null / Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Religious broadcasters, with the support of Catholic media groups, are asking the Supreme Court to rule whether government officials charged them unfairly high rates in violation of their constitutional rights.

The Catholic Radio Association (CRA) and CatholicVote.org Education Fund have both filed amicus briefs in the case National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee v. Copyright Royalty Board.

The committee is arguing that the Copyright Royalty Board is subjecting religious broadcasters to a discriminatory royalty fee that violates U.S. religious freedom law. 

The Copyright Royalty Board consists of three judges who “oversee the copyright law’s statutory licenses,” according to the board’s website. Those licenses “permit qualified parties to use multiple copyrighted works without obtaining separate licenses from each copyright owner.”

The legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which forms part of the committee’s legal team, says that the Copyright Royalty Board in its 2021 rate adjustment “set [music streaming] rates that are 18 times higher for religious noncommercial webcasters with an audience above a modest 218-listener threshold than the average rate for secular NPR stations.”

John Bursch, the vice president of appellate advocacy at ADF, told CNA that the royalty board offered “no real justification” for the higher rates it mandated in 2021.

“They didn’t justify it other than to say there are some noncommercial nonreligious broadcasters who have to pay the same rates,” Bursch said. The Copyright Royalty Board did not respond to CNA’s requests for comment over the dispute.

Bursch gave an example of what he said was the stark fee disparities mandated by the 2021 rates. 

“Let’s say you had a Christian station webcasting 15 Christian songs per hour,” he said.
“They’d have to pay $257,000 to play those annually, but an NPR station would have to pay $18,000.”

Religious stations “need to keep their audience intentionally low to not hit those fees,” Bursch said. 

In its amicus filing, the CRA said the rule “threatens hundreds of Catholic webcasters.”

The 2021 rate adjustment “discourages Catholic webcasters from reaching more than 218 listeners a month on average — less than the size of a typical university lecture course,” the CRA said. 

The group argued that stations “without substantial funding from underwriting or donations may be forced to stop webcasting.”

The CatholicVote.org Education Fund, meanwhile, argued that religious broadcasters “face the threat of discriminatory practices” under the existing rate regime. 

The copyright committee’s 2021 rate schedule “imposed a substantial burden on the free exercise of ​​religious broadcasters,” theCatholicVote filing said, arguing that the Supreme Court is “the only court that can protect the free exercise rights of religious webcasters.”

The Supreme Court has not yet said if it will hear the case. Bursch told CNA the petitioners are ultimately “just asking to be treated as well as NPR.” The lawsuit argues that the fee rates violate both the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act as well as the First Amendment.

“The bottom line is you can’t discriminate against religious broadcasters vis-à-vis secular, public-run National Public Radio,” Bursch said. 

The Copyright Royalty Board, meanwhile, last month waived its right to respond to the challengers in their Supreme Court petition, a sign that the board likely feels confident in securing a favorable outcome in the case. 

null / Credit: felipe caparros/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 15:15 pm (CNA).

The Catholic bishops of Missouri are urging the faithful to contact Republican Gov. Mike Parson to stay the execution of convicted murderer Brian Dorsey, who is controversially scheduled to die Tuesday, April 9, in the state’s first execution of 2024. 

Dorsey, 52, was arrested in 2006 and later convicted of shooting and killing his cousin Sarah Bonnie and her husband Ben. Dorsey’s lawyers argued that he was in a drug-induced psychosis, as he was suffering from chronic depression and addicted to crack cocaine at the time of the killings. 

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates for public policy on behalf of the state’s five bishops, said that in addition to the fact that Dorsey “endured substantial mental and physical childhood trauma,” he also has claimed ineffective assistance of counsel, as his attorneys at the time — who were being paid a small flat fee to defend him — entered him into a plea deal without contesting the possibility of capital punishment. 

Dorsey’s death sentence has garnered scrutiny. During more than 17 years spent on death row, Dorsey complied zero infractions and served as a barber for other prisoners and for wardens, staff, and chaplains — trusted using potentially deadly instruments. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a group of 72 current and former Missouri correctional officers submitted and signed a letter vouching for his character and asking Parson to grant Dorsey clemency and commute his death sentence.

Additionally, Dorsey’s attorneys have argued that the Missouri Department of Corrections’ execution protocols, which include the practice of “cut down,” or cutting into the person to set an IV line, will prevent Dorsey “from having any meaningful spiritual discussion or participation in his last religious rites with his spiritual adviser,” the Kansas City Star reported.

Despite his apparent rehabilitation, the Missouri Supreme Court scheduled Dorsey’s execution last December. Dorsey has appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In addition to submitting a clemency request to Parson, the Missouri Catholic Conference will be hosting a “respectful protest” outside the governor’s office at the Missouri State Capitol in Jefferson City from noon to 1 p.m. on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 9.

The conference urged the public to attend the protest and to contact the governor to express their support for clemency. Parson has not granted clemency to anyone on death row since he took office in 2018, the Kansas City Star reported. 

“The Catholic Church is strongly opposed to the death penalty because it disregards the sanctity and dignity of human life,” the conference noted. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, reflecting an update promulgated by Pope Francis in 2018, describes the death penalty as “inadmissible” and an “attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” (No. 2267). The change reflects a development of Catholic doctrine in recent years. St. John Paul II, calling the death penalty “cruel and unnecessary,” encouraged Christians to be “unconditionally pro-life” and said that “the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil.”

Missouri is among the most prolific of all U.S. states when it comes to the death penalty, having carried out four executions in 2023 alone and being one of only five states to carry out executions last year.

Jessica Hanna and her son, Thomas Solanus. / Credit: Jessica Hanna

CNA Staff, Apr 8, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

Jessica Hanna, a Catholic mother of four and pro-life advocate who chose to forgo cancer treatments for the sake of her unborn child, died on April 6, her family has announced.

Her husband, Lamar, shared the news of her passing on her Instagram account, where she went by the handle @blessed_by_cancer. 

“At 8:02 p.m. on Saturday, April 6, my beautiful bride Jessica peacefully went to her eternal reward,” Lamar Hanna wrote. “She received extreme unction and the apostolic pardon from Father Canon Sharpe [on] Thursday. On Saturday she was very peaceful, and surrounded by her loving family, she breathed her last. The cancer was just too aggressive. She suffered joyfully and without fear in her last days. Please keep our family in your prayers.”

In 2022, Hanna joined “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” to share her pro-life testimony. Two years before, while 14 weeks pregnant with her youngest son, Thomas, she received a breast cancer diagnosis. Several doctors advised her to have an abortion, but she declined.

After undergoing surgery, she was told the tumor was 13 centimeters, while cancer was also found in 43 lymph nodes in the area. Due to her pregnancy, doctors could not scan the rest of the body to see if the cancer had spread.

A devout Catholic, Hanna turned to her faith for support during the trial. She had a special devotion to Blessed Father Solanus Casey. During her battle with breast cancer while pregnant, she prayed at Casey’s Detroit-area tomb after each chemotherapy treatment. 

After she gave birth, her scans came back clear, with no signs that her cancer had spread to any other organs or lymph nodes, which she attributed to the intercession of Casey. However, in 2022, the cancer returned, this time as stage 4. 

Social media created community of faith around cancer battle

At the time of her diagnosis, Hanna had felt God was calling her to something. Unsure of her own future, she made a social media account two days after her diagnosis to share her journey with others and create a prayer community where she could pray with her followers and offer up her suffering for their intentions. 

“I thought no suffering should ever go to waste,” Hanna told “EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.” “I don’t know where God is taking me. Is he going to take me to the path where I need to show people how to die gracefully, with his grace and mercy? Or is he going to show a miracle?”

“I decided to use the social media to show people that no matter what you think is going to happen, it’s trust in God that is the most important … That you are going to abandon your own desires and wants and you’re going to leave it at the foot of the cross and let him take care of it.”

Over the years, Hanna’s Instagram account grew to more than 45,000 followers. It was here that she shared updates on her health, prayed for others who reached out to her with intentions, and showed her followers what it means to offer up your sufferings and suffer graciously. 

On March 29 she wrote: “I’m here, in my Good Friday. During this Lent I have experienced emergency heart issues resulting in a drain and then surgery around the heart. I went from the ICU to the regular floor with more surgery on my lung and many other complications.”

“The difference between [my Good Friday] and that of Jesus’ is that I indeed deserve my time here walking to Calvary and he certainly did not,” she wrote. “In fact, it was my sins that led to many of his excruciating pains. For myself, my suffering is an offering given back to him not only to atone for the crimes I committed in my life but also to cooperate with the body of Christ to offer atonement for others as well.” 

“If I was bold enough to commit such crimes of sin in my life, I should also be bold enough to accept my penance,” she wrote. 

“However, be sure to remember — with every Good Friday comes an Easter Sunday,” she pointed out. “With death comes resurrection — Christ made it so.”

Hanna leaves behind her husband and their four children.

Former President Donald Trump arrives for a rally on April 2, 2024, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 8, 2024 / 12:50 pm (CNA).

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024, announced his abortion policy in a Monday Truth Social video in which he said that “the states will determine” the future of abortion in the U.S.  

In the video, Trump touted his role in appointing three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade in the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision but did not endorse a national abortion policy as many pro-lifers hoped he would.

Instead, Trump said that “at the end of the day” abortion law in the U.S. is “all about the will of the people” and that “now it’s up to the states to do the right thing.”

What Trump said

In what was a highly anticipated policy announcement, Trump backed away from any national abortion limits, saying: “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state.” 

“Many states will be different,” he said. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”

The former president noted that he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother but urged people to vote according to their “heart, or in many cases, your religion or your faith.”

“Do what’s right for your family and do what’s right for yourself. Do what’s right for your children. Do what’s right for our country, and vote,” he said.

He called for unity on the life issues, saying that Democrats “are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month.”

“The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth,” he said, “is unacceptable, and almost everyone agrees with that.”

Trump also voiced support for in vitro fertilization (IVF), a fertility treatment in which doctors fuse egg and sperm to create human embryos.

“I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” he said. “We want to make it easier for mothers and families to have babies, not harder. That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America.”

He praised the Alabama Legislature for passing a new measure to give the IVF industry in the state blanket immunity from certain negligence and malpractice lawsuits, a move that Catholic bioethicist Carter Snead called “unjust” and a “shocking error in judgment.”

The Catholic Church is firmly opposed to IVF because it separates the marriage act from procreation and destroys embryonic human life.

Finally, Trump cautioned voters to “remember you must also win elections to restore our culture, and in fact to save our country,” which he said is “very sadly a nation in decline.”

“Our nation needs help. It needs unity. It needs us all to work closely together, Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, everyone. We have to work together,” he said.

Pro-lifers react

Many in the pro-life movement had hoped Trump would endorse a federal abortion limit such as the one proposed by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. First introduced by Graham in 2022, this federal bill would limit abortion to the first 15 weeks of pregnancy. It has not, however, received enough support from the Republican Party to come close to passage. 

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, head of the U.S. bishops’ Pro-Life Activities Committee, responded to Trump’s announcement by telling CNA that “legislators have a responsibility to protect vulnerable preborn life not only at the state level but also at the federal level.”

“With the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs case that returned the issue of abortion to the people and their elected officials,” Burbidge said that “the federal effort must include undoing the current administration’s aggressive abortion-promoting regulations, preventing taxpayers from subsidizing abortion, and pursuing nationwide standards.” 

Regarding IVF, Burbidge said that “life-affirming and moral alternatives to infertility are necessary, but we oppose methods such as IVF, which, among other problems, results in the death or abandonment of more children than are created through it.”

Pro-life leaders had measured reactions to Trump’s announcement, largely expressing support for the former president while urging him to take a stronger pro-life stance.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said her group is “deeply disappointed in President Trump’s position.”

“Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights,” she said, adding that “unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry.”

CatholicVote president Brian Burch, whose group has officially endorsed Trump for president, said that Trump’s announcement “reflects the electoral minefield created by Democrat abortion fanaticism.”

While noting his belief that “leaving abortion policy to the states is not sufficient,” Burch said that he is “confident that a Trump administration will be staffed with pro-life personnel committed to pro-life policies, including conscience rights, limits on taxpayer funding of abortion, and protections for pro-life states.”

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action, meanwhile, said that pro-lifers “clearly have some work to do to educate the Trump administration to come” on the abortion and IVF issues but still called Trump’s announcement a “step in the right direction.”

“To be clear, the pro-life movement is united that abortion is a federal issue, and we won’t stop working until every child, in every state, is protected in life by law and service. Your state lines should never mean the beginning or end of your human rights,” she noted.

“Unlike President Biden, President Trump begins his remarks on abortion celebrating ‘the ultimate joy in life’ — children and family. That kind of love and support for the bedrock of society, the family, will be a welcome change in the White House,” Hawkins said.

The Annunciation by Fra Angelico. / Credit: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

National Catholic Register, Apr 8, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Annunciation. Usually it’s celebrated on March 25, but this year March 25 fell during Holy Week, which superseded the observance. So the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops moved the celebration of the Annunciation to Monday, April 8. 

This day celebrates the appearance of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to announce the incarnation.

What’s going on and why is this day important?

Here are eight things to know and to share.

1. What does the word “Annunciation” mean?

The word is derived from the same root as the word “announce.” Gabriel is announcing the incarnation of Christ — God becoming man in the person of Jesus.

“Annunciation” is simply an old-fashioned way of saying “announcement.”

The term can be applied to other events also. For example, in his book “Jesus of Nazareth 3: The Infancy Narratives,” Pope Benedict XVI has sections on both “the annunciation of the birth of John” and “the annunciation to Mary,” because John the Baptist’s birth was also announced in advance.

2. When is the Annunciation normally celebrated and why does it sometimes move?

Normally the solemnity of the Annunciation is celebrated March 25.

This date is used because it is nine months before Christmas (Dec. 25), and it is assumed that Jesus spent the normal nine months in his mother’s womb.

However, March 25 sometimes falls during Holy Week, and the days of Holy Week have a higher liturgical rank than this solemnity.

Still, the Annunciation is an important solemnity, and so it doesn’t just vanish from the calendar. Instead, as the rubrics in the Roman Missal note:

“Whenever this solemnity occurs during Holy Week, it is transferred to the Monday after the Second Sunday of Easter.”

It is thus celebrated on the first available day after Holy Week and the Octave of Easter (which ends on the Second Sunday of Easter).

3. How does this story parallel the birth of John the Baptist?

As noted above, John the Baptist’s conception was announced in advance also. In both stories there are multiple parallels:

• The angel Gabriel makes the announcement.

• He announces to a single individual: Zechariah in John the Baptist’s case and Mary in Jesus’ case.

• He announces the miraculous conception of an individual who has a prominent place in God’s plan.

• He is met with a question in both cases (Zechariah asks how he can know this will happen; Mary asks how it will happen).

• A miraculous sign is offered as evidence (Zechariah is struck dumb; Mary is told of Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy, which is in its sixth month).

• Gabriel departs.

4. How is Mary’s reaction different than Zechariah’s?

At first glance, Mary’s reaction to Gabriel can appear like Zechariah’s unbelieving reaction, but it is fundamentally different.

Like Zechariah, she asks a question, but it is a question of a different sort:

• Zechariah asked how he could know what the angel says would be true. His attitude was one of skepticism.

• Mary does not ask for proof. Instead, she asks how the angel’s words will be fulfilled. She accepts what he says and wants to understand specifically how it will take place. Her attitude is thus one of faith seeking understanding, not a lack of faith.

5. What does Mary’s reaction say about her perpetual virginity?

Mary’s question is translated in the RSVCE translation of the Bible as “How shall this be, since I have no husband?”

This is not a good translation, because she does, in fact, have a husband: Joseph. Luke has already told us that she is betrothed to Joseph, which means that they were legally married (thus Joseph would have had to divorce her, not just “break the engagement” as one might today; cf Mt 1:19).

What the text literally says in Greek is “since I do not know man.”

This relies on the common biblical euphemism of “knowing” for sexual relations. Mary’s question indicates that she understands the facts of life, and it is surprising since she is legally married and awaiting the time that she and Joseph would begin to cohabit.

If she were planning on an ordinary marriage then the most natural interpretation of the angel’s statement would be that, after she and Joseph begin to cohabit, they will together conceive a child, who the angel is now telling her about.

The fact that she asks the question indicates that this is not her understanding, and it has often been taken as a sign that she was not planning on an ordinary marriage.

Early Christian writings from the second century onward, beginning with the “Protoevangelium of James,” indicate that Mary was a consecrated virgin who was entrusted to the care of Joseph.

6. How does Gabriel respond to Mary’s question?

Gabriel informs her:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”

Here Gabriel indicates the involvement of all three Persons of the Trinity: Through the action of the Holy Spirit, the Father causes the Son to be conceived in human form. There will be no human father, making clear the fact that the child will be the Son of God.

As a further illustration of God’s power, he points to the fact that Elizabeth, though old and apparently barren, has miraculously conceived a son and is in her sixth month of pregnancy. “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

7. Is Elizabeth Mary’s cousin?

This question sometimes comes up in discussions of Mary’s perpetual virginity, because it is sometimes thought that the “brothers” of the Lord were his cousins and that they are described as brothers because Aramaic has no word for “cousin.”

Yet the New American Bible described Elizabeth as Mary’s cousin.

Who Jesus “brothers” were has been understood in different ways. The earliest sources that comment on the question (including the second-century “Protoevangelium of James”) say that they were stepbrothers through Joseph. They also, hypothetically, could have been adopted  (adoption was very common in the ancient world since people often died early). So they need not have been cousins.

While it’s true that Aramaic does not have a word for cousin, Greek does (“anepsios”), but that is not the word used here.

Despite the well-known mistranslation in the NAB (later corrected in the NABRE), Elizabeth is not described as Mary’s “cousin.” The Greek word in this passage (“sungenis”) indicates a female relative — a kinswoman — not a cousin in particular.

8. Why is Mary’s “fiat” important?

Mary’s acceptance of this role is momentous and will entail suffering. It is momentous because she will be the mother of the Son of God himself. It will entail suffering in ways that she cannot yet foresee (e.g., witnessing the Crucifixion), but some she can foresee.

In particular, she will be regarded as having been unfaithful to Joseph, and that involves not only public shame but, as Matthew records, endangering her relationship with Joseph and her future livelihood and social position. Yet she places herself completely at the service of God’s will.

Commenting on this, Pope Benedict writes:

“In one of his Advent homilies, Bernard of Clairvaux offers a stirring presentation of the drama of this moment. After the error of our first parents, the whole world was shrouded in darkness, under the dominion of death. Now God seeks to enter the world anew. He knocks at Mary’s door. He needs human freedom. The only way he can redeem man, who was created free, is by means of a free ‘yes’ to his will. In creating freedom, he made himself in a certain sense dependent upon man. His power is tied to the unenforceable ’yes’ of a human being.

“So Bernard portrays heaven and earth as it were holding its breath at this moment of the question addressed to Mary. Will she say yes? She hesitates … will her humility hold her back? Just this once — Bernard tells her — do not be humble but daring! Give us your ‘yes’! This is the crucial moment when, from her lips, from her heart, the answer comes: ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ It is the moment of free, humble yet magnanimous obedience in which the loftiest choice of human freedom is made (‘Jesus of Nazareth 3: The Infancy Narratives,’ chapter 2).”

This article originally appeared on April 7, 2013, at the National Catholic Register and has been adapted by CNA.

A total solar eclipse. / Credit: Public domain via Pixabay

National Catholic Register, Apr 7, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

When the moon passes between the sun and Earth creating a total solar eclipse on April 8, many Catholics in its path will be looking skyward to observe the phenomenon from a spiritual and scientific perspective.

Some will gather at retreat centers like Our Lady of the Pines in Fremont, Ohio, to reflect on the eclipse as a metaphor for the darkness and shadow in their own lives, while others, like a group of students at the Catholic University of America who will be studying the eclipse in collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, will take a more methodical approach. 

A partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout North America and Central America on April 8, but only those in what is known as the “path of totality” will be able to observe the sun completely eclipsed by the moon. 

In the United States, this includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 

Vatican Observatory

At the Vatican Observatory, the total eclipse won’t be viewable at the two locations, through the main telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona or through the historic telescopes at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome, so staff members will be doing what everyone else is doing: going to the path of totality to see the eclipse. 

Two of them — Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, observatory director, and Christopher Graney, an astronomer and adjunct scholar — will be in Bloomington, Indiana, as presenters for a four-day “Faith and Science” retreat at Mother of the Redeemer Retreat Center. Besides Mass and morning and evening prayer, the retreat will include talks on such topics as “Astronomy and the Vatican” and “Where Faith and Science Can Meet,” along with opportunities for stargazing and, of course, viewing the eclipse. 

Although some religious observers believe the coming eclipse has spiritual and even prophetic significance, Mark Mallett, a Canadian author and evangelist who views his role as one of watching, praying, and listening to what God is saying to the Church, said he is not aware of any Catholic sources pointing to the eclipse in that way.

However, he added: “This is not to say that this coming eclipse could not bear significance. Before the internet and modern astronomy, generations looked more intently at the universe for symbolism and meaning. The very birth of Jesus was marked by the ‘star’ over Bethlehem. And Our Lord himself said in Luke 21:25: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon and the stars ...’ What are these signs exactly? We cannot say for certain, which is why it is prudent to ‘watch and pray,’ as he commanded. It is the ‘pray’ part that tempers and roots us in the present moment so that we don’t get carried away.” 

The Vatican Observatory’s Graney said people still look to the universe for symbolism and meaning, as they did in biblical times. “If you believe God created the universe,” he said, “then the study of the universe is the study of God’s work, and it will teach you something about God; just as if you study a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, you will learn something about da Vinci.” 

He added: “There is always something interesting going on in the sky. Sometimes that thing is spectacular and interesting, and everyone knows about it, like the eclipse; sometimes it is subtle and interesting and only astronomy nerds know about it.”

Graney said the star of Bethlehem, for instance, was not the spectacular thing often imagined. “[The Gospel] says the star was subtle, something only noticed by ‘nerds’ like the Magi. Herod had to ask them when it appeared. ... If the star had been spectacular, everyone would have known when it appeared. Given that, are we going to sift every subtle thing in the sky for some great meaning? There are people who do that. It hasn’t been very productive for them. The Church has throughout its history condemned such stuff.”

Heidi Osborne, executive director of Our Lady of the Pines Retreat Center in Ohio, said the center’s purpose in planning a retreat during the eclipse was merely to allow people to experience the majesty and awe of the eclipse as something guided by God’s hand and to give them time to reflect on it.

“There’s nothing we have found that specifically ties an eclipse to spirituality,” Osborne told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner. “However, if you think about it, there are a lot of metaphors between darkness and light.” She added that eclipses often signify beginnings or endings and are times to bring people together, reminding them of their interconnectedness with each other and with God. 

For their part, students in Catholic University’s Physics and Applied Space Weather Research program will be immersed in the science of the eclipse as they deploy magnetometers to measure magnetic fields in six remote locations along the path of totality both during and after the phenomenon. Using their instruments, they also hope to see if any space weather effects are observable from the ground during the eclipse. 

Gang Poh, a space weather professor and NASA researcher, said the work the students will do during the eclipse is part of a research project started last semester aimed at teaching about the experimental techniques scientists commonly use to measure and observe the effects of space weather in Earth’s atmosphere. The project also is part of a larger collaboration with NASA to study not only the eclipse but also space weather. Poh said the students hope to publish their results in a scientific journal and share them with colleagues at NASA. 

Scientists can learn many things during a solar eclipse, he said, because of the opportunity it presents to study the sun’s atmosphere, called the solar corona. Normally, the brightness of the sun prevents such study until the moon blocks it during an eclipse. Although modern technology has allowed the development of instruments to artificially block the sun during observation, Poh said, these are limited, and so a natural phenomenon such as the solar eclipse remains the best method for studying the sun’s atmosphere.

Some have pointed out that the path of the April 8 total eclipse will intersect with that of another solar eclipse that occurred Aug. 21, 2017. After another such intersection took place between eclipses in the U.S. in 1806 and 1811, a series of earthquakes struck along a fault line in the area of the intersection following the second eclipse. 

Poh said, to the best of his knowledge, there is no scientific significance for the latest expected intersection. 

He told the Register: “Our Earth and the moon move in a predictable motion around our sun, following known laws of orbital motions. Hence, it is expected that there will be similar or intersecting paths of totality for different solar eclipse events.”

He said there also is no known correlation between solar eclipses and earthquakes. 

“Scientists don’t believe that there is any causality between both phenomena because the processes that drive either phenomenon are very different,” he said. “Solar eclipses occur due to the relative motion between the Earth, the moon, and the sun. Earthquakes are known to occur due to the release of stress built up underneath the surface from the motion of the continental plates.”

Those interested in viewing the April 8 eclipse should, if possible, travel to the path of 100% totality, Graney said. 

“I know people who, in the 2017 eclipse, said, ‘Well, where I am the eclipse will be 99%, so how much difference can the extra 1% make?’ It can make the same difference as that one number on a lottery ticket: the difference between having all the correct numbers on the ‘giant jackpot’ lottery ticket versus having all the correct numbers but one,” he said. 

“The sun is so bright, and our eyes so adaptable, that if any bit of the sun is not covered, what you see will be, at most, a slight dimming of things,” Graney said. “Shadows will be unusual, and you can see the mostly covered sun with protective glasses. But if the sun is 100% covered — that’s where the glasses come off and the awesomeness kicks in. So don’t settle for anything but 100%, for all the numbers on the ticket, if you can.”

Eclipse viewers are being cautioned not to look directly at the sun without eclipse glasses or a handheld solar viewer. Even viewing the sun through a camera, binoculars, or telescope without a special solar filter can cause serious eye injury. 

Graney said someone near his town has put up a billboard with a picture of a total eclipse on it and the words, “See the wonder of God.” Nonetheless, he said he expects some will be unmoved by the idea of such a phenomenon occurring. “I am sure there will be a few people who are right in the path of totality who will prefer to stay inside and watch TV or place sports bets on their phone.” 

This article was first published on April 5, 2024, at the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted for CNA.

Cappella sings “O Sacrum Convivium” at the University of Mary on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Rebecca Raber

CNA Staff, Apr 7, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A group of 28 choral students left the University of Mary (UMary) in Bismarck, North Dakota, in May of last year to embark on a world tour as part of a two-year Eucharistic Revival project, culminating this year in a choral album. 

As part of their Eucharistic Revival project, the students and their director, Rebecca Raber, have been performing and recording music at sites of Eucharistic miracles.

The ultimate goal is to record enough choral songs to create an album focused on Eucharistic hymns. 

“When I heard about the Eucharistic Revival, I knew I wanted to do something from the perspective of liturgical music,” Raber told CNA in an email. 

The choir, known as “Cappella,” has been recording a collection of music focused on the Eucharist that includes a wide variety of styles of music such as chant, antiphons, hymns, and polyphony. 

The choir has even commissioned two accomplished composers, Michael John Trotta and Philip Stopford, to compose music on Eucharistic texts.

“Cappella is made for a project like this,” Raber said.

What is Cappella?

Cappella, named for the Latin word for choir, is made up of students from around the country who were “scholarshipped like college athletes” to sing sacred music at UMary, Raber explained.

The project was envisioned by Monsignor James Shea three years ago. Shea, the president of UMary, will be speaking at the National Eucharistic Congress this summer. 

Raber says Cappella is a “one-of-a-kind opportunity” for the students. They rehearse four days a week for 85 minutes, as well as sing at weekday and Sunday Masses, and lead sung solemn vespers weekly. 

Because of the “generous amount” of rehearsal time, Raber said, “we are able to sing an astonishing amount of repertoire, treasures of the Church.”

But the music also benefits the students’ “spiritual formation,” Raber explained. 

When asked about how Cappella has affected his faith, one student, junior Marshall Milless, a communications major from Minnesota, said that singing in Capella has “completely transformed” his faith.

“It elevates my prayer in a way beyond my understanding,” he explained. “I’ve read and heard the Scriptures and prayers in our music, but when singing them, it provides a completely transformative experience, where the Scriptures and prayers become so much more tangible and real.”

‘I am the one who needed the Eucharistic Revival’ 

Cappella’s Eucharistic project is part of a larger Newman Task Force for Eucharistic Education, a group that is promoting Eucharistic Revival projects in schools and universities across the country. 

The National Eucharistic Revival is a three-year initiative by the U.S. bishops that aims to inspire, educate, and unite the faithful in a more intimate relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist. The revival culminates this year in four national pilgrimages followed by the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis this summer. 

Curstin Larson, a UMary junior studying sacred music, said that at first, she thought the Eucharistic Revival was “exactly what the Church needs.”

“When I first heard about the Eucharistic Revival, I was very excited,” she said. “All of the people who don’t believe in the True Presence, all of the ‘nones,’ all of the lukewarm Catholics — this is the answer to their conversion!”

“Looking back, I am embarrassed by those thoughts,” she continued. “Through Cappella’s work with the Eucharistic Revival … I’ve come to see that I had it all wrong. I am the one who needed the Eucharistic Revival. I am the one who needed to love the Eucharist more, to receive him more attentively, to adore him more fervently.”

Larson said she believes Cappella has “an irreplaceable role” in the Eucharistic Revival. 

“Being in Cappella is so much more than singing pretty music; it’s a ministry,” Milless noted.

“There’s a lot of hard work and sacrifice that goes into being a choir like this, but all the hard work pays off whenever I catch a glimpse of somebody moved by the beauty of our music,” Milless said. “My heart becomes filled with joy, and sometimes I can’t hold the tears back!” 

Milless recalled “countless times” where people have approached him to say that Cappella’s music helped them pray. 

“They’ve told me how the music consoled them in a time when they were feeling lost and unsure,” he said. “This music has helped give me a great sense of hope in my personal prayer life when I’ve felt lost and uncertain about my faith.”

Dominic Plummer, a junior from Georgia studying business administration/banking and finance at University of Mary, noted that he has “a unique opportunity” to glorify God during Mass because of Cappella.

The choir, he said, is “eager” to participate in the project intended to “cultivate a revived atmosphere of adoration” of the Eucharist in the community and the Church as a whole. 

“The Eucharist is at the heart of this opportunity and is the foundation of our mission,” he said.

Emily Storick, a sophomore studying music performance, said that singing Eucharistic pieces for the revival has been “a great source of reflection.” 

“I hope when we sing these beautiful Eucharistic pieces, those who hear them are drawn deeper into the mystery of the Mass, and even more so as they receive the body of Christ,” she said. 

During the spring tour to Spain and France, Cappella students sang ancient Eucharistic hymns at sites of the Eucharistic miracles, such as Montserrat and Zaragoza, Spain. 

The pieces, some of which were recorded at sites of Eucharistic miracles, will be compiled into a digital album available on Soundcloud and Spotify.

Raber said she hopes that through these recordings, “the beauty of sacred music” will “draw hearts to Christ in the Eucharist.” 

She said that while the listeners are often affected by the music, she notices more so “from the conductor’s podium is that my Cappella members themselves are deeply affected by the sacred music they sing.”

“Singing sacred music with Cappella is one of the most moving things I have experienced,” said Robert Bushee, a freshman at UMary studying philosophy.

“When we sing, it is a prayer that so completely fills the self with grace that it cannot help but to overflow, and in so doing, create so profoundly united a prayer that it may move each member of the congregation to a greater experience of the Mass and of God himself, which is the great aim of our ministry,” he said. 

Jacob Ganzer, a junior studying mechanical engineering, said that the opportunity to pray through sacred music is “a blessing.”

“I think it is very difficult to be in Cappella and not have it affect your faith,” he added.

Archbishop Carlo Vigano. / Edward Pentin/National Catholic Register

CNA Newsroom, Apr 6, 2024 / 11:00 am (CNA).

A Wisconsin bishop has publicly rebuked the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, accusing him of defamation and a possibly illicit ordination.

The clash between Bishop James Powers of the Diocese of Superior and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò stems from a March 22 post on X in which the controversial former Vatican official criticized what he called a “shamanic ceremony” at the start of the Superior Diocese’s 2024 chrism Mass. 

The March 19 Mass at its outset featured four Ojibwe women engaging in traditional dance while accompanied by Indigenous drumming. Viganò in his post called the ritual “a very serious sacrilege,” describing Powers as “a squalid official of the ecumenical religion” and “not a successor of the apostles but a servant of Freemasonry.” You can watch the beginning of the Mass in the diocese’s video here.

Powers responded in a sharply worded letter dated April 5, accusing Viganò of a “violation of my right to a good name and reputation.” The diocese posted the letter on its Facebook page.

Powers wrote that it has “long been a tradition in the Diocese of Superior to honor the heritage of our Native Americans before major diocesan celebrations,” including at his installation as bishop in 2016. Viganò himself attended that event, Powers pointed out, adding that “never in the last eight years” had the archbishop expressed any concerns about it. 

“I would have at least expected the courtesy of a prior contact before any alleged public accusations of promoting Shamanism,” the bishop wrote in the letter. 

Arguing that Viganò’s rhetoric “does not befit an archbishop of the Catholic Church” and that it “brings harm to the faithful” entrusted to his care, Powers requested “a public apology from [Viganò] to me and my people.” Viganò could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Alleged illicit ordination

The Vatican’s top diplomat to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, Viganò made headlines in 2018 when he publicly accused Church leaders, including Pope Francis, of covering up the sexual abuse allegations against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. 

The Italian archbishop made news again in 2020 when he penned an open letter to then-President Donald Trump expressing solidarity with Trump’s ongoing battles with the “deep state,” which the archbishop suggested had orchestrated the COVID-19 pandemic in a conspiracy to bring about a “New World Order” with the support of some Catholic bishops.

In his letter, Powers wrote that Viganò allegedly carried out an illicit ordination and then sent the illicitly ordained man to the Superior Diocese without Powers’ approval.

In February, Powers warned his diocese of an establishment called the Hermitage of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Cumberland, Wisconsin, noting the “very questionable canonical status of Bryan Wallman and Rebekah Siegler,” the two individuals reportedly running the institution. Powers said that neither had provided “proper documents” establishing their canonical status. In his letter on Friday, Powers asked for clarification from Viganò about his alleged role in ordaining and sending Wallman to the Superior Diocese.

“Without proof of a valid ordination to the priesthood, Bryan Wallman is putting the spiritual lives of some of my people in danger,” Powers wrote.

“If Archbishop Viganò is involved in any way with these activities, I demand that he cause their cessation immediately,” he added.

Father Ryan Stawaisz. / Credit: Prince of Peace Catholic Church

CNA Staff, Apr 6, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

A new film titled “Love God’s Will” that recently debuted in various theaters in Houston tells the inspiring story of Father Ryan Stawaisz, a young priest who touched the hearts of many and embraced God’s will after receiving a life-altering diagnosis.

Palomita Films — a Houston-based film production company consisting of Cimela Kidonakis, Jessi Hannapel, and Garret McCall — teamed up with Father Richard McNeillie and the Office of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to produce the film.

The film features Stawaisz’s parents, Ray and Susan Stawaisz, his brother Ross and sister-in-law Gaby, his closest childhood friends, parishioners, other priests from the archdiocese, and several others who knew Stawaisz personally.

After graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in petroleum engineering, Stawaisz was set to embark on a promising career. However, he felt God calling him to something else — the priesthood. Stawaisz entered seminary, and shortly before his ordination, he received a devastating cancer diagnosis — his second one after successfully beating cancer once before as a junior in college.

Despite his diagnosis, Stawaisz began his priestly ministry as the parochial vicar at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Houston in June 2019. Just two years later, on June 21, 2021, the young priest passed away, but he left a lasting impact on those he ministered to at his parish.

In an interview with CNA, Ray and Susan Stawaisz said that about six months after Ryan died, they were approached by McNeillie asking if the archdiocese could make a seven-minute film about him to post on the vocations website for the archdiocese. However, the production company quickly realized seven minutes wasn’t nearly enough time.

Hannapel of Palomita Films explained that the team of three started by interviewing the Stawaisz family.

“It was a four-and-a-half-hour interview,” she said in an interview with CNA. “And we left their house with a giant box of old VHS tapes of Ryan growing up.”

The film team then went to Stawaisz’s parish to collect interviews from parishioners. They were there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and conducted 31 interviews.

“So already we were like, ‘Okay, we can’t do seven minutes. How can you tell a seven-minute story? This is going to be bigger than what we ever anticipated,’” Hannapel recalled.

The team got to work on what would end up being an hourlong movie sharing Stawaisz’s story. Thanks to the support of McNeillie and financial contributions from crowdfunding, “Love God’s Will” was made and debuted in theaters.

“We have so far done 20 showings and 19 of them have been sold out,” Kidonakis of Palomita Films emphasized. “And every time people come, we get one more person to be like, ‘I want to sponsor a showing’ and they’ll just write the check.”

Kidonakis shared that her “dream” was to have 10 screenings of “Love God’s Will” during Lent. There have been 20 showings and there are 20 more scheduled during April and May. 

The team is now working on expanding outside of Texas as requests for showings have been flooding in from across the country from states including Florida, Wisconsin, Illinois, New York, and more. Not only will they be bringing the film to theaters outside of Texas but also to parishes and schools as well.

“Now we have all these out-of-state people that we had to find another volunteer to help us with the out-of-state [requests] because we can barely manage with the Texas people,” Kidonakis told CNA.

As for the Stawaisz family, they’ve been moved to see the response and hear the stories of all the lives Ryan touched.

“I just find it like an Overton window … you’re looking behind the scenes of something and it just humbles my heart,” Susan Stawaisz shared.

Gaby Stawaisz added that after showings, people approach her to share their story of Ryan and has realized that by talking with so many people that “everybody had a story” of him.

Ross Stawaisz pointed out that he was not aware of what his brother’s day-to-day life truly looked like because they were things that were not shared, but once he saw a glimpse of that, it was “moving.”

“All that time that I was just thinking to myself, ‘He’s probably at church praying or just resting’ he was really at the hospitals ministering to the sick, doing home visits, doing all of these other things,” he said. “And like my mom said, it wasn’t until after he passed [that] we really realized what his day-to-day life looked like and it was very moving to understand how important ministering to the parish was for him and how well he did it.”

The Stawaisz family also reflected on what they themselves learned from Ryan during his time on earth.

“Ryan thought quite deeply and the advice he was able to give was common sense but you just didn’t think of it as quickly as it came out,” Ray Stawaisz shared about his son. “And that was, I think, a gift he had.”

Ross Stawaisz added that as his brother, it was always clear to him that Ryan “went out of his way to some degree to make sure that the people around him felt welcome.”

He recalled that ahead of his wedding, Ryan was able to help put into perspective what he needed to be focusing on as he became a husband and started a family.

“I’m trying to focus on my job and do all this other stuff and he would continually help me to say, ‘Hey, pray about this. What is most important to you? What do you think God wants you to do? How is he trying to bring peace to your life?’ and then do those things.”

The Palomita Films team shared that they were about to stop making movies, but “Father Ryan just took us on such a journey,” Kidonakis shared. “He brought so much peace to my life in a place where I just was kind of burnt out and also confused about what was the next step and he really made me love God’s will in my own life.” 

The team agrees that they have felt Stawaisz’s “presence throughout this whole process” and that “he was guiding this.”

Both the team at Palomita Films and the Stawaisz family emphasized that Ryan never wanted to be in the spotlight — he would not have wanted a movie about his life — but if it was furthering the kingdom of God, he’d be all in. And that’s what they all hope this movie is doing.

“I’m hoping that they [viewers] see the life of a man who tried to follow God, who tried to listen carefully and in his joys and sufferings, joys and sorrows, he still kept seeing light at the end,” Susan Stawaisz expressed. “And somehow to convey to people that we all have that same choice and just try to do it well.”

Ross Stawaisz added that he hopes people will see from watching Ryan’s story the “need to stand up for some things. You need to live your life in a way that emulates Christ.”

After sharing that she has heard from several cancer patients on how the movie has touched them, Gaby Stawaisz said: “I feel like anybody who’s gone through any kind of suffering can relate to offering up your suffering and suffering heroically.”

At least one member from the Stawaisz family has attended every screening, if not the entire family. At the end of each showing, Hannapel shared, Susan Stawaisz has gone out before the crowd and asked them to close their eyes and reflect for a moment on this question: “What is God’s will for your life and are you loving it?”

null / fieldwork via Shutterstock.

CNA Staff, Apr 5, 2024 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

In response to gender studies programs that often churn out ideology contrary to Catholic teaching, the University of St. Thomas, Houston, (UST) is launching a sexuality and gender studies program based on “Catholic anthropology.”

“For some time now, conversations about gender and sexuality have dominated our headlines,” reads a UST press release. “Christian leaders in education, ministry, health care, law, psychology, and other professions often feel ill-equipped to enter into these conversations because they lack the necessary knowledge to speak with equal measures of authority and compassion.” 

The University of St. Thomas will offer a part-time, “flexible,” program that will enable students to earn a graduate certificate in sexuality and gender studies. Kevin Stuart, director of the Nesti Center for Faith & Culture, launched the program, and Leah Jacobson, Catholic speaker and author of the book “Wholistic Feminism,” will help run it. 

“Part of what inspired this program is the need for faithful professionals who will come into contact with difficult cases regarding sexuality and gender to be well-formed and well-informed,” Stuart told CNA. 

Stuart, who previously worked as a Catholic high school headmaster, said he knows what it’s like “to wake up on a daily basis and wonder whether today is the day these issues cross my doorstep.”

“And, if they do, am I prepared not only to offer compassion but God’s truth about who and what we are,” he added.

The four-course sequence includes online classes in Catholic anthropology, the history of gender, and the science and social science of gender and sexuality. The final course will apply legal and practical elements of sexuality and gender in order to help students “integrate” and “apply” the knowledge they have gained, according to the release.

“The graduate certificate in sexuality and gender brings the intersection of philosophy, history, and science to students and equips them to speak the truth with compassion and prudence,” the release continues. 

The program is designed “for working professionals,” and students may begin the program at any point and complete it “at their own pace.” 

“The University of St. Thomas is uniquely positioned to form leaders who understand the wisdom of the Catholic Church’s teachings concerning these issues,” the release noted.

The Catholic liberal arts university that was founded in 1947 is “committed to the Catholic intellectual tradition and the dialogue between faith and reason,” according to its mission statement. 

“As the culture continues to diminish the dignity of the human person, the Church stands firm in her understanding of sexuality and gender as gifts given to us by Our Creator, who made us in his image,” the press release stated. 

The gender ideology debate has caught the attention of Pope Francis, who called gender ideology “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” in a March interview with journalist Elisabetta Piqué for the Argentine daily newspaper La Nación.

In a continuation of the Church’s conversation on gender, the Vatican on Monday will publish a document on “moral questions” regarding human dignity, gender, and surrogacy.