St. Mary's Church

Devout Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, known for his role as Jesus Christ in "The Chosen," is an executive producer and narrator of the new film "Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story." / Credit: EWTN Screenshot/Francesca Pollio/CNA

CNA Staff, Oct 5, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In 1917, Father Edward J. Flanagan, a Catholic priest and immigrant from Ballymoe, Ireland, bought a home for boys on Dodge Street in Omaha, Nebraska.

Four years later, after quickly outgrowing the space and being pressured to leave, he moved the boys to Overlook Farm, a 160-acre piece of land that became what is known as Boys Town — the town Flanagan created for orphaned and abandoned youth in need regardless of race or religion.

The priest’s story has now been documented in a new film, “Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story.” 

The documentary, narrated by Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie, who is also the executive producer of the film, includes expert commentary from Steve Wolf, vice postulator for the cause of Flanagan’s beatification and canonization, as well as Deacon Omar F.A. Gutierrez, Father Ryan Lewis, and Ed Flanagan, the great-nephew of Flanagan.

The film had its premiere on Sept. 13 in Boys Town and will be released for one night only in theaters across the country on Oct. 8. 

CNA had the opportunity to visit Boys Town and attend the premiere where we spoke to Roumie as well as the filmmakers and some of the experts who appear in the film. 

Roumie shared that he felt as though Flanagan personally called him to take part in this project.

“When I watched his story, I just felt compelled to get involved and to see how I could lend my help and my voice, literally, to the project,” he told CNA. “It was just so moving and so well done and I want people to know about this story that was so culturally shifting in his time and just as relevant today as it was when all of these things actually happened.”

Roumie added that while taking part in the film, it became clear that Flanagan’s “mission is timeless.”

“There will always be children in need that for whatever reason, often through no fault of their own, they’re burdened with circumstances in their lives that they didn’t contribute to but they’re on the receiving end [of], and it turns out to be a pretty tough break for them,” he said.

Roumie also pointed out that especially in today’s society, “kids are bombarded with all kinds of imagery that is … not healthy for them, that is damaging to them, and that has an effect on their physical, mental, [and spiritual] well-being.”

A majority of the boys Flanagan served were orphans and abandoned children during the Great Depression who took to the streets and committed crimes. To Flanagan though, there were no bad boys, only bad circumstances, and he worked to improve these circumstances. 

Roumie emphasized this point, speaking to the importance of caring for children because “kids are the next generation.” 

“They are the next generation of adults, of humans, of society, and so how a child develops fundamentally affects societies, is crucial to a functioning society, a healthy society. So if you treat children with love and mercy and compassion and show them the value of their lives, they will grow up to be adults [who] value those things and can change the world much in the same way that Father Flanagan did.”

Roumie added: “Children will always need to be shaped and guided and completely flooded with God’s love in their lives through the people that they are most connected to.”

During his time at Boys Town for the premiere, Roumie was given a tour of the historic town and met many of the individuals working for Boys Town who themselves were boys in the system. He saw how Flanagan’s work changed children’s lives and gave them a “chance to be not just a productive or a functioning member of society but a flourishing member of society in ways that they can give back and affect so much change, because that’s what we’re called to do — we’re called to be beacons of light and hope and change to the most needy in our world — widows and orphans.”

Roumie called Flanagan’s work of pouring “love and compassion and mercy and faith and Jesus” into the lives of these children the “antidote” to their bad circumstances.

“He didn’t pick just Catholic kids because he was a Catholic priest. He welcomed everyone,” he explained. “He integrated children from different faiths and races at a time where it was scandalous to do so.”

“I think of him as this warrior revolutionary [who] went against the system, but he did it in a way that abided by the laws of the country in which he was now an immigrant. He did it in a way that I think only God could have accomplished.”

The actor said he hopes that viewers will take away that “they can have as much of an impact as Father Flanagan did through discernment and through listening to the voice of Christ within them.”

Roumie added that he hopes people will see that they “can affect the lives of children around them, within their own community, by simply just loving on kids that might seem like troubled kids or kids that might seem unruly,” he said. 

“I think if we’re approaching them with the love of God and seeing them as Jesus would see them, I think you have the opportunity to change your child and the next generation of children’s lives for the better.”

Young people were among the crowds gathered in downtown Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 4, 2024, for the Ohio March for Life, the first such gathering to be held in the state since Ohio voters approved a sweeping constitutional amendment to expand abortion. / Credit: Rachel del Guidice

CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2024 / 17:55 pm (CNA).

Crowds of people gathered in downtown Columbus, Ohio, today for the Ohio March for Life, the first such gathering to be held in the state since Ohio voters approved a sweeping constitutional amendment to expand abortion. 

Photos and videos posted on social media show marchers holding handmade signs on the theme “With Every Woman, for Every Child,” which mirrors the theme for the annual national March for Life that took place in January in Washington, D.C. The organizers of the national march — which bills itself as the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration — have also been focusing on developing state-level pro-life marches in recent years. 

Speakers at this year’s Ohio march included Bishop Robert Pipta of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma and Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue. 

Kevin Jorrey, director of the Diocese of Toledo’s Office for Life and Justice, told local news outlet The Blade that local communities, including churches, must be there for the most vulnerable, including young mothers.

“No matter what happens legislatively, politically, we’re out here to stand up and stand for life,” he told The Blade. “We get to be the voice for the voiceless, no matter what the political landscape is.”

Attendance figures for this year’s march have not yet been released; at last year’s march in Columbus, 5,000 people were expected. 

The new constitutional amendment in Ohio, passed late last year, added a new section to the Ohio Bill of Rights in the state constitution that guarantees that “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decision,” including, but not limited to “abortion.” Although the amendment’s language allows the state to impose some restrictions “after fetal viability,” the amendment does not establish a clear cutoff for when viability occurs.

The measure was approved by voters in Ohio by a margin of about 13 points on Nov. 7, 2023. 

The Ohio Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, had strongly opposed the amendment. The “no” campaign also received financial backing from both the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, and the Catholic Diocese of Columbus, Ohio.

Ohio has been a battleground state for abortion for the past several years. Notably, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in 2019 signed a “heartbeat” abortion law that was later blocked in court. The state also briefly had a six-week abortion ban on the books after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which was blocked by a federal judge in October 2022. 

Abortions ticked up in Ohio in 2023 compared with 2022, according to a new report from the Ohio Health Department. According to the report, the total number of abortions in Ohio in 2023 was 22,000, an increase from the 2022 number but relatively on par with abortion numbers in the state over the last 10 years. The majority — 63% — of those abortions were performed on women who were fewer than nine weeks pregnant.

Former first lady Melania Trump joins Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump on stage at the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. / Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 4, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).

Former first lady Melania Trump has stirred criticism from the pro-life movement after sharing her pro-abortion views in her upcoming memoir and in a video message on X.

In her self-titled memoir “Melania,” set to be released Oct. 8, one month before Election Day, the former first lady writes about her life, her family, her time in the White House, and briefly about her support for legal abortion. Some excerpts from the book were published by The Guardian on Wednesday evening.

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” Melania Trump, the second Catholic first lady in American history, wrote in the autobiographical book.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” Melania Trump added. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”

“Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body,” she wrote. “I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

On Thursday, Melania Trump doubled down on this position in a video posted on X, which advertised the memoir.

“Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom,” she said. “What does ‘my body, my choice’ really mean?”

Former president Donald Trump, who faces Vice President Kamala Harris in his bid for a second nonconsecutive term in the White House, responded to his wife’s comments without endorsing them or disavowing them.

“We spoke about it and I said, ‘You have to write what you believe — I’m not going to tell you what to do,’” Donald Trump told Fox News reporter Bill Melugin.

“I said, ‘You have to stick with your heart,’” Donald Trump added. “I’ve said that to everybody: ‘You have to go with your heart.’ There are some people that are very, very far-right on the issue, meaning without exceptions. And then there are other people that view it a little bit differently than that.”

Pro-life movement responds to Melania Trump

Many leaders in the pro-life movement have expressed frustration over Melania Trump’s abortion comments. Some pro-life advocates are still focused on securing a Donald Trump victory over Harris, while others are expressing dismay over the campaign’s movement away from pro-life values.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America president Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement provided to CNA that the organization’s top priority “is to defeat Kamala Harris and the Democrats’ push to nationally mandate no-limits abortion on demand funded by every taxpayer.”

However, Dannenfelser still took issue with Melania Trump’s comments, saying: “Women with unplanned pregnancies are crying out for more resources, not more abortions.” 

“We must have compassion for them and for babies in the womb who suffer from brutal abortions,” she added. “Tens of thousands of abortions a year are performed on children after the point when they can feel excruciating pain.”

Kristan Hawkins, the president of Students for Life Action, told CNA that “the bottom line is that it’s not just her body in that moment” when a woman is pregnant, adding: “Two people or maybe more are there.”

“Melania Trump had a chance to inspire in her book but, instead, chose to push broken feminism that puts women at war with their own bodies,” Hawkins continued. “I won’t be buying a copy of the book.”

Some pro-life activists have offered harsher criticism of Donald Trump’s campaign after Melania Trump’s comments. 

Live Action President Lila Rose asserted in a post on X that Melania Trump and Harris have “functionally the same exact position on abortion.” In late August, Rose indicated she might not vote for Donald Trump because his campaign has not been pro-life enough.

Robert P. George, a legal scholar at Princeton University and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said in a Facebook post that he shared with CNA that he believes Melania Trump’s abortion comments were prompted by Donald Trump’s campaign.

“The campaign sent her out to signal to pro-abortion voters that the ‘right to abortion’ would be fully protected in a second Trump administration,” George said. “Her message is that Donald, having thrown pro-life Americans under the bus, will keep us under the bus.”

“Her record has been one of saying little or nothing on political issues,” he continued. “Now, suddenly, she is releasing videos passionately claiming that the protection of abortion, even late-term abortion, must be given the highest priority. Things like that don’t just happen.”

George told CNA that he believes Harris is “even worse on abortion” and “appallingly awful” on the issue.

Where the candidates stand on abortion

Donald Trump appointed three of the six Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which allowed states to restrict abortion and pass pro-life laws. In his 2024 campaign, the former president has sought to moderate the Republican Party’s approach to abortion and has attempted the difficult task of maintaining support from the pro-life voting bloc without alienating independents and moderates.

Earlier this week, he said in a post on X he would veto any legislation that would prohibit abortion “because it is up to the states to decide, based on the will of their voters.” He asserted that Democrats support the “radical position of late-term abortion … in the seventh, eighth, or ninth month [of pregnancy].”

Harris supports a federal law that would legalize abortion nationwide — at least until the point of viability, which occurs around the 23rd or 24th week of pregnancy. She has not said whether she supports restrictions on late-term abortion.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, signed a bill that further solidifies the state’s abortion laws, which permit abortion throughout the entirety of pregnancy, including in the ninth month, for any reason. He signed another bill that scaled back legal protections in the case of an infant who is born alive after a failed abortion attempt.

From left to right: Actor Mason Thames (Noah), Noah Cottrell (Ben), Julian Lerner (Eugene), and Abby James Witherspoon (Sammy) in the new movie "Monster Summer." / Credit: Pastime Pictures

CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

The creators of “Monster Summer,” a new movie directed by Catholic actor David Henrie and starring Mel Gibson that opens in theaters today, sought to make a adventure-thriller movie parents will want to take their kids to see.

“Faith-based movies are working,” Henrie, known for his role as Justin Russo in Disney’s “Wizards of Waverly Place,” said. “We specifically are releasing Oct. 4 because we want a Halloween event, family movie, which is counter-programming to a lot of the hard R horror stuff that is coming out. So, we want a clean alternative that’s still fun, still spooky.”

The spooky family-friendly film tells the story of a young group of friends who confront a mysterious force in Martha’s Vineyard. After one of the young boys faces a near-death experience, he and his friends seek the help of an aging detective, played by Gibson, director of “The Passion of the Christ,” to track down the monsters.

Henrie, in an interview with Deacon Charlie Echeverry at the Napa Institute’s annual conference this summer, cited the quote “Evil only triumphs when good men do nothing” to describe the feeling the group of teenagers in the movie are experiencing.

“They seem to see something that they see as objectively wrong, but everyone else says it’s not wrong,” he explained, adding that he believes this dilemma is “very relevant” in life.

Like the movies “The Goonies” and “The Sandlot,” which it has been compared to, “Monster Summer” aims to appeal not only to children but also to parents.

Producer John Blanford told Echeverry that the movie was made with the intention of “co-viewing,” meaning that the whole family can watch it together.

He explained that currently in Hollywood, filmmakers feel the need to make it very clear who their target audience is — it’s either “slapsticky kid humor for kids or it’s super mature adult.” 

This, he said, is where “the white space is. We think that’s where the opportunity is.”

“I think the adolescents are being left behind and that’s where this coming-of-age-story really plays — is with that 9- to 16-year-old. I feel like there’s not stories being told for them, but what’s amazing about telling stories for them is it does give you the opportunity to have even younger kids kind of rise to the occasion a little bit and kind of think, ‘Oh, I want to be like my older brother or sister,’” he shared.

“And there’s mature enough themes that the kids are dealing with, and in the relationship in our film, particularly with Mel Gibson, that parents can actually really resonate with what’s going on in the story,” he said.

“To us, that’s the magic of this film, is that it really is something that a family can go enjoy together.”

Blanford emphasized the need for more movies that families can watch together and that portray “wholesome, traditional values.” The filmmakers are hoping “Monster Summer” will “prove the demand for that.”

Blanford also spoke of the “duty for Christian filmmakers” to not only make movies that promote traditional values but also to “create a more dignified, prosperous work environment” for all those involved. 

“I think as a community, as we’re doing this work, that we have an eye on content and the stories we’re telling and the impact of those stories, but how we’re making them is also super important.”

A team of nuns measures photographic plates for the Carte du Ciel project, circa early 1900s. / Credit: On Being, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, via Flickr

CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Scientists recently named four asteroids after four Catholic religious sisters who helped catalog about 500,000 stars in the Vatican portion of the Carte du Ciel “Celestial Map” star atlas of the early 1900s.

Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi, and Luigia Panceri expected to be working as nurses when they joined the Suore di Maria Bambina community in Milan. Instead, they spent up to 11 years researching 481,215 celestial bodies for the Vatican Observatory. Their discoveries were then published in a 10-volume catalog.  

In June and September of this year, scientists announced their decision to name four asteroids after the four Catholic religious sisters, the last of whom passed away in 1982.

The four asteroids named for the religious were discovered at the Mount Graham Observatory in Arizona, where the Vatican Observatory operates the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope about 200 miles southeast of Phoenix.

Asteroid naming is a long process. A celestial body must be observed, registered, reported, and given an identification number; the data is reviewed for any duplicate unidentified celestial bodies. 

Once an exact orbit is determined, the researcher who calculated the orbit — not the asteroid’s discoverer — has the right to propose a name. The name is then reviewed by the Working Group: Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN), which is run by the International Astronomical Union. 

Vatican helped lead star-mapping effort in early 20th century

Jesuit Father John Hagen undertook the star mapping project for the Vatican Observatory in the early 1900s and approached the Suore di Maria Bambini order for help. The order specialized in nursing and education, but at the request of Hagen, the order sent a pair of sisters — Sister Emilia and Sister Regina — to the observatory to join the project in 1910. 

Years later, in 1917, another pair followed: Sister Concetta and Sister Luigia. By 1921 the sisters had jointly cataloged nearly 500,000 stars.

The Vatican’s mapping project was part of a worldwide endeavor to create a celestial map. The Vatican had a select part of the night sky to map through photography and analyses, while nearly 20 other observatories worked on their respective sections. The project involved recording the brightness and position of 5 million stars.  

Popes Benedict XV and Pius XI later honored the sisters for their services. Vatican Observatory archivist Father Sabino Maffeo, SJ, at the age of 94, rediscovered the identity of the sisters almost a decade ago.

Jesuit Father Gabriele Gionti, who works at the Vatican observatory, also had an asteroid named after him this year, becoming the 41st Jesuit to have a celestial body named for him.

One of the oldest observatories in the world, the Vatican Observatory’s earliest roots date back to the 16th century and the reform of the Gregorian calendar. The observatory is located outside of Rome in the town of Castel Gandolfo and continues to make scientific breakthroughs.

Volunteers smile while distributing relief supplies at Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville, North Carolina, October 2024. / Credit: Immaculata Catholic School

CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).

A Catholic school in North Carolina has become a major distribution point for critical relief after Hurricane Helene devastated the region last week with deadly flooding and massive power outages.

Immaculata Catholic School in Hendersonville, North Carolina — about half an hour south of Asheville — shared on Facebook this week that it had become a “distribution center” for aid supplies after Helene tore through the state, killing dozens and knocking out power to millions.

The school “converted Sunday into a drive-thru pickup area, with volunteers handing out everything from hot meals to diapers to bottled water,” Immaculata posted on its Facebook page.

Catholic agencies in western North Carolina have been mobilizing to help with relief efforts amid devastating flooding caused by the remnants of the hurricane, which dumped torrential rain on mountain communities there leaving serious damage and dozens dead.

Even Immaculata itself was not spared. Flooding and leaks from the roof and windows at the school inundated multiple classrooms, the gym, and its new STEM lab. 

“Even in the face of mass tragedy, we see hope and God’s grace each day,” Immaculata Principal Margaret Beale said in the post. “Each day when we’ve run out of water, somebody comes by with a truck to resupply.”

The school said that “more than 1,500 families have been helped,” nearly all of them requesting water.

“This distribution will continue as long as needed,” said Father David O’Connor, parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Church in Hendersonville.

Beale, meanwhile, said local restaurants have contributed hot food to distribute to victims of the storm.

“You don’t really know what a luxury hot food is until it’s not available,” she said.

Knoxville Bishop Mark Beckman speaks to “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, Oct 4, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

Bishop Mark Beckman of the Diocese of Knoxville in eastern Tennessee — an area heavily impacted by the recent Hurricane Helene — said in an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” this week that the storm’s “devastation” has led to mounting physical, financial, and emotional needs. 

Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, passing through multiple southeastern states during its trek through the U.S. and leaving destruction in its wake. The storm killed more than 200 people, with hundreds more reported missing. The hurricane was the deadliest storm to reach the U.S. mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Category 4 storm further left millions of people stranded without electricity and hundreds of thousands in flooded areas.

Flooding is affecting eastern Tennessee in particular. Tennessee authorities have issued a water contact advisory, warning the public to avoid contact with bodies of water affected by the flooding, as they could be contaminated. 

“I would say the most affected areas are the northeastern portion of our diocese, closest to the mountains, where most of the rain fell,” Beckman told “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol on Thursday.

“We had the opportunity yesterday to visit a few of the most affected communities — Erwin, Tennessee, was one of the more strongly affected areas — and to witness firsthand some of the damage that took place up there, but also to meet some of the people who’ve been affected and also many of the people who are helping as volunteers right now to reach out to those folks,” the bishop said. 

Beckman said the response of people in the diocese “has been absolutely incredible.”

“Our Catholic Charities here, on the ground, has really reached out and helped with the physical needs of those communities in an incredible way,” Beckman said. “I’ve seen the volunteers at work and all of the supplies that gathered and staged up in that area.”

When asked about how people are processing the tragedy, the bishop said it’s had a heavy emotional impact. 

“The spiritual and emotional needs are significant,” Beckman said. “And I will tell you, the first group of people that I met was a circle of people who were caught up in the flooding that took place in the factory in Erwin, Tennessee,” he said.

“And there’s a lot of grief there, a lot of sadness. Those who survived, I think, probably are feeling some of that survivor’s guilt. And there are still people missing.”

An investigation is ongoing after 11 factory workers at Impact Plastics in Erwin, Tennessee, were swept away by cataclysmic flooding. At least two people died and five others are still missing. Several employees have said they weren’t permitted to leave in time to escape the flooding. 

Beckman noted that authorities in Erwin are looking for numerous missing persons in that area.

“The family members who are left are very distraught,” he said. “So I think the most important spiritual and emotional support we could give was simply being present with them. And we did pray with them. We listened to them, [we] had the opportunity just to spend some time helping them to express some of the things that they are feeling right now.”

When asked what the biggest needs are for the community, Beckman said there are a variety of basic necessities right now, but the financial impact will grow in the coming weeks. 

“The first need that came up right away was water, clean drinking water, and that has certainly been met in a huge, abundant way. We saw a lot of bottled water up there,” he said. “A lot of people still do not have electricity or good communication. Many have lost homes. Some people will need assistance with burials of family members.” 

“The needs would be across the board for things that we often take for granted, especially if people’s homes were flooded,” Beckman continued. “And it will be a while before some of those folks will be able to go back to work. So the financial needs, as we progress in the next several weeks, I’m sure, are going to mount.”

When asked how people can help, Beckman said that awareness, support, and prayer are key. 

“The most important thing is the awareness of what’s taking place so that the people know that they’re not forgotten,” he said.

The storm has caused devastation in large parts of the U.S., especially Tennessee’s neighbor, North Carolina, Beckman noted. Amid the “devastation,” Beckman said he is grateful to see people’s generosity. 

“There are national organizations that are helping, like Catholic Charities, to support the rebuilding efforts,” he said. “All of those things matter. And, of course, the prayerful support, you know, that people know that they’re not alone, that people are praying for them.”

“Sometimes we forget that each of these people have their own individual stories, and each one of them were caught unexpectedly in the remnants of the storm,” the bishop added. “And so it’s learning to accompany persons where they are right now at this particular moment.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and also leads the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. / Credit: "EWTN News In Depth"/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 3, 2024 / 15:25 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, is asking the U.S. bishops to invite the faithful throughout the country to join in prayer on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.

In an open letter to the bishops published Wednesday, Broglio lamented the “horrific attack” by Hamas on Israeli citizens on Oct. 7, 2023. He also expressed his sadness over the continued captivity of Israeli hostages, the deaths of the Gazan civilians killed in the ensuing war against Hamas, and the “dramatic rise” in antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes throughout the U.S. and the world.

“The terrible loss of life in Israel and in Gaza, as well as the spike in crimes of hate here in the U.S. and elsewhere, is a source of great sorrow to us as Catholics,” Broglio said.

He went on to say that “compassion is not a zero-sum game.”

“We hear the cries of lament of all our brothers and sisters — Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Muslims and Christians — all of whom have been traumatized by these events. We join in mourning all whose lives have been cut short. We share the earnest desire for lasting peace,” he emphasized.

Broglio also shared his dismay over the recent escalation of the conflict at the Israeli-Lebanese border. In recent weeks both Iran and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have launched hundreds of missiles into Israel. In response, Israel has launched a series of missile barrages and attacks into Lebanon.

Calling to mind the invitation for the faithful to participate in a day of prayer and fasting on Oct. 7 from the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Broglio asked his brother bishops to extend the commemoration to the faithful throughout the United States.

“Our Catholic faith teaches us to hope even amidst the darkest of circumstances, for Christ is risen from the dead. Out of death God brings forth a new creation,” he said.

“As this anniversary approaches, in a time of anguish and trauma,” he went on, “let us seek ways to express our solidarity with our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters. Let us also commit ourselves to combat all forms of hatred directed towards Jews and Muslims, and to work for a lasting peace in the land of the Lord Jesus’ birth.”

Broglio asked that his letter be distributed to the clergy and lay faithful throughout the Catholic Church in the United States “to invite them to join the Christians of the Holy Land, together with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, in fervent prayer for an end to the violence in the Holy Land, for the safe and prompt return of all hostages, and for the conversion of hearts so that hatred may be overcome, opening a pathway to reconciliation and peace.”

Autistic Catholics is an online resource and support system that offers weekly meetings for Catholics on the autism spectrum. / Credit: Autistic Catholics

CNA Staff, Oct 3, 2024 / 14:55 pm (CNA).

Several Catholics have banded together to create a support system for Catholics on the autism spectrum. Autistic Catholics, an online resource and support group, kicked off this week with the group’s first online meeting.

Allen Obie John Smith, a Catholic convert who lives in Ridgway, Colorado, with his wife, is the founding executive director of Autistic Catholics. Inspired by his own experience with autism, Smith — who goes by his middle name, John — founded the group this past summer to help build fellowship among autistic Catholics while giving them a voice. 

“I think my own experience of feeling alone as a diagnosed autistic person really contributed the most to the founding, and I knew I wasn’t alone in my feeling of isolation,” Smith told CNA. 

The new president of Autistic Catholics, Father Matthew Schneider, an openly autistic priest, told CNA the project is a response to Pope Francis’ call to go to the peripheries, “as autistic people are often on the periphery in our society.”

Schneider, who was ordained in 2013, is a priest with the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi and teaches at St. Patrick’s Seminary near San Francisco.

Filling a niche

Schneider noted that people with autism are disproportionately more likely to be atheists. 

“If we don’t fill that niche to help autistics live a full Catholic life, non-Catholic and non-Christian groups will do that and lead autistics away from Christ and his Church,” Schneider said. “We already know we autistics are about almost twice as likely (1.84 times) to never attend church and significantly more likely to be atheists and agnostics or to make their own religious system.” 

Schneider compared this to Catholic inculturation: evangelization “where you adapt how you explain the Gospel to reach people while maintaining the whole Gospel.”

“The differences in autistic brains create differences in communication that are analogous to differences between cultures,” Schneider explained. “The Church has evangelized each culture first from outside, but the biggest evangelization happened once one from inside this culture is able to explain the Gospel in a way appropriate to that culture.”

Facing challenges: sensory overload

People with autism face a variety of challenges, some of which can directly impact their faith life. Being involved in the parish community or even attending Mass can be a challenge for a Catholic who has autism.

Schneider and Smith, when asked how Catholics can better support the autistic community, both suggested “sensory-friendly Masses.”

Sensory overload, a common experience for someone with autism, is when a person experiences hypersensitivity in one of their senses: sound, sight, taste, touch, or smell, triggering a fight-or-flight response. People with other conditions such as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may experience this as well. 

Mass offers “various sensory challenges” and may overstimulate olfactory (sense of smell), auditory, or visual senses, Smith told CNA. The lights might be too bright, the music too loud, or the scent of incense too strong. 

As a resource for neurodivergent Catholics, Schneider developed a sensory-friendly Mass directory, which often features not only Masses designed for autistic Catholics but also low forms of the Traditional Latin Mass that are often less stimulating. Some parishes, such as St. Pius X in Rochester, New York, even offer sensory-friendly rooms for neurodivergent Catholics attending Mass.

Schneider, who was diagnosed with autism early on in his ministry, has been working to build more resources for Catholics with autism in recent years.

“I had always felt different, but having a diagnosis alerted me to how I was different,” Schneider said, recalling his diagnosis of autism in 2016.

Following his diagnosis, Schneider searched for support but found there were few resources from a Catholic or Christian perspective.

“Given autistics are about 2% of the population, I realized this is a group the Church needs to reach out to,” he said. “As an autistic priest and religious, I realized some of that fell on me.” 

Schneider has since written a book on autistic prayer as well as published shorter pieces on sensory-friendly Masses in addition to the sensory-friendly Mass directory. 

Not everyone who is autistic struggles with sensory overload at Mass, Schneider noted. 

“The first thing I would suggest for non-autistic people to do to help is to ask autistic people where you are,” Schneider said. “Autism is a spectrum and different individuals struggle most with different things.”

Finding community

Finding community is another challenge autistic Catholics may face, whether it’s due to social differences or a lack of fellow autistic Catholics.

Smith wanted to form the group to “reach out to fellow autistic Catholics who may also be experiencing any type of loneliness, isolation, and lack of fellowship,” he said. 

“We often struggle with social clues so we can feel excluded even if that is not people’s intention,” Schneider said. 

While Autistic Catholics connects people online, Schneider suggested that parishes help initiate in-person communities.

Parishes could “help create autistic small groups where people can discuss both autistic struggles and the faith from an autistic perspective,” Schneider suggested.

People with autism may thrive among people with similar neurodivergence, but Schneider noted that there is “what is called the double-empathy problem.”

“Autistics and non-autistics seem to be able to communicate well with each other but there is often miscommunication in both directions between the two groups,” Schneider explained.

Having a voice 

In a world that offers many challenges for people on the autism spectrum, Smith believes that Catholics with autism should have a voice.

“We needed a way to communicate collectively; we needed representation from our point of view, as autistic Catholics, a special gift in and to the body of Christ,” Smith said. “I think that’s what this is: a voice of lamentation but also of joy in the gift of being autistic.”  

Smith explained that it’s important “to frame our perception from the viewpoint of those who are disabled.” 

“We may sometimes have support with sensory-friendly Masses, but our collective experience is still not yet fully apparent with regard to our family lives, work, and apostolate,” Smith said.

He hopes to make a difference by helping fellow autistic Catholics in “forming a collective voice while joining together in friendship while being encouraged to grow in the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.” 

Part of this voice is sharing that autism is a gift. 

Kaitey Sheldon, a board member for Autistic Catholics and a Catholic bioethicist, noted that autistic Catholics have much to offer within the body of Christ.

“Autistics and those who are neurodivergent not only belong to the body of Christ but offer beautiful, unique gifts to the Church and to the world,” Sheldon told CNA. 

The neurodiversity movement began in the 1990s with the work of Judy Singer, a sociologist on the autism spectrum who advocated for autism and other neurological differences to be viewed as variances, not deficits.  

“It’s a beautiful flourishing of the gift of autism in and for the body of Christ, once seen as a set of ‘deficits’ now, rather, as a neurotype itself with a sense of what it means to be gifted or twice exceptional,” Smith explained.

Smith also noted that the autistic community is moving away from categorizing people as high or low functioning. Instead, the group is “simply acknowledging the variety of support needs, needs we all share, to underscore the interdependence of human flourishing rather than this ugly view of ‘self-sufficiency’ as the goal of human life,” Smith said.

“We belong with one another sharing our various support needs and growing in mutual love and appreciation of one another as gifts,” he said.

Sheldon said the apostolate is all about “uplifting every member of the body of Christ.”

“I think of this apostolate as the friends who climbed the roof with a stretcher or the father begging Jesus to come to his home to heal his daughter — we are reaching out to him, seeking his love and mercy for autistics, who too often feel they are on the outside,” Sheldon said.

Hopes for the future 

Though the project is still in its early stages, Smith said dioceses across the U.S. that he has reached out to have had “an overwhelmingly positive response.” 

“People [were] saying things like, ‘We need this.’ and ‘This is a direct response to prayer,’” he said.

“The real fellowship, however, is just beginning to form,” Smith said. “I anticipate hundreds and hundreds will find a place of acceptance, belonging, encouragement, and support while growing in faith, hope, and charity as a community of friends.”  

The board of Autistic Catholics currently includes eight members, all of whom “either are autistic and have had direct experience feeling these challenges or identify strongly with the autistic community,” Smith noted. The group is awaiting approval for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.

Sheldon said she hopes the ministry will be “a comfortable, affirming home” for people with autism and other neurodivergent people as well as those who love them. 

“I hope it is a place where the weekly meetings bring warmth and familiarity, a sense of importance and integral belonging in the Church,” she said. “And I do hope we are able to advocate and educate in dioceses so that the next generations of Catholic autistics are raised in an inclusive Church that recognizes their goodness, belovedness, and giftedness.”

null / Credit: Kryvosheia Yurii/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Oct 3, 2024 / 12:10 pm (CNA).

A school board in Virginia will pay a teacher more than half a million dollars after he was fired for refusing to use a student’s transgender pronouns. 

The legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), representing Peter Vlaming in the dispute, said in an announcement this week that the West Point School Board “has agreed to pay $575,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees” to the teacher. 

Vlaming was dismissed by the West Point School District, about one hour east of the state capital of Richmond, in 2018 after he refused to use male pronouns to refer to a female student who believed she was a boy.

Vlaming had ”tried to accommodate the student by consistently using the student’s new preferred name and by avoiding the use of pronouns altogether” before his dismissal, ADF said. He sued the district in September 2019 over the firing, which he said violated his religious rights as an Anglican Christian. A lower court dismissed the suit, but in 2021 Vlaming appealed his case to the Virginia Supreme Court, which subsequently reinstated the case. 

“Peter wasn’t fired for something he said; he was fired for something he couldn’t say,” ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer said in the announcement. 

“The school board violated his First Amendment rights under the Virginia Constitution and commonwealth law,” Langhofer said.

Vlaming “was passionate about the subject he taught, was well-liked by his students, and did his best to accommodate their needs and requests.” But “he couldn’t in good conscience speak messages that he knew were untrue, and no school board or government official can punish someone for that reason.”

Vlaming in the announcement said his religious beliefs “put me on a collision course with school administrators who mandated that teachers ascribe to only one perspective on gender identity — their preferred view.”

“I loved teaching French and gracefully tried to accommodate every student in my class, but I couldn’t say something that directly violated my conscience,” he said, adding that he hopes the ruling “helps protect every other teacher and professor’s fundamental First Amendment rights.”

In addition to the payout, the school district will also change its policies to conform to new Virginia education rules the state put in place last summer. 

Those rules affirmed that parents in the state enjoy broad oversight of their children while enrolled in public school. They stipulate that parents exercise broad discretion over whether or not a child is permitted to present as a member of the opposite sex, including whether or not the child adopts new pronouns at school.

Parents also have control over whether or not their children are permitted to undergo “social transition” to a different “gender” at schools and whether or not the child “expresses a [different] gender” while in school.