Author: Eric Deabill

(OSV News) – Only about 15% of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic said they had remained practicing Catholics attending weekly Mass into adulthood, according to data from the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

But what were some of the things that distinguished the families of those children who remained practicing Catholics as adults from those who left the faith entirely? Seeking answers to this question, researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate and the Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life conducted the “Future Faithful Families Project” study.

The interviews for the study were conducted with 28 individuals from June 2021 to February 2023 and included qualifying participants from past CARA surveys. The study noted “a greater lack of response from the adult children than the parents who had been interviewed,” but added that “it is well known in the social science research fields that it is often easier to recruit participation from older adults than young adults.”

The study found that participants from these families generally described their households as “warmer and more affectionate than the average family.” Most of the participants also indicated “very good communication” within the family.

Another shared thread among those interviewed was having rituals of meals eaten together and prayer, with most indicating that faith was a part of family routines regardless of the routines themselves.

Additionally, all participants emphasized the importance of weekly Mass attendance and nearly all participants reported doing service work and giving to charity, with many doing so through their parish or a church organization.

Mark Gray, director of CARA Catholic Polls, co-wrote the study along with Greg Popcak, co-executive director of the Peyton Institute for Domestic Church Life. Gray told OSV News that while the findings from these qualitative interviews were not meant to be taken as some sort of “checklist” of things to keep one’s child Catholic, parents could gain insight from the common responses.

For these families, he said, “their faith wasn’t just something that they went and did on Sunday morning; their faith was present in the household. It was present every day. It came out in conversations about the faith, with prayer, with things that are in the home.”

He also noted that when children would come to the parents with doubts about the faith, most of the parents “went on a journey with their children and said, ‘Well, let’s see why the church teaches this,'” as opposed to strictly shutting down questioning of the church’s teachings.

“It’s a lot of discussion, working through things, thinking about things rather than being this overbearing parental force,” he said.

The study also included an analysis of existing data from the General Social Survey, or GSS, going back to the 1970s, which showed a marked decline in the number of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic and stayed Catholic while still attending Mass weekly.

In the 1970s, “an average of 36% of those who were raised Catholic remained Catholic as adults and attended Mass weekly (peaking at 40% in 1977).” GSS data later showed “this average percentage declined to 32% in the 1980s, 25% in the 1990s, and 21% in the 2000s. In the 2010s, this averaged 15% and was 14% in the 2018 study.”

These numbers exclude those who converted to Catholicism but were not raised Catholic. The study also notes the large number of Catholics who have immigrated to the U.S.

Focusing on the 51% of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic and had remained so between 2010 to 2018, there were some commonalities. Among weekly Mass attendees who had remained Catholic, 81% were “more likely to have been living with both parents at age 16” compared to the 72% who attend Mass less often than weekly or the 63% who left the Catholic faith.

Gray said that the families they spoke with referenced things that “any parent can do,” noting the importance of the child to see their parent be “Catholic every day of the year, not just on Sundays” and for the parent “to listen to their children and have conversations with them, and guide them through what the faith teaches and why the faith teaches it.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The importance of women in the Catholic Church cannot be “reduced” to the question of ministry, Pope Francis told members of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Pope Francis made his remarks Feb. 8 in the context of explaining how every attempt at church reform, like the Second Vatican Council’s reform of the liturgy, must be motivated by “spousal fidelity: the church-bride will always be more beautiful the more she loves Christ the bridegroom, to the point of belonging to him totally, to the point of conforming to him fully.”

Mentioning the church as the bride of Christ, the pope added to his prepared text: “I want to say one thing about women’s ministry. The church is woman, the church is mother, the church has its figure in Mary, and the church-woman, whose figure is Mary, is greater than Peter; that is, it is something else.”

“One cannot reduce everything to ministry,” he said. “The woman in herself has a very great significance in the church-as-woman, without reducing it to ministry. This is why I said that every instance of reform in the church is always a question of spousal fidelity, because it (the church) is woman.”

At their plenary meeting in Rome Feb. 6-9, members of the dicastery were focused on ways to improve the liturgical formation of priests and laity.

Drawing members’ attention to the introduction of Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the pope said, “A church that does not feel passion for spiritual growth, that does not try to speak in a way that is understandable to the men and women of its time, that does not feel sorrow for the division among Christians, that does not quiver with anxiety to proclaim Christ to the nations, is a sick church, and these are the symptoms.”

“Without a renewed encounter with Christ, there is no reform of the church,” the pope said. That is why the bishops gathered at the Second Vatican Council in 1962-65 “knew they had to place the liturgy at the center, because it is the place par excellence for encountering the living Christ.”

The more Catholics are educated about the liturgy and by the liturgy, he said, the more the liturgy will be that place of encounter.

Liturgical formation, he said, is not something for “a few experts” but should be a goal for all Catholics.

“Naturally that does not exclude that there will be a priority in the formation of those who, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, are called to be mystagogues, that is, to take the faithful by the hand and accompany them in learning about the holy mysteries,” Pope Francis said.

Pastors, he said, must “know how to lead the people to the good pasture of the liturgical celebration, where the proclamation of Christ who died and rose again becomes a concrete experience of his life-transforming presence.”

“Begin with the assemblies that gather on the Lord’s Day and on the feasts of the liturgical year,” he said. The Mass itself is the primary opportunity for liturgical formation.

When liturgies are “prepared with pastoral care,” he said, “they become favorable occasions for people to rediscover and deepen the meaning of celebrating the mystery of salvation today.”

SCRANTON – The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate a special Mass in recognition of the ‘World Day of Prayer for the Sick’ on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

The liturgy will be held at 12:10 p.m. and will feature the Liturgy of the Anointing.

All people who are sick, as well as those who provide care for those who are ill, are especially encouraged to attend the Mass.

For those unable to attend in person, the Mass will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton and livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website and YouTube channel and links will be provided on all Diocesan social media platforms. 

The “first therapy” that must be offered to the sick, and to the world, is a dose of closeness, friendship and love, Pope Francis said in his message for the World Day of the Sick.

“We came into the world because someone welcomed us; we were made for love; and we are called to communion and fraternity,” he wrote in his message for the annual observance Feb. 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

A connection with other people “is what sustains us, above all at times of illness and vulnerability,” the 87-year-old pope wrote. “It is also the first therapy that we must all adopt in order to heal the diseases of the society in which we live.”

The theme chosen for the 2024 observance is from the Book of Genesis, “It is not good that man should be alone.” It was subtitled, “Healing the Sick by Healing Relationships.”

In his message, released Jan. 13, Pope Francis said Christians believe that “from the beginning, God, who is love, created us for communion and endowed us with an innate capacity to enter into relationship with others.”

“We were created to be together, not alone,” he wrote. “Precisely because this project of communion is so deeply rooted in the human heart, we see the experience of abandonment and solitude as something frightening, painful and even inhuman.”

Pope Francis recalled the horrible pain of loneliness endured by those who were sick or in nursing homes during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and had no contact with their loved ones.

“I share too in the pain, suffering and isolation felt by those who, because of war and its tragic consequences, are left without support and assistance,” he said. “War is the most terrible of social diseases, and it takes its greatest toll on those who are most vulnerable.”

But even in rich countries at peace, he said, “old age and sickness are frequently experienced in solitude and, at times, even in abandonment.”

When a culture emphasizes the individual, “exalts productivity at all costs, cultivates the myth of efficiency,” he said, it “proves indifferent, even callous, when individuals no longer have the strength needed to keep pace.”

“It then becomes a throwaway culture, in which ‘persons are no longer seen as a paramount value to be cared for and respected, especially when they are poor or disabled, ‘not yet useful’ –like the unborn — or ‘no longer needed’ — like the elderly,'” he said, quoting his encyclical “Fratelli Tutti, on Fraternity and Social Friendship.”

The pope said such thinking is reflected in “certain political decisions that are not focused on the dignity of the human person and his or her needs, and do not always promote the strategies and resources needed to ensure that every human being enjoys the fundamental right to health and access to healthcare.”

But, he said, the human dignity of sick and vulnerable also is abandoned when health care is seen simply as the provision of procedures and medication, rather than as caring for the whole person and involving the family in creating a network of support.

“Brothers and sisters,” he wrote, “the first form of care needed in any illness is compassionate and loving closeness. To care for the sick thus means above all to care for their relationships, all of them: with God, with others — family members, friends, health care workers — with creation and with themselves.”

Addressing those who are ill, Pope Francis said: “Do not be ashamed of your longing for closeness and tenderness! Do not conceal it, and never think that you are a burden on others.”

And he called on all Catholics, “with the love for one another that Christ the Lord bestows on us in prayer, especially in the Eucharist,” to “tend to the wounds of solitude and isolation” found particularly among the sick.

“In this way,” the pope said, “we will cooperate in combating the culture of individualism, indifference and waste, and enable the growth of a culture of tenderness and compassion.”

SCRANTON – On Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will be principal celebrant and homilist for the 12:10 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent, a 40-day season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving that ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter.

During Lent, the following fasting and abstinence regulations are observed:

FASTING is to be observed on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 14, 2024) and Good Friday (March 29, 2024) by all Catholics over 18 years of age to the beginning of their 60th year. On days of fasting, one full meal is allowed. Two smaller meals, sufficient to maintain strength, may be taken according to one’s needs, but together should not equal another full meal, unless dispensed or excused.

ABSTINENCE from meat is to be observed by all Catholics who are 14 years of age or older. Ash Wednesday, all of the Fridays of Lent, and Good Friday are days of abstinence.

This year, Ash Wednesday falls on the same day as Valentine’s Day. While there have been inquires if a dispensation from the obligations to fast and abstain from meat will be given this year, the Diocese of Scranton explains that the significance of Ash Wednesday takes precedence over Valentine’s Day, just like in 2018.

“Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, a season of grace that challenges us to deepen our relationship with Jesus through prayer, penance and works of charity. The obligations of fasting and abstinence are naturally the priority in the Catholic community. Its spiritual importance is evidenced by the large number of faithful choosing to attend Mass on this day,” Bishop Bambera said. “Valentine’s Day can appropriately be celebrated on another day, such as the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which happens to be Mardi Gras, a time of celebration prior to the Lenten journey. That will allow Ash Wednesday to retain its appropriate significance.”

In addition to the 12:10 p.m. Mass with Bishop Bambera, ashes will also be distributed at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton during Masses held at 6:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mass with the distribution of ashes will also take place at Immaculate Conception Parish, which is linked with the Cathedral, at 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. A full listing of Ash Wednesday Masses for all 110 parishes in the Diocese of Scranton is available on the Diocese of Scranton website at dioceseofscranton.org.

Throughout the Season of Lent, Bishop Bambera will also visit every geographic area of the Diocese of Scranton holding a Lenten Holy Hour. A Holy Hour is a period of time spent in prayer before the Lord, present to all sacramentally in the Eucharist. A Holy Hour involves personal prayer, meditation readings from Scripture, hymns and more.

The dates and locations for Bishop Bambera’s Lenten Holy Hours across the Diocese of Scranton are:

Thursday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m.

Holy Family Parish, Luzerne

 

Tuesday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m.

Our Lady of Victory Parish, Tannersville

 

Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m.

Most Precious Blood Parish, Hazleton

 

Thursday, Feb. 22, 7 p.m.

Christ the King Parish, Archbald

 

Tuesday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m.

Saint Eulalia Parish, Roaring Brook Township

 

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m.

Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, Williamsport

 

Thursday, Feb. 29, 7 p.m.

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish, Tunkhannock

 

Tuesday, March 5, 7 p.m.

Saint Joseph Marello Parish, Pittston

 

Wednesday, March 6, 7 p.m.

Saint John Neumann Parish, Lords Valley

 

Thursday, March 7, 7 p.m.

Epiphany Parish, Sayre

 

Monday, March 18, 7 p.m.

Our Lady of Hope Parish, Wilkes-Barre

 

Wednesday, March 20, 7 p.m.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Scranton

National Marriage Week, an annual celebration dedicated to promoting the institution of marriage, announces the launch of its 2024 campaign with the inspiring theme “Love Beyond Words.”

This year’s mission encourages couples to put their love into action and raise awareness of the profound positive impact strong marriages have on society.

Director Carl Caton talks about the importance and thrill of leading this campaign, “This is a national campaign and it’s exciting to watch it grow, but the roots are in communities all around the country. We are here to help connect couples with the resources that will help them strengthen their marriages during this special week and throughout the year!”

Taking place from Feb. 7 to Feb. 14 every year, National Marriage Week coincides with the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, making it the perfect time to celebrate the joys and virtues that marriage brings into our lives.

Research consistently demonstrates that married couples experience great health, financial stability, and personal happiness. Moreover, it provides the best environment for raising children, offering them a better chance at life.

The 2024 campaign, “Love Beyond Words,” will build upon and launch in partnership with well-known sociologist Dr. Bradford Wilcox and will feature content from his upcoming book, “Get Married,” which challenges the notion that individual happiness is found through self-pursuit. Instead, it highlights the fulfillment derived from opening our hearts to others, especially within our most meaningful relationships.

National Marriage Week spokesperson, Arlene Pellicane, a renowned figure in the field and host of the highly regarded podcast, The Happy Home, feels passionately about this mission.

“Marriage is something wonderful to be celebrated. The whole idea is to help people celebrate, to help our society value marriage, and then support marriages by providing them with resources to become more successful in their marital journey,” she said. “You don’t have to come from a happy home to create one.”

This weeklong program will challenge couples to put their love into action and provide couples with practical tools and resources through ideas and activities for:
• Daily connection
• Weekly dates
• Regular getaways

As National Marriage Week showcases, the Sacrament of Marriage is not a one-time ceremony, but a lifelong collaboration with God to bring life and grace to the world through the powerful witness of married love.

We invite you to join National Marriage Week in celebrating love beyond words and creating a lasting impact on the institution of marriage. For more information and to get involved, visit www.MarriageWeek.org.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – People who act shocked that a priest would bless a gay couple but have no problem with him blessing a crooked businessman are hypocrites, Pope Francis said.

“The most serious sins are those that are disguised with a more ‘angelic’ appearance. No one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people, which is a very serious sin. Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual – this is hypocrisy,” he told the Italian magazine Credere.

The interview was scheduled for publication Feb. 8, but Vatican News reported on some of its content the day before when the magazine issued a press release about the interview.

Pope Francis repeatedly has been asked about “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) on “the pastoral meaning of blessings,” which was published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Dec. 18 and was approved by the pope. It allows for priests and other ministers to offer informal, non-liturgical blessings to gay couples and couples in “irregular” marriage situations as long as it is clear they are not blessing the couple’s union.

“We all have to respect each other. Everyone,” the pope told Credere. “The heart of the document is welcome.”

“I don’t bless a ‘homosexual marriage,’ I bless two people who love each other, and I also ask them to pray for me,” Pope Francis told Pauline Father Vincenzo Vitale, director of Credere. “Always in the confessional, when these situations come up, homosexual people, remarried people, I always pray and always bless. The blessing should not be denied to anyone. Everyone, everyone, everyone.”

(OSV News) – As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine marks its second year, an annual collection for Central and Eastern Europe’s Catholic churches will help “shine the light of Christ” in a region still scarred by the historical effects of communism, said a U.S. bishop.

On Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, faithful across the country are being asked to donate to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

Some dioceses may opt to schedule the collection at a different date, and faithful also may give directly to the campaign by visiting the USCCB’s #iGiveCatholicTogether website (usccb.igivecatholictogether.org/) and selecting the “Church in Central and Eastern Europe” collection.

Launched under St. John Paul II in 1991 as communist regimes collapsed throughout Europe, the appeal aids Catholics in 28 European countries in various stages of recovering from longtime totalitarian oppression: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia (Czech Republic), Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

“When Catholics give to this collection, they are actively participating in the rebuilding of the Church in places where decades of communism have left behind devastated churches and wounded spirits,” said Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton of Detroit, chairman of the USCCB’s Subcommittee on the Church in Central and Eastern Europe.

Since 2001 alone, the collection has raised more than $187.5 million, according to Mary Mencarini Campbell, executive director of the USCCB’s Office of National Collections.

In 2023, the USCCB collection distributed $8.7 million in 329 grants, helping to rebuild churches, support seminary education and minister to families and youth.

More than $2 million was allocated for urgent humanitarian and pastoral relief to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine, which continues attacks launched in 2014. With at least 124,186 war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine since February 2022, the invasion has been named a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for the unlawful deportation and transfer of 19,546 children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

In October 2023, Bishop Monforton visited Ukraine for the first time in two decades, and in a reflection written afterward, he recounted his experiences of visiting Catholic churches and social ministries there and praying with families of the dead.

“I entered crypts that are now well-stocked bomb shelters, with light and heat from generators supplied by the generous contributions of Catholics to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe,” he wrote.

Bishop Monforton added that “sadly, the rubble and fresh graves in Ukraine today remind us that the most insidious error of communism was not its economic policy, but its doctrine that human beings are mere cogs in the machine of state, rather than precious children of God.”

“That cruel assumption persists under other guises in the post-communist era,” he wrote. “We see it in the blatant disregard for human life that underlies the violence that has erupted in the region, especially in Ukraine. It pervades countries throughout the former Soviet Empire, where people struggle to build marriages and families. Its most pointed expression was the destruction of churches and the imprisonment or execution of clergy and faithful laity.”

As Russia’s war in Ukraine reverberates throughout Europe and the world, funds from the collection are helping the church to offer spiritual and material relief.

In Ukraine’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilsky, a grant from the collection enabled the training and deployment of psychotherapists, social workers and pastoral counselors to address war-related traumatic stress disorder in soldiers and civilians.

The collection also helped build a cathedral for the small but vibrant Catholic community in predominantly Muslim Kyrgyzstan — a faith community founded by prisoners who had been deported on account of their faith of their faith decades earlier by Soviet authorities to the region’s gulags.

In Romania, collection funds were applied by the Archdiocese of Fagaras and Alba Iulia to restore a landmark 18th-century seminary, while making it handicap accessible.

In Slovakia, the collection funded a pro-life counseling center serving hundreds of women in challenging pregnancies. Engaged and married couples in Lithuania received counseling and support from trained volunteer mentors, and in Albania, catechists and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist benefited from a three-year program of study.

“The ministries that you support through this collection bring the Bread of Life to people who hunger for the Word of God. They bring food, shelter and love to the Jesus who suffers among the poor,” wrote Bishop Monforton. “They prepare young people, informed by Scripture, and inspired by the witness of priests, sisters and catechists, to tell their neighbors about Jesus.

“It is my hope that you give generously to the Collection for the Church in Central and Eastern Europe,” he wrote. “In doing so, you fight alongside St. Michael and St. John Paul II to free souls trapped by the forces of despair and lead them into the light of Christ.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Christians must let go of the God they think they know and convert every day to the God Jesus presents in the Gospel — the God who is the father of love and compassion, Pope Francis said.

When the faithful discover “the true face of the Father, our faith matures: we no longer remain ‘sacristy Christians’ or ‘parlor Christians,’ but rather we feel called to become bearers of God’s hope and healing,” he said Feb. 4 before reciting the Angelus prayer with about 15,000 visitors in St. Peter’s Square.

During his greetings after the noonday prayer, he also marked the celebration in Italy of the Day for Life.

“I join with the Italian bishops in hoping that ideological visions can be overcome so as to rediscover that every human life, even those most marked by limitations, has an immense value and is capable of giving something to others,” he said.

And he greeted the many young people from different countries who were in Rome to mark the World Day for Prayer and Reflection against Human Trafficking, which is celebrated Feb. 8.

“Many brothers and sisters are deceived with false promises and are then subjected to exploitation and abuse. Let us all join to counter the dramatic global phenomenon of human trafficking,” he said.

In his main Angelus address, the pope reflected on Jesus being continually on the move in the Gospel accounts of his ministry and how that “challenges us with some questions on our faith.”

“The Gospel lets us see that Jesus, after teaching in the synagogue, goes out, so that the word he has preached may reach, touch and heal people,” he said.

“He reveals to us that God is not a detached master who speaks to us from on high; on the contrary, he is a father filled with love who makes himself close to us, who visits our homes, who wants to save and liberate, heal from every ill of the body and spirit,” the pope said.

“God makes himself close to accompany us, tenderly, and to forgive us,” he said. “Do not forget this: closeness, compassion and tenderness.”

Jesus’ journeying reminds the faithful “that our first spiritual task is this: to abandon the God we think we know, and to convert every day to the God Jesus presents to us in the Gospel,” he said.

Christians should reflect on whether they have “discovered the face of God as the father of mercy, or do we believe in and proclaim a cold God, a distant God? Does faith instill in us the restlessness of journeying or is it an intimist consolation for us, that calms us? Do we pray just to feel at peace or does the word we listen to and preach make us go out, like Jesus, toward others, to spread God’s consolation?” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said it continues to receive reports of Catholics, including priests, finding out all the sacraments they have received are invalid because they were baptized years earlier with a formula that was not approved.

When a priest or other minister changes the words, gestures or material prescribed for the celebration of the sacraments, he can “rob” the faithful of what they deserve and make the sacrament invalid, the dicastery said in a note published Feb. 3.

The note, “Gestis Verbisque” (“Gestures and Words”), passed unanimously by members of the dicastery during their plenary assembly Jan. 25 and was approved by Pope Francis Jan. 31, said the document, which was signed by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, and Msgr. Armando Matteo, secretary of the dicastery’s doctrinal section.

Presenting the document, Cardinal Fernández wrote that in 2022 the cardinals and bishops who are members of the dicastery already had “expressed their concern for the multiplication of situations in which they were forced to acknowledge the invalidity of sacraments celebrated.”

As an example, the cardinal cited baptism ceremonies where, instead of saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” the minister will say, “I baptize you in the name of the Creator…” or “In the name of dad and mom, we baptize you.”

In 2020, the then-doctrinal congregation issued a note saying baptisms celebrated with the formula, “We baptize you …” also were invalid, setting off a large-scale effort in several dioceses, including in the United States, to trace people who were invalidly baptized.

The sacraments they subsequently received, including first Communion, confirmation and even ordination also were invalid since only a baptized Catholic can validly receive the other sacraments.

Cardinal Fernández said the situation is particularly painful for priests who not only find out their ordinations were invalid, but so were all the sacraments they subsequently celebrated for others.

A priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, who had been baptized with the wrong formula 30 years earlier, started over when the 2020 document was issued. He was baptized, confirmed, received the Eucharist, was ordained to the diaconate and to the priesthood in the space of 10 days. The archdiocese set up a webpage for people who thought they had received the sacraments from him prior to 2020.

“Modifying the form of a sacrament or its matter is always a gravely illicit act and deserves exemplary punishment, precisely because such arbitrary acts are capable of producing serious harm to the faithful People of God,” the cardinal wrote.

While the document did not specify a punishment, it explained the importance of using the prescribed words, exact matter — such as water, wine or oil — and gestures like anointing, laying on of hands and the sign of the cross.

“While in other areas of the Church’s pastoral action there is ample room for creativity,” the cardinal wrote in the foreword, “such inventiveness in the area of the celebration of the sacraments becomes a ‘manipulative will’ and cannot be invoked.”

“Because of their rootedness in Scripture and Tradition, the matter and form never depend nor can they depend on the desire of the individual or of the particular community,” the document said.

“Instituted by Christ, the sacraments are actions that realize, by means of sensible signs, the living experience of the mystery of salvation, making possible the participation of human beings in the divine life,” the document said. “They are the ‘masterpieces of God’ in the New and Eternal Covenant, forces that come forth from the body of Christ, actions of the Spirit working in his body which is the Church.”

“This is why the Church in the Liturgy celebrates with faithful love and veneration the sacraments that Christ himself has entrusted to her so that she may preserve them as a precious inheritance and source of her life and her mission,” the document said.

A priest celebrates the sacraments not only “in persona Christi” — in the person of Christ — but also in “nomine Ecclesiae” — in the name of the church, it said, which is why he must follow exactly the church’s approved liturgical texts, which indicate when and where local adaptations or variations are permitted.

The doctrinal note said that it applies to the entire church, although it asked the Eastern Catholic churches to draft their own versions of the document, using their particular theological language “where it differs from that used in the text,” and to submit it for approval to the dicastery before publication.

HAZLETON  – After serving more than 11,000 people in the greater Hazleton area in 2023, Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton is looking for the support of its community to keep its mission going locally.

Donations to the ‘Century Club 2024’ are now being accepted. This year’s theme is Caring Hearts, Stronger Communities. Since 1982, the annual membership campaign has solicited support for the programs of Catholic Social Services of Greater Hazleton.

“We are grateful for the response from the community to this campaign which is so vital to the support and continuation of the services offered through Catholic Social Services of Greater Hazleton,” Sue Farley, Advisory Board President, said.

A community agency and member of the Greater Hazleton United Way, Catholic Social Services reaches out to those in need, providing basic needs and programs supporting young adults with mental health concerns.

In 2023, Catholic Social Services in Hazleton served the community through the following programs:

• Saint Joseph’s Food Pantry provided assistance to 5,369 individuals
• Divine Providence Emergency Shelter helped house 229 individual clients
• Relief Assistance Program helped 5,610 individuals experiencing emergencies
• Maternal Health Programming had 200 appointments providing young families with material assistance for their babies but also emotional and educational support
• Bridge to Independence Program assisted 10 young adults with a mental health diagnosis (age 18-26) with life skills enabling them to live independently and attain self-sufficiency
• Christmas Gifts for Kids Program helped 302 families with presents for the holiday season

Catholic Social Services opened in Hazleton in 1939 during the Great Depression to help alleviate insecurity of food and basic necessities and 89 years later it continues to address these concerns. For this reason, the ‘Century Club’ is an essential part of providing the funding necessary to serve the community.  Catholic Social Services serves all people in the community regardless of age, gender, race, economic situation, or religious affiliation.

“Poverty continues to grow in the Hazleton area and Catholic Social Services could not do what we do for those in need without the community support,” Danielle Matarella, Director of Catholic Social Services of Greater Hazleton, explained. “We are so grateful to be located in a strong community with so many caring hearts.”

Membership in the ‘Century Club’ may be at any level or one may choose among the following designations: Diamond – $1,000; Platinum- $750; Gold- $500; Silver – $250; Century – $100. All contributions are tax deductible and will remain in the Hazleton community to help meet the needs of those who seek services. Gifts may be designated as a memorial or in honor of a friend and loved one.

For more information regarding Catholic Social Services’ programs or ‘Century Club’ 2024, please contact us at (570) 455-1521 or visit us online at www.dioceseofscranton.org.