannot and will not endure persecutions, trials or setbacks related to the faith and instead choose to conform to the world’s demands and even to deny Christ before others. God does not want anyone to be lost: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:11). Hell exists because of the reverence God has for our freedom. He will not force us to love who he loves or what he loves. Heaven is not our personal designer paradise. It is the kingdom of God in all its fullness with all of its values, such as forgiveness, chastity, generosity, love of the truth and love of one’s enemy — and with God at the center. But many do not want to forgive, or love their enemy; others do not esteem chastity; still others prefer to be stingy rather generous. Many do not want God at the center; they prefer that spot for themselves. And to those who hate the truth, the truth seems hateful. Jesus says elsewhere that many “prefer the darkness” (John 3:19). And God is not going to force them to want what he is offering. The saddest thing about the souls in hell is that they would be more miserable in heaven. So we have a sober warning here from the Lord that many of our desires are wrong. We must allow him to convert our desires so that we earnestly want what he is actually offering: the real heaven.
MSGR. CHARLES POPE
A Look Into America’s Oldest Carmelite Monastery Mount Carmel Was Founded in 1790 in Maryland
DEDICATED TO PRAYER. Discalced Carmelite sisters at Mount Carmel Monastery in Port Tobacco, Maryland, live at the pace of prayer. The monastery is designated as the first Catholic convent for religious women in the U.S. EWTN News In Depth
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BY F R A N C E S C A P O L L I O F E N T O N
estled in the farmland of Port Tobacco, Maryland, stands the oldest Carmelite monastery in America. Founded in 1790, the Mount Carmel Monastery was the first Catholic convent for religious women in the U.S. The women who live here are cloistered nuns who spend their days in prayer behind the iron gates inside their walled-off property. While visitors are welcome to enjoy the peaceful outdoor spaces of the monastery, the chapel and the gift shop, very few are welcome behind the walls. Bill Hoxie is one of these select few. He is the sisters’ carpenter and groundskeeper. He grew up Protestant and never thought he would end up working at a Catholic monastery, but after offering to do a project for the sisters several years ago, he has been working there ever since. “The sisters are truly in love with Jesus in a way that I’d never witnessed,” Hoxie said in an interview with EWTN News In Depth. “Of course, when you’re in love, you’re happy. So the sisters are the happiest women I’ve ever met in my life.” “It’s a deep-down happiness when you’re doing God’s will; then you’re free,” Reverend Mother Marie Bernardina, the prioress of the monastery, told Mark Irons, correspondent for EWTN News In Depth in a special interview. “You don’t have to be in the cloister to be
free, but for us, that’s our calling.” The sisters sat behind the bars of the cloister during the interview. This division symbolizes that the nuns are set apart for union with God. Sister Dolores Peter of Jesus Crucified in the Precious Blood began her formation with the Carmelites seven years ago when she began learning more about the Brown Scapular. She is now nearing her profession of final vows. “I just can’t even imagine wanting anything else, to be honest,” she said. “We spend so much time in front of the Blessed Sacrament. It’s like the first person I see in the morning is the Lord in the tabernacle. It’s the best thing.” The Brown Scapular can be worn by lay Catholics but has a special significance to Carmelites. Its history goes back to July 16, 1251, when the Blessed Mother presented it to St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite saint, as a sign of her protection. Under the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mary is the patron saint of all Carmelites. “To wear it, it means you pledge yourself to her and to what she stands for,” Mother Virginia Marie O’Connor said. “You pledge your-
self to Christ.” “Our life is a love affair with God, you know, with Jesus,” she added. Reverend Mother Marie Bernardina explained, “It’s her order, and we want to imitate her and her love for Jesus. She was the perfect mother; she was totally open to what God wanted, and that’s what we want.” Carmelites have time for work and recreation, but their main focus is prayer for the good of the Church and the world. Famous saints who entered the Carmelite order include St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Avila, and St.
Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. “Our vocation is prayer,” Sister Dolores Peter said. “People say, ‘Well yeah, but what do you do?’ I said, ‘We pray.’” “Carmelite spirituality is, I think, something that the world badly needs today,” she added. “There’s so much clutter, so much distraction in the world.” Hoxie wasn’t sure what was missing from his life but he found it when he started working for the sisters. Not long after, he converted to Catholicism: “[God] will lead you to something better than you could imagine.” Francesca Pollio Fenton writes for Catholic News Agency and is the digital media manager for EWTN News and Catholic News Agency.
will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Luke 13:22-30). Many people today hold a kind of universalism that presumes that most people — indeed, the vast majority — will go to heaven. But that is not what the Lord says. And while no percentages are given here by the Lord, no exact numbers, we ought not to interpret the words “many” and “few” to mean nothing, or the opposite of what he says. Jesus is teaching us a sober truth: Given the tendency of the human heart toward hardness, stubbornness and obtuseness, many are on a path that rejects his offer of a saving relationship, rejects his offer of the Kingdom and its values. We need to accept that the Lord teaches that salvation is not attained by everyone, that some are not “strong enough,” that many are on a road that does not lead to glory. Jesus is not simply engaging in hyperbole. He is urging us to be awake, sober and serious in securing salvation for ourselves and everyone we meet. Many today think of hell as a place only for the extremely wicked (murderers, genocidal maniacs, serial rapists, etc.). But there are many other paths that also lead away from heaven (and toward hell): lack of forgiveness, preoccupation with
Msgr. Charles Pope is a pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington.
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