Author: Eric Deabill

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Laypeople are not “guests” in the Catholic Church and priests are not the “bosses,” Pope Francis said; rather all the baptized belong and share responsibility for its life and mission.

To fulfill its mission, the church must “overcome autonomous ways of acting or parallel tracks that never meet: clergy separated from laity,” or the “Roman Curia separated from particular churches” or movements separated from parishes, he said.

“The path God is indicating for the church is precisely that of living more intensely and concretely the path of communion and walking together,” Pope Francis said Feb. 18 as he closed a three-day conference sponsored by the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.

The meeting brought together more than 200 participants – laypeople, priests and bishops – from 74 countries to talk about the theological basis of co-responsibility in the church and practical steps to overcome the challenges to making it a reality.

Creating silos or divisions in the church is “the most serious temptation” Catholics face today, Pope Francis told the group. “There is still a long way to go for the church to live as a body, as a true people, united by the one faith in Christ the savior, animated by the same sanctifying Spirit and oriented to the same mission of proclaiming the merciful love of God the Father.”

The aim of the conference and of the whole process of the Synod of Bishops on synodality, he said, is to remind all the baptized that they are called to be missionary disciples and that the only way to be effective is to be united and to recognize and share the gifts and talents of all.

Co-responsibility, he said, “is not learned theoretically; it is understood by living it.”

When clergy and laity are focused on sharing the Gospel and helping the poor, they naturally draw closer to another and the “complementarity” of their different gifts become obvious, he said.

From the beginning of his pontificate 10 years ago, the pope told the conference participants, “I said that I dream of a missionary church.”

But too often, he said, the church is a “prison that does not let the Lord out, that keeps him as its own when the Lord came for mission and wants us to be missionaries.”

Mission is the motive for the focus on the co-responsibility of the laity in the church, he said.

“The need to value the laity does not come from some theological novelty, or even from the functional needs left by the diminishing number of priests,” he said, and it is not about making amends “to those who have been sidelined in the past.”

“Rather, it is based on a correct vision of the church: the church as the people of God, of which the laity are a full part along with ordained ministers,” he said. “Thus, ordained ministers are not the masters, they are the servants; the shepherds, not the bosses.”

Pope Francis said that starting in the seminary, those who hope to become priests must have “a daily and normal” experience of working with laypeople so that once they are ordained, communion is a natural expression of belonging to the church and not some exceptional or occasional project.

“It is time for pastors and laity to walk together, in every area of the church’s life, in every part of the world,” the pope said. “Laypeople, and especially women, need to be more valued in their human and spiritual skills and gifts for the life of parishes and dioceses.”

In addition to “preaching” through the way they live their faith in the midst of the world, he said, they can and should collaborate with priests to strengthen parish life, in everything from helping with religious education to preparing engaged couples for marriage.

“They should always be consulted when preparing new pastoral initiatives at every level — local, national and universal,” the pope said. “They must be present in the offices of the dioceses. They can help in the spiritual accompaniment of other lay people and also make their contribution in the formation of seminarians and religious.”

“I would like all of us to have in our hearts and minds this beautiful vision of the church: a church committed to mission and where we unify our forces and walk together to evangelize; a church where what binds us is our being baptized Christians, our belonging to Jesus,” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Tradition is a source of inspiration for seeking out new paths to take with Jesus and for avoiding the traps of stagnation or impromptu experimentation, Pope Francis said.

“Jesus is himself the way, and therefore, both in the liturgical journey (of Lent) and in the journey of the synod, the church does nothing other than enter ever more deeply and fully into the mystery of Christ the savior,” the pope said in his message for Lent, which begins Feb. 22 for Latin-rite Catholics.

Released by the Vatican Feb. 17, the text of the pope’s message focused on seeing Lenten penance and the synodal experience both as arduous journeys that lead to the wondrous experience of Christ’s divine light and splendor.

“Lenten penance is a commitment, sustained by grace, to overcoming our lack of faith and our resistance to following Jesus on the way of the cross,” he said.

The Gospel accounts of the transfiguration of Christ offer an illustration of this, he said.

Jesus led three of his disciples to Mount Tabor to pray after they failed to understand and accept the reality of his coming passion and death on the cross. On the mountaintop they witnessed his face shine “like the sun” and his clothes become “white as light,” and they heard a voice from a cloud proclaiming Jesus as the “beloved Son” of God.

“The disciples’ experience on Mount Tabor was further enriched when, alongside the transfigured Jesus, Moses and Elijah appeared, signifying respectively the law and the prophets,” the pope said.

“The newness of Christ is at the same time the fulfillment of the ancient covenant and promises; it is inseparable from God’s history with his people and discloses its deeper meaning,” he said. “In a similar way, the synodal journey is rooted in the church’s tradition and at the same time open to newness.”

Therefore, he said, “tradition is a source of inspiration for seeking new paths and for avoiding the opposed temptations of immobility and improvised experimentation.”

“To deepen our knowledge of the Master, to fully understand and embrace the mystery of his salvation, accomplished in total self-giving inspired by love, we must allow ourselves to be taken aside by him and to detach ourselves from mediocrity and vanity,” the pope said.

“We need to set out on the journey, an uphill path that, like a mountain trek, requires effort, sacrifice and concentration,” he said. “These requisites are also important for the synodal journey which, as a church, we are committed to making.”

“During any strenuous mountain trek, we must keep our eyes firmly fixed on the path; yet the panorama that opens up at the end amazes us and rewards us by its grandeur,” Pope Francis wrote.

In the same way, “the synodal process may often seem arduous, and at times we may become discouraged,” he said, “yet what awaits us at the end is undoubtedly something wondrous and amazing, which will help us to understand better God’s will and our mission in the service of his kingdom.”

Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented the Lenten message at a Vatican news conference.

Lent is a time for Catholics to “work on ourselves” and understand that a “change of mentality – conversion – and the communal nature of human life are blessed labors, on which depends ‘something wonderful and surprising’ for this broken world,” the cardinal said.

“If we want a Lent of charity, if we believe that prayer and fasting have real effects on the world,” he said, “we must broaden the idea of almsgiving to something larger, namely the biblical idea of restitution.”

“The path is the mission. And the mission is charity, which calls into question an organization of the world and of the church that may seem unchangeable, but is changeable, because it is the outcome of decisions, of freedom,” he said.

When asked about the role of fasting as a form of penance, Cardinal Czerny said fasting also has a positive side in that it is a form of “liberation and a gesture of solidarity with those who have nothing to eat.”

“In fact, we eat too much and, perhaps, irresponsibly, so fasting reorients us toward a way of eating and drinking that is more in tune with our vocation” as followers of Christ, he said.

The cardinal also said the dicastery would be relaunching elements of the pope’s message each week over the 40-day period of Lent to help parishes live their own “transfiguration” in a more practical way.

People are encouraged to follow the #Lent2023 campaign on the dicastery’s Twitter and Instagram accounts and download new materials each week from its website: humandevelopment.va.

(OSV News) – Lawmakers in 13 states since January have introduced legislation to fortify a right to abortion or amend state constitutions to include abortion, signaling a vigorous response to last year’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

The June 2022 decision by the Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that the Constitution contains no right to abortion returned the issue to the states.

While congressional attempts to codify Roe at the federal level have stalled, Democratic legislators in nine states — Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Nebraska, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington — have proposed amending their constitutions to add an explicit right to abortion or to “reproductive freedom,” which includes abortion, contraception, sterilization, fertility treatments and other procedures.

Several states are considering legislation that would codify abortion as a fundamental right but stop short of including it in their constitution.

In the 2022 midterm elections, voters in California, Michigan and Vermont passed constitutional amendments protecting abortion. Constitutional amendments require a public vote in every state but Delaware, potentially setting up 2024 for several state ballots on the constitutionality of abortion.

Mario Villanueva, executive director of the Washington State Catholic Conference, said the Dobbs decision has driven legislatures even in states that already favor abortion to be more extreme.

“The effort to push pro-abortion legislation and agendas is significant this year, more than in a lot of legislative sessions we can recall to mind,” he said.

Washington’s Catholic bishops criticized in a letter the legislature’s attempt to pass “an extreme constitutional amendment” that would allow abortion up to birth and emphasized the need for laws respecting the sacredness and dignity of human life.

“We have to talk about how supporting women and families helps the public good, and we need to be willing to stand behind those who need support and value life,” Villanueva said.

Washington law requires two-thirds of the state House and Senate to approve a constitutional amendment prior to a public ballot. Without a supermajority in either branch, Democrats will need support from Republicans before they can send their amendment to voters, making it unlikely to pass.

Enshrining the right to abortion in a constitution insulates it from later legislative or judicial attempts to restrict the procedure and narrows the discretion state courts have when interpreting the law. Critics have argued the broad language of constitutional amendments protecting abortion from state interference could lead to the removal of any limits on the procedure.

“That’s not a phantom fear,” said Teresa Stanton Collett, professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. A constitutional right to abortion could trump other statutes restricting it if a case reached the courts, she said.

During legislative debate on California’s constitutional amendment on abortion, Democratic lawmakers were unable to say whether the amendment would change state laws limiting abortion past viability.

In Minnesota, a district judge last July struck down several laws relating to abortion, including parental notification requirements and a 24-hour waiting period, for violating the “fundamental right” to access abortion in the state’s constitution.

Supporters of legal abortion have argued they are only protecting current rights in state law against further interference.

Minnesota’s Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, signed Jan. 31 by Gov. Tim Walz, makes abortion and other medical procedures including contraception, sterilization and fertility treatments “fundamental rights” in state law. A 1995 decision by the state’s Supreme Court established a constitutional right to abortion.

“Today, we are delivering on our promise to put up a firewall against efforts to reverse reproductive freedom. No matter who sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court, this legislation will ensure Minnesotans have access to reproductive health care for generations to come,” Walz said.

Maggee Hangge, policy associate at the Minnesota Catholic Conference, said the new law is more expansive than supporters have acknowledged. While its foremost goal is to prevent a repeat of Dobbs in the state and direct Minnesota courts to protect access to abortion and other services, it would “likely expand access to abortion,” including late-term abortions, she said.

Republicans failed to add amendments to the legislation to prohibit, with some exceptions, third-trimester abortions.

Democratic control of the state legislature and governor’s office, coupled with the sense the midterms that swept them to power were a response to Dobbs, has created “the political environment to pass radical abortion laws long desired by abortion activists,” Hangge said.

Another Minnesota bill under consideration would repeal laws around parental notification, the born-alive infant protection act, informed consent, a 24-hour waiting period, data collection, non-physicians performing abortions and limitations on state funding.

During the passage of the PRO Act, Minnesota’s Catholic bishops argued lawmakers should instead pursue policies to support families and children, including better funding for nutrition, healthcare, child care and housing programs.

“We must be committed to a long-term strategy to ensure every child is welcomed in life and protected by law,” Hangge said.

(OSV News) – Catholic experts are expressing concern after a recent Pew Research Center survey found that only 35% of U.S. Catholic parents say that it is extremely or very important to them that their children grow up to hold similar religious beliefs.

The survey also showed that 30% of Catholic parents say it is somewhat important to them, while 34% say it is not too important or not at all important.

“This study is concerning in that it points to an ambivalence that many people involved in pastoral ministry see so much among our families,” Susan M. Timoney, associate professor of practice, pastoral studies area, and associate dean for undergraduate studies at The Catholic University of America’s School of Theology and Religious Studies in Washington, told Our Sunday Visitor, the weekly newspaper of OSV based in Huntington, Indiana.

“Parents want their children to be ‘good people,’ which is inclusive of many elements of a Catholic worldview, but what parents seem to struggle doing is sharing a conviction about the importance of practicing the (Catholic) faith and speaking to a personal relationship with God,” Timoney said. “It calls for a spiritual renewal among parents and families.”

The numbers come as part of a larger survey of 3,757 U.S. parents with children younger than 18, conducted last fall. An analysis of that survey, published on Feb. 6, focused on religious and ethnic differences in parenting among Protestants and Catholics.

Greg Popcak, director of CatholicCounselors.com, a pastoral telecounseling practice, suggested that the findings are due to the lack of impact people believe faith and religious practice have on their daily lives and relationships, especially family relationships.

“Most people see faith and religious involvement as something that complicates their relationships more than it benefits them,” he said. “At best, church is one more thing to do in an already busy life. At worst, it asks me to follow rules that I fail to see having any positive impact on the quality of my relationships.”

He highlighted efforts such as the CatholicHOM (Households on Mission) app, a digital family formation platform for Catholic families launched by his practice, as important for both the future of Catholic family life and the future of the church itself.

“Unless we can show people how our Catholic faith helps people lead more loving, connected, caring lives — especially in their families — most people will find no compelling reason to celebrate the faith themselves or encourage their children to own it,” Popcak said.

Joseph White, a child and family psychologist and the associate publisher for catechetical resources at OSV, found it “especially striking” that a third of Catholic parents do not consider it important to pass on their faith.

“I think this highlights the need for evangelization of Catholic adults,” White said. “The issue here is not just that Catholic adults don’t ‘know’ their faith; they don’t see why their children would ‘need’ it.”

He said this represents not only a failure to catechize but also a failure to evangelize. In response, he called for a refocus on the “kerygma” – which he described as the core message of the Gospel – to help Catholics discover or rediscover why they and their children need Jesus and the church.

He encouraged the refocus not only for adults, but also for children.

“When we fall in love with someone, we want to know everything about them,” he said. “If we can help our children see the need for Jesus and the church in their lives, to understand what Jesus has done for them and who he is, they will want to know everything about him and will want to be active in his church.”

In many areas of Pew’s analysis, responses by Catholic parents resembled the responses of U.S. parents in general.

The percentage of Catholic parents and the percentage of all parents who say it is extremely or very important that their children have similar religious beliefs to their own as adults is the same: 35%. Of all parents, 22% say it is somewhat important and 42% say it is not too or not at all important.

The majority of U.S. parents (81%) and Catholic parents (81%) find it extremely or very important for their children to grow up to become people who help others in need, according to the analysis. The majority of U.S. parents (80%) and Catholic parents (79%) also say it is extremely or very important for their children to grow up to be accepting of people who are different from them.

Parents’ answers changed depending on how often they attend religious services or Mass, according to Pew. U.S. parents who attend religious services at least once a week are more than three times as likely to consider it important to raise children who will share their religious views.

With two-thirds of Catholic parents saying it is at least somewhat important that their kids share their religious beliefs as adults, White recommended that ministry leaders in Catholic parishes and schools consider what evidence-based tools they can give parents to ensure that the Catholic faith is handed on to the next generation.

“We need to use this knowledge to help parents who want to raise their children as lifelong disciples of Jesus,” he said. “This is a primary responsibility of the parish. Pope Francis calls us to be ‘a family of families,’ and we need to work harder to ensure that the family stays together.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Every year on Ash Wednesday, the prophet Joel sets the stage for the sacred season of Lent. “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment” (Joel 2:12-13)

The prophet challenges us to reflect upon the essence of our lives as Christians and as authentic disciples of Jesus. He reminds us that pious actions and rituals, from the ancient practice of rending garments to express sorrow for sin, to the imposition of ashes on our foreheads, provide little support for our lives of faith unless they are rooted in – and flow from – the depths of our hearts where God is found.

Rather, the humble acknowledgement of our need for God – the courage to set aside our own sense of righteousness in order to trust more deeply in God’s merciful presence – and the willingness to be used by God in building the Church and in caring for the suffering, broken world in which we live reflect the movements of our hearts that lead to true conversion.

Ash Wednesday and Lent, by their very nature, provide experiences for prayer and reflection to support us in the noble endeavor of conversion. This year’s celebration is no exception, as the Church provides us with two blessed opportunities that have the power to fortify us in our resolve to become one with Christ and to participate in the proclamation of his message of salvation.

This past year on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus Christ Sunday – the Church in the United States initiated a three-year period of Eucharistic Revival. Its purpose is to both restore and refresh our understanding of this great mystery of our faith in which Jesus, our Savior and Lord, is truly present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist – his very Body and Blood. In announcing this time of revival, the Bishops of our land envisioned that it would lead to “a movement of Catholics across the United States, healed, converted, formed and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist – and sent out in mission ‘for the life of the world.’”

In so many ways, the vision of this Eucharistic Revival reflects the heart of the season of Lent. I would encourage you, then, to take advantage of the times that have been set aside in your parish communities for Eucharistic adoration. Like no other experience, prayer in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord has the power to change our lives and to fill us with the peace that only God can give. In gratitude for the singular gift of the Eucharist in the life of the Church, I will celebrate a Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament in each of our twelve deaneries throughout the weeks of Lent. I look forward to praying with many of you as we seek God’s healing grace.

The second opportunity that the Church provides for our Lenten journey builds upon the first and our encounter with Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Several years ago, Pope Francis announced that a Synod of Bishops would convene at the Vatican in October 2023, the theme of which will be For a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.

In focusing upon the notion of synodality, the Holy Father reminds us that by virtue of our Baptism into Christ, all of us are called to be active participants in the life of the Church through discernment, participation and co-responsibility.

During the last year, thousands of you responded to the call of Pope Francis by sharing your hopes, concerns and dreams for the Catholic Church in preparation for the 2023 General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. Yet, far from being a temporary or one-time experience in calling the Church to participate in the Synod process, the Holy Father has asserted repeatedly that the very mission of the Church requires the entire People of God – you and me – to be on a journey together, with each member playing his or her crucial role in building up the Body of Christ, united with each other. Nothing captures the spirit of our Lenten sojourn more than this!

Brothers and sisters, the season of Lent provides us with many grace-filled opportunities to grow in our faith. May we use these days well as we walk together with our brothers and sisters preparing for Baptism and full initiation into the Church. Like them, may we renew our commitment to change our hearts, through the healing gift of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. May we be filled with awe and comforted by Jesus’ presence in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist – strengthened for mission – and ready to assume our responsibility in proclaiming the mercy and love of Christ for our world. In so doing, we will surely find our way to life and peace.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

SCRANTON – For twenty consecutive years, independent audits have found the Diocese of Scranton to be in full compliance with U.S. bishops’ policies to prevent sexual abuse of children by clergy and other church personnel.

The Diocese recently received its 2022 compliance certification from StoneBridge Business Partners, a private auditing firm based in New York, which has been contracted to conduct compliance audits of the nation’s 195 dioceses.

The Diocese of Scranton has passed audits of its child protection procedures, policies and records every year since the policy was adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2002.

The USCCB spells out the policies that dioceses must follow in its “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” The Charter is a comprehensive action plan for addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. It also includes guidelines for reconciliation, healing, accountability and prevention of future acts of abuse.

The findings are a result of a review of data collected for the 2021/2022 Charter audit period. The annual audit evaluates each diocese’s efforts to ensure the protection of children, including criminal background checks and educational awareness programs on recognizing and preventing abuse.

Among the information reported to the auditors in this most recent period: 8,639 students currently enrolled in Catholic schools in the Diocese or in parish religious education programs have received Safe Environment training.

A total of 230 priests who are in active ministry, along with 79 permanent deacons and 18 seminarians and candidates for the Diaconate have also received that training.

More than 559 educators and administrators in Diocesan schools, more than 869 employees of the Diocese of its parishes across 11 counties and 2,670 volunteers at schools, parishes and Diocesan facilities have also received valuable information to keep children safe. Many more individuals have also completed training on Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse in Pennsylvania.

In receiving the latest compliance audit results, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, stated, “Our 20 year compliance record with child protection audits highlights the commitment that the Diocese of Scranton, along with its parishes and schools, has in ensuring the protection of children. While many steps have been taken to address clergy sexual abuse, we must continue to listen, care for and walk with survivors. Every one of us must remain committed to safeguarding and strengthening our policies against the sexual abuse of minors.”

The Diocese of Scranton’s Safe Environment Office ensures that Charter standards are continually met.

For more information on the Diocese of Scranton’s Safe Environment Program, or for a full overview of all policies and protocols, visit dioceseofscranton.org.