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Man plows over 10 Commandments monument in Arkansas
June 30, 2017 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print
Little Rock, Ark., Jun 30, 2017 / 05:51 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- When Moses smashed the stone tablets in Exodus 32, out of rage for the sins of his people, he used his bare hands.
But maybe a car would have made the task easier?
Michael Tate Reed, 32, yelled "Freedom!" as he plowed his car into a statue of the 10 Commandments placed outside the state capitol of Arkansas early in the morning of June 28, demolishing it.
The privately-funded monument, the product of a years-long heated debate about its constitutionality, had been up for fewer than 24 hours when Reed filmed himself destroying it.
Reed posted the video to his personal Facebook, where he also self-identifies as a born-again Christian and "Pentecostal Jesus Freak."
Reed was caught in the act by an on-patrol police officer at the capitol and is being held in the Pulaski County Detention Center on charges of defacing an object of public interest, criminal trespassing and first degree criminal mischief, according to authorities.
It is his second alleged 10-Commandment-smashing offense.
Oklahoma authorities confirmed to The Associated Press that Reed is the same man who was arrested in October 2014 for destroying Oklahoma's Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol with his car.
At that time, Reed self-identified as a Satanist and said that Satan had told him to smash the monument. He was charged with destruction of state property or improvements, indecent exposure, making threatening statements, reckless driving, and operating a vehicle with a revoked license in 2014.
In 2015, Reed wrote an apology for the act that published in a local Oklahoma paper, saying he was sorry and that he had had a psychotic break that drove him to destroy the monument.
"I am so sorry that this [is] all happening and I wished I could take it all back," Reed said in a letter to Tulsa World.
Arkansas state Senator Jason Rapert, who pushed for the monument's construction, told local media that the incident could be a call to consider the state of mental health care in Arkansas, but that it has not yet been a proven defense for Reed's most recent act.
Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson tweeted that "resorting to property destruction is never the answer to a policy disagreement".
The American Civil Liberties Union had opposed the building of the Arkansas monument as well as other 10 Commandments monuments at state capitols around the United States. Its construction was also opposed by the Freethinkers Society and the Satanic Temple.
After the destruction of Arkansas' monument, the ACLU has said that they "strongly condemn any illegal act of destruction or vandalism."
"The ACLU remains committed to seeing this unconstitutional monument struck down by the courts and safely removed through legal means," ACLU of Arkansas Executive Director Rita Sklar said.
Monuments of the 10 Commandments have attracted controversy in the past. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a monument of the 10 Commandments in Texas was constitutional, and other federal courts have been divided on other such monuments.
Rapert said Wednesday during a Facebook live news conference that he intended to have the Arkansas monument rebuilt.
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Catholic school superintendent: 'Our kids need to go back to school'
August 1, 2020 CNA Daily News 8
Denver Newsroom, Aug 1, 2020 / 09:00 am (CNA).- Bishops and school superintendents across the US are emphasizing the importance of in-person education for the coming fall term, and are seeking to reassure parents that schools are taking the precautions necessary to keep children safe.
In Florida, where Governor Rick Scott has issued an order mandating that schools must reopen in person in the fall, superintendents say they are doing everything they can to prepare to welcome students in safely while also offering remote learning for those who need it.
Chris Pastura, superintendent of schools in the St. Petersburg diocese, told CNA in an interview July 31 that he and other leaders in the diocese believe strongly it is important for students to come back in person.
"Our kids are loved every day, they're in a community, they're in a faith community, they're celebrating the sacraments— I think our kids need that environment. Our kids need to go back to school."
"COVID is not the only dangerous thing in our society. Lack of community, loneliness, and all those kinds of things affect kids. And I think it's important for our kids to be back in school."
Florida has become a center of the US coronavirus outbreak of late, with infections on the rise over the past few months.
From a pro-life standpoint, Pastura said, the schools in his diocese will be doing comprehensive testing for their employees, and other measures such as social distancing in the classroom to protect the students.
On Monday, the Diocese of St. Petersburg sent a letter to the parents of its nearly 13,000 students asking them to sign a waiver of liability, choosing to accept the risk that their children may be sickened by coronavirus at school.
Several other dioceses in Florida and a number of others across the country are asking parents of students returning to class in-person to sign similar waivers.
Pastura said for the most part, parents are accustomed to signing waivers for almost any activity their child does. The diocese had in spring drafted a waiver for summer camps, and early in the summer began to consider adapting it for the school year, as well.
All schools are giving the option of coming back in person, or doing online learning for students in high-risk medical categories, or who may have high-risk people in their households, Pastura said.
The idea, he said, was to create a "statement of understanding" for parents, make them aware that a child could contract coronavirus despite the school's best efforts.
"Since this is just such uncharted territory, we thought it was important for people to first realize that we are doing all kinds of plans to make sure that our students and our employees are safe, and we're trying to make sure we do this the right way."
However, Pastura said, the school cannot possibly know what children are being exposed to outside the seven hours a day they spend at school.
"The release from liability— is it overly cautious? Maybe," he said.
"But we do live in a very litigious society, and we just thought it to be prudent…providing families with a very clear statement, I think that's the responsible thing to do, I think it's the fair thing to do."
Being asked to sign a waiver for any activity can raise red flags for people, Pastura said, and because there is so much uncertainty around coronavirus, it is understandable that parents may not understand the importance of the waiver.
Pastura said he and his Catholic school colleagues at other dioceses across Florida speak regularly about their reopening plans. He said he hopes that parents will trust those in authority over the state's Catholic schools, and recognize that those authorities are creating reopening plans with students' best interests at heart.
"There's a lot that goes into these decisions, and sometimes we just have to have some faith in one another. Even if we don't agree with someone's decision, maybe we can accept that it was made in good confidence based on the information available."
The superintendent of schools for the Pensacola-Tallahassee diocese has also spoken out about the importance of opening Catholic schools in person.
"We feel that their spiritual growth is vital to them. We're educating the whole child, and spiritually is a big part of that," superintendent Mike Juhas told EWTN News Nightly.
Elsewhere, the bishops of California said this week that Catholic schools in California are taking appropriate measures against the threat of coronavirus and authorities should issue waivers to rules that bar the schools from reopening for "vital" in-person education, citing the low risk of coronavirus infection among children.
Initially, the nation's largest Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles, with 74,000 students attending its schools, announced on June 15 that schools would be reopening for in-person learning in the fall in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara.
However, California governor Gavin Newsom said on July 17 that schools in the state where coronavirus cases were high would remain closed for in-person learning.
Meanwhile, in Texas where COVID-19 cases have soared in the summer, the state is granting religious private schools the freedom to decide for themselves how to reopen in the fall.
In a July 29 joint op-ed, the archbishops of New York Boston and Los Angeles exhorted Congress and President Trump to adopt a federal scholarship tax credit modeled after successful state-level credits in order to assist private schools. Such a program would now be possible following the Supreme Court's landmark June ruling in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, they said.
The bishops argued that Catholic schools— many of which are facing closure amid the pandemic— are worth saving because of their savings to taxpayers and their success in creating successful and well-formed citizens.
"Students and families for generations have benefited from Catholic schools, which have benefited America as a whole. This is now in serious jeopardy, as another sad legacy of the coronavirus pandemic," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Cardinal Seán O'Malley, and Archbishop José Gómez wrote.
"Urgent action by President Donald Trump and Congress to meet the needs of Catholic and other school families will preserve this important education option for generations to come and prevent added financial burdens on our government school systems."
Texas AG: Planned Parenthood not singled out by coronavirus order
April 2, 2020 CNA Daily News 1
Washington D.C., Apr 2, 2020 / 04:00 pm (CNA).- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has disputed Planned Parenthood's claim that the state targeted abortion clinics in an order prohibiting non-essential medical procedures during the coronavirus pandemic.
Interview an interview that will air Thursday on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, Paxton said that the abortion provider was itself demanding special treatment in a legal challenge to the executive issued last month by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott issued the executive order (GA 09) on March 22, halting non-essential surgeries and medical procedures during the coronavirus pandemic, in order to free up resources and medical personnel to treat COVID patients.
Abbott clarified that the order would apply to "any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother."
"What they are actually asking to be singled out," Paxton said Thursday. "[They want] to be treated better than everybody else during this crisis, so they could be doing elective abortions, when those resources could otherwise be used to save somebody's life."
Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups filed litigation over the executive order, claiming Abbott singled out the procedure. A federal district court initially blocked the order, but the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on that ruling March 31, permitting Abbott's order to go into effect.
In a statement Tuesday, Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, called Abbott's order "heartless," adding, "No other form of health care is being targeted this way — only abortion."
During the interview on EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, Paxton argued that the Texas order does not single out abortion clinics, but is "a ban on elective procedures which also includes abortion."
"It includes orthopedic surgeries, it includes dental procedures, it includes dermatological procedures, it includes all kinds of elective procedures, they are not being singled out, they are just being treated like everybody else," Paxton said.
Paxton argued that any type of nonessential medical procedure "had to be stopped" in an effort to conserve personal protective equipment for health care professionals battling the coronavirus pandemic.
"We're trying to conserve those because there's a shortage of them, and conserve resources like hospital beds, and even the focus of doctors' time," Paxton said.
Paxton argued that through its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood is asking for special treatment.
"We didn't want anybody treated any differently but apparently Planned Parenthood and the abortion providers felt like they should be given an exception to how other people and how other providers are being treated," he said.
The order, Paxton said, "applies to everyone."
The full interview with Paxton will air Thursday at 10:00 PM EST on EWTN.
Texas Attorney General @KenPaxtonTX explains how Governor Greg Abbot's order was designed to conserve medical supplies during the #coronavirus pandemic. He also discusses the ongoing legal battle with @PPact.
Watch the full interview tonight. #prolife pic.twitter.com/lzTeao1gH3
— EWTN Pro-Life Weekly (@EWTNProLife) April 2, 2020
Kate Scanlon is a producer for EWTN Pro-Life Weekly.
Holy See to UN: More must be done to end violence against women
October 9, 2019 CNA Daily News 0
New York City, N.Y., Oct 10, 2019 / 12:35 am (CNA).- Violence against women remains a global concern for the Vatican, an official told members of the United Nations this week, stressing that society must "advance and defend all the rights derived from the inalienable human dignity of every woman and girl."
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Holy See's Permanent Observer to the UN, on Monday sent an address to the UN General Assembly's third committee that highlighted the "unique and irreplaceable" role of women in the world.
"While significant progress has been made in increasing the participation of women in social, political, economic and cultural life, and in ending violence against women and girls, much remains to be achieved," Auza said.
He cited a report from the UN Secretary-General and said migrant women in particular, including many female migrant workers, are at risk of labor exploitation, human trafficking, and also face broader social exclusion. He said this remains a deep concern of the Holy See.
"These women deserve to be welcomed, protected, and integrated within our communities with dignity. They also deserve full and equal recognition before the law, including through access to the justice system," Auza said.
"These women courageously leave their land and communities, often in the most difficult circumstances, to provide for their family and to assure their children of a better future. It is necessary, therefore, to adopt specific measures to protect and assist women migrant workers and to recognize their precious contribution to society."
Auza also mentioned the "heinous" practice of trafficking of newborn babies, as well as forced surrogacy. He called for "effective legislation and enforcement to prevent trafficking in persons and limit impunity as much as possible."
"While there have been various advances in formulating adequate legal instruments to investigate, prosecute and punish traffickers, in unlocking the financial chains, understanding the connection to other forms of organized crime and corruption, and fostering cooperation at and across borders, concrete measures and effective sanctions remain often limited," he said.
September 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, parts of which the Vatican spoke out strongly against, including efforts to expand abortion as a means of population control.
Auza quoted Pope St. John Paul II, who wrote in 1995 to the Secretary-General of the Fourth World Conference on Women.
"There will never be justice, including equality, development and peace, for women or for men, unless there is an unfailing determination to respect, protect, love and serve life— every human life, at every stage and in every situation," Pope John Paul II wrote.
"The Holy See insists on equality in dignity between men and women and on equal respect at all stages of their lives…This remains an utmost priority and focus of the Holy See," Auza added.
Tucker Teague
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Highlights from Benedict XVI's addresses and homilies in Cuba
Carl E. Olson March 28, 2012 0
If possible, read the full texts of Pope Benedict XVI's various addresses and homilies given in Cuba. In the meantime, here are some passages that caught my attention (I use the term "highights" rather subjectively, […]