Por Rhina Guidos WASHINGTON (CNS) – Republicanos están divididos sobre un proyecto de ley de inmigración presentado por miembros de su propio partido que otorgaría la ciudadanía a millones de personas que se encuentran en el país sin permiso legal.
La congresista María Elvira Salazar, de Florida, en una conferencia de prensa el 9 de febreo, habló sobre la Ley de Dignidad, un proyecto de ley que ayudaría a aquellos que fueron traídos al país como menores sin permiso legal y otros que contribuyen a los EE. UU. mientras que también se enfocaría en reforzar la frontera.
“Estados Unidos ha sido históricamente un faro de refugio para quienes huyen de la violencia y la opresión o buscan una nueva vida y oportunidades”, dijo Salazar. “En las últimas décadas, se ha explotado nuestro fallido sistema de inmigración, lo que ha llevado a una situación que es impropia de nuestra gran nación”.
“Si bien Estados Unidos es una nación de leyes, también somos una nación de segundas oportunidades”, dijo. “A través de la dignidad y una oportunidad de redención, este legado puede continuar”.
Salazar presentó algunas de las disposiciones de la propuesta que incluyen que los inmigrantes paguen $1,000 anuales durante 10 años en un fondo como restitución y ese dinero ayudaría a capacitar a otros trabajadores.
La congresista del partido republicano María Elvira Salazar, de la Florida, habla durante una conferencia de prensa en Capitol Hill en Washington el 20 de mayo de 2021. Salazar ha presentado un proyecto de ley de reforma migratoria. (Foto CNS/Ken Cedeño, Reuters)
La medida “agilizaría” el camino para los menores que ingresaron ilegalmente al país cuando eran niños y reforzaría las estructuras y los sistemas en la frontera de EE. UU. con México – también fundado por un impuesto que se le cobraría a los inmigrantes que solicitan legalizar su situación.
Pero “no tendrán acceso a los beneficios o derechos federales con verificación de recursos”, dijo un comunicado de prensa que describe el proyecto de ley.
Los miembros del propio partido de Salazar se opusieron, exponiendo las divisiones dentro del Partido Republicano entre los que quieren respaldar la reforma migratoria y los que se oponen por completo, calificándola de una especie de “amnistía”.
“Le he pedido a algunos de mis colegas que me expliquen y que me den una definición rigurosa de lo que significa (amnistía). Nadie me la ha podido dar”, dijo Salazar.
El republicano Ronald Reagan en 1986 fue el último presidente estadounidense que logró que el Congreso aprobara una legislación que legalizó, a gran escala, a grupos que habían ingresado al país sin permiso, otorgando a 3 millones de personas lo que algunos llaman “amnistía”.
El republicano de Texas Pete Sessions, así como los miembros republicanos Jenniffer González-Colón de Puerto Rico, Dan Newhouse del estado de Washington, John Curtis de Utah, Tom Reed de Nueva York y Peter Meijer de Michigan han mostrado su apoyo al proyecto de ley.
Sin embargo, otros, como el republicano de Carolina del Norte, Madison Cawthorn, dijeron que la propuesta es “peligrosa”.
Fox News Digital, en un artículo del 9 de febrero citó a Cawthorn diciendo que cualquier propuesta debería “centrarse en las deportaciones y asegurar nuestra frontera”.
Los demócratas también han hecho repetidos intentos de reforma migratoria, pero ninguno de los proyectos de ley que han presentado ha podido obtener el apoyo de una mayoría en el Congreso.
Por David Agren CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (CNS) – Las Hermanas de la Misericordia celebraron la liberación de seis personas en contra de la minería en Honduras, quienes pasaron casi dos años y medio en detención, en un caso que la Corte Suprema del país dijo que nunca hubiera avanzado.
“Celebramos la liberación de los (defensores del Rio Guapinol) que fueron encarcelados injustamente y juzgados por proteger a sus comunidades de la minería destructiva”, tuitearon las Hermanas de la Misericordia el 11 de febrero, dos días después de la decisión de la Corte Suprema.
“La gente de todo el mundo los apoyó porque proteger el agua no es un crimen. Merecen reparaciones”.
Seis hombres, parte de un grupo conocido como defensores del Rio Guapinol, fueron condenados el 9 de febrero por los cargos de causar daños criminales y la detención ilegal del jefe de seguridad de la empresa minera, según el diario The Guardian. Dos de los acusados fueron declarados no culpables.
Apenas un día después, la Corte Suprema de Justicia de Honduras revocó las condenas y anuló el juicio de los ocho defensores, declarando que el juez anterior no tenía jurisdicción sobre el caso.
Los cargos contra los defensores, junto con la prolongada detención y las breves condenas, generaron condena internacional y expusieron los estrechos vínculos entre las élites políticas, económicas y judiciales del país centroamericano.
Honduras ha tenido mala fama en los últimos años por los asesinatos y la persecución de los defensores del medioambiente, quienes a menudo se oponen a la construcción de represas o minas cerca de sus comunidades sin su consulta.
“(Los defensores) simbolizan la solidaridad de los pueblos en defensa de la vida y la libertad. Ellos fortalecen nuestra esperanza y dan sentido a nuestras luchas”, tuiteó el padre jesuita Ismael Moreno Coto, fundador de Radio Progreso en Honduras.
Los medioambientalistas se habían opuesto a la construcción de una mina de óxido de hierro en un parque nacional, lo que contaminó el río y la fuente de agua de su comunidad. La mina es propiedad de un individuo poderoso con conexiones políticas, Lenir Pérez, según los investigadores, quienes cuestionaron las supuestas irregularidades en el proceso de aprobación y la falta de consultas comunitarias.
“(Son) las élites económicas trabajando con las élites políticas”, dijo en una entrevista Jean Stokan, coordinadora de justicia de las Hermanas de la Misericordia de las Américas.
Las Hermanas de la Misericordia, quienes han tenido presencia en Honduras durante 60 años, abogaron por la comunidad de Guapinol antes de la detención y juicio de los medioambientalistas.
Las hermanas llevaron el caso a la Embajada de EE.UU. en Honduras, donde Stokan recordó que le dijeron: “Estamos hablando entre bastidores”. Las hermanas querían que la embajada hablara públicamente.
Finalmente la embajado lo hizo en diciembre, luego de que Honduras eligiera una nueva presidenta, Xiomara Castro, quien prometió justicia para los medioambientalistas y dijo que abordaría temas como la pobreza y la violencia.
Stokan dijo que estaba “extremadamente esperanzada” con la presidencia de Castro, pero le dijo a oficiales que se enfocaran en algo más que frenar la corrupción.
“Esta presidenta necesitará el apoyo de Estados Unidos para todo el proyecto que está tratando de presentar”, dijo Stokan.
By Catholic News Service NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Jerome Bettis, in his football days, got the nickname “The Bus” because he was carrying would-be tacklers along with him during his punishing runs from scrimmage.
Today, what Bettis is carrying is a full load of classes at the University of Notre Dame, as he strives to finish what he started in his college days more than 30 years ago – a bachelor’s degree in business.
Bettis, now 49, is on track to graduate this spring and get that coveted Notre Dame diploma. If he does, the Pro Football Hall of Famer will have made good on a promise to his mother, Gladys – you may remember their Campbell’s Chunky Soup commercial from 20 years ago – that he would get his sheepskin.
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis competes against the Cincinnati Bengals in this 2002 file photo. He played three years at the University of Notre Dame in the early 1990s. (CNS photo/John Sommers II, Reuters)
“I promised my mother that I would get my degree,” he said. “In my immediate family, I’ll be the first person to graduate from college,” Bettis told NBC’s “Today” show Jan. 28. And at commencement exercises in May, Bettis getting a diploma means that all 21 Notre Dame football recruits from 1990 will have graduated.
Bettis has lived much of his life in public eye as a throwback of sorts. In an era of pro football where running backs dipped, dived and swerved to avoid tacklers, Bettis was the hard-charging fullback who plunged into the line, dragging defenders with him as he motored for that extra yard. It served him well: Bettis is eighth all-time in NFL rushing yardage at 13,662 yards, not to mention eight 1,000-yard seasons, 91 touchdowns, six Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl championship after the 2005 season, his final season before retiring as a player.
On campus, Bettis is another throwback. Most of the students at Notre Dame aren’t even half his age; Bettis turns 50 Feb. 16. They take their class notes on tablets or laptops; Bettis takes his notes with pen and paper.
Still, he told NBC’s Anne Thompson – herself a Notre Dame graduate: “I am a much better student at 49 because I want to learn, I want to know all of this information.”
The degree will come in handy in his post-football career, which has involved trucking, staffing, development and marketing companies as well as his career as a television personality, where Bettis is on camera for the NFL Network. “I say to all our coaches that there are three things we should be concerned about versus integrity: Do things the right way, second is help these kids get a degree and do well in their lives, and the third is winning on the field,” said Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, Notre Dame’s president, on “Today.” “And Jerome getting a degree after all his success just underscores how important that is.”
By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) – On Feb. 1, Xavier University of Louisiana was among a group of several historically Black colleges and universities in the United States that received bomb threats.
The threats to the university and at least 12 other historically Black colleges and universities came a day after at least six other similar schools received these same threats.
A tweet issued by the university Feb. 1 said: “Xavier University of Louisiana received a bomb threat early this morning and is cooperating with investigating law enforcement. The campus has been cleared and classes will continue as scheduled starting at noon.”
A statement from Patrice Bell, the university’s vice president and chief of staff, said that when the school received the threat “an immediate evacuation of the area and a shelter in place for our residential students were issued” until the university received clearance to from campus, local, state and federal agencies.
She also noted the university would “continue to increase surveillance and mitigation efforts to safeguard its community.”
Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation’s only historically Black Catholic university, held its classes virtually that morning.
This was the second bomb threat the university received in less than a month. On Jan. 4, the university also was targeted along with other historically Black colleges and universities.
The recent wave of threats falling just before or at the start of Black History Month, observed every February, was not lost on school leaders and others.
Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans is seen in this undated photo. The Catholic university, along with other historically Black colleges and universities, received a bomb threat Feb. 1, 2022. Areas of Xavier were evacuated and classes held virtually until about noon while the incident was investigated. Residential students also were told to shelter in place for a time. It was the second time in a less than a month that Xavier had been threatened. (CNS photo/courtesy Xavier University of Louisiana)
A Feb. 2 statement by the general council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters said they were “horrified by the series of bomb threats that have closed down historically Black colleges and universities during the past month” including those that occurred on “the first day of Black History Month.”
“Although no bombs have been found, these terrifying and disruptive threats of violence against innocent students, faculty and staff are an assault against the foundational freedoms of our democracy — and a threat to us all,” the sisters added.
They said that as women of faith, they “stand in solidarity with our Black brothers and sisters at these iconic educational institutions and call for a thorough investigation and prosecution of these despicable hate crimes.” The sisters said they prayed that “God’s loving care and protection” would surround and safeguard theses schools and also prayed “for the conversion of all whose hearts are poisoned by hatred.”
Both the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they were investigating the school threats.
On Jan. 31, after the first wave of recent threats, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said they were “certainly disturbing” and said the White House was in touch with federal law enforcement leadership about them.
In a Feb. 1 statement, the NAACP said it was monitoring these threats and noted that the “Black community has long been plagued by threats of domestic terrorism against them in their schools, homes and houses of worship.”
In other reaction, the leaders of the Congressional Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus said in a Jan. 31 statement that they were deeply disturbed by recent bomb threats at these campuses.
“Learning is one of the most noble and most human pursuits, and schools are sacred places that should always be free from terror,” the statement said. The group also stressed that “solving these crimes and bringing those responsible to justice should be a top priority for federal law enforcement.”
Xavier University of Louisiana opened in 1925 and currently has about 3,000 students. It got its start from St. Katharine Drexel, who opened a high school in 1915 on the property where the university was founded by the saint and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, the order St. Katharine founded in 1891.
By Dennis Sadowski DAYTON, Ohio – The history of Black Catholics and other marginalized people in the U.S. church covering more than two centuries is one worth knowing and can guide the church’s response to the challenges of racism and social justice, historian Shannen Dee Williams believes.
Addressing the online opening session of the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering Jan. 29, Williams explained that the journey of how people who are often overlooked have influenced church history deserves more than a footnote in historical record.
The gathering convened online for the second consecutive year because of the coronavirus pandemic, addressing the theme “Justice at the Margins.”
Shannen Dee Williams, associate professor of history at the University of Dayton in Ohio, speaks Jan. 29, 2022, during the virtual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering’s opening plenary session on “Justice at the Margins.” (CNS screen grab/courtesy CSMG)
Williams, associate professor history at the University of Dayton, focused her comments on the history of Black women religious, who faced racism within the church from religious congregations and clergy. She highlighted the lives of Mother Mary Lange and Sister Thea Bowman, who have the title “Servant of God,” and Venerable Henriette Delille, all of whom withstood discrimination as they carried out their call to a religious vocation.
She called on attendees to learn, as she did over the past 15 years, about the history of Black Catholics since early in the founding of the United States.
Williams confessed it was a history she knew little about until she began researching a topic during graduate studies.
Growing up and throughout her schooling, Williams admitted that she was not interested in Black Catholic history and, although she was a lifelong Catholic, she had never seen a Black woman religious.
“In fact, the only Black sister that I knew at the time was Sister Mary Clarence, the fictional character played by Whoopi Goldberg in the critically acclaimed ‘Sister Act’ franchise,” she said.
But while searching for a topic on which to focus her graduate work, Williams came across a story about the formation of the National Black Sisters’ Conference in 1968. She excitedly called her mother later in the day to discuss her discovery.
Williams recalled that her mother was unaware there were Black nuns serving the church.
In the course of her research, Williams soon learned about the rich history of Black women who endured discrimination within the church and religious congregations in their attempts to live a religious vocation. She also found stories and documents about the Black Catholic experience overall. The more she read, the more she wanted to learn more.
“One of the powerful of those myths was my belief that Black Catholics were footnotes in the story of the development of the U.S. Catholic Church, that the story of the Black Catholic community did not become significant until the 20th century, when their numbers grew significantly as African American Southerners migrated to Northern, Midwestern and Western cities and converted to Catholicism,” Williams said.
Her research led to the revelation that Black Catholics are as much a part of the story of the American Catholic Church as are Europeans.
Since then, Williams said, her work as been “grounded in the fundamental belief in the transformative power and possibilities of Black historical truth-telling in the fight against racism and white supremacy.”
Williams invited attendees to bring justice to the margins by undertaking a series of actions that promote racial equality. One step is to pray to end “individual and institutional racism and the toxic reality of anti-Blackness,” she said.
A second action would be to “always educate ourselves” through a reading club that includes books on anti-racism and the diversity of the American Catholic Church and inviting speakers to address Black Catholic history.
Williams suggested that events in parishes and other communities can be scheduled during Black History Month (February), Black Catholic History Month (November) as well as Women’s History Month (March), Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (May), Hispanic Heritage Month (September) and Native American Heritage Month (November).
Members of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of Peter Claver pray during a Mass marking Black Catholic History Month Nov. 21, 2021, at Our Lady of Victory Church in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, N.Y. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
Learning about the history of diverse communities will help address racism while promoting understanding and equality, Williams said.
Williams also called on Catholics to be “intentional” in supporting racial justice causes through actions such as special collections for historically Black Catholic schools and others serving marginalized people; scholarships and fellowships for descendants of enslaved and colonized people; and programs addressing mass incarceration, environmental racism and voter suppression.
“For me, the possibilities of racial justice, of reconciliation and peace are only possible through this ongoing power of Black Catholic historical truth-telling,” she said.
By Dennis Sadowski (CNS) Edmonia Lewis, the first African American and Native American sculptor to achieve international recognition through works that reflected her Catholic faith and the dignity of people, is being commemorated on a new postage stamp. The stamp, the 45th in the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage series, will be issued Jan. 26 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington.
The stamp’s design features a painted portrait based on an Augustus Marshall photograph taken between 1864 and 1871 while Lewis was in Boston, the USPS said.
Lewis overcame multiple obstacles before arriving in Rome in 1865 and opening a studio where she incorporated the neoclassical style popular at the time and establishing herself as one of the most significant sculptors of the 19th century.
Her work is in the permanent collections at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington. Works also are scattered in church institutions in the U.S. and Europe. Some continue to be discovered after being missing for decades.
Edmonia Lewis, an African American and Native American sculptor who was Catholic, is honored on a stamp as part of the U.S. Postal Service’s Black Heritage series, set for release Jan. 26, 2022. (CNS photo/courtesy U.S. Postal Service)
Art historian Elizabeth Lev, who grew up in Boston and has lived in Rome for 30 years, said it was in the Eternal City, where its cosmopolitan atmosphere meant skin color mattered little, that Lewis found inspiration to pursue sculpting in her preferred medium of marble.
“Rome becomes a place where she can truly not just discover herself but become everything she always dreamed to be,” Lev told Catholic News Service. “The limitations she felt and were real in many ways in the U.S. were not limitations (in Rome).”
Lev described Lewis’ worked as reflecting her mixed ancestry as she created sculptures of notable abolitionists as well as figurative images that reflected experiences of people of color, particularly following the abolition of slavery.
Lewis also portrayed religious images, at times imitating neoclassical and Renaissance artists. One such work from 1875 depicts Moses in an imitation of Michelangelo’s 16th-century statue of the man who led the Israelites out of oppression.
An 1874 piece portrays Hagar, an Old Testament heroine who was the maidservant to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. Hagar is shown after Sarah banished her to the wilderness in a jealous rage over Hagar’s son Ishmael, whom Abraham fathered. Hagar has an empty jug at her feet while looking heavenward as she seeks water. Art experts have surmised that Lewis chose Hagar as a symbol of courage and survival, a symbol of her own experiences.
Details of Lewis’ early life are limited. She was born in 1844 in Greenbush, New York, near Albany. Later in life, Lewis maintained she was born July 4 that year. Her father was Haitian American and her mother was Chippewa. Both died before Lewis was 5.
Lewis was raised by her mother’s family until she was 12 and was known as “Wildfire,” according to a Smithsonian American Art Museum biography. In 1859 at age 15, her older brother, who had become a successful gold miner in California, helped Lewis enroll at Oberlin College in Ohio, one of the first institutions in the country to admit African Americans. She took the name Mary Edmonia Lewis.
She did not graduate, however. Despite the school welcoming African Americans, Lewis was subjected to racism and sexism. In 1862, two friends became ill after Lewis served them wine, opening the way to charges that she poisoned them.
The charges were dismissed at trial, but soon after Lewis was severely beaten by white vigilantes who left her for dead. About a year later, she was accused of stealing artists’ materials from the school, but again was acquitted because of a lack of evidence. Lewis left Oberlin in 1863 for Boston, again with her brother’s assistance. There she studied under portrait sculptor Edward Brackett.
In the resolutely anti-slavery atmosphere of Boston, Lewis was inspired to create busts of abolitionists John Brown, who led the doomed slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, and Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who was killed while leading the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Regiment in the Union Army’s unsuccessful second assault on Fort Wagner near Charleston, South Carolina, in 1863.
Lev said Lewis’ work in Boston and Europe was inspired by her experiences as well as by the faith of the abolitionists, whose belief in human dignity was rooted in their deeply held religious principles.
Having saved enough money from the sale of her work, Lewis traveled to Europe in 1865 at age 20 in the hope of establishing her sculpting career. After stops in London, Paris and Florence, Italy, Lewis settled in Rome, where she opened a studio during the winter of 1865-1866 collaborating with other female sculptors in a male-dominated discipline.
Lewis’ work caught the eye of several benefactors, including John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, known as the 3rd Marquess of Bute, a Scottish magnate who became Catholic at age 21.
Crichton-Stuart financially supported Lewis, allowing her to craft works that gained enthusiastic reviews. Lev, other art historians and scholars continue to study and teach about new understandings and discoveries about Lewis and her sculptures.
Lev said that how Lewis became Catholic is uncertain. Lev related one story which finds that the Native American tribe that raised her in New York was being ministered to by Jesuit missionaries. Lev, however, doubts that was the case and points to Lewis’ time in Rome as likely being more influential in the development of her Catholic faith. “There’s the Catholicism of this Scottish convert who is very excited about her work and she is brought into this world of Catholic patronage in Rome. Part of it is the welcome of the Catholic community,” Lev said.
One of Lewis’ most well-known sculptures is “Forever Free,” created in 1867. It depicts a Black man and woman emerging from the bonds of slavery. Lev said that while the man is standing, the woman is shown on her knees praying in thanksgiving for being freed of the bonds of slavery.
That sculpture and others, Lev said, is how Lewis used her art to communicate in a subtle and nuanced way to address issues of social justice.
“That’s where I think we can learn from someone who knew about racism really, the woman who was beaten to within an inch of her life at Oberlin. The woman who every step of the way had to overcome obstacles,” Lev told CNS.
(Lewis died in London in 1907 at age 63. She never married and had no children. She is buried in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery in city’s borough of Brent.)
NATION NEW YORK (CNS) – In emotional remarks Feb. 2 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the sister of slain Officer Wilbert Mora paid tribute to her brother and his late partner, Officer Jason Rivera, but also decried the “violence and crime” taking the lives of police as they try to protect the citizenry. “It hurts me to know that two exemplary young men, like Officer Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora, were taken before their time,” Karina Mora told the mourners who packed the cathedral for the funeral Mass for her brother. The service took place less than a week after Rivera’s funeral Mass, also at the cathedral. These were two young men “who wanted to make a difference and a change in their city with their service and their sacrifice,” said Karina Mora, who spoke in Spanish, with her words interpreted in English for the congregation. “Now I only ask myself, how many Wilberts, how many Jasons, how many more officers will have to lose their lives for this system to change?” she said. “How many other lives who protect us will be taken away by violence and crime? How many mothers? How many more mothers, how many children will have to lose their family and live this trauma and this kind of tragedy?”
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Trying to advance the economic status of American Indians is like playing a game of Monopoly that they can never win, said panelists during a Jan. 30 plenary session of the Jan. 29-Feb. 1 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering. “Imagine you arrive to the game late … and you see what properties are remaining. On this monopolized board, all the properties are taken. That’s where we come in. We were invited to play the game decades later,” said Lakota Vogel, executive director of the Four Bands Community Fund in South Dakota. “We come to the Monopoly board without money to buy the property, and we can’t even build houses there. We just hope we build something that makes everybody else pay taxes,” said Tara Mason, historical trauma coordinator for the Niibi Center, a nonprofit organization serving the White Earth Reservation members in Minnesota. “We’re at a disadvantage from multiple perspectives,” added Mason, herself a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Band. “It’s not even the same Monopoly game that we have an opportunity to play.” Vogel said one solution would be to “rewrite the rules of the game. Or maybe we’re creating a whole new board for us to operate in.” Pete Upton, board chair of the Native CDFI Network – CDFI is an acronym for community development financial institution – is trying to rewrite those rules. And if he can’t do it, he suggested that Congress can.
People gather outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City during the funeral Mass for Officer Wilbert Mora of the New York Police Department Feb. 2, 2022. Mora, 27, was fatally shot in the line of duty while responding to a domestic violence call in Harlem Jan. 21 and died of his wounds Jan. 25. (CNS photo/Carlo Allegri, Reuters)
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Akash Bashir, a 20-year-old volunteer security guard who was killed by a suicide bomber in 2015, is the first Pakistani to be given the title, “servant of God,” an initial step on the path to sainthood. Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore, Pakistan, informed Catholics of his archdiocese that Pope Francis had granted the title to Bashir Jan. 31, the feast of St. John Bosco. “We praise and thank God for this brave young man, who could have escaped or tried to save himself, but he remained steadfast in his faith and did not let the suicide bomber enter the church. He gave his life to save more than a thousand people present in the church for Sunday Mass,” the archbishop said, according to Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Bashir had studied at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore and was one of the parishioners of the Church of St. John who volunteered to provide security outside the church. “Akash was on duty at the church entrance gate on March 15, 2015, when he spotted a man who wanted to enter the church with an explosive belt on his body,” Fides said. “Akash blocked him at the entrance gate, foiling the terrorist’s plan to massacre those inside the church.”
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The “true gold medal” at the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games goes to everything that helps the global community be more welcoming and accepting of all people, Pope Francis said. At the end of his general audience Feb. 2, the pope focused on the bonds that unite all people in one human family as he prayed for the people of Myanmar, spoke about the upcoming 2022 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics and anticipated the International Day of Human Fraternity. For more than a year, “we have watched with pain the violence staining Myanmar with blood,” the pope said. A coup Feb. 1, 2021, ended the country’s experiment with democracy and set off protests and repression, death and detention. Joining an appeal launched by the country’s bishops, the pope called on the international community “to work for reconciliation between the parties involved. We cannot look away from the suffering of so many of our brothers and sisters. Let us ask God, in prayer, for consolation for that tormented population.” Pope Francis also noted that Feb. 4 would be the second celebration of International Day of Human Fraternity, a U.N.-declared observation to promote interreligious dialogue and friendship on the anniversary of the document on human fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi in 2019, by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt.
Mercy Sister Janet Mead of Australia, who topped the 1974 pop charts with a rock version of the “Our Father,” died Jan. 26, 2022, in Adelaide, Australia, at age 84. (CNS screen grab/YouTube, ABC News Australia)
WORLD MEXICO CITY (CNS) – Retired Bishop Onésimo Cepeda Silva of Ecatepec – the colorful and controversial Mexican bishop who rubbed shoulders with the rich, served one of the country’s roughest dioceses and made a brief, but disastrous foray into electoral politics – died Jan. 31. He was 84. The Diocese of Ecatepec confirmed Bishop Cepeda’s death, as did the Mexican bishops’ conference, which barely 10 months earlier disavowed his registration as a legislative candidate for a minor political party. Bishop Cepeda had contracted COVID-19 three weeks earlier, according to church statements. Mexican media reported he had been intubated. Bishop Cepeda cut a controversial course through Mexico’s public life. He served the ramshackle suburbs of Mexico City, but appeared in society publications and played golf at expensive country clubs. Politicians and business elites regularly attended his birthday celebration. He reputedly came under investigation for his acquiring a wealthy church donor’s art collection, which contained works by Latin masters Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo. Bishop Cepeda also served as a godfather to bullfighters, according to Mexican media.
ADELAIDE, Australia (CNS) – Mercy Sister Janet Mead, who earned gold records for her 1974 hit version of the Our Father, died Jan. 26 in her native Adelaide. She was 84 and had been battling cancer. In 1974, “The Lord’s Prayer,” set to an uptempo rock beat, scaled up the charts, peaking at No. 4 in the United States and No. 3 in Australia, earning her gold records for the single. Sister Mead was an unlikely pop star. The only other nun in U.S. history to crack the top 10 in the United States was Soeur Sourire, better known as The Singing Nun, for her lively folk ode to St. Dominic, 1963’s French-language “Dominique.” Sister Mead also was the first Australian to have a gold record in the United States. The single was distributed to 31 countries, according to ABC, Australia’s government-subsidized broadcaster, selling, by various accounts, 1.5 million, 2 million or 3 million copies worldwide. Sister Mead was even nominated for a Grammy, but lost out to Elvis Presley. She declined an offer to tour the United States and donated all her royalties to charity. But for those who weren’t monitoring Top 40 radio in 1974, they might have heard her arrangement played during Masses at Catholic churches and schools.
En esta foto de archivo del 27 de febrero de 2013, el Papa Benedicto XVI sale de su audiencia general final en la Plaza de San Pedro en el Vaticano. El Papa jubilado emitió una declaración el 8 de febrero sobre el reciente informe sobre abusos en la Arquidiócesis de Munich y Freising, donde se desempeñó como arzobispo entre 1977 y 1982. (Foto del SNC/Paul Haring)
Se ven a estudiantes universitarios con figuras de cartón de los Papas Benedicto XVI, Francisco y San Juan Pablo II el 4 de febrero de 2022, durante la conferencia SEEK22 en el Centro de Convenciones de Knoxville en Knoxville, Tennessee. Más de 1,000 participantes de 15 universidades de cinco estados asistieron a la conferencia Fellowship of Catholic University Students del 4 al 6 de febrero. (Foto de CNS/Gabrielle Nolan, The East Tennessee Catholic
Vaticano el 9 de febrero después de que el Papa Francisco, en su audiencia general, elogió el comentario del Papa Benedicto en un comunicado el día anterior reconociendo su propia presencia ante “la puerta oscura de la muerte”. (Foto del CNS/Vatican Media)
Ariana Mora de Jerome, Idaho, trabaja mientras está embarazada de 8 meses el 27 de octubre de 2021. El Comité Senatorial de Salud, Educación, Trabajo y Pensiones adelantó la Ley de Equidad para Trabajadoras Embarazadas en agosto con una votación de 19-2 ese mismo año. La Cámara de Representantes aprobó el proyecto de ley 315-101 tres meses antes. (Foto del CNS/Shannon Stapleton, Reuters)
By Matthew Young Many people do not know of an immigration application known as Form I-751. This form is required for a certain category of permanent residents known, somewhat paradoxically, as “conditional permanent residents” to remove conditions on their status and receive a normal green card that is valid for ten years.
The conditional green card is given to people who have received their permanent resident status on the basis of a marriage that is less than two years old. The card is valid for two years. The purpose of Form I-751 is to further confirm that the marriage is legitimate.
It is not an absolute requirement that the immigrant remain married to their spouse in order to file Form I-751; there is a provision for applicants who have divorced their spouses since becoming permanent residents, as well as a provision for spouses who have been the victim of domestic abuse. There is also a provision for applicants whose spouse has died. However, in all cases evidence must be provided that the marriage was entered into in good faith.
It is very important that Form I-751 be distinguished from Form I-90. Form I-90 is the form used by non-conditional permanent residents to renew their green cards every ten years. A conditional green card cannot be renewed with Form I-90, and such an application will be denied.
Form I-751 can only be filed during a specific window of time: the 90-day period prior to the expiration of the conditional green card. Applications filed more than 90 days prior to the expiration will be rejected and returned to the applicant. Applications filed after the conditional green card has expired are likely to be denied, unless the applicant can show that the failure to file during the 90-day window was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond their control.
For information about legal services relating to immigration, call the Migrant Support Center at Catholic Charities of Jackson at 601-948-2635.
(Matthew Young is an attorney for the Migrant Support Center of Catholic Charities, Inc. Diocese of Jackson)
NATION WASHINGTON (CNS) – Prominent leaders of the religious freedom movement introduced an organization they say will work to defend religious liberty and support political candidates at all levels of government who back the free practice of religion. Charging that religious practice is increasingly threatened by legal maneuvering and public actions that seek to limit the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious rights, speakers during an online launch of the organization Jan. 18 called on Americans to join the effort. Tom Farr, president of the Religious Freedom Institute, said the new organization will be known as the National Committee for Religious Freedom. It is being established as a separate nonprofit organization under the institute. “If religious freedom is diminished and damaged in America, our beloved country will be grievously harmed, but so too will the rest of the world,” Farr said during the launch event. “Our nation has built a system of religious freedom that, while never perfect, is unparalleled in the history of mankind. It stands as a guiding light for a world sorely in need of religious freedom.” The committee’s early efforts will focus on forming chapters in all 50 states. Supporters are asked to sign a pledge committing to protect religious freedom. The pledge is on the committee website at www.thencrf.org.
Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful from the balcony of his summer residence on the day of his resignation in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, in this Feb. 28, 2013, file photo. A German law firm’s report on how abuse cases were handled in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising incriminated retired Pope Benedict, with lawyers accusing him of misconduct in four cases during his tenure as Munich archbishop. The pope denied wrongdoing in all cases, according to the firm. (CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters)
VATICAN VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In the wake of a massive underwater volcanic eruption in Tonga, subsequent tsunamis and now contamination from volcanic ash and saltwater, Pope Francis has appealed for prayers for the people of the region. “My thoughts go to the people of the islands of Tonga, struck in recent days by the eruption of the underwater volcano, which caused enormous material damage. I am spiritually close to all the people suffering, imploring God for the relief of their suffering,” the pope said at the end of his general audience talk in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall Jan. 19. “I invite everyone to join me in praying for these brothers and sisters,” he said. The massive eruption Jan. 15 triggered a series of tsunamis that inundated coastal communities, destroying homes, contaminating water supplies and cutting off power and communications. Mounds of ash, which continued to fall from the volcano days after the blast, were also contaminating water sources and hampering efforts to bring in outside aid and rescue teams. However, there are concerns that bringing in aid from outside the region and distributing relief might spread the virus that causes COVID-19: Tonga recorded its first case in October. At least three people have been reported dead in the Tonga region and two in Peru from tsunamis triggered by the eruption.
WORLD MUNICH, Germany (CNS) – A law firm’s report on how abuse cases were handled in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising incriminated retired Pope Benedict XVI, with lawyers accusing him of misconduct in four cases during his tenure as Munich archbishop. Lawyer Martin Pusch of the law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl said the retired pope had denied wrongdoing in all cases, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA. Pusch expressed doubt about Pope Benedict’s claim of ignorance in some cases, saying this was, at times, “hardly reconcilable” with the files. At the Vatican, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, said, “The Holy See believes it has an obligation to give serious attention to the document” on cases of abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, but it has not yet had a chance to study it. “In the coming days, following its publication, the Holy See will review it and will be able to properly examine its details. Reiterating its sense of shame and remorse for the abuse of minors committed by clerics, the Holy See assures its closeness to all victims and confirms the path taken to protect the youngest, ensuring safe environments for them,” Bruni said. Retired Pope Benedict headed the Munich Archdiocese from 1977 to 1982, before being called to the Vatican to head the doctrinal congregation.
DUBLIN (CNS) – The Irish government has added a new public holiday to the national calendar to honor the country’s female patron, St. Brigid of Kildare. The fifth-century abbess – who is one of the country’s three patron saints along with St. Patrick and St. Columba – founded several monasteries of nuns. Her Feb. 1 feast day will become the new holiday; many Irish people mark that date as the traditional first day of spring. Bishop Denis Nulty of Kildare and Leighlin, where St. Brigid founded her largest monastic settlement, had backed calls for the female saint to be honored on the civil calendar. The new holiday, on which all public offices will close, will be in addition to St. Patrick’s Day, which falls on March 17 and is also a public holiday. This year, St. Patrick’s Day will have an extra holiday March 18 as a special “thank you” to front-line health care workers for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.