St. Mary's Church

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2024 / 13:35 pm (CNA).

The Vatican has authorized the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania, to remove a priest from the clerical state after an investigation found he sexually assaulted two children years ago.

Martin Boylan “has been dismissed from the clerical state at the conclusion of a disciplinary process authorized by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) at the Holy See,” the Diocese of Scranton said in a press statement on Tuesday.

Boylan, 76, was removed from priestly ministry in 2016 after he was accused of sexual assault of a minor. The diocese would subsequently receive four more allegations against the priest, all of which were investigated and submitted to the DDF.

The Holy See authorized the Scranton Diocese to adjudicate the matter. The priest was ultimately found guilty of two instances of sexual abuse of a minor. The DDF “reviewed the findings and authorized the Diocese of Scranton to impose the permanent penalty of dismissal from the clerical state on Boylan,” the diocese said.

The priest appealed twice to the Vatican, which in both cases upheld the diocese’s findings.

Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera said in the release that there is “no place in our Church for such heinous acts.”

“We must ensure that our Church is a safe haven for all, and it is our collective duty to protect, to listen, and to stand against any form of abuse,” the prelate said.

“I ask all people to join me in praying for the victims and their families,” the bishop said. “No one should ever have to endure such trauma, and it is our responsibility to ensure that all survivors are heard, supported, and empowered to heal.”

Boylan, who was ordained in 1980 and served at numerous parishes and schools, was among the priests identified as sexual abusers in the bombshell 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse in most of the state’s Catholic dioceses. No criminal charges have been filed against him regarding the allegations.

Dismissal from the clerical state is “the most severe penalty that the Catholic Church can impose on a cleric,” the Scranton Diocese noted.

As a laicized priest, Boylan “will never again exercise priestly ministry in any capacity,” the diocese said.

“He may no longer celebrate Mass, hear confessions, or administer any of the Church’s sacraments,” it said. “His relationship with the Diocese of Scranton in any official capacity is now permanently ended.”

CNA Staff, Oct 9, 2024 / 12:35 pm (CNA).

Home schooling continues to grow even as the pandemic is no longer a contributing factor, according to a September study that found multiple states reaching all-time-high numbers of home-schooled students.  

The Johns Hopkins School of Education’s Homeschool Research Lab in its 2023-2024 report on home school growth found that 90% of states that shared numbers with the institute reported that home schooling had increased since the previous school year. 

The report, published in September, found that while the total number of students is declining nationwide in part due to declining birth rates, the number of home-schooling students is increasing.

The increase can no longer be attributed to the pandemic, according to researcher Angela Watson. 

“While home schooling grew rapidly during the pandemic, most people thought that students would return to more traditional schools when the pandemic disruptions abated,” Watson wrote. 

“Some states did show a decline, but few have returned to normal, even four years after the onset of the pandemic,” she said. “What we see with the most recent increases in state-reported home school participation is something new — these numbers are not driven by the pandemic.”

Several states reported record-high numbers of home-schoolers in the 2023-2024 school year. North Dakota had a 24% increase in home-schooled students from the prior year, while Rhode Island reported a 67% increase and Wyoming had an 8% increase.

Louisiana, South Carolina, and South Dakota have had continued growth since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Home schooling has grown without interruption in these three states with no “post-pandemic decline.”

Sixteen states had a “rebounding trend,” according to the report. This means that after the pandemic was over, the number of home-schoolers decreased before experiencing a renewed surge in home schooling numbers.

Only two states in the study — New Hampshire and Vermont — reported a decline in the number of home-schooled students in 2023-2024, which in New Hampshire could be attributed to changing methods of categorizing home-schooled students. 

New Hampshire’s state Education Freedom Account (EFA) allows home-schooled students to receive public funding, but students receiving this public funding are not considered part of the total home schooling number, the report noted. 

The program launched in 2021, with the state subsequently reporting a lower number of home-school students than its pre-pandemic count. 

Home schooling models may include microschools, hybrid schools, and home schooling cooperatives, according to the report. Twenty-one states responded to the study and the group is set to publish more data in the coming months, though only 30 states record home schooling participation.

Last October, the Washington Post called home schooling the “fastest-growing form of education” in the United States, with double-digit increases in home school enrollment seen in a majority of U.S. states over roughly the past five years.

“While there is a clear growth trend in home schooling, the reason for that growth is unknown,” Watson noted.

“What is clear is that this time, the growth is not driven by a global pandemic or sudden disruptions to traditional schooling. Something else is driving this growth.”

CNA Newsroom, Oct 9, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In early June, the U.S. Catholic bishops voted unanimously to begin the process of officially declaring Adele Brise a saint. Brise, an immigrant from Belgium living in northern Wisconsin, witnessed the first and only approved Marian apparition in the United States in 1859. Today, Oct. 9, is the solemnity of that apparition known as Our Lady of Champion.

In 2022, the Vatican gave its formal stamp of approval to the apparitions Brise witnessed, recognizing the newly named National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin, as an approved apparition site. 

Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, who initiated the formal investigation into the apparitions, told CNA at the June bishops’ meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, that the number of pilgrims traveling to the shrine has increased from 10,000 a year to more than 200,000 a year today since the apparitions were approved.

“The Blessed Mother is calling people to come to the shrine to experience the peace there, the simplicity; the basics of the Gospel, the catechism are exposed there,” Ricken said.

Our Lady of Champion was the patroness of the Northern Marian Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, which stopped a the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion on June 16 on its way to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis.

A saint for our times

On Oct. 9, 1859, the Belgian-born Brise reported seeing the first of three apparitions while walking in the woods in Champion, Wisconsin. Brise, who was 28 at the time, said a woman who was dressed in white and wearing a crown of gold stars on her head asked her to pray for the conversion of sinners and teach children about the faith.

Brise immediately set out to visit families within a 50-mile radius of her home to share the Gospel with them and teach them the catechism. They were Belgian immigrants like herself, but unlike Brise, they had lost their faith since coming to America.

“She’s really current for now because we’re facing the same problems — people not knowing the faith, people having fallen away from the Church. She’s a model for us of what it means to be an evangelizing catechist. She’s very pertinent for today as well,” Ricken told CNA in June.

“From the moment of the apparitions, Adele furiously traveled the wild country of northeast Wisconsin teaching children. She would go so far as to do the household chores for the families in exchange for simply having some time to instruct the children,” Ricken said.

Brise went on to gather other women to help her with her mission and establish a schoolhouse and convent. Brise’s father built a chapel at the site of the apparitions, which eventually became a shrine to Our Lady of Good Help. The name was taken from the words the Blessed Mother said to Brise: “I will help you.”

What did the Blessed Mother say to Brise?

After Brise reported seeing the first apparition, her parish priest advised that if she were to appear again she should ask: “In God’s name, who are you and what do you want of me?”

“I am the Queen of Heaven who prays for the conversion of sinners, and I wish you to do the same. You received holy Communion this morning and that is well. But you must do more. Make a general confession and offer Communion for the conversion of sinners. If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them,” the apparition said.

According to the shrine’s website, the apparition “gazed kindly” upon Brise and her companions (who could not see her) and said: “Blessed are they that believe without seeing.” Then, looking toward Brise, the Queen of Heaven asked: “What are you doing here in idleness while your companions are working in the vineyard of my Son?”

“What more can I do, dear Lady?” Brise asked, weeping.

“Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.”

“But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?” Brise said.

“Teach them their catechism,” the woman in white replied, “how to sign themselves with the sign of the cross, and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing; I will help you.”

Possible miracles

In his address to his fellow bishops at the meeting in June, Ricken shared the testimonies of people who said they had received healing thanks to the intercession of Brise.

Candidates for beatification and canonization normally require two miracles attributed to their intercession as well as evidence that they were holy and virtuous.

“As we examine Adele’s life more closely and gather testimonies of people who attest to the life of the growing virtue and possession of Adele, two stories of healing speak out to the most,” Ricken said.

He recounted the story of a woman named Sharon, who while hospitalized for depression saw a vision of a woman she believed to be Brise who gave her the will to live a joyful life of faith.

The second person to testify, a man named John, was diagnosed in 2018 with colorectal cancer, which had metastasized to his lungs. He received what he believes to be a miraculous cure after he prayed for Brise’s intercession.

“‘As of January 2022, I was declared with no evidence of disease, and I have been without cancer detected through my last scans all the way through April 2024,’” Ricken quoted the man’s testimony.

“‘I pray every day, and I’m convinced that my visit to the Champion shrine, my deepening relationship with Mary through Adele, has really blessed me,’” the bishop quoted John as saying.

Following a couple of days of prayer events and festivities, the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion is celebrating the solemnity of Our Lady today, Oct. 9, with a Mass, rosary procession, adoration, and other prayer opportunities for those gathered to celebrate the solemnity.

This article was originally published on June 14, 2024, and has been updated.

National Catholic Register, Oct 9, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

A new film called “Return to Our Lady of Champion” will premiere on EWTN on the day the national shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Champion celebrates the second annual solemnity of Our Lady of Champion — Oct. 9. The documentary focuses on three bishops most responsible for bringing the shrine to national attention.

The film follows Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin; Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh; and Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Michigan, as they return to the shrine to discuss their part in the events leading up to Our Lady of Champion being declared the only approved Marian apparition in the United States and this shrine being raised to national status.

In the film, the bishops also share their own Marian stories, highlighting how their devotion to Our Lady began in their youth and how that devotion eventually tied into their roles as these events progressed. In the film, viewers hear firsthand the bishops’ vivid memories.

“I have to say there’s no question in my mind that this is an act of divine providence,” Zubik said, recounting his own introduction to this holy ground in Champion and learning about the three apparitions of Our Lady to Adele Brise in 1859.

Neither Zubik (who shepherded the Diocese of Green Bay from 2003 to 2007) nor Ricken had ever heard about the apparitions in Champion before they were appointed to head the Green Bay Diocese.

“I say to people, even today, the Queen of Heaven touched down right here — not quite fully — but she touched down right here. She loved us so much,” Ricken said.

When he arrived in the diocese in 2008, he immediately wanted to learn all about the shrine. In the film, he recalls those early days, learning about Brise, the “seer” of Our Lady of Champion, and the area, and seeing the providential connections, such as the name of this Dairy State town being the same name as Brise’s hometown of Champion, Belgium. “So there’s a lot to study here, a lot to get to know,” he said.

“It’s just a beautiful tapestry, a Mary tapestry, to see what she does,” Ricken emphasized. This includes how the lives and devotions of the bishops played into the whole process of bringing the devotion and the shrine to prominence. Their personal stories of how they came to love Mary were part of their personal preparation, not realized at the time, for when they arrived here. Ricken shares a heartwarming example: how, as a young child, he learned of Mary and the rosary from his mother — and how that all became part of overcoming asthma attacks.

As close-up listeners to the conversation of the three bishops, viewers hear their thoughts about Brise’s simplicity and call to teach the faith. Highlights of these segments include shots of the apparition chapel and the shrine grounds. 

The bishops also speak clearly and conversationally about the theology of Marian apparitions. 

“It was the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the nudging of Our Lady that moved me in the direction to say we should take a look at this a little further,” Zubik noted. He then recalled giving then-Father Doerfler, who was his chancellor and vicar general at the time, the task of researching the apparitions. Later, Doerfler also became rector at the shrine for two years when it was first known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.

When Ricken arrived, the approval process ramped up. 

“What a wonderful gift this is as a bishop to be able to walk into a place where Our Lady appeared,” he said joyfully. He also recounts some of the stories of answered prayers and healings from people he encountered during visits to the shrine. “I like to listen to people,” he said.

Following are his recollections about the steps to declaring these authentic apparitions and establishing the national shrine.

Viewers learn from the bishops’ conversations fascinating personal connections between them and these Marian appearances.

For example, Ricken shared that he attended seminary at the American College in Louvain, Belgium. He discovered it “was only 11 kilometers [7 miles] from Champion, Adele’s hometown, where she was going to join the convent. I thought, ‘Well, that’s a strange coincidence.’ And so I understood something of the Belgian culture by my three years there and studying the faith of the people there and understanding what their approach was. Then I could start to see maybe I was chosen because of that background,” he recalled.

In Wisconsin “this town is named after Champion [Belgium], which is where Adele made her promises,” Ricken added. “And she felt she lived out her promises here in this place in Champion, Wisconsin.”

The bishops also discuss the “heavenly peace,” as pilgrims describe it, found at the shrine. Some beautiful insights on Jesus and Mary healing divided hearts are also presented.

Doerfler observed that the “answer to so many divisions we’re experiencing is a return to the Lord, and … this is what Mary wants. She wants to bring people to her Son, to heal the divided human heart.”

Ricken shared how he goes to the apparition room, which contains a chapel, and tells “the Blessed Mother this, this, this, this. … I’m kneeling there before the statue, and she just looks at you — I’ve had experiences where those eyes seem alive, and a lot of people do. … She always centers you back on, ‘Follow me. Follow me as I lead you to peace. Follow me.’ That’s what Jesus said, ‘Follow me. I’m the giver of peace. Come to the Giver.’ We work here. We’re at her service. So when she tells us she wants this, we’ll do it. The future is in her hands. We don’t know how to do it [but] we’ll take a step of faith and do it.”

The other bishops also discuss the poignant moments of prayer while walking the perimeter of the property praying the rosary, as Brise and other local faithful did during the Peshtigo fire in 1871.

The engrossing and enlightening conversation of this trio of bishops closest to the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion draws viewers ever closer to the shrine and to our Blessed Mother, who reminded the faithful in rural Wisconsin: “Go and fear nothing; I will help you.”

WATCH

“Return to Our Lady of Champion” will premiere on EWTN on Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. ET.

VISIT

Here is the schedule of events for the solemnity at Our Lady of Champion Shrine, Oct. 7–9.

This article was first published by the National Catholic Register on Oct. 8, 2024, and has been adapted by CNA.

La vida de Dan Cummings, residente de un hogar de ancianos, dio un vuelco de 180 grados gracias a la devoción al Rosario. Originario de Ennis, Montana (Estados Unidos), “vivió un estilo de vida rudo de vaquero alejado de la Iglesia durante más de 40 años”, según su hijo Joel.

El Cardenal Francisco Robles Ortega, Arzobispo de Guadalajara, capital del estado de Jalisco (México), expresó su firme rechazo a la reciente decisión del Congreso estatal de despenalizar el aborto hasta las 12 semanas de gestación, y calificó esa práctica como el “asesinato de inocentes”.

La cadena de televisión católica más grande del mundo, EWTN, transmitirá el Sexto Rosario Mundial Mater Fátima, que se llevará a cabo el 13 de octubre de 2024. Este evento tendrá como intención principal orar “por el Triunfo del Inmaculado Corazón de María en los corazones, a través de la Divina Misericordia”. 

Fechorías es una tienda de artículos religiosos fundada por dos hermanas mexicanas, Paola y Ana Bettina de Villa, con la idea de que la fe pueda ser aprendida como “una aventura en familia”. Esta iniciativa ofrece productos creativos que brindan una experiencia accesible y divertida para los más pequeños.

El aumento de personas no bautizadas y de cristianos que no viven de acuerdo al Evangelio son indicativos de que es urgente llevar la misión a las casas y los barrios de Colombia, ha señalado el Arzobispo de Cali, Mons. Luis Fernando Rodríguez.

El Sínodo de la Sinodalidad de la Iglesia Católica ya ha entrado en su fase final. Obispos, expertos laicos e incluso observadores no católicos de todo el mundo se reúnen este octubre en Roma para una asamblea de casi un mes de duración que podría darle una forma a la Iglesia, su gobierno y a sus enseñanzas.