Tag: Bishop

Bishop Minerva Carcano reacts to faith leaders calling to welcome the migrant caravan into U.S. #Tucker #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and business news. The…

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon - Malawi’s bishops have urged the country’s politicians to keep Pope Francis out of “petty politics.” The statement from the bishops’ conference came after Hophmally Makande, an official of the ruling Democratic Progressive Part, said those urging 79 -year-old President Peter Mutharika to resign should also ask Pope Francis, who is 81, to step down. Isn’t it the pope … why does he not resign then? I am not despising the Church. But leave our president alone,” Makande told a campaign rally in Blantyre. I am surprised no one condemned him right there and then considering that there were Catholics in attendance at the same podium,” he wrote. “Religion is a line you don’t cross regardless of how desperate you want to seek to appease the appointing authority…If you want to resuscitate your career, find other means but this one is a no-go zone,” he said. “We are of the opinion that Malawi as a nation needs a change of direction if we are to reverse the situation. “This entails a change of mindset leading to a new era of fairness and justice for all.” Mutharika only came to power in 2014, but has since come under fire for alleged corruption. “We wish to reiterate that while the Church encourages Catholics to take an active role in politics, we the Catholic bishops in Malawi cannot and shall not support or endorse any particular politician or political party,” the bishops wrote in their Sept. statement. They urged Malawians to register and vote in next year’s elections, noting that “voting in such elections is not only a right but also an obligation of every eligible Malawian.” The bishops called for political and religious tolerance, saying that should prevent politicians from dragging the Church into petty politics.

The Providence, R.I., shepherd often uses Twitter to weigh in on political and moral debates. PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Speaking out on political issues is not only a right, but a duty, for religious leaders, said Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, R.I., in a recent interview. “Now, some people will like it, some people won’t like it; some will agree, some will not. “So sometimes I’m accused of being too conservative, and sometimes I’m accused of being a raging liberal.” However, he said, it is important to preach the Gospel no matter how people respond. One tool the bishop has been using to weigh in on political and moral debates is Twitter. In February, the prelate opened an account, @bishoptjt, which now has more than 1,300 followers. Because he alone controls the subject of his tweets, he said “there’s no filter there,” unlike his Facebook account, which is managed by someone in his office. “I thought, if the president can do it and the Pope can do it, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be doing it,” he said. “I’ve also put some things up about the Steelers and about my dog and about some political things and about the weather and April Fools Day.” Bishop Thomas J. Tobin. Credit: Jim Forest via Flickr CC BY NC ND 2.0.

Catholics have a special duty to resist polarization, both in politics and in the church. That was the message from Bishop Robert McElroy, the head of the Diocese of San Diego, who was in Chicago delivering a lecture named for the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, a former Chicago archbishop who sought to unite Catholic camps that sometimes disagree on how to live out the church’s call to protect life at every stage. Bishop McElroy, who holds a doctorate in political science from Stanford University, said that Catholics must strive to adopt a new “Catholic political imagination” that embraces “the virtues of solidarity, compassion, integrity, hope and peace-building.” Using Pope Francis’ 2015 address to the U.S. Congress as inspiration, Bishop McElroy said Catholics, especially church leaders, must “reassess” how they “carry out the mission of evangelizing the political culture of the United States” and lamented that the church’s views are often used not to promote the common good, but to score political points. Bishop McElroy said that Catholics must embrace “the virtues of solidarity, compassion, integrity, hope and peace-building.” “Catholic teaching has been hijacked by those who break down the breadth of our social doctrine by reducing it to the warped partisan categories of our age and then selecting those teachings for acceptance which promote their partisan worldview,” the bishop said. Referencing a new apostolic exhortation from the pope, in which he calls believers to holiness and urges them to embrace the full range of Catholic social teaching, including opposition to abortion as well as concern for the poor and marginalized, Bishop McElroy lamented that “in the partisan reality of our day, these two complementary claims of the Gospel are placed in political opposition.” “Even worse,” he added, “skewed distillations of Catholic moral teaching are deployed by both sides to explain why one set of these issues automatically enjoys a higher claim upon the consciences of believers.” Bishop McElroy’s views have been interpreted as being part of the “seamless garment” approach to Catholic social justice teaching, a notion advanced by Cardinal Bernardin in the 1980s. What he dubbed a “Catholic political imagination” could guide this political evangelization, which would include “heartfelt compassion for all those who are suffering in society,” including those who suffer because of racism, poverty, gun violence, threats of deportation and sexual harassment. Polls show that political polarization has increased dramatically over the past couple of decades. “These are wounds in our society which tear at our social fabric and constitute immense human suffering that must be addressed,” he said. In 2017, that number had increased to about 45 percent. Responding to a question from a Loyola undergraduate student, Bishop McElroy said engaging young Catholics will be especially important for the church in this area, calling an upcoming synod of bishops devoted to young adults “enormously important in the life of the church.” “Unless we can find ways of engaging with the younger generation, it’s going to be a greatly crippled church moving forward,” he said.

Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, says he is following the example of Pope Francis when he offers spiritual guidance on political issues such as immigration and gun control. PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Often criticized for bringing his voice into the political arena, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin on Tuesday defended that practice, saying he is compelled by his faith to speak on issues of morality. His comments do not always win him support from liberals — or conservatives — the bishop said in a wide-ranging interview with The Providence Journal Editorial Board. “I’ve often thought it’s funny if I’m speaking about whatever — immigration, gun control — conservatives will say, ‘Stay out of it, it’s not your business,’” the bishop said. “If you want moral, ethical, spiritual, religious input on something, I don’t expect necessarily the unions to do it or the political leaders or the corporate world,” Bishop Tobin said. “That’s going to be an ongoing part of the life of the diocese, I think, as our numbers change and the numbers of priests change.” He added: “So what do we do? ... It’s just an historical change, I think, and that’s what we have to navigate our way through.” — The continuing shortage of priests, which Bishop Tobin called “our biggest pastoral challenge.” Of the approximately 220 priests in the diocese, the bishop said, 90 are retired, and in the last seven years, 64 priests have left active ministry. “I think the decline in church affiliation and worship-service attendance — that’s across the board, Catholics, mainline Protestants, other faith communities as well.” Still, he added, “we still have a very, very strong Catholic presence in the state,” with certain parishes, largely Hispanic, especially popular. Some 11,500 students are being educated currently, the bishop said, but a decline in the numbers of all children in the state, referenced in this year’s Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook, which the bishop cited, will have an effect. “The schools we have are doing well and they’re important, but there will be some more closings and mergers in the future just because of the [overall statewide] numbers.” — Helping people.