The Church of St. Luke

“It has been disappointing to see how seldom a CPC designation has resulted in real consequences for those responsible for religious freedom violations,” U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Chairman Stephen Schneck told CNA. / Credit: U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Public Hearing/Screenshot

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 16, 2024 / 18:15 pm (CNA).

The United States Department of State (DOS) routinely issues condemnations of countries that fail to uphold religious freedom — but those harsh words are rarely followed by actions that lead to policy changes in those foreign governments, according to an analysis published this month. 

After the United States adopted the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the DOS has issued regular reports that designate “countries of particular concern” (CPCs). The designation is reserved for countries with “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious liberty, such as torture and other other types of inhumane treatment, prolonged detentions, abductions and disappearances, and other flagrant denials of life, liberty, or security of persons.

Although the legislation requires the president to either sanction or take other actions against a country designated as a CPC, all five presidents since 1998 have found workarounds to avoid taking new action against most countries that are added to the list.

Out of the 164 CPC designations, there has only been one “binding agreement” entered to address a religious freedom violation and only three new sanctions issued.

An analysis published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) concluded that “the CPC designation mechanism is far more effective at condemning religious freedom violations than promoting changes to policy.” The USCIRF is a federal commission tasked with providing policy recommendations on advancing religious liberty abroad.

The International Religious Freedom Act establishes a method for a president to enter into a “binding agreement” with countries designated as a CPC. The goal of such agreements is to phase out any religious liberty violations.

However, the United States has only pursued three binding agreements: twice with Vietnam in 2004 and 2005 and once with Uzbekistan in 2006. The United States secured an agreement with Vietnam, which addressed the problem and was removed from the CPC list. The United States never secured an agreement with Uzbekistan.

The federal government also rarely follows up a CPC designation with new sanctions. According to the analysis, only three new sanctions have been adopted because of a CPC designation, all of which were against Eritrea.

Rather than taking new action, the federal government has cited existing regulations 111 times to fulfill the presidential action requirement. On 40 occasions, the DOS granted a waiver on any action, citing national interest. In another seven cases, a waiver was granted on the basis that the waiver would further religious liberty.

“It has been disappointing to see how seldom a CPC designation has resulted in real consequences for those responsible for religious freedom violations,” USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck told CNA in a statement.

“This has to change,” said Schneck, who is a Catholic appointed to the role by President Joe Biden. “Accountability is truly in the interest of the United States. It extends the values of freedom and dignity etched in every human being and ensures our partners live up to their human right commitments, increasing stability, prosperity, and peace.”

The way in which the CPC mechanism has been used, Schneck added, “has limited our policy effectiveness to condemning violations by leaving behind many opportunities to incentivize reform.”

Some of the countries that the USCIRF has recommended for CPC designation have also been declined by the DOS in recent years. This includes Nigeria, which the DOS finally designated as a CPC in 2020 but then removed from the list in 2021.

Nina Shea, the director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and a former commissioner of the USCIRF, has been critical of the Biden administration for removing Nigeria from the CPC designation.

“The administration prioritized climate change concerns in an all-of-government executive order which seemed to cancel out any serious policymaking on the issue of religious freedom internationally,” Shea told CNA. “Nigeria was recommended for CPC designation by USCIRF but the Biden administration lifted its designation and ignored the USCIRF recommendation, without any official explanation.”

Shea, a Catholic who served in the commission from 1999 through 2012, was originally appointed by former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. 

“More Christians are murdered for their faith each year in Nigeria than all other countries combined and this terror is carried out with complete government impunity,” she added. “... Entire villages have been eradicated of their Christian population. The administration has turned a willful blind eye to this horrific persecution, which is both shameful and a failure to carry out its responsibilities under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.”

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the DOS justified its removal of Nigeria by arguing that the violence is primarily rooted in conflicts over resources. Christians, Muslims, and adherents to traditional African religion have all been killed in the ongoing violence, but when adjusting for population, Christians are 6.5 times more likely to be killed, according to a report last month by The Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa.

In its analysis, the USCIRF encouraged Congress to update the list of required actions for CPC designations and the government to pursue targeted sanctions against religious liberty violators. The commission also urged the DOS to ensure that religious freedom is a priority in diplomacy and other aspects of international relations.

null / Credit: New Africa/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

A new analysis by researchers at the Institute for Family Studies examines the states that are attracting and losing families, and finds that families are leaving many of the most progressive U.S. states and heading for states that are considered more conservative or politically diverse. 

Reliably blue states — i.e., states that voted for Democratic presidential candidates in both 2016 and 2020 — lost 213,000 families with children in 2021 and 2022, the researchers said. 

Meanwhile, states that voted Republican in both elections gained 181,000 families. “Purple” states that flipped between the two parties in the last presidential elections, like Arizona and Georgia, also posted gains, attracting 38,000 families. 

“Parents are not generally moving towards states with the preferred family policies of progressives. They are moving out of these states, including Democratic states, like New York, California, Massachusetts, and Oregon, all well known for their liberal family policies,” researchers Lyman Stone and Brad Wilcox wrote. 

The researchers opined that these data points suggest that despite many “blue” states implementing pro-family policies such as child tax credits and paid family leave, other negative factors in those states, such as high housing costs, are leading families to seek refuge in states that are generally considered more conservative and may not have yet implemented many government programs to help families. 

“What we are now seeing in the United States is that families with children, by the hundreds of thousands, are moving away from states with avowedly generous family policies — from refundable child tax credits to universal school lunches — and to states without these policies. California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, and Oregon, for instance, have at least two of these policies. And yet in recent years, all five of these progressive states have seen more families leave than move into them.”

The researchers used the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to determine which states gained and lost the most families during 2021–2022.

In terms of the total number of families gained, Texas had by far the highest number, with a net gain of 53,000 families between 2021–2022. Florida gained 38,000, while Georgia gained 22,000, Arizona 16,000, South Carolina 15,000, and Tennessee 13,000.

Of those six states, only one — Arizona — is not currently fully controlled at the state level by Republicans. Arizona has a divided government with a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled House and Senate, while in all five of the other states, Republicans control the governor’s mansion as well as the Senate and House.

Looked at another way, the states with the most families moving there as a percentage of their population were Idaho at 2.3% followed by New Hampshire, Montana, South Carolina, and South Dakota. (Texas’ 53,000 family net gain only represented a 0.8% increase due to its already large population; Florida was similar at 0.9%.)

All of those states are currently Republican-controlled at the state level, though New Hampshire voted Democratic in the last presidential election. 

In contrast, the states that have lost the most families are almost all — with a few exceptions — Democratic-controlled at the state level and voted Democratic in the last presidential election. At the top in terms of percentages, New York lost 71,000 families for a decline of 1.9%. 

At 1.2%, the second-largest decline by percentage was Alaska, which has a Republican governor and a divided legislature — though in net terms, Alaska only lost 2,000 families. 

Next on the list with an identical 1.2% loss was California, which is heavily Democratic-controlled and lost 92,000 families, the largest net loss of any state. 

Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Hawaii — all reliably Democratic — were next on the list, with Louisiana placing ninth with a 0.5% decline. Louisiana is even more heavily Republican-governed than Alaska and has enacted strong pro-life protections in recent years. The state has, however, historically struggled with high poverty, crime, and fallout from natural disasters.

The authors of the analysis noted that because of the timing of the data available, much of the migration was likely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, when families may have fled cities for more rural areas. Later on, many of the states they moved to in the Sunbelt and Mountain West reopened for in-person instruction sooner than states on the West Coast and the Northeast. Economically, many of those states, such as Texas and Florida, also offered the lure of lower taxes and strong job growth.

The authors opined that the migration data suggest government policies designed to help families are not the most important factor when families decide where they want to live. 

“[Y]es, many of these policies are desirable to families, and some help them. But they’re not enough to offset the cavalcade of other problems, many of them government-created, that often bedevil blue states, from homelessness to high housing costs, that make them less attractive to families with children,” the researchers said. 

“No amount of tax credits will ever be more valuable to a family than safe streets and decent housing for middle-class earners … Parental leave will never outweigh a good job market.” 

In addition, they wrote, “red states have generally resisted letting their schools and sports be guided by avant-garde gender theories.”

“[T]o be frank, most parents object to policies that force their daughters to face biological males on the playing field or in the locker room,” the authors wrote.

Despite being a draw for families, many Republican-led states lag behind in terms of educational quality and health care outcomes. In some states like Mississippi with high poverty rates, however, efforts are underway to expand social safety nets in service of families. 

Families mainly in red or purple states, like North Carolina, Arizona, and Indiana, have also benefited from expanded school choice programs in recent years, which allow parents greater freedom to send their child to the school of their choosing.

A view of the Opera House in the port zone of Sydney. / Credit: Benh LIEU SONG vía Flickr (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Quito, Ecuador, Sep 16, 2024 / 14:25 pm (CNA).

The 53rd International Eucharistic Congress in Quito, Ecuador, wrapped up with the announcement that Sydney will host the next congress in 2028.

Bishop Emeritus Edward Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, passed away at age 84 on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. / Credit: Diocese of Tulsa

CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2024 / 13:50 pm (CNA).

Edward Slattery, the bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma, passed away at age 84 on Friday following a series of debilitating strokes, diocesan officials said.

“Bishop Slattery was a man of deep faith who knew that death would bring him to his Lord,” Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma Bishop David Konderla said in a Saturday statement. “I was blessed to follow in his footsteps in the diocese and will remember him with fondness and prayer.”

Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Peter Wells, who grew up in Oklahoma and was ordained a priest in the Diocese of Tulsa in 1991, shared that he was “deeply saddened” by Slattery’s passing.

“Bishop Slattery will be fondly remembered for his many initiatives in the diocese, his compassion for the poor, and his profound spiritual guidance,” Wells said on Saturday. 

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to all those mourning his loss, particularly his family, Bishop David Konderla, the clergy, religious, and faithful of the Diocese of Tulsa. May he rest in peace.” 

Slattery was born in Chicago on Aug. 11, 1940, the grandson of Irish immigrants on the maternal and paternal sides of the family. He was the second of seven children, and his family lived in a small apartment with no air conditioning and only one bathroom, according to Tulsa World. 

Slattery was raised Catholic and felt called to the priesthood at a young age. After graduating from Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, Slattery earned a bachelor of arts and master of divinity, both from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. 

He was ordained a priest on April 26, 1966, for the Archdiocese of Chicago, where he served as an associate pastor at St. Jude the Apostle Parish in South Holland until 1971 while obtaining a second master’s degree from Loyola University Chicago. 

He served as the vice president of the Catholic Church Extension Society, a funding agency for American home missions, from 1971–1976, and subsequently as president until 1994. 

During his time with the extension society, Slattery was the associate pastor of St. Rose of Lima, an inner-city Hispanic parish on the South Side of Chicago beginning in 1973, and was pastor from 1976 to 1989. 

He was ordained as a bishop on Jan. 6, 1994, by Pope John Paul II and subsequently installed as the Tulsa bishop on Jan. 12. 

As bishop, Slattery oversaw the expansion of Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma in the early 2000s and helped establish an endowment-based tuition assistance program for Catholic families in need in 1999.

He also oversaw a large-scale fundraising effort that raised $17.5 million for the diocese’s 25th anniversary in 1998. Slattery worked with the Benedictines to found a new monastery in rural northeastern Oklahoma in the late 1990s and founded the Pastoral Studies Institute in Tulsa. 

“For many years I have appreciated Bishop Slattery as a friend and brother bishop,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City. “He welcomed me warmly when I arrived in Oklahoma in 2011 and always encouraged my ministry here. I have appreciated the pastoral leadership he provided in the Diocese of Tulsa and nationally through the work of Catholic Extension, which he guided before coming to Oklahoma.”

Pope Francis in 2016 accepted Slattery’s resignation, which he submitted at the age of 75 as required by canon law. Slattery continued to serve as bishop emeritus after his resignation until his death last week.

In 2002, Slattery apologized for reinstating Father Kenneth Lewis to ministry in 1995 following allegations against Lewis of sexual misconduct toward young boys. Slattery returned the priest to active ministry after Lewis received psychiatric treatment, a decision Slattery later said he would not have made had he had further information. Lewis himself would eventually be accused again of sexual abuse of a boy in 2001; he would ultimately plead guilty to a felony in connection with that abuse and be sentenced to seven years in prison.

Slattery is survived by his four sisters and one brother. His funeral is set to take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa. 

“I give thanks to God for [Slattery’s] many years of faithful service as a priest and bishop, especially his two decades of dedication to the Diocese of Tulsa,” Wells said.

Voting booths on Election Day. / Credit: vesperstock/Shutterstock

Ann Arbor, Michigan, Sep 16, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The aggressive advocacy of abortion by Democratic Party candidates up and down the ballot this year, coupled with abortion ballot measures in 10 states, is causing pro-life groups across the political spectrum to adjust their tactics as well as expand collaborative efforts. 

At the state level throughout the country, “there are things that we are excited about and others that are very troubling,” said Americans United for Life (AUL) Chief Executive Officer John Mize in an interview with CNA.

“What we find most troubling are the ballot initiatives that are very deceptive by pro-abortion forces that have caused utter confusion in a vast swath of the American public,” Mize indicated.

In view of the current electoral panorama, Mize said his nonpartisan organization is stepping up its partnerships with other groups as part of their common objective to defend preborn lives and defeat pro-abortion measures. For example, he said, AUL has expanded its collaborative efforts with organizations such as CareNet, Heartbeat, Lifeline, and the Vitae Foundation.

Given the magnitude of the challenge the pro-life movement faces this year, National Right to Life (NRL) spokesperson Laura Echevarría said her group also welcomes increased collaborative efforts.

“We tend to be very accepting of other groups that want to work with us on issues. And we look at that commonality and we don’t get into other issues,” Echevarría observed. 

On the left, Democrats for Life and Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) are two groups that align with most aspects of the Democratic Party’s policy agenda yet are vociferously challenging its pro-abortion stance. 

PAUU executive director Caroline Taylor Smith, a Catholic who also volunteers for Democrats for Life, told CNA her pro-life principles are compatible with progressivism. She criticized both the Democratic and Republican parties for their respective stances on abortion. 

“I am very left-leaning and progressive and agree with every progressive value except for abortion. I condemn the idea that progressives have to support child-killing. My worldview is that I’m against violence and oppression against all people. I support liberation for all people. Embryos are preborn people that should be free from violence,” she said. 

Smith said that an example of PAAU’s pro-life commitment was set by PAAU activist Lauren Handy, 30, who was convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for occupying the Surgi-Clinic abortuary in Washington, D.C. Handy, who identifies as a “queer Catholic,” is now serving a four-year sentence. 

Allied organizations identified by PAUU’s Smith also include Pro-Life San Francisco and Rehumanize International. 

Despite their common goals, Mize acknowledged, the groups take different approaches. For example, Mize said he is skeptical about “overly aggressive tactics” such as displaying photos of aborted babies or screaming over bullhorns at women. Such tactics, he said, “add to the trauma that a woman feels when she is making a very difficult and complex decision. There’s a better way. And that is to be incremental and focused on providing alternative options to women.”

In addition, while Mize said ALU is not opposed to PAAU’s work, he said ALU is “more apt to partner with an organization like Democrats for Life, who share a lot of the same values we do in terms of the appropriate process to advance the pro-life cause.” There are also organizations like Secular Pro-Life, Mize added.

“Unfortunately, this has become far too political and it’s really not,” Mize maintains. “It’s a moral issue that isn’t defined by the politics of the party. It’s defined by the morality and character of the person.”

Echevarría and Mize agreed that the challenges for all pro-life organizations are only multiplying. Intense political battles, both said, lie in state legislatures and ballot initiatives that threaten to overturn hard-fought limitations on abortion, such as requirements for parental notification and consent.

null / Credit: Melnikov Dmitriy/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Sep 16, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A new study has found that daily pornography consumption among young adults leads to statistically significant negative mental health outcomes, including higher rates of reported depression.

The Institute for Family Studies/YouGov survey of 2,000 adults under the age of 40 determined that “pornography has become a daily part of life for many young adults.” About 10% of young adults aged 18–39 report watching pornography online “at least once a day.”

Men “are about twice as likely as women to report being daily users of online pornography,” the study found, while “liberal young adults” were roughly twice as likely as conservatives to report watching online pornography at least once daily.

Daily porn usage was similar for married and unmarried respondents and was roughly consistent across income and education levels, the survey found.

And “frequent use of online pornography is linked to an increased occurrence of negative mental health outcomes among young adults,” the study found, with roughly one-third of daily pornography users reporting feeling “down, depressed, or hopeless” most or all of the time, compared with just 19% of those who rarely or never watch porn.

An even higher number of daily porn users — 36% — report feeling lonely “all or most of the time,” compared with 20% of those who consume porn rarely or never. 

These findings remain even after controlling for factors like sex, marital status, and income. Overall, daily porn consumption “doubles the risk of being depressed and increases the risk of feeling lonely by a similar amount,” the research said. 

The new findings echo earlier studies that showed a similar link between heavy porn usage and negative mental health outcomes.

The researchers noted that daily porn use also “may displace activities that contribute to healthy social relationships, leaving users feeling more lonely and depressed.”

‘You’re thirsty, but you’re drinking salt water’

Father Sean Kilcawley is the director of the Freedom From Pornography apostolate in the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska. He said he has observed in his ministry that frequent pornography, as well as frequent masturbation, “does lead to a kind of depression.”

“Some of the neuroscience research out there would validate that,” he said. “When we talk about living a life of chastity in the Church and purity in the Church, it really comes down to our mental health and our physical health.”

Regarding individuals who suffer from mental health ailments due to pornography consumption, Kilcawley said that such people “aren’t always aware that one is causing the other.”

“For instance, people often say the reason they look at porn is because of loneliness. But then at the same time their reason for loneliness is that they’re looking at pornography,” he said. 

“When I’m talking to young people I might use the analogy that it’s like you’re thirsty and you’re drinking salt water,” he said.

Kilcawley said that, as with many addictions, the first step for many people struggling with porn usage is to simply acknowledge they have a problem. 

“I might start with just asking them, do you believe you have a problem? Do you want help? Is it bad enough that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get help?” he said.  

“Breaking free, from a Christian perspective, is when we have a conversion,” he continued. “And we come to realize that Our Lord can meet all of our needs, and that whatever porn and masturbation is doing for us, Our Lord is the one who is capable of giving us that sense of affirmation and longing, that feeling of being hurt and [yet] being understood.”

“Whatever it is, Our Lord can give it to us,” he said. “And that path to conversion needs accompaniment. We need others to walk with us.”

Those who have finally acknowledged the depth of their problem, Kilcawley said, can pursue help including 12-step addiction programs and individual counselors. Group therapy, he noted, can offer an antidote to loneliness as well as help with addiction and dependency.

The priest stressed the importance of “raising the bottom,” a concept promoted by Alcoholics Anonymous as a means to help more people beat their addictions before they reach a ruinous place.

“When AA started, it was full of people who were in-the-gutter drunks,” he pointed out. “They’d lost jobs, families, horrible things that happened to them, and then they went to the meetings. In the earlier years it was just those kinds of people.” 

“And then over time people started talking about how you can get off the train earlier, you don’t have to ride all the way down,” he said. “People started getting help sooner.”

“I think we can do the same thing with those who are addicted to pornography,” he argued. “Before it affects their marriage and their family, and before it escalates to something worse.”

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw holds a photograph of the rifle and other items found near where a suspect was discovered during a press conference regarding an apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Sep 15, 2024 / 19:48 pm (CNA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Sunday that it was investigating an apparent attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, the second such incident in roughly eight weeks.

“The FBI has responded to West Palm Beach, Florida, and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump,” the bureau said in a brief news release on Sunday.

Trump was reportedly playing golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach when shots were fired on the course. A Secret Service agent had reportedly spotted a gun barrel sticking out of a nearby fence and had engaged with a suspect.

It was unclear on Sunday evening if the suspect had fired any shots. The suspect reportedly attempted to flee the scene but was subsequently apprehended by police on Interstate 95.

Photos on Sunday showed law enforcement cordoning off an area near the golf course after the alleged attempted assassination.

The former president said in an email to his fundraising list shortly after the incident that he was “safe and well.”

“My resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life,” he said in a second email on Sunday evening.

Law enforcement reportedly found a rifle with a scope attachment at the scene of the incident on Sunday.

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is currently running against Trump in the 2024 presidential contest, said on Twitter on Sunday that she had been “briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe.”

“Violence has no place in America,” Harris added.

From left to right: Father Pedro Núñez, Father Jorge Obregón, Father Juan Carlos Vásconez, Father Ángel Espinosa de los Monteros, and Father Ignacio Amorós. / Credit: Photos courtesy of the priests

ACI Prensa Staff, Sep 15, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

In light of Hispanic Heritage Month, here’s a look at five Hispanic priests who are distinguishing themselves in spreading the Gospel.

“Conversion is a forgetting of ourselves, it is to stop pretending to be the center of the universe… and saying: ‘Lord, sit down, now the center is going to be you’” Bishop Munilla said during his Sept. 11, 2024, presentation at the International Eucharistic Congress. / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/EWTN News

Quito, Ecuador, Sep 14, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

The presentation by Bishop José Ignacio Munilla at the 2024 International Eucharistic Congress in Quito, Ecuador, was considered one of the most impactful so far.

French Catholic priest Abbe Pierre takes part in a demonstration on May 6, 1994. / Credit: JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Sep 13, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

Abbé Pierre died in 2007 and in recent months, numerous allegations have surfaced regarding alleged sexual misconduct by the well-known priest.