Fraternal order ditches plumes to gain young members
The Knights of Columbus have voted to modernise their dress code in an effort to attract younger members.
The ceremonial regalia worn by members of the fourth degree has since 1940 comprised a plumed bicorn, dinner jacket, cape and ceremonial sword. The modernised version (right, CNS) will be a blue blazer with the fourth-degree emblem, grey flannels, blue tie and black beret.
Dan Heffernan, Ontario state deputy for the organisation, said the Knights had researched how to attract younger members and found that youngsters disliked the traditional regalia. A petition against the changes has gained 10,000 signatures.
Bishop: Catholics should avoid ‘Pride’ events
Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, has advised Catholics to avoid LGBT events. He tweeted that Catholics “should not support or attend LGBTQ ‘Pride Month’ events held in June.
“They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals,” he added. “They are especially harmful for children.” After criticism from thousands of Twitter users including many celebrities, the bishop added a statement saying he regretted that his comments “turned out to be so controversial.” He hoped Pride events would be “positive and productive”, but said his “obligation before God is to lead the faithful entrusted to my care and to teach the faith, clearly and compassionately, even on very difficult and sensitive issues.”
Corporations threaten state after pro-life law
Entertainment companies are threatening to take their business out of Georgia, after the state passed a law protecting unborn children. The law would ban abortion after the detection of a heartbeat, usually between six and eight weeks of pregnancy. The law will face legal challenges and may not come into force.
WarnerMedia, Disney, and Netflix have said they will consider moving their production work out of the state. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has said that it could be “difficult” for the company to operate, as many of his workers disagree with the law.
The commentator Tucker Carlson observed: “It wasn’t that long ago that it was citizens who boycotted companies they disagreed with. Now, it’s corporations who boycott citizens.”
Backdoor route to abortion struck down
An attempt to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage in Mexico has failed.
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, president of the Chamber of Deputies, had proposed that a gender parity bill requiring half the country’s public sector to be women also establish rights to abortion and same-sex marriage. These proposals were not included because they lacked widespread support.
Rodrigo Iván Cortés, president of the National Front for the Family, told ACI Prensa: “The initiative of Porfirio Muñoz Ledo is a Pandora’s Box, since under the facade of the umbrella of gender parity, what it introduces are elements of an even stronger contraceptive mentality and gender ideology.”
Archbishop-elect contrite for offending Jews
The newly appointed auxiliary bishop of Santiago, Carlos Eugenio Irarrázaval Errazuriz, has apologised to Chile’s Jewish community for remarks he made while discussing women and the Church. “Jewish culture is a male-dominated culture to this day,” he told CNN. “If you see a Jew walking down the street, the woman goes 10 steps behind. But Jesus Christ breaks with that pattern.” Fr Irarrázaval apologised for using “expressions which troubled and even pained many people”. A statement from the archdiocese said the apologies “were received in a spirit of fraternity by the Jewish religious authorities.”
Bishop Zanchetta will face trial
A bishop accused of sexual misconduct will face trial, Pope Francis has stated. Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta resigned from Orán diocese in 2017 in unclear circumstances. Four months later, Francis gave him a newly-created job in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, which oversees the Vatican’s assets.
The Vatican has said that he did not know about the accusations of sexual abuse of seminarians until 2018. However, Fr Juan Jose Manzano, the bishop’s former vicar general, has told the Associated Press that in 2015 and 2017 he gave the Vatican evidence that Bishop Zanchetta had committed sexual harrassment.
Pope beatifies martyr bishops
The memory and witness of Romania’s martyred bishops are a reminder that Christians are called to stand firm against ideologies that seek to stifle and suppress their cultural and religious traditions, Pope Francis has said (report and photo by Catholic News Service).
On the last leg of his visit to Romania, the pope beatified seven Eastern-rite Catholic bishops, who died during a fierce anti-religious campaign waged by the communist regime in Romania.
The Pope said their “precious legacy” can be summed up “in two words: freedom and mercy”.
Stricken man ordained in hospital
A priest has been ordained on his hospital bed. Fr Michal Łos (right, courtesy of Orionine Fathers) was diagnosed with cancer a month ago and is now in critical condition.
Pope Francis granted a dispensation allowing Fr Łos to be ordained both a deacon and a priest in the same Mass. The day after his ordination, Fr Łos celebrated his first Mass from his bed. He also blessed and thanked in a Facebook video all those who are praying for him.
Genderless ‘God’?
Some Catholic schools are starting to use “gender-neutral” language about God, the Courier Mail reports. One refers to “God revealing Godself”, another avoids the word “Lord” or other gendered words in prayer. The Mail named five Catholic schools in total.
Burke criticises ‘totalitarian’ punishment of scholar
A Catholic academic has been banned from a pontifical university after he signed a letter accusing Pope Francis of heresy. John Rist, a scholar of classics and philosophy who holds positions at the Catholic University of America and the University of Toronto, was refused entry to the Augustinianum, where he taught and was trying to park his car. He had received no prior notice, and says he was told the ban applied to all pontifical universities.
Cardinal Raymond Burke told EWTN that the way the university had acted was “unacceptable”: “We seem in the Church to fall into a kind of totalitarian mentality, where people are simply exercising authority without speaking with the person involved.”
New shrine marks return to post-war area
Spanish missionaries are working to turn a dilapidated church into a Marian Shrine.
Ave Maria, outside Mupoi, South Sudan, fell into disrepair after being abandoned at the beginning of the civil war. In 1956, Sudan’s first prime minister expelled all Catholic missionaries from the country and the building was left to crumble. Fr Avelino Bassols, pastor of the mission parish, told the Catholic News Agency: “Now that the people have returned to this area, our goal is to rebuild physically, but most importantly spiritually, with a comprehensive vision”. Fr Bassols says he hopes that the restoration will be completed by 2023, the centenary of the church’s foundation.
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