The Church of St. Luke

An earthquake was recorded off the coast of northern California near the town of Eureka on Dec. 5, 2024. / Credit: Chiociolla/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Dec 6, 2024 / 11:25 am (CNA).

An earthquake and subsequent tsunami warning in northern California on Thursday led to widespread scurrying for higher ground, including the parish office of at least one Catholic church. 

The earthquake, which measured 7.0 on the magnitude scale, was felt at about 10:45 a.m. local time in Humboldt County, said Rex Atienza, office manager of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Arcata, which is about 1.5 miles north of Arcata Bay and about 6 miles east of the Pacific Ocean. 

“There was a big shake,” Atienza told CNA by telephone. “And after people started leaving the building and were outside, when I was in the doorway I could still feel the building moving from left to right.”

“It kept going. I would say maybe 20 to 30 seconds. Which seemed longer in real time,” he said. 

Several members of the parish staff left the parish grounds for high elevations. A nearby public school was also evacuated, he said.

Some people in the area went to a local high school, others to a supermarket, and two parish priests went to the Newman Center at nearby Cal Poly Humboldt, Atienza said. 

He said the parish building remained empty for about an hour and 45 minutes until he got an all-clear message from the Humboldt County regional government. 

Arcata is in the Diocese of Santa Rosa, where much of the early concern was centered. 

About 110 miles to the southeast, in Marin County, Father Gabriel Wankar felt the quake Thursday morning and rushed to the parish school of St. Anselm Catholic Church in Ross, where he is pastor. 

“I felt some strange movement but before I could know what was happening a tsunami alert went off on my phone and I realized what was happening. So, I immediately headed to the school to be with the kids,” Wankar told CNA by email. 

Kids and staff stayed in place, he said. No damage or injuries were reported. 

Ross is in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, where the Catholic schools’ central office sent principals a message saying that parents were welcome to pick up their children but that the Catholic schools would stay open unless public schools in the area closed. 

The earthquake and subsequent tsunami warning were national news for a portion of Thursday, as fears of a damaging series of long waves set off by the quake sent people near the coast scurrying for safer places. 

At 10:49 a.m. Pacific time Thursday the National Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coast of Northern California and southern Oregon, based on an earthquake that took place in the Pacific Ocean about 45 miles southwest of Eureka, California. The agency canceled the tsunami warning a little more than an hour later, at 11:54 a.m., according to the National Tsunami Warning Center’s website. 

The northern coast of California near Cape Mendocino “is one of the most seismically active areas in the United States” and had five earthquakes “close to magnitude 7.0” before Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson on “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo” Dec. 5, 2024, said he originally wrote a book “three times” as long as his latest, “We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine,” and said that there’s “another book coming that includes the story of Job and the and the story of the Passion.” / Credit: EWTN News “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo”/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Dec 6, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).

Renowned Canadian psychology professor Jordan Peterson on Thursday described the Bible as a collection of “world-ordering,” “civilization-engendering” ideas — a source of profound wisdom, psychological insight, and moral guidance that he said ought to point readers to Jesus Christ. 

“There’s an idea that Christians know well: that the biblical stories, as they’re aggregated, edited, and sequenced, are pointing to something. And what they’re pointing to, of course, is the passion of Christ,” Peterson said during the Dec. 5 episode of EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo.” 

Peterson, a countercultural influencer and author who is promoting his new book “We Who Wrestle with God: Perceptions of the Divine,” has often focused in his work on what he sees as a human need for meaning-making, which he says is regularly expressed through religious belief.

He has in recent years expressed appreciation and respect for aspects of Christianity and Catholicism, such as the sacrament of confession and the Church’s tradition of moral and spiritual discipline, while stopping short of announcing a desire to convert to the faith.

In the past, Peterson has opined that Catholicism “is as sane as people can get” and hosts a popular series of online lectures on the Bible, a book he described to Arroyo as “a collection of stories, each of which provides a different characterization of God, or you could say a different definition.”

“While there’s many definitions of God in the biblical library, they do conclude that there’s an underlying unity which is finally expressed in the figure of Christ, which I also think … seems appropriate,” he told Arroyo.

There’s more to come

In his new book, Peterson examines several stories of the Old Testament, contending that these scriptural texts offer profound insights into the human condition, the nature of good and evil, and the relationship between humanity and God. Referring to the Bible as a “library,” Peterson said he originally wrote a book “three times” as long and said there’s “another book coming that includes the story of Job and the story of the Passion.”

Peterson said he has “spent most of [his] life trying to understand the origins of evil,” a search he said necessarily raises questions about the reality of God. 

“You see, once you admit to the reality of evil, you’re backed into a corner theologically. Because if evil exists, then its opposite exists, right? And then if good exists, well, then the question ‘What constitutes the highest form of good?’ is an obvious follow up,” he told Arroyo. 

Christianity proposes, as opposed to the pagan worship of nature, for example, a relationship with the divine that is “personal and much more psychological,” he said.

“[T]here’s a spirit at work at the beginning of time, now and forever, that contends with chaotic possibility and engenders the order that’s ‘good.’ And then the secondary proposition is that what it means to be man and woman alike is to bear the image of that process. And … I think both of those things are correct.”

Citing St. John Henry Newman’s view of conscience as a powerful argument for the existence of God, Peterson also noted that popular myths and stories, such as Pinocchio or Harry Potter, are compelling to people because they “fill a void … left by the partial demise of Christianity.” 

He also described God as a “tricky character” who appears in unexpected ways throughout human experience.

“God has died many times in human history and been reborn many, many times. And you see that in the Exodus story, when Moses disappears, the voice of the prophet and the people fall into hedonistic golden calf worship, it’s exactly the same thing. There’s no removing, there’s no eradicating the central unity that characterizes the human spirit without eradicating the human itself,” he asserted. 

‘A joy to behold’

Peterson’s wife, Tammy, converted to Catholicism earlier this year after a recovery from a rare form of kidney cancer that many considered miraculous. Tammy said she found solace and healing during her ordeal through prayer, particularly the rosary, aided by a friend’s daily guidance.

While Tammy’s journey affected Peterson deeply, and he has expressed openness to the idea that her healing was miraculous, Peterson demurred when asked if the experience had strengthened his own faith. He went on to say that his wife’s healing “hasn’t been so much something that transformed me as it has been something that’s been a joy to behold, let’s say.”

“One of the things that was remarkable about the way that she conducted herself while she was ill, and mortally ill as far as we were all concerned … she conducted herself in an exemplary manner. And that was the miracle,” Peterson told Arroyo. 

“I mean, she did survive her cancer, which is something very difficult to account for. But the miracle, I would say more precisely, was in the equanimity that was manifested.”

Tammy’s newfound Catholic faith has “been nothing but good for her. And it’s a wonderful thing to see. And so now, has that increased my faith in God? Well, like I said, it was already there to a large degree,” Peterson said. 

“Everything I do is an act of faith. Now, whether I’m doing it perfectly or not, that’s a whole different question,” he told Arroyo. 

Arroyo’s entire interview with Peterson can be seen below.

The U.S./Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

CNA Staff, Dec 6, 2024 / 09:25 am (CNA).

The Catholic bishops of New Mexico this week articulated a strongly worded statement against a policy of mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants, a policy that President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to enact. 

“A mass deportation policy will not fix the broken immigration system but, rather, create chaos, family separation, and the traumatization of children,” wrote Archbishop John Wester of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Bishop Peter Baldacchino of the Diocese of Las Cruces, and Bishop James Wall of the Diocese of Gallup in a statement reported on by the Santa Fe New Mexican. 

“While removing those who cause harm to us is necessary, deporting immigrants who have built equities in our communities and pose no threat is contrary to humanitarian principles and to our national interest,” the bishops continued. 

“We urge the new administration to rethink this proposed deportation policy and instead return to bipartisan negotiations to repair the U.S. immigration system.”

New Mexico shares a 180-mile border with Mexico and relies heavily on migrants to provide labor. There were an estimated 25,000-75,000 immigrants residing in New Mexico illegally in 2022, according to Pew Research Center estimates. 

The New Mexico bishops’ statement follows words last month by fellow borderlands Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, head of the U.S. bishops’ migration committee, who said that if the Trump administration advances immigration measures that violate basic human rights, the nation’s Catholic bishops are prepared to “raise our voice loudly.”

Seitz said the bishops were “concerned” about Trump’s immigration rhetoric on the campaign trail — including Trump’s estimate of “around a million people per year” deported — but that they “don’t want to get ahead” of the administration before it announces its concrete plans.

“We are waiting to see just what exactly takes shape,” Seitz said Nov. 12, speaking to the media at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) fall meeting in Baltimore. 

Seitz said the USCCB recognizes that some immigrants have not entered the country legally but stressed that the U.S. government should distinguish between those who have committed additional crimes from those who, “for the benefit of our country, should be able to remain.”

There are an estimated 11.7 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as a whole, according to July 2023 statistics from the Center for Migration Studies. Trump has promised to deport all migrants illegally in the country and said that the plan, which has been criticized as financially unfeasible, “will have no price tag.” The proposal has proven highly controversial within Catholic circles. 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that countries, especially wealthier ones, should try to welcome migrants “to the extent they are able” but that nations also have the right to regulate migration.

Experts cited by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, while noting that a policy of mass deportations would be economically disruptive, also warned that it risks creating a “police state” where human dignity and the right to seek asylum is undermined, harming family unity and the common good. 

Others, meanwhile, including Ken Cuccinelli, former acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Trump, contend that the scale of the prospective deportation program has no bearing on the underlying moral dimension.

“I don’t think the scale really has any effect on the moral question of it,” Cuccinelli, a Catholic, told the Register. 

“Richer nations have an obligation to welcome migrants, and migrants have an obligation to respect the laws and customs of the place to which they are migrating, and the people we are talking about haven’t done that,” said Cuccinelli, referencing the catechism.

Paul Hunker, a Catholic and an immigration attorney who previously served as chief counsel of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Dallas, told CNA this week that he believes it is “quite reasonable” for Catholics to oppose a program of “large-scale arrests by ICE targeting undocumented noncitizens.” 

“Many of these individuals have lived in the United States for years and have deep ties, including children and spouses who are U.S. citizens. Removing such individuals inflicts significant harm on them, their families, and society,” Hunker noted. 

He pointed to a notable dissent from a 19th-century U.S. Supreme Court case upholding the removal of long-term resident noncitizens in which Justice Stephen Field wrote that “a forcible deportation from a country of one’s residence and the breaking up of all the relations of friendship, family, and business there contracted” constitutes a “cruel and unusual” punishment. 

“While this may not fully apply to those who have only recently arrived in the United States, it resonates for most long-term resident noncitizens,” Hunker said. 

For his part, Pope Francis over the summer delivered some of the clearest words in his papacy yet in support of migrants and in rebuke of those who turn away from them. 

“It must be said clearly: There are those who work systematically and with every means possible to repel migrants,” the pope said during a weekly general audience. “And this, when done with awareness and responsibility, is a grave sin.”

The last ordinary public consistory to create new cardinals took place on Sept. 30, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, Dec 6, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

On Saturday, Dec. 7, Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals at a consistory in Rome, including the archbishops of Tehran, Iran; Tokyo; and Toronto.

Here’s everything you need to know:

What is a consistory?

Cardinals are the pope’s closest assistants and advisers from all around the world. A consistory is a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals. The pope can convene them for a number of reasons.

One of the most common reasons for a consistory, as is the case here, is to create new cardinals. The ceremony in which the pope makes cardinals is known as an ordinary public consistory. 

Another consistory the pope may convene is an ordinary consistory to vote on the causes of new saints, the last step before a formal canonization can take place.

There are also extraordinary consistories, in which every cardinal is expected to take part, barring a serious reason.

The last ordinary public consistory to create new cardinals took place on Sept. 30, 2023. The new cardinals included Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong; and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Who is being made cardinal this weekend?

Twenty-one men from around the world will “receive the red hat” and become cardinals at the consistory this month.

Among them is Archbishop Frank Leo, metropolitan archbishop of Toronto in Canada; Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, SVD, metropolitan archbishop of Tokyo in Japan; Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu, OFM Conv, archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan, a Belgian missionary bishop in Iran; Father Fabio Baggio, CS, undersecretary for the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development (from Italy); Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, a theologian from the United Kingdom; and Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy.

A list along with an analysis of each cardinal-elect’s spiritual motto and coat of arms can be found here.

What will actually happen at this consistory?

In addition to giving each new cardinal their hat, or biretta, Pope Francis at the Dec. 7 liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica will place a ring on the hand of each new cardinal while saying: “Receive this ring from the hand of Peter and know that, with the love of the prince of the apostles, your love for the Church is strengthened.” They will also each receive the formal decree (or papal bull) announcing their creation as a cardinal.

The scarlet biretta is, as the pope will recite, a “sign of the dignity of the cardinalate, signifying your readiness to act with courage, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people of God, and for the freedom and growth of the holy Roman Church.”

Immediately before, the new cardinals will make a profession of faith by reciting the Creed. They then pronounce an oath of fidelity and obedience to the pope and his successors.

The pope will also assign each new cardinal a church in the Diocese of Rome, called a “titular church.” This further links the cardinal to Rome and to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome.

The other members of the College of Cardinals, clergy, Catholics, and members of the public may all attend a consistory to create cardinals.

So, how many cardinals will there be, and why does it matter?

St. Paul VI established in 1970 that cardinals aged 80 and over cannot participate in the process of electing a pope — thus, cardinals who are younger than 80 are known as “electors.” Paul VI also established a numerical limit for the number of electors, capping it at 120, but the number occasionally has risen above that number.   

The number of cardinal electors in the college — and indeed the number of cardinals in general — is always changing, since at any time cardinals may be celebrating their 80th birthday or may have died.

As of October of this year, 15 members of the College of Cardinals have turned 80 since the last consistory, thus losing their chance to participate in a future papal election, according to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.

After the December consistory, there will be 141 cardinal electors (barring the unexpected death of any of the cardinals) — 111 (79%) of whom have been appointed by Pope Francis.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has created 142 cardinals from 70 countries at nine consistories.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Anyone interested in Catholic Church can now see a detailed, interactive breakdown of the body that will elect the next pope.

The Vatican launched a "dashboard" for the College of Cardinals Dec. 5, allowing users of the web page to see a comprehensive list of the church's cardinals and sort them by age, rank, country of origin, electoral status and religious order. Initially it was available only in Italian.

The dashboard, created with Microsoft Power BI -- an AI tool designed to visually organize data -- was published on the Vatican press office's public website just two days before Pope Francis was scheduled to create 21 new cardinals Dec. 7.

The page -- https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/documentation/cardinali---statistiche/dashboard-collegio-cardinalizio.html -- allows users to see a map of where current cardinals are from, as well as the percentage of cardinals from each region who are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in conclave. As of Dec. 5, for example, 47.8% of cardinals from Europe are eligible to vote in a conclave while 100% of cardinals from Oceania are eligible electors.

Cardinals lose their right to vote in a conclave on their 80th birthday or when they lose the rights and privileges of a cardinal, as was the case with Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, who was convicted by a Vatican court for financial malfeasance related to when he was substitute for the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Beyond age, rank and geographical distribution, users can also sort cardinals by precedence, which is based on the timing of their appointment as cardinals and their seniority within their rank and dictates matters such as seating arrangements and the order of liturgical processions. The College of Cardinals is divided into three ranks -- cardinal bishops, priests and deacons -- which reflect a cardinal's responsibilities or seniority within the church's hierarchy.

Previously, the Vatican website only offered separate lists of cardinals, organized alphabetically by name, by country, by age or grouped according to the pope who appointed them.

According to the Vatican statistics, which include the 21 soon-to-be cardinals, there are 253 members of the College of Cardinals, 140 of whom are eligible to vote in a conclave.

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy. / Credit: Vincenzo Amoruso via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Rome Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 17:35 pm (CNA).

Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy, said he sees the appointment not as a personal honor but as a call to live out the Church’s mission even more fully.

Pro-life activist Matthew Engelthaler places signs in front of Camelback Family Planning, an abortion clinic in Phoenix, on April 18, 2024. / Credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Dec 5, 2024 / 15:40 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of the latest pro-life and abortion-related policy developments in the United States. 

CDC: Abortions declined slightly following reversal of Roe v. Wade

Abortions decreased by 2% from 2021 to 2022 — the year Roe v. Wade was overturned — according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There were a recorded 622,000 abortions in 2021 from 46 reporting states and Washington, D.C., dropping to 609,000 in 2022, according to the report.

The CDC compiles data that is voluntarily reported by states’ central health agencies. The 2022 report includes 46 states as well as Washington, D.C., and New York City. California, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New Jersey did not provide data for the 2022 report. 

According to the report, the abortion rate — the number of abortions per 1,000 women in a population — declined by 3%. The abortion ratio — the relative number of pregnancies that end in abortion compared with live birth — also declined slightly, by 2%.

The report found that almost 4 out of 5 abortions were performed at or before nine weeks’ gestation, while about 6% of abortions were between 14 and 20 weeks’ gestation. About 92% of abortions happened at or before 13 weeks of gestation.

The CDC found that more than 70% of abortions were chemical abortions. The high percentage of chemical abortions is similar to the CDC’s report from 2021, though chemical abortions have increased markedly in past decades. Missouri had a low rate of abortions, at 0.1 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44, while New Mexico had 28.8 abortions per 1,000 women. 

In 2022, women in their 20s accounted for more than half of abortions, according to reporting areas. Black women accounted for the highest percentage of abortions according to reported ethnicity data, at almost 40%, while white women accounted for the second-highest percentage, at almost 32%. Nearly 90% of women who had abortions were unmarried. 

Pro-life hero remembered 

Monsignor Philip Reilly (1934–2024), a major figure in shaping the modern pro-life movement, died on Nov. 30 at the age of 90. Reilly was one of the first organizers of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

Testimonials in the wake of his death hailed Reilly as an “unsung hero,” a “spiritual father,” and a pro-life mentor. He mentored the founders of 40 Days for Life and the Pro-life Action League as well as the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and the Sisters of Life.

Reilly was initially involved in political advocacy against abortion — even blocking entrances to abortion clinics — but ultimately took another approach, founding in 1989 the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. Based in New York, the worldwide apostolate organizes prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics, pledging peaceful prayer for the salvation of souls. The vigils usually begin with an early morning Mass followed by a procession from the church to the local abortion clinic.

Reilly’s funeral Mass will be held on Monday, Dec. 9, at 11 a.m., and he will be buried at St. John Cemetery in Queens, New York. A more detailed account of his life and influence can be found in the book “Pro-Life Champion: The Untold Story of Monsignor Philip J. Reilly and His Helpers of God’s Precious Infants” by Frederick W. Marks. 

For an archival EWTN interview with Reilly, see here.

Idaho’s abortion trafficking law partially revived 

On Dec. 2, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Idaho’s law against trafficking minors out of state to obtain abortions. The abortion trafficking law makes it illegal to harbor or transport a minor to get an out-of-state abortion without parental consent. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals partially approved the law but blocked a part of the law that prevented “recruiting” minors.

Two abortion rights groups challenged the law shortly after it passed in 2023, saying it violated the right to free speech and could prevent them from counseling minors seeking abortion. Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown ruled that “harboring” and “transporting” weren’t considered speech, and the law was partially approved.

A part of the law banning “recruiting” of minors to get out-of-state abortions was ruled as a violation of free speech. Abortions in Idaho are allowed only when the mother’s life is at risk, her physical health is substantially threatened, or if the pregnancy was from rape or incest. Abortion trafficking is punishable by two to five years in prison.

Arizona’s abortion law paused as lawsuit ensues 

Arizona is temporarily pausing its 15-week abortion restriction pending an ongoing lawsuit that followed Arizona’s ballot measure that enshrined a right to abortion in the state constitution.

Arizona abortion providers filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The abortion providers argued that the 15-week abortion law is unconstitutional. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes agreed that the state will not enforce the law as the lawsuit plays out, meaning that abortion providers will be able to perform abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.   

Arizona’s ballot measure provided constitutionally for a “fundamental right to abortion.” The measure says the state cannot restrict abortion until the point of “viability” at approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy, unless it has a compelling reason and does so in the least restrictive way possible.

null / Credit: Dzelat/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 5, 2024 / 15:10 pm (CNA).

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley this week warned the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to not destroy federal records including documents related to the investigation of traditionalist Catholics or the convictions of numerous pro-life activists.

In a Dec. 3 letter directed to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Hawley — a senator from Missouri who serves on the Judiciary Committee — claimed that he has received reports of employees “destroying records and other documents in an effort to conceal widespread misconduct that took place under the [Joe] Biden administration.”

The senator accused the federal agencies of engaging in “unprecedented abuses of the justice system” and specifically referenced “attempts to recruit undercover informants in Catholic parishes” and “bad-faith prosecutions of pro-life Americans for peacefully protesting abortion,” along with prosecutions of President-elect Donald Trump.

“You must immediately stop this attempt to evade accountability and should terminate any employees involved,” Hawley wrote. “Further, you must preserve all department and bureau documents in anticipation of congressional investigations to come.”

When asked where the senator had learned about the alleged destruction of records, a spokesperson for Hawley’s office referred CNA back to the original letter.

In January 2023, the Richmond office of the FBI issued a memo that detailed an investigation into what it called “radical traditionalist” Catholics and potential ties to “the far-right white nationalist movement.”

The memo referenced an opportunity for “trip wire or source development” within parishes that offer the Latin Mass and within online communities that the FBI considered to be “radical-traditionalist” Catholic.

The FBI immediately retracted the memo after it was leaked to the public and the DOJ issued a report in April 2024 that claimed there was no “malicious intent” behind the memo.

In August 2023, the House Judiciary Committee claimed it had evidence that multiple field offices were coordinating the investigation. The committee also found evidence that the FBI had approached a priest and a choir director to ask them to inform on parishioners.

During Garland’s leadership of the DOJ, meanwhile, the department has also overseen the prosecution of more than 30 pro-life activists for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. More than a dozen are either in prison or awaiting sentencing, but Trump has vowed to get them “back to their families.”

In his letter, Hawley said: “This is a sordid track record, and the American people deserve the truth about how it happened and who was involved.”

“With sunlight now on the horizon, I’m not surprised by last-ditch efforts to stonewall the incoming administration,” Hawley wrote.

“But those efforts will fail. … I intend to investigate your respective agencies’ illicit actions over the past several years. If your staff are presently destroying relevant documents, then the American people will learn about that too and will learn who gave the orders to do so.”

Hawley wrote that the DOJ and FBI “must immediately take all necessary steps to preserve all documents, records, and other materials generated by your agencies during your respective tenures in office” and “must cease any bad-faith document destruction.”

“You should prepare for the real justice to come,” Hawley told Wray and Garland.

A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment specifically on the letter but told CNA that FBI records “are retained in accordance with records retention schedules, which are approved by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).” 

“FBI records may not be destroyed without a NARA approved records schedule,” the statement said. “In instances of anticipated or pending litigation or other inquiry, normal disposition practices (to include destruction or transfer to NARA) are halted until resolution of the litigation or inquiry.”

The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.

The Nicaraguan dictatorship of Daniel Ortega and his “co-president” and wife, Rosario Murillo, kidnapped and expelled from the country a priest of the Diocese of Bluefields. / Credit: Pixabay

ACI Prensa Staff, Dec 5, 2024 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua has kidnapped and expelled from the country Father Floriano Ceferino Vargas, a priest of the Diocese of Bluefields.

St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre, New York. / Credit: Nassau Crew via Wikimedia (CC0 1.0)

CNA Staff, Dec 5, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Rockville Centre on Wednesday said a bankruptcy court had approved its record abuse settlement of $323 million, which officials said will bring “some measure of healing to survivors” of clergy abuse. 

The New York diocese announced in September that it had reached the massive settlement for abuse victims after a four-year-long process that included an earlier offer that the survivors had rejected.

On Wednesday U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn approved the settlement, greenlighting the payout that includes contributions from insurers and diocesan churches. 

The Rockville Centre Diocese said in a statement that it was “grateful to God” for the approval. 

“For the sake of abuse survivors and the Church’s mission on Long Island, we pray that the plan brings some measure of healing to survivors and allows the Church to carry on the saving mission of Jesus Christ,” the statement said. 

“Victim survivors of child abuse deserve our respect, our prayers, and our pastoral support,” they added. “The Church is grateful for their courage and perseverance.”

On Wednesday Glenn acknowledged that “money alone cannot make up for the trauma that so many have lived with for so many years.”

“I hope that confirming the plan today will speed the process of providing survivors with compensation and will help put this terrible history behind them so that the Church can carry on its important mission without the distraction of the bankruptcy process,” he said. 

The amount represents the largest settlement in U.S. diocesan bankruptcy history. It will be distributed to about 600 abuse survivors.

The diocese filed for bankruptcy in October 2020 following the passage of the state’s Child Victims Act in 2019. That measure allowed for sex abuse lawsuits to be filed in past cases where survivors had not yet taken action, long after the statute of limitations had expired.

Rockville Centre had last year made a $200 million settlement offer to diocesan abuse victims, though the survivors ultimately rejected that offer.

The diocese on Wednesday said its goal “has always been the equitable compensation of survivors of abuse while allowing the Church to continue her essential mission.” 

“We believe this plan has achieved those goals,” it said.