Month: January 2022

LAFLIN – As a new mother, Rosemary LaBar of Dallas feels it is important to share her belief that all human life, including that of the unborn, is sacred.

That is why she bundled-up her four-month-old daughter, Josie, putting the infant in a baby stroller to join more than 100 other people at the Diocese of Scranton’s Vigil Mass for Life on Jan. 20, 2022, at Saint Maria Goretti Parish in Laflin.

“It was important for me to come because I think that being pro-life isn’t just about changing the law, you have to show up and be there for mothers and I wanted to show up and be here,” LaBar said.

Born and raised Catholic, LaBar is hopeful the U.S. Supreme Court might reverse its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion by upholding a Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks. A decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is expected this summer.

“I’m definitely hopeful. I’m part of a couple pro-life groups online. It’s not just a religious thing anymore. I see a larger number of secular people who just understand that human life begins at conception and it should be protected,” she added.

Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, served as principal celebrant and homilist at the Vigil Mass for Life. He was just a junior in high school when the Roe v. Wade decision was handed down.

Even though the battle to end abortion has been challenging and long – almost 50 years – Bishop Bambera agreed this past year has given people a reason to be hopeful.

“While the battle is far from won, with states like our neighbor to the east in New Jersey that recently codified into state law an individual’s right to an abortion, including late-term abortions, the United States Supreme Court has engaged the question of abortion rights more intensely than ever before,” the bishop said. “As we wait for a determination by the Court, we would do well to keep ourselves focused on the goal of our journey and the example of Jesus. Otherwise, we risk losing our way by engaging perspectives that distract from, rather than serve, the noble ends of our efforts to preserve the sanctity of human life.”

The Vigil Mass for Life was scheduled on the eve of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Recognizing that some people might not want to travel because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the diocese organized the Mass as a special prayer opportunity for all those who believe that every life has value, dignity and worth.

“The theme for this year’s march, ‘Equality Begins in the Womb,’ emerged in response to the national dialogue about the nature of equality that our country has continued to engage, particularly in the last few years. Citing the tragic reality of inequality that has impacted our land as a result of race, country of origin, disability status, age and economic background, organizers of the event sought to build upon the vital need for our country and people to finally put to rest divisions among us. They stated, ‘What matters is the fact that each of us is a human being. What matters is that life is precious, and that because it has inherent human dignity, it should be protected from the moment of conception,’” Bishop Bambera said.

Reflecting on all three readings from the Mass, the bishop noted that the sacred scriptures are filled with words that command us to reverence every life that comes into our world.

“What they expect from us as Christians is clear and unambiguous … Our welcome into God’s eternity will be determined by nothing short of our willingness to reverence, respect and serve the poorest and most vulnerable among us in whom Christ is present,” he explained.

During his homily, Bishop Bambera also shared the personal story of his grandmother who refused the advice of doctors to have an abortion after becoming sick during the pregnancy of her sixth child in the 1920s.

The bishop recounted the words that his grandmother said, words the bishop said have always spoken powerfully to him about life, faith, trust and God: “Any mother would give her life for her child. How can I chose who lives and who dies. I’ll leave that choice to God.”

While her baby was born healthy, the bishop’s grandmother continued to get sicker following childbirth. She died one month later.

“If we have learned nothing else during the past two years in which we have had to confront the deadly coronavirus pandemic, I hope we have come to appreciate the value of human life as never before. I hope we’ve also come to understand that so much of life is beyond our ability to control and, on our own, we are helpless to address the challenges that confront us,” the bishop added. “Only by handing ourselves over to the power of God – by trusting in his wisdom, grace and mercy – and only by working together to care for the lives that have been given to us will we ever discover a way forward filled with peace and hope for all.”

The bishop ended his homily by thanking those in attendance for their witness to the sanctity of human life – God’s greatest gift to the world.

“On this day in which we recall a tragic moment in our history that legalized the taking of innocent, unborn lives, may we resolve through our prayers and actions to set aside the divisive behavior that has plagued us as a people, a nation and a Church. In so doing, may we begin to carve a way forward together first as brothers and sisters who believe in and treat every human being with equality and reverence, from the moment of conception in the womb until God, in his providence, takes us home at the end of our journey of life,” Bishop Bambera said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A Vatican editorial defended retired Pope Benedict XVI’s record in fighting clerical sexual abuse after the release of a report that accused him of mishandling four cases during his time as archbishop of Munich.

Andrea Tornielli, editorial director for the Dicastery for Communication, said a report on the handling of cases in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising was an important contribution to “the search for justice in truth and to a collective examination of conscience on the errors of the past.”

However, he warned, “the reconstructions contained in the Munich report, which — it must be remembered — is not a judicial inquiry nor a final sentence, will help to combat pedophilia in the church if they are not reduced to the search for easy scapegoats and summary judgments.”

The 1,900-page report was released Jan. 20 and looked at the handling of cases in the archdiocese between 1945 and 2019. Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led the Archdiocese of Munich from 1977 to 1982.

The report identified 497 victims and 235 abusers over the more than 70 years covered by the investigation, but the lawyers who conducted the study said they are convinced the real numbers are much higher. In the report, the lawyers said that, on four occasions, then-Cardinal Ratzinger mishandled abuse allegations.

In his editorial, Torniell noted that during the initial phase of the investigation, Pope Benedict “did not evade the questions” and provided an 82-page response regarding his time leading the Munich Archdiocese.

“Predictably, it was (then-Cardinal) Ratzinger’s four-and-a-half years at the helm of the Bavarian diocese that monopolized the attention of commentators,” he said.

Although the retired pope is expected to issue a statement after examining the report’s findings, Tornielli said the steps taken by the Catholic Church to fight clerical sexual abuse can be retraced “starting from his pontificate.”

“Child abuse is a horrendous crime. The abuse committed against minors by clerics is possibly an even more revolting crime, and this has been tirelessly repeated by the last two popes,” Tornielli wrote.

He also noted that as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then-Cardinal Ratzinger “promulgated very harsh norms against clerical abusers” as well as “special laws to combat pedophilia.”

During his pontificate, he continued, Pope Benedict paved the way for a change of mentality in how the church treats survivors of abuse who, instead of being welcomed and accompanied, were often “distanced and even pointed to as ‘enemies’ of the church and its good name.”

“It was Joseph Ratzinger, the first pope to meet several times with victims of abuse during his apostolic journeys. It was Benedict XVI, even against the opinion of many self-styled ‘Ratzingerians,’ who upheld, in the midst of the storm of scandals in Ireland and Germany, the face of a penitential church, which humbles itself in asking for forgiveness, which feels dismay, remorse, pain, compassion and closeness,” Tornielli said.

Recalling Pope Benedict’s assertion that “the sufferings of the church come precisely from the inside of the church, from the sin that exists within the church,” Tornielli said the former pope emphasized the need for the Catholic Church to ask forgiveness from victims and from Jesus, “who has always been on the side of the victims and never of the executioners.”

“These words were preceded and followed by concrete facts in the fight against the scourge of clerical pedophilia,” he wrote. “All this can neither be forgotten nor erased.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The cruelty of the Holocaust must never be repeated, Pope Francis said on the eve of the international day of commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

The day, celebrated Jan. 27, falls on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp complex in 1945.

At the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican Jan. 26, Pope Francis said, “It is necessary to remember the extermination of millions of Jews and people of different nationalities and religious faiths.”

“This unspeakable cruelty must never be repeated,” he said. “I appeal to everyone, especially educators and families, to foster in the new generations an awareness of the horror of this black page of history.”

“It must not be forgotten, so that we can build a future where human dignity is no longer trampled underfoot,” the pope said.

At the end of his audience, the pope met with Belarus-born Lidia Maksymowicz, 81, who had spent 13 months at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, where she and other children were subjected to Josef Mengele’s medical experiments.

It was her second meeting with Pope Francis, who – at an outdoor general audience May 26, 2021 – had spoken with her, kissed the prisoner number – 70072, tattooed on her left arm and embraced her.

That meeting sparked an idea for her to write an autobiography, with help from the Italian journalist Paolo Rodari. The book, “La bambina che non sapeva odiare. La mia testimonianza” (“The child who did not know how to hate. My testimony”), was recently released in Italian.

At the Jan. 26 audience, she gave the pope a copy of the book, which also contains a preface Pope Francis wrote.

Maksymovicz told ANSA, the Italian wire service, Jan. 26 that she and Rodari decided it would be important to describe the experience of a child during the Holocaust, since so many books cover the experiences of adults who survived.

“One must not forget that more than 200,000 children died just at Auschwitz-Birkenau,” she said.

Even though she was only 3 years old when she and her young mother were taken to the extermination camp, she explained those memories are still vivid and correspond with facts and evidence found by researchers years later.

Her mother was sent to the camp because she was part of the partisan resistance movement in Belarus, while she, as a young child, was designated to become one of Mengele’s “guinea pigs,” she said.

Maksymovicz found her birth mother 17 years after her release from the camp in 1944, when she was adopted by a Polish family.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – On the day Pope Francis established as a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine, the pope appealed for an end to all war and prayed that dialogue, the common good and reconciliation would prevail.

“Let us ask the Lord to grant that the country may grow in the spirit of brotherhood, and that all hurts, fears and divisions will be overcome,” he said at the end of his weekly general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall Jan. 26.

“May the prayers and supplications that today rise up to heaven touch the minds and hearts of world leaders, so that dialogue may prevail and the common good be placed ahead of partisan interests,” he said.

With rising tensions in the region and the threat of a possible Russian-Ukrainian conflict spreading, Pope Francis had set Jan. 26 as a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine.

With the day coinciding with his weekly audience, the pope asked people to pray throughout the day.

“Let us make our prayer for peace in the words of the Our Father, for it is the prayer of sons and daughters to the one Father, the prayer that makes us brothers and sisters, the prayer of children who plead for reconciliation and concord,” he said.

The pope said that as people remember the Holocaust on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also “think about the more than 5 million people who were annihilated (in Ukraine) during the time of the last war. They are a suffering people, they suffered famine, they suffered so much cruelty and they deserve peace.”

During a prayer service in Rome’s Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister, said that war and its serious consequences deprive many people of their most fundamental rights. The Jan. 26 prayer service was sponsored by the Community of Sant’Egidio.

“It is even more scandalous to see that those who suffer most from conflicts are not those who decide whether or not to start them but are above all those who are just defenseless victims,” the archbishop said.

“It is truly sad to see entire populations torn apart by so much suffering caused not by natural disasters or events beyond human control, but by the ‘hand of man,’ by actions made not in a violent outburst, but carefully calculated and carried out in a systematic way,” he said.

Russia annexed Crimea in early 2014 and, shortly afterward, Russian-backed separatists began fighting Ukrainian government forces in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Some 1.5 million people have fled the region to other parts of Ukraine and thousands of civilians and soldiers have died or been injured.

While in the spring of 2021 Russia was accused by many Western nations of trying to provoke more active fighting by holding military exercises near the border, a massive Russian buildup of troops just over the border created alarm in early December. The buildup has continued and, late Jan. 22, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a statement saying it had evidence that Russia was developing plans to install a pro-Russian government in Ukraine.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Highlighting the importance of the Bible in the life of faith and the role of lay women and men in sharing the Gospel, Pope Francis formally installed eight men and women in the ministry of lector and eight others in the ministry of catechist.

During Mass Jan. 23, the church’s celebration of Sunday of the Word of God, the pope used a revised rite for formally installing lectors, a ministry he opened to women a year earlier, and the new rite for the ministry of catechist, which he established in May.

In most countries, women and men have long served as lectors and catechists and even have been commissioned for those roles. But those formally installed in the ministries are recognized as having a specific vocation to leadership in their communities and will serve in what the church defines as a “stable” manner.

Pope Francis installed six women – from South Korea, Pakistan, Ghana and Italy – and two Italian men in the ministry of lector, telling them they were placing themselves “in the service of the faith, which is rooted in the word of God.”

As they knelt on the marble floor before the main altar, Pope Francis prayed over them and told them, “You will proclaim that word in the liturgical assembly, instruct children and adults in the faith and prepare them to receive the sacraments worthily. You will bring the message of salvation to those who have not yet received it.”

Three women from Spain, Brazil and Ghana and five men from Italy, Peru, Brazil and Poland were installed as catechists, and Pope Francis told them they were called “to live more intensely the apostolic spirit, following the example of those men and women who helped Paul and the other apostles to spread the Gospel.”

They, too, knelt before the altar as the pope said, “May your ministry always be rooted in a profound life of prayer, built on sound doctrine and animated by true apostolic enthusiasm.”

Pope Francis gave each of the lectors a Bible and the catechists a crucifix modeled after the crucifix on the crosier regularly used by St. Paul VI and St. John Paul II.

In December, the Vatican released the Latin text of the Rite of Institution of Catechists and said the revised Latin text for the Rite for the Institution of Lectors and Acolytes would be published soon. Bishops’ conferences will translate the texts into local languages.

In his homily, the pope said the 16 lectors and catechists “are called to the important work of serving the Gospel of Jesus, of proclaiming him, so that his consolation, his joy and his liberation can reach everyone.”

But, the pope said, “that is also the mission of each one of us: to be credible messengers, prophets of God’s word in the world.”

For that to happen, he said, Christians must devote themselves to reading the Bible, digging “deep within the word that reveals God’s newness and leads us tirelessly to love others.”

“Let us put the word of God at the center of the church’s life and pastoral activity,” he said.

Jesus, through the Scriptures, “reveals the face of God as one who cares for our poverty and takes to heart our destiny,” the pope said. “God is not an overlord, aloof and on high, but a Father who follows our every step.”

“This is the ‘good news’ that Jesus proclaims to the amazement of all: God is close at hand, and he wants to care for me and for you, for everyone. He wants to relieve the burdens that crush you, to warm your wintry coldness, to brighten your daily dreariness and to support your faltering steps,” he said.

Faith, prayer and Bible reading, he said, also should prompt Christians to read out to others with that same kind of care and consolation.

Through the Gospels, the pope said, it is clear that Jesus “has not come to deliver a set of rules or to officiate at some religious ceremony; rather, he has descended to the streets of our world in order to encounter our wounded humanity, to caress faces furrowed by suffering, to bind up broken hearts and to set us free from chains that imprison the soul. In this way, he shows us the worship most pleasing to God: caring for our neighbor.”

Pope Francis said “rigidity” can be a temptation in the church, giving some people the idea that the stricter they are and the more they follow precise norms the better Catholics they will be. But, he said, “our God is not like that.”

A spiritual life without care for others and work for justice may put a person “in orbit” but it touches no one, he said. “The Word of God became flesh and wants to become flesh in us.”

“Sacred Scripture has not been given to us for our entertainment, to coddle us with an angelic spirituality,” he said, “but to make us go forth and encounter others, drawing near to their wounds.”

SCRANTON – Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate Mass for the 30th World Day of the Sick on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022, at 12:10 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The annual Mass is an opportunity to devote special attention to the sick and to those who provide them with assistance and care both in health care institutions and within families and communities.

This year, the faithful will once again pray in a particular way for those who have suffered – and continue to suffer – the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mass is a special time to pray for healing and recovery of those sickened by the virus and for the medical community that has been on the frontlines of battling the coronavirus.

While in-person participation is encouraged, those who are unable to attend will be able to view the World Day of the Sick Mass live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton. A livestream will also be made available on the Diocese of Scranton website and across all Diocesan social media platforms.

In his message for the 2022 World Day of the Sick, Pope Francis said although scientists have made great strides in the field of medicine, genuine care and listening to those who suffer must always be at the forefront of any therapy.

“Patients are always more important than their diseases, and for this reason, no therapeutic approach can disregard listening to the patient, his or her history, anxieties and fears,” the pope said.

Care that respects each patient’s “dignity and frailties” is especially needed when “healing is not possible,” he added.

“It is always possible to console; it is always possible to make people sense a closeness that is more interested in the person than in his or her pathology,” the pope wrote.

SCRANTON — As has been a tradition for nearly 50 years, the Diocese of Scranton looks forward to joining with Catholic schools across the country to celebrate Catholic Schools Week this month.

Customarily observed during the last week of January, the 2022 edition of Catholic Schools Week will be celebrated Jan. 30-Feb. 5. Each of the 19 schools in the Scranton Diocesan education system is planning numerous activities for students, families, parishioners and community members to mark this year’s celebration.

Schools typically celebrate the weeklong observance with liturgies, open houses and other programs and events focusing on the value of Catholic education, which benefits not only young people but churches, communities and the nation itself.

“While we invite and welcome families at any time throughout the year, Catholic Schools Week is a time when our current and prospective families join together to experience what sets our schools apart,” Jason Morrison, Diocesan Secretary of Catholic Education/Chief Executive Officer, said. “Our unwavering commitment to serving students, particularly throughout the pandemic, ensures that we excel at providing the optimal environment to grow and achieve one’s God-given potential. We welcome you to be a part of the Catholic school difference.”

The National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) continues to emphasize the central theme that has highlighted recent Catholic Schools Week celebrations: “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence, Service.”

The week’s theme calls attention to the purpose of Catholic schools — to form disciples, to grow the whole person and encourage students to be witnesses to Catholic social teaching.

“As we approach Catholic Schools Week we are reminded of the incredible dedication of our teachers, staff and administration who provide the most excellent education in the most compassionate, safe and welcoming atmosphere,” Superintendent of Schools Kristen Donohue said. “Our steady delivery of instruction stretches beyond academic excellence; it very naturally includes a focus on the spiritual, emotional and social well-being of our students, faculty, staff and administrators. We are proud of the commitment of our Catholic schools to this vitally important mission.”

In addition to holding fun events for students, numerous Diocesan schools celebrate Catholic Schools Week by engaging students in selfless service to others — a central aspect of Catholic education.

Catholic schools offer academic excellence and a faith-filled education for their students. National test scores, high school graduation rates, college attendance and other data show that Catholic schools frequently outperform schools in both the public and private sectors.

Based on the average public school per pupil cost of nearly $13,000, Catholic schools also provide $22 billion in savings each year for the nation.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – All Christians are invited to pray for unity and continue to journey together, said Cardinals Mario Grech, general secretary of the Synod of the Bishops, and Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Toward that end, the two offices came together to offer a prayer, which could be added to the other intentions during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Jan. 18-25.

Inspired by the theme of this year’s Week of Prayer, “We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship him,” the prayer “offers a propitious occasion to pray with all Christians that the synod will proceed in an ecumenical spirit,” the two cardinals said in a joint news release Jan. 17.

“Conscious of our need for the accompaniment and the many gifts of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we call on them to journey with us during these two years and we sincerely pray that Christ will lead us closer to him and so to one another,” they said.

The prayer is:
“Heavenly Father, as the Magi journeyed toward Bethlehem led by the star, so by your heavenly light, guide the Catholic Church to walk together with all Christians during this time of synod. As the Magi were united in their worship of Christ, lead us closer to your Son and so to one another, so that we become a sign of the unity that you desire for your church and the whole creation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Cardinals Koch and Grech have been highlighting ways the local churches can implement an ecumenical dimension of the synodal process given that “synodality and ecumenism are processes of walking together,” they wrote in a joint letter dated Oct. 28, 2021, sent to bishops responsible for ecumenism within their episcopal conferences.

The Catholic Church inaugurated a synodal process, titled “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission” in October 2021. It will lead to a general assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2023.

Because a synodal church is a church which listens, “this listening should concern the totality of those who are honored by the name of Christian, since all the baptized participate to some degree in the sensus fidei,” Cardinals Grech and Koch wrote.

Ecumenism is an “exchange of gifts” and “one of the gifts Catholics can receive from the other Christians is precisely their experience and understanding of synodality,” they added.

Among the suggestions in the letter, the cardinals ask that dioceses reach out to the leaders of the main Christian communities in their area, inform them about the synodal process, invite them to appoint delegates to participate in the pre-synodal diocesan meetings and possibly to address the diocesan synodal assembly, organize listening sessions, and encourage them to send written reflections on the questionnaire included in the preparatory document.