Month: September 2023

(OSV News) – A coast-to-coast observance this month commemorates the souls of children lost to abortion.

The National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children takes place Sept. 9, with services and gatherings at some 225 locations across the country. About 56 of those locations are gravesites for the remains of aborted children, while the majority are memorials.

Now in its 15th year, the event — annually held on the second Saturday of September – is jointly sponsored by two Midwestern-based organizations, Citizens for a Pro-life Society in Michigan and the Pro-Life Action League in Illinois.

Tracing its origins to the 1988 burial of some 1,200 aborted babies at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee, the occasion — which was initiated in 2013 — has become “an important opportunity for healing from abortion,” Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, told OSV News.

Participants have “really appreciated” the chance to “put the focus on the children’s lives and express sorrow at their passing,” he said.

For women who have had abortions, the chance to express their “regret and mourning” is cathartic, Scheidler said.

He noted the events take place in “locations already set up for difficult emotional experiences: churches and cemeteries,” where “we expect people to shed tears.”

“Whether you were pushed into that choice, or you made it yourself, the reality is that abortion is an incredible tragedy,” said Scheidler. “To hide from that, to deny the impact it had on your life and the shame that goes along with that, isn’t doing anyone any good.”

A willingness to face such pain offers a chance to “reconcile with our pasts … and to ask for God’s healing, to come and infuse our memories and experiences, and transform us.”

He and his fellow organizers have “heard stories of transformation,” he added.

“A grandmother came up to me in tears after one of our services, and she was very upset but incredibly grateful,” Scheidler said. “She couldn’t stop thanking me for allowing her the opportunity to come out and publicly mourn for her grandchild. She’d found out earlier in the week, through an insurance bill, that her first grandchild had been aborted by her daughter, who was on her health plan.”

The various gatherings have taken on renewed significance even after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion, he said.

“In some states, a whole lot of pro-life activities, such as sidewalk counseling, have come to a halt,” Scheidler said.

Ensuring the “visibility of and education on” the issue of abortion is critical, Lois Dark, coordinator of the Respect Life ministry at St. Simon Stock Parish in Berlin, New Jersey, told OSV News.

With the blessing of its pastor, Father Michael A. J. de Leon, the parish installed a memorial to aborted children at the front entrance of the church.

“Everything we do is in prayer and education,” said Dark, who along with her fellow parishioners will mark the observance with a rosary in front of the memorial. “So many people just don’t know the truth.

“The mourning process never ends,” said Scheidler. “Until the end of the world, we will have to remember all of our dead, including those who were killed through abortion. I think this event points to the future, and we’re modeling the mourning and reparation that will have to be done by the whole of society, if we ever achieve that goal of protecting children from abortion through the whole land.”

INDIANAPOLIS (OSV News) – Local and national organizers of the National Eucharistic Congress – which will take place in Indianapolis July 17-21, 2024 – have been meeting virtually for some time.

But for the first time, scores of them met in person in Indianapolis Aug. 30 at Lucas Oil Stadium, where in less than a year tens of thousands Catholics will gather for the closing Mass of the historic event — the first such event in 83 years. The congress will launch the third year of a three-year National Eucharistic Revival, an initiative of the U.S. Catholic bishops to renew devotion to the Eucharist.

“The Holy Spirit is inviting the United States to find unity and renewal through a grassroots National Eucharistic Revival,” Jaime Reyna, event lead for the National Eucharistic Congress, said, quoting remarks from a letter written by executive director Tim Glemkowski. “This movement — discerned and approved by the bishops of the U.S. — is critical to rekindling a living faith in the hearts of Catholics across America, unleashing a new missionary chapter at this pivotal moment in church history. … The goal is to start a fire, not a program.”

More than 25,000 have already registered for the event, said Reyna.

“We just have a lot of people who are excited about gathering,” he noted. “Remember that feeling after COVID when people just wanted to come back together? It’s almost the same way, that there’s that spiritual connection of wanting to come together and pray and for the many different reasons that people are just wanting to come together.”

In addition to general and breakout sessions, the five-day event will be filled with opportunities for prayer, worship and the sacraments, said Father Patrick Beidelman. The pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis is chair of the National Eucharistic Congress liturgy committee.

“We’ll have a large Mass each day, three at the Indiana Convention Center and the closing Mass at Lucas Oil Stadium, … and opportunities for confession all over the place,” he said, adding that St. John the Evangelist Church across from the convention center “will be turned into a place of perpetual adoration starting on Wednesday evening through Sunday.”

The route of a massive Eucharistic procession during the congress is still being determined, he noted.

The day before the five-day congress opens, Catholics from around the U.S. participating in pilgrimages leading to Indianapolis will converge on the city. Planning is well under way for “Eucharistic caravans.” There will be four, each following a different route and each with its own name: the “Marian Route” the “Juan Diego Route,” the “Seton Route” and the “Junipero Serra Route.” Pilgrims on all four routes will begin their journeys with Pentecost weekend celebrations May 17-18, 2024, leaving May 19. They will all reach Indianapolis July 16, 2024.

In his remarks Aug. 30, Reyna spoke with excitement about the speakers scheduled for the general and breakout sessions at the National Eucharistic Congress. Among them are well-known Catholic speakers, including priests, religious and bishops.

The church is diverse, Reyna also noted, and event coordinators are taking that into consideration. In addition to programming in English and Spanish, he said the congress team is working with existing ministries to address other language needs as well.

“We’re talking about Vietnamese, Native Americans, Asian-Pacific Islanders and others,” he said.

The team also is cognizant of engaging those with special needs.

“We are working with national ministry organizations, like the National Catholic Office for Deaf Ministry,” said Reyna. “We also (are) trying to be as inclusive as possible for all our brothers and sisters, including those who may have some physical disabilities, to make sure that they are able to participate and to see how we can accommodate and serve them.”

The event will involve “hundreds if not thousands” of volunteers, said Nikki Slater of Maribeth Smith & Associates, the Indianapolis-based event planning firm contracted to coordinate the National Eucharistic Congress.

While registration for specific volunteer opportunities and shifts will go live next spring, Slater noted that a section of the congress website — https://www.eucharisticcongress.org — will be created soon for people to sign up as interested in volunteering.

The Knights of Columbus are providing many volunteers as well.

“I’m on the volunteer committee, so I’m working with NEC to figure out where they need volunteers,” Scott Schutte said after the meeting in an interview with The Criterion, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Schutte is state deputy of the Indiana Knights of Columbus. “I’ve got guys who are all excited about being part of the event.”

His current efforts are focused on the four routes pilgrims will walk from the north, south, east and west portions of the United States, all meeting in Indianapolis just before the National Eucharistic Congress begins.

“We’re trying to get with diocesan coordinators (for the routes) to find out where the Knights can provide water, food, a place to rest, maybe direct a little traffic, whatever, or at least participate in some way,” said Schutte.

He noted that the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council is a national sponsor for the congress.

“We want to give our 33,000 men the opportunity to be involved,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson, Christopher Walsh, the archdiocesan chancellor, said it is “a tremendous honor to be the host diocese for this historic event.”

He noted the archdiocese’s commitment to the effort. But he also recognized the vital help from all of the local organizers — including state and local police, firemen and emergency medical services — for their help “in making this event the success that we certainly know it is going to be.”

Walsh called the National Eucharistic Congress “truly an event for all, as all are united in the mystical body of Christ.

“That is what this is about, and certainly about representing the real presence of Christ in the world today through this event.”

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM MONGOLIA (CNS) – The Synod of Bishops is not a television show or a parliamentary debate, and its discussions will not be open to the public or to reporters, Pope Francis said.

“We must safeguard the synodal climate,” the pope responded Sept. 4 when asked by journalists about access to the discussions at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops Oct. 4-29.

“This isn’t a television program where you talk about everything; no, it is a religious moment, a religious exchange,” he told reporters flying back to Rome with him from Mongolia.

The synod process began in October 2021 with a succession of listening sessions on the parish, diocesan, national and regional levels focused on creating a more “synodal church,” where each person feels welcomed, valued and called to contribute and to share the Gospel.

After so many Catholics around the world devoted their time and their prayers to the process, an initial idea was to livestream the general discussions from the synod hall or at least allow reporters some access.

Pope Francis made it clear on the plane that would not happen. An official summary of the day’s discussions — without saying who said what — will be made by the synod’s communication committee, led by Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication.

Beyond the anonymous, summarized points, journalists will try to interview participants to at least get individual points of view about the day’s synod work.

Pope Francis told reporters that each synod member — including women and laymen for the first time — would have three or four minutes to address the assembly. Each address will be followed by three or four minutes of silence “for prayer.”

“Without this spirit of prayer, there is no synodality, it’s just politics, parliamentarianism,” he said.

Having a committee summarize the discussions for the press is necessary “to safeguard the religiosity (of the synod) and safeguard the freedom of those who speak” but may not want to do so publicly, he said.

“But more open than that, I don’t know,” he said. “The commission will be very respectful of the speeches of each person and will try not to gossip, but to recount things about how the synod is progressing that are constructive for the church.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Society has slipped into a culture of indifference so pervasive that “our necks are going to get stiff” from constantly turning away from the suffering of marginalized people, Pope Francis said.

The pope’s prayer intention for the month of September is dedicated to “people living on the margins,” and in his video message, he lamented the “throwaway culture” of today’s world which prioritizes economic growth over the wellbeing of people.

“How is it that we allow throwaway culture — in which millions of men and women are worth nothing compared to economic goods — how is it that we allow this culture to dominate our lives, our cities, our way of life?” the pope asked.

“Our necks are going to get stiff from looking the other way so we don’t have to see this situation,” he said.

The video released with the pope’s prayer message showed various realities of marginalized people, including scenes of poverty-stricken slums alongside bustling cities, persons with disabilities, the elderly and homeless.

“A homeless person who dies on the street will never appear among the top stories of search engines or newscasts,” Pope Francis said in his message. “How could we have reached this level of indifference?”

The pope urged people to “stop making invisible those who are on the margins of society, whether it’s due to poverty, addictions, mental illness or disability.” Instead, he asked to “focus on accepting them, on welcoming all the people who need it.”

To counter the throwaway culture, Pope Francis proposed developing a “culture of welcoming” which provides hospitality, shelter, love and human warmth to those in need.

The pope ended his message by soliciting prayers for those “on the margins of society in subhuman living conditions, that they may not be neglected by institutions and never be cast out.”