Catholic News

A Jesuit middle school in Worcester, Massachusetts, has had its Catholic status revoked by the local bishop for defying his order to stop flying flags supporting LGBT pride and the Black Lives Matter movement. Mass is no longer permitted to be celebrated on Nativity School grounds. “The flying of these flags in front of a Catholic school sends a mixed, confusing and scandalous message to the public about the Church’s stance on these important moral and social issues,” Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester said in a June 16 decree. “The Nativity School of Worcester is prohibited from this time forward from identifying itself as a ‘Catholic’ school and may no longer use the title ‘Catholic’ to describe itself,” he said. In a June 15 letter to the school community, Thomas McKenney, Nativity School's president, depicted McManus' action as “a change in Nativity’s relationship with the Diocese of Worcester and our continued commitment to providing an excellent education rooted in the Jesuit tradition.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251572/bishop-jesuit-school-lgbt-black-lives-matter-flags

Government soldiers ransacked and burned a Catholic church in a village in eastern Myanmar Wednesday, sources told CNA. Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Dawnyaykhu in Phruso Township in Karenni State was gutted by the flames, according to video footage posted by the Karenni National Defense Force, a local rebel group fighting the military junta that took over the country’s government on February 1, 2021. The KNDF video purports to show government soldiers approaching the white church building as smoke and flames pour out of the windows. Gunfire can be heard in the background. The footage shows isolated fires burning in different locations inside the building. The soldiers allegedly were under orders to burn down the church after occupying the building and looting valuables including food collected for the local poor.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251566/myanmar-troops-set-fire-to-catholic-church

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Albert Chmielowski, founder of the Albertine Brothers and Sisters, and one of the saints who inspired the vocation of the young Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope Saint John Paul II. A kind and compassionate person, Albert was always deeply aware of human suffering, and felt called to help those in need. In 1887, Albert founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants of the Poor, known as the Albertines or the Gray Brothers. Then, in 1891, he founded a community of Albertine sisters, known as the Gray Sisters.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-albert-chmielowski-498

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The White House has condemned threats against pro-life organizations allegedly made by a group calling itself Jane’s Revenge. White House Assistant Press Secretary Alexandra LaManna said Wednesday that “Violence and destruction of property have no place in our country under any circumstances, and the President denounces this.” It remains an open question if Jane's Revenge, which claims to have conducted vandalism attacks on pro-life organizations across the country, is an organized group, or merely a call to action via copycat attacks on pro-life centers.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251555/white-house-condemns-pro-abortion-violence-after-new-janes-revenge-threats

The UK government announced on Thursday that it is imposing sanctions on the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office said in a June 16 statement that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was being “sanctioned for his support and endorsement of Putin’s war.” The announcement came after European Union member states failed to agree on whether Patriarch Kirill should face sanctions after his name was proposed by the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU. Hungary reportedly objected to his inclusion. Numerous influential Russian citizens have been added to the UK sanctions list since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The sanctions have included asset freezes and bans on travel to the UK.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251561/uk-government-sanctions-russian-orthodox-church-leader-patriarch-kirill

Today, the Church celebrates Saint John Francis Regis, a 17th-century French Jesuit known for his zealous missionary efforts and his care for the poor and marginalized. In a 1997 letter to the Bishop of Viviers, Pope St. John Paul II commemorated the fourth centenary of St. John Francis Regis' birth, honoring him as a “lofty figure of holiness” and an example for the Church in the modern world.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-john-francis-regis-273

The Church also celebrates Saint Lutgardis, the patron saint of the blind and physically disabled. Born in the 12th century, she accepted the blindness that afflicted her for the last 11 years of her life as a gift that helped reduce the distractions of the outside world.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-lutgardis-507

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A pro-life pregnancy center in Philadelphia was vandalized last weekend with smashed windows and graffiti. Latrice Booker, director of Hope Pregnancy Center in Philadelphia, told CNA that when she drove by her clinic Saturday, June 11, she found four windows smashed, with one written on with graffiti. It is unclear what the graffiti says. Three glass doors were smashed as well. As of Tuesday afternoon, the windows were boarded up and the clinic is in the process of repairs, but they are still open for business. The clinic offers all its services to help women and families in need at no cost. The clinic director said that the clinic is not dissuaded in its mission by the vandalism and called on people of faith to “stand tall” despite vitriol against pro-life people.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251546/philadelphia-pro-life-clinic-vandalized

Pope Francis said this week that no Christian is exempt from aiding the poor. In his message for the 2022 World Day of the Poor, published on June 14, the pope said that the worst thing that can happen to a Christian community is to be “dazzled by the idol of wealth, which ends up chaining us to an ephemeral and bankrupt vision of life.” “Where the poor are concerned, it is not talk that matters; what matters is rolling up our sleeves and putting our faith into practice through a direct involvement, one that cannot be delegated,” Pope Francis said. “No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. None of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice,” he added.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251539/pope-francis-no-christian-is-exempt-from-aiding-the-poor

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Germaine Cousin, a simple and pious young girl who lived in Pibrac, France in the late 1500s. Germaine was born in 1579 to poor parents. Her father was a farmer, and her mother died when she was still an infant. She was born with a deformed right arm and hand, as well as the disease of scrofula, a tubercular condition. Banished from her house, she tended to the family's flock of sheep every day. Despite her hardships, she lived each day full of thanksgiving and joy, and spent much of her time praying the Rosary and teaching the village children about the love of God. She was barely fed and had an emaciated figure, yet despite this she shared the little bread that she had with the poor of the village. After she died at a young age, her body was found to be incorrupt. People in the surrounding area began praying for her intercession and obtaining miraculous cures for illnesses.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-germaine-cousin-497

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Pope Francis described Russia’s use of mercenaries in the Ukraine war as “monstrous” in an interview published on Tuesday. Speaking to the editors of Jesuit journals, the pope also suggested that the war, which began with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, was “perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented.” Commenting on Ukraine, the pope said: “What we are seeing is the brutality and ferocity with which this war is being carried out by the troops, generally mercenaries, used by the Russians. The Russians prefer to send in Chechen and Syrian mercenaries.” The pope added that he hoped to meet with Russian Orthodox leader Patriarch Kirill in Kazakhstan in September.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251535/pope-francis-deplores-russia-s-monstrous-use-of-mercenaries-in-ukraine

US bishops are pleading for an end to violence following the ongoing attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. The bishops have tracked 139 church attacks since 2020 — a number that has increased significantly since the May 2 leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion in the abortion case Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In recent months, “charities that support pregnant mothers in need have been firebombed, and pro-life organizations have been attacked almost daily and terrorized, and even the lives of Supreme Court justices have been directly threatened,” the US Church leaders noted. The bishops explained that the Catholic Church provides a great service to all in need, and, quote, “consistently bears witness in word and deed to the beauty and dignity of every human life.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251533/title-bishops

Pope Francis will not preside at a Mass and procession on the feast of Corpus Christi, the Vatican announced on Monday. The Holy See press office said on June 13 that the decision was taken “due to the limitations imposed on the pope by gonalgia,” or knee pain, “and the specific liturgical needs of the celebration.” The announcement came the day after the 85-year-old-pope apologized for having to postpone a scheduled trip to Africa in July because of his knee problem. The pope is still scheduled to visit Canada on July 24-29.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251526/pope-francis-won-t-preside-at-corpus-christi-mass-and-procession-due-to-knee-pain

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Methodius of Constantinople, who worked for unity and reconciliation in the Eastern Church and served as the Patriarch of Constantinople the last five years of his life.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-methodius-of-constantinople-506

Due to technical difficulties on the part of our audio host, we are unable to bring you a news briefing today, Monday, June 13. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and plan to bring you a new briefing tomorrow, Tuesday, June 14. Thanks for being a Catholic News listener. As always, feel free to visit CatholicNewsAgency.com for the latest.

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A Nigerian government official said Thursday that the insurgent group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) is suspected as the perpetrators of a massacre at a Catholic church last week that left dozens dead. In the June 5 attack, gunmen opened fire on Catholic worshipers attending Pentecost celebrations at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, in southwestern Nigeria. Initial reports suggested that more than 50 people were killed, including children, and others injured. The official death toll for the attack currently stands at 40, with 61 injured people still in hospital. ISWAP is considered a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, another Islamic extremist terrorist group which has killed thousands of Christians and displaced millions of people in Nigeria and neighboring countries in recent years.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251507/nigeria-church-massacre-isis-affiliate-group-suspected-as-perpetrators-government-official-says

Pope Francis’ July trip to the African countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan has been postponed for health reasons, the Vatican said on Friday. Pope Francis was planning to spend July 2-5 in the Congolese cities of Kinshasa and Goma, and July 5-7 in the South Sudanese capital Juba. The 85-year-old pope has been suffering from a painful inflamed ligament in his knee, limiting his ability to walk. He has been using a wheelchair during public appearances since last month. He is still scheduled to visit Canada on July 24-29.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251510/pope-francis-postpones-trip-to-democratic-republic-of-congo-and-south-sudan

Washington DC authorities will allow a private pathologist to examine the remains of five babies the group claims it recovered from a DC abortion clinic. The pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising said this spring that they had obtained 115 aborted babies from a driver for a medical waste company to bury them in a dignified way. Five of those babies appeared to be of late-term gestation. DC officials said the city’s medical examiner would not perform autopsies on the five babies. Pro-life groups have expressed concern that the manner in which the babies died violated federal law.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251506/dc-aborted-babies-private-autopsy-ted-cruz-how-they-died

Today, the Church celebrates Blessed Edward Poppe. He was one of 11 children born to a modest, pious family in Belgium. He was drafted to the military in 1910 and served as a battlefield nurse during World War I. His prayers to St. Joseph during that time led to the miraculous freeing of several prisoners of war. He was ordained in 1916 at the age of 25 and served as associate pastor, focusing his ministry to the poor, children and the dying. He also taught catechism and founded Eucharistic associations.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-edward-poppe-503

Queen of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Hostyn, Texas is on fire.

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A pro-life pregnancy center in Asheville, North Carolina, had its windows smashed and its building defaced with pro-abortion messaging late Monday night or early Tuesday morning. According to Asheville Police, officers discovered red spray paint on the Mountain Area Pregnancy Services building with the words “No forced birth” and “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you!” Multiple windows were broken and an anarchist symbol was left on the front of the building, said police, who are calling the damage a vandalism and are seeking the perpetrator. The police said that a forensic team found blood on a broken window, which suggests the perpetrator may have been injured. The vandalisms are the latest in a string of attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers. Centers in Washington DC, Washington state, Maryland, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Texas have been vandalized. Notably, a pro-life pregnancy center in upstate New York sustained major damage in a fire and was defaced with pro-abortion graffiti Tuesday morning. The center, CompassCare, located in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo, posted photos on its Facebook page showing the building’s windows shattered, an office burned and heavily damaged, and the words “Jane was here” spray-painted on the side of the building. Variations of that message have been featured in some of the recent attacks on pro-life pregnancy centers and churches since a draft opinion leaked to the media last month indicated that the US Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251480/vandalism-pro-life-pregnancy-center-north-carolina

catholicnewsagency.com/news/251477/police-investigation-fire-graffiti-at-upstate-new-york-pro-life-pregnancy-center

Colorado’s four Catholic bishops wrote in a recent letter that Catholic lawmakers in Colorado who voted for an extreme abortion bill that stripped all rights from the unborn child should refrain from receiving Holy Communion. Voting for the Reproductive Health and Equity Act (RHEA) was “participating in a gravely sinful action because it facilitates the killing of innocent unborn babies,” said a letter to lawmakers from the state’s Catholic bishops. The law explicitly excludes any rights to unborn children, saying “(a) fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of the state.” The bishops’ letter said they tried to speak with lawmakers who voted for the abortion bill to ensure that they understand Catholic teaching, but few lawmakers accepted an invitation to meet.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251479/colorado-bishops-say-lawmakers-who-backed-states-abortion-law-should-refrain-from-communion

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Medard. Born around 456 in Salency, France, he was ordained a priest at the age of 33, and did not wish to be made a bishop, but reluctantly became the Bishop of Vermand in 530. Medardus was one of the most honored bishops of his time, his memory has always been venerated in northern France, and he soon became the hero of numerous legends.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-medard-bishop-495

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Pope Francis has expressed his “spiritual closeness” to Nigerian Catholics mourning the victims of a massacre at a church on Pentecost Sunday. In the June 5 attack, unidentified gunmen opened fire on Catholic worshipers attending Pentecost celebrations at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, in southwestern Nigeria. Initial reports suggested that more than 50 people were killed, including children, and others injured.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251467/nigeria-church-massacre-pope-francis-mourns-victims-of-unspeakable-violence

In response to a federal court decision affirming the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s death penalty protocol, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City on Monday called on state lawmakers to end the death penalty. A US District judge had ruled against 28 Oklahoma death row inmates’ argument that one of the drugs the state uses in its lethal injection protocol, the sedative midazolam, is an insufficient painkiller which makes the dying process severely and unconstitutionally painful. “No matter the decision of the court on Oklahoma’s protocol, the use of the death penalty only contributes to the continued coarsening of society and to the spiral of violence,” Coakley said in a statement.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251468/okc-archbishop-calls-for-end-to-death-penalty-in-state-amid-court-decision-affirming-its-constitutionality

Two Catholic priests martyred under the Ottoman Empire were beatified in Lebanon over the weekend. Father Leonard Melki and Father Thomas Saleh were Capuchin friars and missionaries in what is now Turkey who were arrested, tortured, and martyred by the forces of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and 1917 respectively. Melki was given a choice: convert to Islam and be freed, or die as a Christian. Refusing to apostatize, the Lebanese priest was forced to march with more than 400 Christian prisoners into the desert, where he was killed “in hatred of the faith” on June 11, 1915. Saleh was arrested and sentenced to death after giving shelter to an Armenian priest during the Armenian genocide. Before his death, he said, “I have full trust in God, I am not afraid of death,” according to the Capuchin Order in Lebanon.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251464/catholic-priests-martyred-under-ottoman-empire-beatified-in-lebanon

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Anthony Mary Gianelli. Ordained a priest in 1812, in 1827 he founded the Missionaries of St. Alphonsus, which lasted until 1856. He also founded the Oblates of Saint Alphonsus in 1828, which lasted only 20 years. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Garden, which he founded in 1829, still continue their ministry in education and among the sick in Europe, Asia and the United States.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-anthony-mary-gianelli-493

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At least 50 people were killed and others injured Sunday when gunmen attacked worshippers at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria. Gunmen reportedly fired at Catholic worshipers attending Pentecost celebrations and detonated explosives. The pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need denounced the “Pentecost massacre” on June 5 in Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, as “another terrorist act in Nigeria, one more on the long list of crimes against Christians.” The identity of the gunman is not yet known. The archbishop of Owerri condemned “in the strongest terms the spilling of innocent blood in the House of God.”

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251458/nigeria-catholic-church-attack

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251462/catholic-charity-urges-world-leaders-to-condemn-nigeria-church-massacre

Pope Francis condemned the war in Ukraine after Russia’s ongoing invasion of that country reached the 100-day mark. June 3 marked 100 days since the beginning of Russia’s invasion that has left thousands dead. The United Nations estimates that nearly 7 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, with many more displaced or stranded within Ukraine. Pope Francis, an outspoken advocate for the Ukrainian people, has expressed a desire to meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow and to travel to Ukraine when the “right time” comes. His comments come after he consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in March. At the end of May, he prayed the rosary for peace in Ukraine and around the world.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251457/pope-francis-ukraine-war-100-days

Expectant mothers, babies, and their families can find comfort and encouragement alongside material help like cribs, diapers, and baby formula through the Saint Gabriel’s Call ministry in Rhode Island. Saint Gabriel’s Call is a ministry under the Providence diocese’s Office of Life and Family. It offers free and confidential services including financial, material, social, emotional, and other support for mothers and children. The ministry can help provide cribs, car seats, and furniture as well as baby clothes, linens, diapers, formula, toys, household goods, toiletries, and gift cards. The ministry has three locations in Providence, and five elsewhere in Rhode Island.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251450/pregnant-women-and-their-babies-can-find-help-among-rhode-islands-catholics

Today, the Church celebrates Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a priest of the Society of Mary and the founder of the Little Brothers of Mary, a congregation of brothers devoted to the education of the young.

The Church also celebrates Saint Norbert of Xanten, who started out as a frivolous and worldly cleric, but was changed by God’s grace into a powerful preacher and an important reformer of the Church during the early 12th century. He is the founder of the Norbertine order.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-marcellin-champagnat-262

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-norbert-491