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[Catholic Caucus] Extraordinary ministers wear Kamala Harris shirts while distributing Holy Communion at DC A parish pastor in Washington reportedly invited parishioners to come to Mass in their 'election apparel.'Eucharistic ministers wear pro-Kamala Harris shirts at a Washington, D.C. parishA parish in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. permitted its extraordinary ministers to wear Kamala Harris campaign T-shirts while distributing Holy Communion at a Sunday Mass immediately preceding Election Day. The Eucharistic Ministers, as well as some lay people attending the Mass who also wore pro-Kamala shirts and hats, apparently were responding to their pastors’ invitation issued the previous week: “Next...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Gregory offers tough advice on the Catholic Dilemma this US electionWith less than twenty days to go before the United States presidential election, the cardinal archbishop of Washington, DC, has acknowledged the difficulties Catholics face in deciding how to vote – but reiterates that choose they must. Speaking to Crux while in Rome for this month’s Synod of Bishops on Synodality, Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington stressed the importance of having a broad understanding of key national challenges and urged Catholics not to be single-issue voters on 5 November. “No political party and certainly no individual candidate...

Cardinal-designate Radcliffe links African bishops’ opposition to homosexuality to pressure from evangelicals, Moscow, and MuslimsIn an article published in the Italian daily edition of the Vatican newspaper, Cardinal-designate Timothy Radcliffe, OP, one of the synod session’s two spiritual assistants, took repeated issue with statements made by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, OFM Cap, the cardinal who leads the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.Cardinal-designate Radcliffe also linked African bishops’ qualms about homosexuality to “intense” pressure from American evangelicals, from Moscow, and from Muslims.The October 2023 synod session’s synthesis report, wrote Cardinal-designate Radcliffe, “seemed to backtrack on the preparatory document...

[Catholic Caucus] Synodality, an antidote to polarization, helps mission, cardinal saysAt the end of a multiyear process of listening, praying, discussing and discerning, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said he hopes the Synod of Bishops can give Catholics four practical suggestions for being a more “synodal” church.“What four things? I can’t tell you right now, but I sure wish we could give four pieces of guidance to the people of God across the world,” the cardinal told Catholic News Service Oct. 4.In a message to the people of his archdiocese, Cardinal Tobin said synodality — which involves...

[Catholic Caucus] Homeschoolers vs. GoliathIt is apparent that there is real division in the Church; banning the homeschoolers from church property has revealed that division far more than allowing them to use the space ever could have.What is interesting about the recent statement in the San Diego diocese banning homeschoolers from using parish facilities is that it opens with, “parents are the first teachers of their children,” yet it concludes with, “homeschooling is not inherently a ministry of the parish.” If parents are the first teachers of their children, shouldn’t that all-important and sacred duty be a ministry of the...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal McElroy’s Diocese of San Diego orders homeschool groups removed from parishesThe Diocese of San Diego, led by heterodox Cardinal Robert McElroy, has banned homeschooling groups from using any diocesan parish properties. A diocesan memo states that such groups 'can undermine the stability of nearby Catholic schools.'The Diocese of San Diego, led by the heterodox Cardinal Robert McElroy, issued a new policy earlier this month that bars homeschooling groups from using any diocesan parish properties.The new policy, which took effect September 1, prohibits the use of parish facilities by homeschool, private school, and charter school programs, according to...

[Catholic Caucus] Uncertain Trumpets: Cardinal Cupich and Pope FrancisFrom the Vatican's embrace of a socialist dictator to Cardinal Cupich's scandalous invocation at the Democratic National Convention, we find ourselves without leaders to guide us.Two events of recent days have scandalized me. Both were symbolic gestures and included the exchange of platitudes but also created an ambiguity about the Church’s teaching that is stretched to obfuscation. The first symbolic event was when the pope sent a new nuncio of Venezuela. In case you don’t pay attention to Latin American dictators, there was a presidential election in Venezuela that almost everyone but...

Newark archbishop says all citizens should ‘engage in the political process’NEW YORK – At a time of inflamed political rhetoric, where neither major party candidate fully represents Church teaching on the issues, Cardinal Joseph Tobin is reminding Catholics of their duty to actively participate in the political process.“In this time of political uncertainty, it’s tempting to be cynical about the motivations and tactics of politicians and to want to disengage from politics, but in spite of what people often say, ‘politics’ is not a dirty word,” Tobin said. “In fact, as Pope Francis forcefully reminds us, committed Christians and faithful...

[Catholic Caucus] Faithful Catholics protest Fr. James Martin’s LGBT conference endorsed by Pope Francis‘Faithful Catholics must resist the rainbow revolution inside the Church and boldly uphold Church teaching,’ TFP’s John Ritchie said.The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property protest a pro-LGBT conference led by the dissident Father James Martin, S.J. at Georgetown University.The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) on Saturday held a rally of reparation and protest against a recent pro-LGBT conference led by the dissident Father James Martin, S.J. at Georgetown University.“With rosaries in hand, standing shoulder to shoulder,...

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic Standard - Competing With The Washington Blade? The Catholic Standard, media mouthpiece for the Archdiocese of Washington, sunk to a new low in its support of depravity. It doesn't matter that the depravity originates from the Archbishop of Washington himself. Those who run the Standard are Catholics and owe their allegiances first to Our Lord Jesus Christ. I wish I could say that I am shocked, but sadly I am not.Cardinal Gregory offered that Mass at the perversion celebration at Georgetown last Saturday, and the Standard has the unmitigated gall to publish it. I suggest you read...

Cardinal Gregory praises, celebrates Mass for Fr. James Martin’s LGBT event with heretical speakersCardinal Gregory of DC offered Mass for Fr. James Martin’s ‘Outreach’ conference, which includes pro-LGBT speakers and is organized by Martin’s LGBT activist group that promotes ‘Pride Month,’ homosexual ‘marriage,’ and transgenderism.Archdiocese of Washington, Facebook, Creative CommonsWASHINGTON D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Addressing participants of Father James Martin’s pro-LGBT “Outreach” conference, D.C.’s Cardinal Wilton Gregory said the heterodox event is aimed at “becoming a more inclusive family of faith.”“In many respects you are engaging in an act of synodality – the vision and invitation proposed by Pope Francis that...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Cupich connects Eucharist to synodality at National Eucharistic CongressThe Eucharist can be thought of as a school for becoming a more synodal church, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said during a July 18 presentation at the National Eucharistic Congress.Addressing a hotel ballroom packed with a diverse audience of Catholics, Cupich made several connections between the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the central theme of the congress, and synodality."Whenever we take the Eucharist, we gradually become freer to take up the mission of Christ," Cupich said in his presentation, titled "Synodality as a Mode of Being Church."Cupich,...

[Catholic Caucus] Leave behind Tridentine model of priesthood, embrace synodality, Cardinal Hollerich bids parish priestsCWN Editor's Note: On the last day of Parish Priests for the Synod—an international meeting of parish priests at the Vatican—Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ, encouraged participants “to become ambassadors of synodality, to be full participants in a synodal Church, to become with all the people of God, missionary disciples of Jesus.” “Many times their training and their reality have been oriented towards a Tridentine model of the priesthood,” Cardinal Hollerich, the relator-general of the synod on synodality, said of parish priests, in an address to Pope...

Connecticut archbishop who supports ‘female deacons’ defends transgender pronoun useArchbishop Christopher Coyne said he would ‘accept’ so-called ‘transgender’ people ‘as they’re presenting themselves,’ claiming it ‘doesn’t cost me anything’ to refer to someone as the wrong sex in contradiction to Catholic teaching and biological reality.A new Connecticut archbishop who supports “female deacons” has endorsed using a gender-confused person’s chosen name and pronouns that contradict their sex.Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford, who assumed leadership of the archdiocese on Wednesday after the resignation of Archbishop Leonard Blair, told Catholic News Agency (CNA) last week that he would use a “transgender” person’s non-biological...

𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 - 𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒅𝙖𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 by Cardinal Mario Grech𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 - 𝑺𝒚𝒏𝒐𝒅𝙖𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚by Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the SynodSpecial theological exchange - Berne, 19th March, 2024Thank you for the following two questions you have put to me:Synodality and doctrineThe synodal process is a learning path for the Roman Catholic Church to incorporate the insights of all its members as it seeks and experiments with ways forward into an as yet unknown future. However, official church regulations on doctrine, law and practice leave little room for manoeuvre in many respects. Moreover, in Catholic mentalities, innovation...

Cardinal McElroy: Pope's climate vision not getting enough attention from US bishopsPope Francis' call for the world to address the coming consequences of global climate change has not garnered enough attention at the U.S. Catholic bishops' conference, said a leading American cardinal.In an exclusive interview with National Catholic Reporter in late February, San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy said the pope's environmental vision "has not gotten the attention of the conference that it should get, and that the pope is calling us to get.""It has not been institutionalized in the conference in the same way that other major initiatives and priorities...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Gregory: "Tradition dies a slow death, sometimes a bloody death"On Wednesday 6 December, the Archbishop of Washington, Wilton Cardinal Gregory, took part in an event at the Catholic University of America as part of their Presidential Speaker Series, entitled "Celebrating Diversity" (h/t Diane Montagna). The full video can be found below, as well as on YouTube. In this talk, His Eminence notes that "even our American Catholic comfort zone can be rattled by the vastness of God's family of cultures, languages, and expressions of Catholic worship; so much diversity can throw some people off balance and quite...

[Catholic Caucus] Terry Barber reveals US nuncio Cardinal Pierre told Bishop Strickland ‘there is no deposit of faith’Terry Barber said that Christophe Pierre, Pope Francis’ apostolic nuncio to the US, told Bishop Strickland, ‘You need to stop talking about the deposit of faith. There is no deposit of faith.’Terry Barber of Virgin Most Powerful Radio revealed on Sunday that Pope Francis’ apostolic nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, told Bishop Joseph Strickland three years ago that “there is no deposit of faith.” Barber, who regularly speaks with the faithful and recently deposed prelate of Tyler, Texas, on his...

Head of Chinese Communist gov’t-run church accepts invitation to visit Diocese of Hong KongArchbishop Li Shan's visit to the Diocese of Hong Kong comes after a year of Beijing's continued violation of the secretive Sino-Vatican deal.HONG KONG (LifeSiteNews) — The communist state-approved Archbishop of Beijing has accepted an invitation to visit Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, marking the increasing links between Hong Kong and the Chinese Communist Party authorities. In a very brief statement issued November 3, the Diocese of Hong Kong announced that “Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing” would begin a five day visit to the diocese on...

[Catholic Caucus] US Apostolic Nuncio receives blowback for slamming the cassock, Traditional Latin MassAn anonymous priest of the Society of St. Pius X told LifeSite that Cardinal Christophe Pierre’s remarks exhibit an off-the-charts levels of cognitive dissonance as modern seminaries are floundering compared to their traditional counterparts.While confessing that young people today do enjoy attending the Latin Mass, Pierre condescendingly asked, “is the liturgy [only] something you like? Is it a refuge? Is the church a refuge? If you look at it as a refuge, you isolate yourselves.”“The church is missionary,” he said. “It’s not a reserve of people who...