Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis Monday appointed 23 new members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, among them six women religious superior generals and one head of a women’s secular institute.

The July 8 nominations, which include cardinals, bishops, and the superior generals of several male religious communities, breaks with past practice in including women.

Demonstrating Pope Francis’ increased attention to putting women in leadership within the Vatican, the appointments follow the 2014 nomination of Sr. Irma Luzia Premoli, superior general of the Comboni Missionaries, as a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Premoli’s appointment was the first time a superior general of a female institute was named a member of a congregation.

The six women superior generals are Sr. Kathleen Appler of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul; Sr. Yvonne Reungoat of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (also known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco); Sr. Françoise Massy of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary; Sr. Luigia Coccia of the Comboni Missionaries; Sr. Simona Brambilla of the Consolata Missionaries; and Sr. M. Rita Calvo Sanz of the Company of Mary Our Lady.

Olga Krizova, general president of the Don Bosco Secular Institute, was also nominated.

Pastor bonus, the 1988 astolic constitution regulating the Roman Curia which will soon be replaced, says the ordinary members of a congregation are cardinals and bishops, though “according to the specific nature of certain dicasteries, clerics and other faithful can be added to the body of cardinals and bishops.”

Other new members of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life include Cardinals Angelo De Donatis, vicar general of Rome; Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life; Luis Ladaria Ferrer, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Valladolid.

Five bishops and seven superior generals of male institutes were also nominated.

By Hannah Brockhaus | Catholic News Agency

ROME—The inviolability of the sacramental seal and the importance of internal form in the life of the Church were firmly reaffirmed in a note published July 1 by the Vatican’s Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary.

The statement was provoked by the controversies surrounding measures passed recently or being promoted by several governments, including in Australia, California and Chile, in order to force priests to break the seal of confession for sins such as sexual abuse that fall within the scope of penal law.

While recalling the “inestimable value” of the secret of confession as a pillar of the Catholic Church, the note deplores the loss of landmarks in the perception of sin and redemption.

“In this context, the Apostolic Penitentiary considered it urgent to recall, in the first place, the absolute inviolability of the sacramental seal, which is based on divine law and does not admit any exception,” said Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, the head of the penitentiary, in a presentation accompanying the document. “The priest confessor, acting in persona Christi capitis, knows the sins of the penitent not as a man, but as God, according to a well-known expression of St. Thomas Aquinas.”

The text also clarifies the importance of respecting secrecy in the nonsacramental internal forum, which includes spiritual direction. By clearly reaffirming the confidential nature of spiritual direction, the text likens internal forum to the confessional secret.

The aim of such a note, as mentioned in Cardinal Piacenza’s presentation, is to promote “a better understanding of concepts that currently seem to be widely misunderstood or even, in some cases, opposed.” Indeed, this statement came in response to recent legislative attacks on the seal. These measures, according to their supporters, are designed to better fight the scourge of sexual abuse within the Church.

These moves against the sacredness of the seal of confession immediately caused an outcry on the part of the Church, which saw in it a fundamental attack on religious freedom and, more generally, on freedom of conscience, in addition to denouncing the counterproductive nature of these measures.

“I understand that, in the current context, some people might not understand the purpose of this Vatican note and see it as a step backward from the Pope’s efforts in the crisis of sexual abuse,” Father Cédric Burgun, vice dean of the faculty of canon law of the Catholic University of Paris, told the Register. “But we need to understand that confession is not a judicial decision-making body; it is the place where someone can open one’s consciousness to God.”

Such openness at the heart of the sacrament belongs, according to Father Burgun, to freedom of conscience, which has always been protected by the law in Western democracies. Indeed, the removal of a place where someone can “grow in the desire to shed light on the act he committed” would be a clear “violation of the dignity of the human person, no matter what this person did, as freedom of conscience is due to everyone,” he said.

Recalling the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the uninterrupted magisterium of the Church, Msgr. Krzysztof Józef Nykiel, the regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, highlighted the fact that the confessor “doesn’t own the sacrament but is just an instrument” between God and the penitent.

“The penitent confesses his sins to God, and it is God only that grants forgiveness,” he told the Register, adding that the abolition of the secrecy of confession would represent a “real sacrilege” against the sanctity of the sacrament of reconciliation.

A Counterproductive Measure

Moreover, the clergymen who are protesting against the legislative threats in their countries insist there is empirical evidence that such measures would yield little benefit in the fight against sexual abuse.

“The general perception is that it’s a simple choice between child safety and that the seal is the linchpin of a whole culture of cover-up,” Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane, Australia, told the Register, blaming the campaign against the seal as being based upon an “unrealistic and hypothetical understanding of what actually happens in confession.”

The first pernicious impact of the law against the seal of confession would be to take sinners away from penance, preventing them from acknowledging their own guilt, he said.

“Beside the theological motive, inherent in the very nature of the sacrament, the possibility or the obligation for a priest to report a penitent for committing certain offenses would, of course, undermine the faithful’s trust, who would then hesitate before going to the confessional,” Msgr. Nykiel said, adding that the seal of confession actually has been, and will continue to be, an instrument in the fight against sexual abuses. That’s because, through it, “the Lord purifies the heart of the penitent and puts him on the way to conversion.”

Such a view is shared by Father Burgun. As he points out, secrecy is protected by the Church not to hide crimes, but to help people get to the truth.

“The less we maintain protected places where a guilty man can open his consciousness to tell what he really did and then be accompanied, the less we will favor the free openness of his consciousness so that justice can be done,” he told the Register, adding that culprits could retreat into silence even more deeply than before.

And the deterring effects of legislation requiring breaches of the seal of confession are already being witnessed by some priests in California, even though the bill there remains under legislative debate.

“A priest reported to me that, because of publicity surrounding this bill, teenagers on his confirmation retreat hesitated to go to confession recently, as they thought the priests were now required to divulge their sins to law enforcement,” Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland told the Register.

The unproductive character of the abolition of the seal of confession in the specific context of sexual abuse was evidenced by the hearings on the bill in California, which, according to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, did not present a single case where breaking the seal could have helped prevent sexual abuse.

“This bill is not just counterproductive, but strikes at the very salvation of souls,” Bishop Barber said. “This is why we must strenuously protect and defend our right to celebrate this sacrament as Christ gave it to us.”

Attack on Religious Freedom

The Australian and Californian bishops have mobilized to protest against what they consider to be an intolerable interference of the state in religious life. They are facing the possibility of legislative assemblies to directly infringe on the ecclesiastical tradition, in a way that is relatively unprecedented in democratic Western countries. In fact, the law has already come into force in some Australian jurisdictions.

“The bishops are currently considering how best to help priests and the faithful, but this new Vatican statement will help to reassure everyone that the sacramental seal is inviolable and nonnegotiable,” Archbishop Coleridge said, warning that moves against the seal amount to a legal prohibition of the sacrament as Catholics experience it.

“There is some anxiety about fake confessions which seek to set the confessor up, and we’re looking at how to deal with that,” he said.

Asked about the Church’s room to maneuver in the face of such civil legislation, Msgr. Nykiel responded that the Church “won’t remain defenseless and accept such interferences,” as actions against the seal of confession would be “a very serious violation of religious freedom, which is laid down in the inherent rights of the human person.”

Recalling that canon law provides for the excommunication latae sententiae (automatic) for those who break the seal of confession, Msgr. Nykiel invited all priests to protect the indissolubility of the sacrament “even if this may cost them prison sentences, persecutions or even their own life.”

“The history of the Church offers a number of examples of confessors that paid a heavy price for their defense of the sacramental seal,” he said, mentioning the emblematic case of St. John of Nepomuk, who died a martyr to protect the seal of confession in the 14th century and who is considered the patron of confessors.

“God’s law is higher than human law, and no one may require us to break God’s law,” Bishop Barber said. “As priests, we make a public, sacred promise to celebrate ‘faithfully and reverently’ the sacrament of reconciliation ‘for the glory of God and the sanctification of the Christian people.’ That makes it perfectly clear to me what every priest is required to do in the face of such legislation.”

By Solène Tadié | National Catholic Register

VATICAN CITY—Christians are called to follow the spirit of the beatitudes by comforting the poor and the oppressed, especially migrants and refugees who are rejected, exploited and left to die, Pope Francis said.

The least ones, “who have been thrown away, marginalized, oppressed, discriminated against, abused, exploited, abandoned, poor and suffering” cry out to God, “asking to be freed from the evils that afflict them,” the pope said in his homily July 8 during a Mass commemorating the sixth anniversary of his visit to the southern Mediterranean island of Lampedusa.

“They are persons; these are not mere social or migrant issues. This is not just about migrants, in the twofold sense that migrants are, first of all, human persons and that they are the symbol of all those rejected by today’s globalized society,” he said.

According to the Vatican, an estimated 250 migrants, refugees and rescue volunteers attended the Mass, which was celebrated at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope Francis greeted each person present after the Mass ended.

In his homily, the pope reflected on the first reading from the book of Genesis in which Jacob dreamed of a stairway leading to heaven “and God’s messengers were going up and down on it.”

Unlike the Tower of Babel, which was humankind’s attempt to reach heaven and become gods, the ladder in Jacob’s dream was the means by which the Lord comes down to humankind and “reveals himself; it is God who saves,” the pope explained.

“The Lord is a refuge for the faithful, who call on him in times of tribulation,” he said. “For it is indeed at such moments that our prayer is made purer, when we realize that the security the world offers has little worth and only God remains. God alone opens up heaven for those who live on earth. Only God saves.”

The Gospel reading from St. Matthew, which recalled Jesus curing a sick woman and raising a girl from the dead, also reveals “the need for a preferential option for the least, those who must be given the front row in the exercise of charity.”

That same care, he added, must extend to the vulnerable who flee suffering and violence only to encounter indifference and death.

“These least ones are abandoned and cheated into dying in the desert; these least ones are tortured, abused and violated in detention camps; these least ones face the waves of an unforgiving sea; these least ones are left in reception camps too long for them to be called temporary,” the pope said.

Pope Francis said the image of Jacob’s ladder represents the connection between heaven and earth that is “guaranteed and accessible to all.” However, to climb those steps requires “commitment, effort and grace.”

“I like to think that we could be those angels, ascending and descending, taking under our wings the little ones, the lame, the sick, those excluded,” the pope said. “The least ones, who would otherwise stay behind and would experience only grinding poverty on earth, without glimpsing in this life anything of heaven’s brightness.”

The pope’s call for compassion toward migrants and refugees less than a week after a migrant detention camp in Tripoli, Libya, was bombed in an air raid. The Libyan government blamed the July 3 attack on the Libyan National Army, led by renegade military Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

According to the Pan-Arab news television network Al-Jazeera, the air raid killed nearly 60 people, mostly migrants and refugees from African countries, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

Pope Francis denounced the attack and led pilgrims in prayer for the victims July 7 during his Angelus address.

“The international community can no longer tolerate such grave events,” he said. “I pray for the victims; may the God of peace receive the deceased and sustain the wounded.”

By Junno Arocho Esteves | Catholic News Service 

HAMDEN—An historical exhibit dedicated to the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Congregation’s newly beatified foundress, Blessed Clelia Merloni, was unveiled to the public during a dedication ceremony on June 28—the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Founded in Italy in 1894 by Blessed Clelia Merloni, who was beatified in November 2018, the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus minister in 15 countries worldwide. The Apostles have served in the United States since 1902 and established roots in the New Haven area in 1906.

Featuring interactive audio/visual displays, artifacts and replicas, the Apostle Legacy Exhibit tells the story of who the Apostles are—both past and present—and how the congregation came to be founded. The exhibit’s main attractions include three thematic rooms: The Mission Room, which provides a history of Apostle ministries in the United States; the Founder’s Room, which focuses on the life of Blessed Clelia and her founding the congregation; and a replica of Blessed Clelia’s bedroom in Rome, where she spent the last two-and-a-half years of her life.

As visitors travel down the main hallway from room to room they are given the opportunity to learn about the role prayer, ministry and community play in the life of an Apostle.

“This exhibit is a true tribute to the legacy the Sisters have left here in the United States,” said Vice Provincial Sr. Virginia Herbers, ASCJ, who spearheaded the creation and design of the exhibit. “It is also our way of honoring the beatification of Blessed Clelia and allowing her legacy of holiness to bless all those who can benefit from her example of love, mercy, and reparation.”

Housed on the ground floor of Sacred Heart Manor at the U.S. Provincialate in Hamden, the Apostle Legacy Exhibit was made possible through the generosity of the Knights of Columbus Museum—which donated several display furnishings—and numerous benefactors.

The Apostle Legacy Exhibit is open to the public every Sunday from 2-4 pm and by appointment. To schedule an appointment, call 203.248.4031. The exhibit entrance is located near Clelian Center at the rear of 261 Benham Street, Hamden, CT 06514.

WILTON—More than 250 people turned out to celebrate the launch of Veritas Catholic Radio, which Bishop Frank J. Caggiano called “a historic moment in the life of our diocese.”

He praised Steve Lee, President & CEO of Veritas Catholic Network Inc. for his efforts to bring Catholic radio to the Diocese of Bridgeport. “Without you, this would not have happened,” he said. “Your sacrifice will be deeply blessed by the Lord, and I am honored to collaborate with you on this, for this is a moment of great opportunity to evangelize our sisters and brothers.”

With the FCC approval of his purchase of a radio station, Lee, a Ridgefield resident, is going to begin broadcasting EWTN Catholic programming on July 8 throughout Fairfield County, the north shore of Long Island and parts of Westchester.

Lee purchased WNLK-AM 1350 radio and an FM translator at 103.9 MHz from Sacred Heart University, which will allow him to simulcast EWTN programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week in addition to providing local coverage of Catholic and community events. He hopes to reach an audience of 5.6 million Catholics.

“Radio did not die; it found its niche and its niche are those tens of thousands of people who sit in their cars going nowhere fast,” Bishop Caggiano said. “So now we have the opportunity to make that a catechetical classroom. Imagine Jesus sitting next to us in the car to learn about our faith, to be inspired, to be challenged, to go forward and to lift our spirits because that is what Veritas is going to do. It will be available to everyone of every age, of every language. It will be our radio station, and I am delighted that EWTN is going to provide the programming.”

Lee thanked Bishop Caggiano, who is on the Veritas board, for his support and said he was a strong, faith-filled spiritual leader committed to Catholic radio.

Lee said the EWTN programming will include “Catholic Answers Live,” “Called to Communion” with Dr. David Anders, “Kresta in the Afternoon,” “The Doctor Is In” with Dr. Ray Guarendi and “Christ Is the Answer” with Father John Riccardo. Veritas will also simulcast “The World Over” with Raymond Arroyo and classic programs featuring Mother Angelica and Father Benedict Groeschel.

Lee said the opportunity for evangelization is great because the second largest religious denomination in the United States today is former Catholics, along with the Millennial Generation and the growing number of “nones,” who identify with no organized religion.

“We need to reach people where they are, in their cars, in their homes, on their phones,” Lee said. “We need to show them the beauty, truth and goodness of our faith, and that will have a downstream influence that will affect families, the culture and the Church.”

Citing Nielsen research from 2018, Lee said overwhelming majorities of younger generations listen to radio. He referenced a survey conducted by an EWTN affiliate in the Midwest that showed 56 percent of listeners said Catholic radio helped them raise their children, 58 percent were motivated to become more involved in their parish and community, 127 people said Catholic radio helped save their marriage, 78 said it played a part in their conversion to the faith and 129 young people said they were inspired to consider a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.

Lee introduced Christopher Check, president of Catholic Answers, the largest lay-run apologetics and evangelization organization in the English-speaking world and producer of the leading national radio show, Catholic Answers Live. Check’s brother is Father Paul Check, rector of St. John Fisher Seminary.

Check, who came from San Diego, spoke of the obligation that confirmed Catholics have to evangelize and encouraged the audience to contribute to the station. He said, “Because of Catholic radio in this diocese, people are going to come back to the Church and people are going to come into the Church. And your vocations are going to increase—we have drawers full of testimonies from seminarians and priests who say to us Catholic radio was important in the formation of their vocation.”

Peter Hosinski of Stamford, who is a supporter of the station, said, “It’s fabulous that they are bringing Catholic radio to Fairfield County. It will bring benefits far beyond the Catholic community and provide tools that will help people cope with life. It will also give them the answers they are not finding in the secular culture.”

There are currently 380 EWTN affiliates in the United States. After operations begin in Fairfield County, Lee believes the network can expand further into Westchester County and New York City and eventually throughout Connecticut.

Veritas will have a presence at parish festivals, school fairs, sporting events and conferences at Catholic colleges and universities. Some morning drive-time shows he plans to produce will feature a rotating cast of clergy, including Bishop Caggiano, parish and school news, and programs for young people and religious communities in the area.

Listeners will also be able to live stream through the veritascatholic.com website and an app that is being developed.

Lee, who left his job in finance on Wall Street, says the past two years have presented him with trials and challenges … and rewards. He credits his wife Roula with providing him spiritual and moral support.

“This whole thing started when I was driving into work July 2017, listening to an EWTN program, and the head of EWTN radio came on and said, ‘If you want to bring EWTN radio to your area, call me.’”

The next day Lee called him and said, “I don’t really know why I am calling you, but I heard you on the radio.”

In September 2017, Lee incorporated Veritas and shortly after met with Bishop Caggiano.

In his office, there is a statue of the Blessed Mother, carved out of cedar from the Holy Land, which was given to him by Bishop Caggiano. He calls her “Our Lady of the Lights.” Nearby, he has a relic of St. Therese of Lisieux, given to him by the wife of the manager of the EWTN affiliate in Omaha, wishing him success in his venture.

Lee says his goal is a simple one: “To make Jesus really happy with what we are doing.”

WILTON—Members of Sodality, a youth group for middle school students at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Wilton, recently did a variety of projects around the church grounds. From picking up litter, pulling weeds and planting beautiful flowers, children of the parish cared for “our plot of land here at the parish,” said youth group director Mara Fleming. Both Sodality and Children of Mary (a group for younger children of the parish) are community service-based groups that were founded during the Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis in 2015. They commit to performing spiritual and corporal works of mercy, and “all of the projects are chosen by the kids themselves,” says Fleming. “I went into it [leading this group] thinking I would plan all of these events, but their ideas are much better than anything I could ever come up with! They’re really creative,” she says.

 The inspiration behind this particular service project came from an appreciation and gratitude for the gifts which God gives us. “The first gift is the gift of his creation,” says Petta, who attests that the easiest way for their group to exercise Christian stewardship is through taking care of the part of creation that is entrusted to them at Our Lady of Fatima. Members of Sodality were joined by younger children, who they helped and led through working in teams.

The rose bushes and plants that were planted were donations to the parish. Sodality members planted them around a statue of Our Lady, which inspired the parish’s high school students to start a “Mary Garden.” “We’re starting small, with rosemary and marigolds,” says Fleming, and “the kids will get to see the fruits of their labor immediately.” To complement this activity where students receive immediate gratification, the youth group also plants bulbs between the church and school that require a period of waiting. Keeping the Parable of the Sower and the Seed at the forefront of their minds and hearts, “the kids plant and do everything they can to make sure their plants are nourished,” says Fleming. All that is left is for them to let God do the rest and “just trust it.” Come springtime, the children are elated to see their plants start to bloom.

ROME—Pope Francis has formally approved the canonizations of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman and four other blessed, and decreed that these canonizations will take place in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Oct. 13.

The Holy Father made the announcement at a July 1 ordinary public consistory of cardinals on causes of canonization at the Vatican.

The news follows an announcement in February that the Holy Father had formally approved a miracle attributed to Blessed John Henry’s intercession and that a date of the canonization would be forthcoming.

The others to be canonized are Indian Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Italian Blessed Josephine Vannini, foundress of the Daughters of St. Camillus; Brazilian Blessed Irmã Dulce Pontes of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God; and Swiss Blessed Marguerite Bays, virgin and Third Order Franciscan.

Oct. 13 was speculated as the most likely date for the canonization. Indian bishops will be in Rome for their ad limina visit during that time, and so the canonization of Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan would coincide well with their visit.

It also falls during the Oct. 6-27 Pan-Amazonian Synod when many bishops will be in Rome.

Another reason the date of the canonization is timely is this coming November marks the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus which provided personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church. Blessed John Henry Newman was a convert from Anglicanism.

To coincide with the anniversary, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is holding a symposium on Oct. 15 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where ecclesial and ecumenical implications of the document will be discussed.

Newman’s Intercession

The miracle attributed to Blessed John Henry Newman’s intercession relates to a law graduate in the archdiocese of Chicago who had been inexplicably healed in 2013 after praying to the 19th century cardinal and theologian while suffering from a “life-threatening pregnancy.”

The woman, whose name has yet to be made public, was inspired to pray for the intercession of the cardinal after reportedly watching a film about him on EWTN.

The mother had “unstoppable internal bleeding which threatened the life of her child in the womb,” Oratorian Father Ignatius Harrison, postulator for Blessed John Henry’s cause, told the Register in February. “She had long been a devotee of Blessed John Henry, and in prayer she directly and explicitly invoked Newman’s intercession to stop the bleeding.”

“The miraculous healing was immediate, complete and permanent,” Father Harrison said, adding that the “child was born normally.”

The founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England, Cardinal Newman was one of the most prominent converts to the Catholic Church from Anglicanism in the 19th century and was a renowned preacher and theologian.

The author of 40 books and 21,000 letters, his most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Apologia Pro Vita Sua — his spiritual autobiography up to 1864 — and Essay on the Grammar of Assent.

Born in London in 1801, Newman was named a cardinal in 1879 and took as his motto Cor ad cor loquitur — “Heart speaks to heart.” He died in Edgbaston, England, in 1890.

Benedict XVI beatified Newman in England on Sept. 19, 2010, after the Vatican approved the miraculous healing of Deacon Jack Sullivan, a native of Braintree, Massachusetts, who recovered from a crippling spinal condition after praying to Newman for his intercession — and was also inspired to pray to him after watching an EWTN program.

Father Harrison predicted the canonization would be “welcomed by Catholics and Anglicans alike, and many others.”

“Newman was a central figure within the Oxford Movement in the Church of England, and this helped him to make his unique theological and spiritual contribution to Catholicism after his conversion in 1845,” Father Harrison said.

“Newman’s long spiritual pilgrimage ‘out of shadows and images into the truth’ encourages all Christians to persevere in their quest for God above all else. His conversion to Catholicism is a clear example of how God uses all the circumstances of our lives to draw us to himself, in his own good time, and in so many different ways.”

By Edward Pentin | National Catholic Register

Cornell University professor Christopher Barrett, a participant at a recent Vatican conference on environmental issues, discusses with the Register the role the Church can play.

ROME—The 2019 international Convention of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice (CAPP) Foundation, which took place in the Vatican June 6-8, presented as its theme “Catholic Social Teaching From Inception to the Digital Age: How to Live Laudato Si.”

Dozens of prominent economists, businessmen and representatives of international institutions exchanged views with clergymen on concrete ways of taking care of the Earth, our common home, four years after the publication of Pope Francis’ second encyclical, Laudato Si.

According to the foundation’s president, Anna Maria Tarantola, the event sought to promote the idea that “solidarity and economic, environmental and social sustainability are possible in a market economy” and that the pursuit of such values are compatible with efficiency.

At the end of two days of intense debates and discussions, the participants were received June 8 by Pope Francis, who urged them to create a new model of global development able to “open a renewed dialogue on the future of our planet” and transform contemporary societies at every level.

During the event, Christopher Barrett, an agricultural and development economist at Cornell University, spoke about “Global Food Security in the Light of the Teachings of Laudato Si: On Science, Solidarity and Subsidiarity.”

In this interview with the Register, Barrett discusses the implications of his Catholic faith in his work and the key role that the Church can play in global environmental issues.

The crucial thing the Holy Father teaches in Laudato Si regarding food-security problems is, first, the integral nature of the world. You, me and the rest of nonhuman order are all part of God’s creation. Moreover, we depend upon the rest of God’s created order. If we don’t care for the nonhuman creation, we inevitably hurt ourselves. Not necessarily us directly, but the next generation. Today, those of us who are well-off can exercise caution and limit our exposure to environmental degradation, while the less-well-off populations are the most vulnerable to damage to the environment.

This concept of the integral nature of creation is perhaps the most fundamental point the Holy Father makes in Laudato Si. It is closely coupled to the preferential option for the poor that has its roots in the Gospel message and has long been a core of Catholic social teaching. The preferential option for the poor is linked to the care of the natural environment because the poor will be hurt first and worse if we don’t take care of nature.

To what extent are Catholic social teachings relevant to addressing today’s environment issues?

The Church has an indirect influence over more than a billion members of the Church, and this Pope also enjoys a huge audience throughout the world. So the opportunities to change human behavior through the teachings of the Church are maybe unparalleled. And at a time when we most need human behavior to change, when we most need to begin to put right our relationship with the natural order, to take seriously the threats posed by the damage we do to the environment, to waters, to forests, to soils, our natural inclination as humans still is to think about ourselves first, because of our fallen nature, our intrinsic sinfulness. The Church always reminds us that we have to think of the others, that Jesus directs us to do that. But in doing so, we also have to be thinking of the planet because we can’t really take care of others, in particular future generations, if we don’t take care of the planet.

The Church plays a central role in this because the Church has an opportunity to influence decision-makers, and a group like the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation has an opportunity to influence governments, business and civil society leaders. The influence the Church can exercise shouldn’t be underestimated.

Environmental initiatives are often criticized as lacking in a solid economic grounding. In your opinion, how is it possible to protect the planet in a concrete way?

Economics tell us we respond to incentives. The core problem of environmental damage is that markets typically don’t internalize externalities, the consequences of our actions on others. Therefore, we need to structure incentives to people through rules, taxes, subsidies and through teaching, by encouraging people to behave responsibly.

If I have a moral or an economic incentive to behave appropriately, I will care for the environment much better. The economics are fairly clear in saying the problem is getting the incentive systems right. It is largely a matter of political will and moral compulsion.

Many of the environmental movements are still inspired by anti-human ideologies like Malthusianism, which holds that so-called human overpopulation is a viable threat to human existence. How can we promote environmental policies that avoid such harmful ideologies?

The Church does not teach an anti-science message and remains a sound defense against these ideologies. Pope Francis makes it very clear in Laudato Si that science and technologies are allies in our quest to take care of our common home. We have to work to advance science. The Church historically played an essential role in it. The Church was the repository of scholarship, of intellectual advances for centuries.

The Church remains a leader in scientific thought and has prestigious schools and universities all around the world. But the Church needs to embrace a more encompassing view of science and needs to promote more actively scientific and technological solutions that go hand in hand with a solidarity with the poor, with the care for our common home. Science and technology are our allies, and they are part of what God created in our brains so that we can be creative and discover new things. And we need to honor God by doing that.

How does your Catholic faith inspire you in your work?

If you go to my website, you’ll see the core mission statement of my research group is all about ending unnecessary suffering in the world. There is a great deal on unnecessary human suffering. I am very aware that I am exceedingly fortunate to have been born to healthy parents in a high-income country that was at peace during my childhood so I had every opportunity to develop my God-given talents. And I am very aware that my five children are healthy and now educated adults, but many people don’t get the same opportunity to take care of their children. They and their children suffer tremendous misfortune due to no fault of theirs.

As soon as one recognizes that we’ve not earned the many blessings we enjoy, that they were given to us by God, not because God favors us over those who suffer more misfortune, but just because we are lucky and the world is a mysterious creation, then it becomes very hard to not feel kinship with the poor. We should feel [motivated by] “To whom much is given, much is required.” That verse from Luke 12:48 has always been a central motivation for me.

Various criticisms were raised against international humanitarian assistance institutions over the past decade, including within the Church, especially against the fact that international food-assistance policies often have very negative consequences on local economies. Do you agree with that?

As an economist who has dedicated his career to studying those issues at a high level, I disagree. Those criticisms address an old-fashioned form of food assistance that indeed did sometimes cause damage because it was poorly conceptualized and executed. Thankfully, the way in which the international community undertakes international food assistance has changed dramatically. In the last 20 years, we’ve had a complete reversal of the system in all donor countries except for the U.S. And even in the U.S., there has been a dramatic transformation.

So the real shortcoming in international food assistance today is not that we send food to poor people, because the vast majority of food assistance is cash provided to people on their cellphones so that they can go to a local market and buy food. Rather, the real tragedy of the international food-assistance system is that we provide less than 50%  of what is needed to address the pressing humanitarian needs faced by people suffering.

We know how to reach them in ways that don’t distort or disrupt local economies, and yet we don’t provide the money that is needed.

Solène Tadié | National Catholic Register

NEW CANAAN—Scouts from throughout the diocese were honored for their achievements at the 2019 Catholic Scouting Awards Ceremony on Saturday and reminded by Bishop Frank J. Caggiano of the importance of “walking in the footsteps of Jesus” by following the Scout Oath.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to share this great night with all of you,” Bishop Caggiano said. “You have worked very hard to receive these emblems, and I am proud of you for taking your faith very seriously because it is a great gift, and with these wonderful people who are guiding you, great things await you in the future if you stay on the path of faith.”

The bishop blessed the emblems they were to receive and then awarded them to the young men. Six Scouts received the Light of Christ Religious Emblem, which is given to Tiger or Wolf Cub Scouts in first to third grade who with their parents’ participation strive to develop a personal friendship with Jesus.

Twenty-two boys received the Parvuli Dei “Children of God” Religious Emblem for those who have completed second grade and strive to discover the presence of God in their daily lives by meeting requirements determined by their parish priest, counselor and family.

One Scout received the Pope Pius XII Award, designed to help Catholic Scouts understand God’s call in their lives. He also received the Pillars of Faith “Duty to God” Award, which is given to a Boy or Girl Scout who has earned all four Catholic Scouting emblems, demonstrating tremendous commitment to the Catholic faith.

St. Rose of Lima—Pack 570, was given the Pope Paul VI National Catholic Quality Unit Award. Joe Belasari and Chris Kirkman were honored for their work encouraging participation in the emblem program and other religious activities.

“I want to remind you that you wear an emblem on the outside to show the world what is on the inside,” the Bishop told the Scouts. “And the emblem only has real meaning if it matches what you are growing up to be…and your Scout Oath tells exactly the road map to follow. If you do all of that, you will be walking in the footsteps of Jesus.”

Several adults were recognized for their achievements.

Stephen Prostor, the Cubmaster at Pack 70 in New Canaan, was given the Bronze Pelican Award, a diocesan recognition for adults who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to the spiritual development of Catholic youth in the Boy Scouts of America.

Prostor also serves as Cub Scout Activities Chair and Roundtable Commissioner for the Powahay District. He is Catholic Religious Emblems Coordinator at St. Aloysius Parish, where he is an active parishioner and an advocate for Scouting. He also encourages Scouts to pursue religious emblem awards for their respective faith.

Hugh Welch, an active Scouter who promotes the Catholic faith in Scouting and formed Troop 20 at Our Lady of Peace, also received the Bronze Pelican Award for encouraging Scouts to pursue religious awards of their faith.

The St. George Emblem is a diocesan recognition given to adults who have made a significant and outstanding contribution to the spiritual development of youth in the Boy Scouts.

The award was given to Benjamin Strong, who has promoted the religious emblems program by helping youth earn Catholic medals, the award for Buddhism and for Judaism. A board member at the Kennedy Center, he has held leadership positions in Scouting and is active in his home parish.

Michael Szarpa was given the St. George Emblem award. The Powahay District Chairman, he is active at St. Philip Church in Norwalk and an advocate for the religious emblem program. He had held various leadership positions and serves as an American Red Cross volunteer.

Bishop Caggiano also announced that Father Rob Kinnally, pastor of St. Aloysius Church and chancellor of the diocese, has been chosen as the new chaplain for the Scouting program with Father Andy Vill’s decision to discern a vocation to the religious life. He praised both priests as being “truly Scouts at heart.”

Father Kinnally said, “It is an honor to be the chaplain to Scouting. I was a Scout and loved it all through my young years in Yonkers, New York. I see the formation value of Scouting and a great future ahead with our Scouts, so it is a real honor.”

STAMFORD—Catholics from throughout the diocese were given a look inside Redemptoris Mater, the missionary seminary of the Diocese of Bridgeport, during an open house on Sunday that offered tours and opportunities to meet 10 young men in formation for the priesthood.

Reflecting on the success the seminary has had since it opened in December 2015, the rector, Father Marco Pacciana, said, “It is the Holy Spirit, that is all I can say. The Neocatechumenal Way has been recognized as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. That is the secret. We are weak, but God can do marvels in our lives.”

Father Pacciana said two more seminarians will be assigned to the Stamford seminary in September. “These are young men who feel the call to become missionary priests,” he said. “We need priests to spread the Gospel of Christ wherever this is a need. The only requirement is that they are willing to go anywhere.”

Father Pacciana, a native of Italy, says he came from a family that was not religious. They never prayed at home, and he went to Mass alone on Sunday. “But the Lord has ways to make you raise your eyes to him, and that is what happened to me through different events, and that is what brought me close to the Church,” he said.

Speaking of the challenges that young people face today, he said, “The only message I have is that God loves them no matter what, and the only thing that God wants for them is their happiness. The problem is that they look for happiness in many places without finding it. They have suffering in their lives and they don’t know why they are suffering. God wants to enlighten them in their suffering and show them that he has always been there. God has loved us since the beginning.”

Four years ago, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano decided to enkindle the missionary spirit in the Diocese of Bridgeport by opening a Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Stamford with the purpose of preparing priests for missionary work anywhere in the world — from China to Europe and the Philippines and even the streets of Bridgeport.

Redemptoris Mater (Mother of the Redeemer) seminaries are under the auspices of the Neocatechumenal Way, a 55-year-old charism in the Church dedicated to Christian formation and the New Evangelization.

Redemptoris Mater international seminaries were inspired by St. Pope John Paul II and his call for a “New Evangelization.” The first seminary opened in 1987 in the Diocese of Rome, and today there are 127 on five continents and in cities such as Denver, Manila, Philippines, Brasilia, Brazil, and Medellin, Colombia. The first one to open in the United States was in Newark in 1990.

Since they began, more than 2000 men have been ordained to the priesthood, and some 1,500 seminarians are in formation worldwide. Even though they have an international character, they function as diocesan seminaries with the same theological formation, except that the young men are also sent out to do mission work for two years.

David Klein of Trumbull and Juan Jose Escobar Borda of Colombia were among the guides who took visitors through the seminary and explained the daily life of the ten seminarians, beginning at 6 am, followed by morning prayer and breakfast, studies from 8:30 to noon, then midday prayer and lunch. There is a period for athletics and rest from 1:30 to 2:30 pm and more studying or house chores from 3 to 5 pm., followed by scriptural reading and meditation, Mass at 6 pm., dinner at 7:30 and recreation and prayer from 8:30 to 10 pm.

David, who is currently doing three years of mission work, was recently in the Central Pacific at the Gilbert Islands and New Zealand. Juan began his formation in Stamford in 2017 and will be returning to see his family this August after two years away from home.

Service and community are fundamental to their lives as seminarians, they said.

“We serve as a way of getting outside of ourselves and thinking of the needs of others first the way Christ did,” David said. Both men are roommates and their arrangement encourages cooperation and communication…and reconciliation when there are disagreements.

The room called the Sanctuary of the Word, which is where the tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament is located, can be a quiet place of meditation, prayer and study, Juan said. He goes there often at night to pray the rosary in the presence of Christ.

The Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Stamford opened in December 2015 under the direction of Father Alfonso Picone, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish. It was the ninth in the United States. Today there are ten young men from five different nations (USA, Brazil, Colombia, Kiribati, Honduras) under the direction of Father Pacciana and Father Giandomenico Flora, who is the spiritual director and also rector of St. Margaret Shrine in Bridgeport.

There are currently 1000 Neocatechumenal communities in the United States. The movement spread from Rome in 1975 to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. One of the first communities was formed at St. Raphael Parish in Bridgeport, and David Klein’s grandparents were among the founding members.

“I am very happy for the open house and that the people who have participated in it could see what we are doing,” Father Marco said. “We are forming these men to be like Christ, who is the answer to everything they are looking for. Then, they will go out to look for the lost sheep … wherever they are.”

For further information about the seminary, visit www.rmbridgeport.org.

STAMFORD—When newly ordained Father Peter Adamski celebrated his Mass of Thanksgiving recently at Church of the Holy Spirit, he looked out from behind the altar, where he had spoken the words of consecration, to a congregation filled with family and friends. And in those moments of joy, he recalled his terrible sorrow nearly five years ago at the funeral Mass of his wife, Kathy.

He remembered the eulogy he delivered on October 18, 2014, for the woman he loved dearly for more than 40 years, the woman he cared for as she suffered through seven different cancers and the most painful ordeal of all—early onset Alzheimer’s.

“I told the congregation that I needed no help to walk her down the aisle the day I married her, but I needed help now,” he said. And then, he, his brothers, his son, John and his brother-in-law carried her body to her final place of rest.

God can work in inscrutable ways, but when Father Peter looks back on his 65 years of life and sees the path down which the Holy Spirit led him, he understands completely that marriage, fatherhood, a corporate career, years of caregiving and formation as a seminarian were all part of the divine plan that ultimately led to his ordination on June 1.

A Circuitous Path
Peter Joseph Joseph Adamski was one of four sons born to Peter and Melda Adamski. He grew up in Jersey City, N.J., and was named after his cousin, Msgr. Peter Joseph Joseph Adamski, a priest born in Poland, who for almost 30 years was pastor of St. Stanislaus Church in Buffalo. When Peter visited his grandparents as a teenager, he would spend Saturdays at the rectory, talking about his vocation to the priesthood with the monsignor.

“I thought I was going into the seminary, and then that darn Holy Spirit put Kathy Junker in front of me and said, ‘Young man, you have a lot to learn in life and I want you to dwell with this woman for 41 years,’” he said.

Father Peter remembers meeting his future wife for the first time at Rutgers University on January 23, 1973. “I saw this vision—a young woman with a head of long, curly red hair, wearing a purple sweater and bellbottom dungarees,” he said. “I can still see her leaning against the wall, and I went up and asked her if she knew where my classroom was.”

As fate, or Providence, would have it, she was taking the same class in science fiction and sat directly in front of him. They were both psychology majors and developed a close friendship that led them to marriage 500 days after they met. On June 8, 1974, they were married at the university by the priest who ran the Newman Center.

Over the years, Kathy had many different careers, as a social worker, professional photographer, computer systems analyst and lastly as a registered nurse doing home health care. In 1983, their son John was born.

Peter, who received his MBA in professional accounting from Rutgers, became a CPA and worked at Arthur Andersen LLP for two years before going to Johnson & Johnson Co. at 26 years old. During his 17 years there, he orchestrated several major deals, including the acquisition of a disposable contact lens that Johnson & Johnson renamed Vistakon Acuvue. He also established a partnership that led to his company’s acquiring Splenda, the high-intensity sweetener.

When Johnson & Johnson wanted to move him to California, he resigned and accepted a position at Bausch + Lomb in Rochester, where he worked for 10 years, before going into private equity. His corporate career ended as CEO of a $400 million New Jersey company that manufactured foam for pillows and mattresses.

Father Peter said that when he was a young man and thought of his vocation to the priesthood, he imagined himself as a Franciscan, but by the end of his corporate career, he owned homes in Reno, Stamford and Manhattan and drove a large, black S-Class Mercedes-Benz.

When he entered the seminary, he sold his homes and personal belongings, along with his luxury car.

“I told them I would not be driving that car. It may be fine for a CEO but not a priest,” he said. “Now, I drive a Subaru Outback because I need a reliable machine so that at 2 am when I get a phone call at the rectory that someone’s mom is dying—and I have to get to the hospital during a blizzard—I can make the trip and be the presence of Christ and comfort people.”

A loving husband and caregiver, Peter and Kathy lived a wonderful life together, a life with joy and sorrow, centered on Christ.

Their son, John, was born in 1983 after many years of trying to have children. In 1991, Kathy was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 42 years old. It was the first of seven cancers that would afflict her over the next 23 years. She later had to have both kidneys removed and for 37 months relied on dialysis until she received a transplant from an anonymous donor in 2005.

However, they confronted the greatest challenge of their life together on October 28, 2010, outside of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

“We had just left the doctor’s office and he told her she had early onset Alzheimer’s,” Father Peter recalled. “We embraced on the sidewalk, knowing there were no survivors of Alzheimer’s. It was the worst diagnosis Kathy ever received.” She was 61.

In the years that followed, he became her primary caregiver and was able to conduct business from his home as the CEO of a manufacturing company. However, as her disease progressed, the stress increased on their family.

“I couldn’t even leave the house to walk the dog without putting three Post-it notes around to let her know where I was,” he said. One time he forgot and while he was at a doctor’s appointment, she called him in tears and said, “Peter, I don’t know where you are! Are you ever coming home?”

In 2014, she was scheduled to have her bladder removed, but the surgery had to be postponed because Peter was hospitalized after suffering an episode of transient global amnesia, a neurological disorder brought on by stress. He realizes now this allowed them to have three more weeks together…before her passing.

“It was a very difficult surgery because of all her prior surgeries,” he said. There were serious complications after the operation, and the doctor told them that if she went back into the operating room, she had less than a quarter-of-a-percent chance of survival.

They threw everyone out of Kathy’s hospital room so they could discuss what to do. “My thought was ‘Let’s bring her back into surgery to see if we can save her.’” But Kathy told him, “Peter, if you love me, let me die. Bring me home and keep me out of pain as best you can and let me die at home.”

A day later, she was under hospice care, lying on a hospital bed in their living room. Peter was standing by her, holding her hand and stroking her hair, and at one point he asked, “What do you think about the idea of me becoming a priest?”

Then, he put his ear close to her mouth so he could hear her, and she said, “You go for it, Peter, and if there is any way, I will comfort you.”

Three days later, she died with Peter by her side while he was praying the Our Father. He watched her take her final breath. Now, whenever he says that prayer, he closes his eyes and remembers those last moments with her.

Reflecting on their years together, he says, “I learned so much from her. She was so compassionate and so smart. If everyone had the kind of marriage that Kathy and I had, with Christ at the center, this would be a whole different world.”

Ordination to Priesthood at 65
Father Peter Joseph Joseph Adamski completed his studies at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass., for candidates 30 and older and was ordained on June 1 at the Cathedral of St. Augustine. On the day of his ordination, he said, “I feel awesome, I feel blessed and full of zeal right now, and I just want to get to work in the vineyard!” (He had the distinction of being the only seminarian eligible for Medicare.)

The next day, he celebrated his Mass of Thanksgiving at Church of the Holy Spirit. Msgr. Kevin Royal was the homilist and concelebrant, along with Msgr. Peter Cullen, Father Brian Kiely, rector and president of the seminary and three classmates.

On July 1, he will begin his assignment as parochial vicar at St. James Church in Stratford.

“I will bring a closet of multicolored t-shirts to my ministry that I can draw upon to help young couples who are contemplating marriage and older couples who are struggling in their marriage,” he says. “I have lived the experience of being married, of raising a child, of climbing the corporate ladder and of losing sight of Christ as you worship this golden idol of success in business. I know what that is like. I know what it is like to lose a job and to care for a loved one who is sick. I bring all that to my ministry.”

Looking back on 65 years of life, he says he has lived with the calling to the priesthood for five decades and that the Holy Spirit led him every step of the way to where he is now. “I know I was created by the Almighty God to be a priest,” he says. “From the moment of my conception, I was made to be a priest. I just didn’t know the route the Holy Spirit would lead me on, through a beautiful 40-plus years of marriage and the painful loss of a spouse. I would do it all again in a heartbeat. I am at peace now, knowing I am a priest. This is what I was created to be.”

WASHINGTON — Bishop Mark Seitz of the U.S. border Diocese of El Paso, Texas, walked and prayed with a group of migrants at the Lerdo International Bridge in El Paso June 27 as they sought asylum in the U.S.

Pictured: Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, shares a smile with a Honduran girl, Cesia, as he walks and prays with a group of migrants at the Lerdo International Bridge in El Paso June 27, 2019. The migrants were seeking asylum in the U.S. (CNS/Jose Luis Gonzalez, Reuters)

Cameras surrounded him, as some individuals nearby held large posters with the faces of children who have recently died on the border.

New to NCR: Obituaries.
Visit these pages to remember and celebrate the lives of those we have recently lost.

The El Paso bishop then accompanied migrants to Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, where they met with leaders of the Diocese of Ciudad Juárez and visited Casa del Migrante, a diocesan migrant shelter. He issued a statement, which he provided June 27 to Catholic News Service.

“As a Catholic and Christian leader on the border, I am often called to be a doctor of the soul,” he said, delivering the statement in English and Spanish. “Standing here at the U.S.-Mexico border, how do we begin to diagnose the soul of our country?

“A government and society which view fleeing children and families as threats; a government which treats children in U.S. custody worse than animals; a government and society who turn their backs on pregnant mothers, babies and families and make them wait in Ciudad Juárez without a thought to the crushing consequences on this challenged city. … This government and this society are not well.”

He said that in the U.S., we’d like to think that prejudice and intolerance are problems of the past, but the present shows that’s not the case.

“We have found a new acceptable group to treat as less than human, to look down upon and to fear. And should they speak another language or are brown or black … well, it is that much more easy to stigmatize them.”

Seitz spoke with and prayed with Fr. Javier Calvillo, director of the Casa del Migrante shelter, which receives immigrants turned away on the Mexico side. Migrants turned away have to stay on the other side until U.S. courts can hear their asylum case, as part of the “Remain in Mexico” policy implemented by the Trump administration.

The El Paso bishop accompanied immigrants from Honduras, including families with cognitive disabilities, said Dylan Corbett, executive director of El Paso’s Hope Border Institute.

“Why can’t we put ourselves in their shoes?” Seitz asked in his statement. “Because we have decided they are not our neighbors, we have decided that they are aliens and illegals. We think these parents simply have no right to save their children from violence or malnutrition.

“They have no right to a job or to support their families. They have no right to reunite with family,” he continued. “For this heartsick government and society, these people should have stayed home, given into hopelessness and watched helplessly as their children suffer.”

The bishop participated in the event during a week that has seen much outrage in the country — and the world — after the publication of photos of a father and daughter who drowned in the Rio Grande River trying to cross the border into the U.S. and reports of deplorable conditions in immigration centers where children are detained.

“Would we rather they die on the banks of the Rio Grande than trouble us with their presence?” he asked. “But we have not suffered the mistreatment meted out to them by those who represent our country. We haven’t really felt their hunger and cold. And it is not our children who will be denied food, water and tenderness tonight. We Americans need our hearts checked. Our hearts have grown too cold and too hard and that bodes ill for the health of our nation.

“In the America of today, is there no more Golden Rule? Have we forgotten the lessons of Scripture? Have we forgotten the commandment to love? Have we forgotten God? But here on the border, he knocks,” Seitz said. “In the struggle for hope and freedom and family, he knocks. In the lives of Jakelin and Felipe and Oscar and Valeria, he knocks. In our neighbors here today, he knocks. He knocks. He knocks. He knocks.”

Before he began his walk on the bridge, he told Catholic News Service in a phone interview June 27 that wanted to call attention “to what’s being done in the shadows” every day, as people seeking refuge are forced into dangerous places such as Ciudad Juárez.

“What’s problematic is the way we’re treating people fleeing for their lives,” he told CNS. “We force them back into dangerous places with limited resources, where they’re going to have to stay a year or more.”

He said he was not scared to undertake the action on the bridge because he has seen the effects of the policies as centers in El Paso are seeing fewer people trying to cross at ports of entry, legally asking for asylum, but essentially denied the opportunity because of the long wait and are instead taking dangerous paths, such as the one that 25-year-old Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez took with his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, and one that led to their deaths.

“They’re taking more and more dangerous paths,” he said. “We’ve already witnessed the death of nine people last week, or so, in attempts to cross. That’s so awful. How can we sit back and say ‘that situation is too bad, that’s the way it is.’ We can’t. We have to try and do something and shine a light … on this inappropriate system that is really causing the death of people who are in the first place, simply fleeing for their lives.”

by Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service

GREENWICH — Two Roman Catholic churches in Greenwich will officially merge on July 1, becoming one parish and taking on a new, conjoined name: St. Catherine of Siena and St. Agnes.

The two houses of worship will remain open and share the Rev. Bill Platt, current pastor of St. Catherine of Siena and the diocesan director of hospital chaplains.

“We felt it was important that each church has equal representation in the title of our joint parish,” said Kim Kiner, communications director for St. Catherine.

The administrative merger of these two parishes is part of an effort across the Diocese of Bridgeport to address several trends: Fewer people are attending Mass, celebrating baptisms, first communions, marriages and funeral rites in the church; churches are not bringing in enough donations to sustain themselves; and there are fewer clergy members to minister to congregations.

“This determination has been made to strengthen pastoral care of the people of God in this area of my diocese, and to address several trends that are of serious concern,” Bishop Frank Caggiano said in a decree dated June 14 that formally announced the pending merger, which will be effective as of July 1.

The churches will unveil new banners for the two patron saints in the procession for the opening of the St. Catherine of Siena Carnival on July 9 to July 13. Both church buildings will still be referred to as St. Catherine of Siena Church and St. Agnes Church.

The Rev. Chris Johnson, a priest in residence at St. Agnes as well as a hospital chaplain, will move into the St. Catherine’s rectory at the end of the month and will minister to members of both churches along with Platt and the Rev. Mark D’Silva.

The music ministry at St. Catherine of Siena, under the direction of Liya Petrides, will remain as is. St. Agnes’ long-tenured music ministers, Michele Schule and Michael Orzechowski, will continue to lead the music efforts there.

The joint parish has created two new pastoral associate positions to support the faith formation needs of youth and adult parishioners, as well as the ongoing administration of the parish. Interviews are ongoing for the positions, and Platt plans to announce the new hires the first weekend of July.

Masses will still be celebrated at both churches, and the collaborative committee overseeing the joint parish is “working through the best way to support both church sites,” Kiner said. Changes to the schedule, as well as who will celebrate the masses, may come in July as well.

The committee has about 20 members representing both parishes, and has met several times under the guidance of Patrick Turner, director of strategic and pastoral planning for the Diocese of Bridgeport.

The much-smaller St. Agnes serves 200 families, and St. Catherine of Siena has about 2,200 families as members.

Currently, St. Agnes celebrates only five Masses a week, including two on Sundays. The much-larger St. Catherine celebrates 16 Masses a week, including four on Sundays, in addition to hosting many parish activities such as gymnastics, lectures, Bible study and plays and performances from the St. Catherine’s Players.

Joining together reverses the split that established St. Agnes in the first place. The church was founded in September 1963 from the parishes of St. Catherine’s and St. Mary’s, and the first Mass there was celebrated one year later.

The last reconfigurations in the Diocese of Bridgeport occurred in 2011, when some churches in Bridgeport merged. The diocese has over 400,000 members in 82 parishes across Fairfield County.

Written By Jo Kroeker | SFChronicle