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Pope, looking strong, issues lengthy marching orders to priests during Holy Thursday Mass

Pope Francis urged his priests Thursday to avoid « clerical hypocrisy » and treat their flocks with mercy as he delivered a lengthy set of marching orders to Rome-based priests at the start of a busy few days leading to Easter.

A strong-looking Francis presided over a Holy Thursday Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica during which the oils for church services are blessed. Later in the afternoon, he travels to Rome’s main women’s prison for the annual Holy Week ritual in which he washes the feet of inmates in a symbol of humility and service.

The 87-year-old Francis, who has been hobbled by a long bout of respiratory problems this winter, appeared in good form for the morning Mass. He read aloud a long homily, after skipping his text at the last minute during Palm Sunday Mass last weekend.

In his remarks, Francis warned priests against « sliding into clerical hypocrisy, » or preaching one thing to their flocks but doing differently in their own spiritual lives. Rather, he urged them to always show mercy to the faithful and not judge them, and weep instead for their own sins.

Doing so, he said, « means looking within and repenting of our ingratitude and inconstancy, and acknowledging with sorrow our duplicity, dishonesty and hypocrisy, » he said.

The Mass was the first major papal liturgy in St. Peter’s since Bernini’s great columned canopy over the altar, known as a baldacchino, was covered in scaffolding for a months-long renovation and cleaning.

Francis has a busy few days coming up that will test his stamina.

On Friday, he is due to travel at night to the Colosseum for the Way of the Cross procession re-enacting Christ’s crucifixion. On Saturday, he presides over an evening Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica followed a few hours later by Easter Sunday Mass in the piazza and his big noontime Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) speech highlighting global conflicts and disasters afflicting humanity.

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Russian Orthodox accuse Pope Francis of ‘rejecting Christian moral ideal’ with gay blessings

In its first detailed analysis of the Vatican’s pre-Christmas declaration « Fiducia Supplicans, » Russia’s Orthodox Church has accused Pope Francis of « rejecting the Christian moral ideal » by allowing the blessing of same-sex couples.

« While affirming the inviolable understanding of marriage as a union of man and woman … the entire section of the document devoted to these blessings is in radical conflict with Christian moral teaching, » the Russian church said in a March 25 report.

« Although ‘Fiducia Supplicans’ is an internal document of the Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church considers it has a duty to respond to radical innovations that reject the divinely revealed norms of Christian morality, » it said. « While accepting with maternal love every individual sinner who asks for her blessing, the church cannot bless same-sex couples in any form, since this would mean consenting to a union sinful in nature. »

The report, by the church’s Synodal Biblical Commission, comes three months after the Dec. 18, 2023, publication of « Fiducia Supplicans, » which said Catholic clergy could now give blessings « outside of a liturgical framework » to couples in « irregular » and « unsettled » situations.

It said the Vatican’s declaration had changed the Catholic Church’s previously « unambiguous position » on same-sex couples, gaining a « positive response » from sexual minorities and the « liberal wing of the Catholic Church, » but causing « deep disappointment » among « traditional Catholics. »

It added that the document had sought to move away from « merely denying, rejecting and excluding, » but had failed to clarify its terminology, while remaining « completely silent about the sacrament of repentance » and « indirectly legitimizing what, in essence, is illegitimate. »

« God’s love for man cannot serve as a basis for blessing couples in sinful cohabitation, » the Russian report said.

« This declaration says nothing about … renouncing a sinful lifestyle or pastoral assistance to the believer in overcoming sin. … One can conclude from it that a sinful lifestyle does not pose an obstacle to communion with God, » Russian Orthodox leaders said.

« Fiducia Supplicans » (« Supplicating Trust ») on « the pastoral meaning of blessings, » published by the Dicastery for Doctrine of the Faith and signed by its Argentine prefect, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, said Catholic priests should be permitted to give « pastoral » and « spontaneous » blessings to same-sex and unmarried couples, without « officially validating their status or changing in any way the church’s perennial teaching on marriage. »

However, the proposed blessings have been rejected by numerous Catholic bishops’ conferences and dioceses worldwide, while Egypt’s historic Coptic Church, the Middle East’s largest Christian denomination, announced March 7 it was suspending dialogue with Catholics over the issue, « after consulting with sister-churches from the Orthodox family. »

Theologians from the world’s 14 other main Orthodox churches, together making up around 220 million Christians, also are believed to be studying « Fiducia Supplicans, » including those of Serbia and Greece, which have condemned legislation on same-sex unions.

The Russian church « directly and unequivocally » rejected homosexuality, as « sinful damage to human nature, » and « categorically » denied recognition to « forms of cohabitation outside the previously given definition of marriage. »

Russia’s Orthodox Church backed the July 2020 constitutional amendments enshrining marriage « as a union of man and woman, » and has demanded full implementation of a November 2023 Russian Supreme Court decree banning the « extremist LGBT movement. »

The church’s long-running claims to be defending traditional Christian values have been widely derided in view of its support for the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In its report, the Russian church said the Vatican’s idea of « spontaneous blessings » stood « in radical contradiction with biblical moral teaching. »

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Vatican releases details of Pope Francis’ visit to Venice April 28

Pope Francis’ planned visit to Venice will include a Mass in the city’s famous St. Mark’s Square, a meeting with young people from the archdiocese and a meeting with female detainees at an island prison where the Vatican has set up its pavilion for a major international contemporary art exhibition.

The pope will travel to and from Venice April 28 by helicopter from the Vatican City State heliport and he will move around the Venetian lagoon by boat, according to details released by the Vatican March 25.

The one-day trip will begin with an early morning visit to the Giudecca women’s prison on Giudecca Island, south of the historic center of Venice. There he will offer remarks and meet prison officials, staff and personally greet about 80 women detained there.

The pope will then visit the prison’s chapel where he will be welcomed by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education and curator of the Holy See’s pavilion for the Venice Biennale art exhibition. The pope will give a speech and greet local officials and artists whose work will be on display.

He will travel by boat from Giudecca Island to the Basilica of St. Mary of Health, a 17th-century church built to honor Mary, invoking her protection and intercession for an end to a devastating plague that killed nearly one-third of the population in the 1630s. The pope will meet with young people and give a speech.

Accompanied by a delegation of young people, Francis will then go to St. Mark’s Square by crossing a so-called « bridge of boats, » a floating pontoon bridge made from boats linked together and a traditional Venetian way of temporarily connecting opposite shores.

Traditionally, the 170-yard-long floating structure is built every year on Nov. 21, the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, allowing the faithful to cross the Grand Canal from St. Mark’s Square to the basilica; the tradition began as thanks for deliverance from the plague.

The pope will greet local government officials, celebrate Mass and pray the Regina Coeli at noon in St. Mark’s Square.

He will make a private visit to St. Mark’s Basilica and venerate the saint’s relics before going by boat to a naval college’s heliport to return to the Vatican by 2:30 that afternoon.

It will be the first time a pope visits the Venice Biennale where the Holy See has had a pavilion since 2013.

This year’s pavilion is located at the Giudecca prison, which used to be an ancient convent, and is dedicated to the theme of human rights and to those who live on the margins of society, « where our eyes rarely end up, » the dicastery had said in a press release Feb. 8.

The event runs from April 20 to Nov. 24 with the title, « With my eyes, » inspired by the pope’s insistence that people go outside their comfort zone and pay attention to realities that are ignored and often left out of cultural discussions, it said.

The pavilion will feature works by international artists, including the late Corita Kent, a pop artist and former U.S. member of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, and U.S. actress Zoë Saldaña-Perego and her husband, Italian film director and artist Marco Perego-Saldaña.

Francis’ last trips in Italy were in 2022 when he visited Matera for the conclusion of the 27th national eucharistic congress, Assisi for an « Economy of Francesco » event and L’Aquila for the opening of the basilica’s holy door.

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US bishops ask faithful to pray during Holy Week for end to Israel-Hamas war

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace called upon the faithful to renew prayers during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

« As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope. It is that hope that spurs us to call on Catholics here in the United States and all those of good will to renew their prayers for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war, » wrote Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, USCCB president, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, International Justice and Peace committee chairman, in a March 23 statement.

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 32,000 people, including more than 13,000 children, with an additional estimated 75,000 injured, in Israel’s retaliation on the Palestinian territory following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on communities along Israel’s southern border. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than 8,700, taking more than 240 hostages. A reported 130 hostages remain in Gaza, including at least 33 dead. With Israel restricting Gaza from access to resources, including food, many Gaza residents are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and imminent « famine. »

« Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering, » the bishops said in their statement. « This must stop.

As the Holy Father recently said, ‘One cannot move forward in war. We must make every effort to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war.’ To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need. »

Israel and Hamas have been engaged in mediated talks about a ceasefire and the release of prisoners and captives, with Hamas recently presenting a proposal for a truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal was based on « unrealistic demands » and he plans for Israeli forces to invade another area of the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas, according to media reports.

« As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land, » the Catholic bishops wrote.

Holy Week began March 24 with Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.

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An artist is a kind of saint

He hasn’t been canonized, but I think of Michelangelo as a sort of saint. William Shakespeare, too — and, for that matter, Emily Dickinson, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Frank Sinatra, Beethoven, Aretha Franklin and Chaucer.

I have no idea how saintly any of these people were in terms of living a moral life. They certainly weren’t saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Nonetheless, they have enabled me to connect with God on a deep spiritual level. They were artists, and, in their art they reached beyond the everyday — they reached out into the transcendent, into the mystery that is the Divine.

God has a great many ways to touch me. Through people, of course — my family, my friends, anyone whose path I cross. Through the Bible and its lessons, through the church and its teachings and the sacraments. Through nature and the cosmos.

Art, for me, is an unofficial sacrament. I suspect I’m not alone in feeling this. Art of whatever kind is a very special way that I can get a glimpse of God, that I can stretch and be touched by God.

All of art is aimed at expressing what can’t be expressed, to say what can’t be said. 

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Think of Michelangelo’s fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in which God, with a big, thick beard, is reaching out with one finger to touch the outstretched finger of the naked Adam. In creating this image, Michelangelo wasn’t copying something he’d seen in nature or on the streets of Rome. He was using his imagination to picture a way of communicating this moment of creation. 

He pushed his mind and spirit and talent beyond the known, and, in doing so, he took the risk of creating. And he created an image that has resonated with believers and nonbelievers alike for more than 500 years. It’s an image that seems to capture not just the story of Adam’s creation but also the way God stretches to touch me throughout my life. 

I am a big fan of Shakespeare’s play « King Lear » in which an elderly monarch tumbles from the height of power because he acts like a bully and can’t tell his enemies from his friends. He learns much about himself and how to love, but this is a play without a happy ending.

Shakespeare went deep inside himself and his lifetime of experiences to create this tragedy that deals so profoundly with what it means to be human. He pushed himself to delve into that mystery. And every time I see the play, I get new and deeper insights into myself and everyone else who’s human. In gaining these insights, I gain insights into God who created us all.

All of art is aimed at expressing what can’t be expressed, to say what can’t be said. 

When Aretha Franklin or Frank Sinatra sang, they pushed their talent to go where other performers weren’t able to go — to find new ways to express emotions and experiences, ways that went beyond what words could communicate.

When Rachmaninoff wrote his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor around 1901, he was working to put into the notes and melodies his own feelings and experiences. And from the moment I first heard the concerto, it expressed my own feelings and experiences with the mystery of living — which is the mystery of who I am and how I connect with God.

The composers, writers, singers and artists living today are doing the same thing. By stretching themselves and their talents, by risking to find new ways into the riddle of life, they help me understand myself and the rest of humanity and our daily dance with God.

When my brother-in-law Steve died, we had a memorial service for him, remembering him as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, as a fierce environmentalist and as a guitar player who loved music. At two points in the service, his two sons and one of his college friends strapped on their guitars to play songs he loved while his nephew Sean provided a quiet counterpoint on his mandolin. 

Sean is a professional bluegrass musician who can really let it rip on stage. But here, at this moment, he was fitting his music behind, underneath and around the guitars. He was providing grace notes, as it were, to their main melodies.

I was struck by the humility of his playing, and the aptness of it. He was stretching his talent not out, but in. He was finding a way to enhance the music of the less polished guitar players. It was as if, in creating this musical setting, he was expressing without words how God was holding the guitarists — and everyone at the service, and Steve, too — in the palm of God’s hand. 

I doubt Sean thought of it in those terms, but that’s how I experienced it. Sean, like Michelangelo and Shakespeare and all the artists of the past and all to come, was finding a way to say what couldn’t be said.

And that seems saintly to me.

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‘Love Lies Bleeding’ examines the power and pain of affection

You won’t find a better visual encapsulation of 1 Corinthians’ « your body is a temple » than in the opening sequence of director Rose Glass’ revenge thriller « Love Lies Bleeding. »

Set in 1980s New Mexico, in the type of small desert town that seems to be comprised only of vast stretches of empty road, viewers watch a tour of a gymnasium managed by the reclusive Lou (Kristen Stewart). Glass and cinematographer Ben Fordesman imbue religious imagery into this documentation, framing the fitness patrons’ care of their bodies as an act of faith and love.

Set to Clint Mansell’s haunting score, there’s a worshipful and intimate beholding of what the camera captures: from drops of sweat sliding down a pulsating bicep to a group of indoor cyclists breathing heavily in discordant rhythm. Between these workouts, Glass weaves in shots of the posters adorning the gym’s walls, loaded with cheesy motivational phrases like « Pain is weakness leaving the body. » There’s an almost liturgical call and response dynamic in this editing and a Scripture like reverence for these aphorisms. What we witness is more than just a community, but a congregation amidst prayer and worship. It is spiritual imagery grafted upon characters caught in the throes of desire. 

Ultimately, « Love Lies Bleeding » explores the violent power of affection, in particular the toll such passions place on our bodies. To commit to someone is a messy and beautiful thing and between the barbells and exercise mats, Glass tells a cautionary tale on the cost of this commitment. Her film is a sweaty and bloody exploration of what is lost and gained when two try to become one flesh. 

Things take a turn to the passionate and incendiary when Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a bodybuilder on her way to a competition in Las Vegas, steps into Lou’s gym. To say Lou falls head over heels for Jackie is an understatement; when she notices two gym patrons talking to Jackie, out of jealousy, Lou announces that the gym is closed and orders everyone to leave. Jackie is one of the last to step out and just before she does, she and Lou lock eyes. The two are standing on opposite sides of the gym, each illuminated by a single bulb above them as if to symbolize how, in the darkness and dreariness of life, they find the light in each other. 

The two soon strike up a relationship and Glass tenderly chronicles their love as they dote on each other throughout their quotidian tasks. These scenes are shot with a handheld camera, giving a sense that we viewers are in the room with them in their intimacy. In these moments the stress and pain of the outside world comes to a standstill as the two revel and rest in the unique sense of being known and held in the gaze of another. 

However, there is a dark side to such love, and Glass spends the rest of the film exploring the consequences of total devotion. Jackie and Lou’s love is complicated by the fact that Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) is a crime lord who smuggles illegal weaponry into New Mexico. As much as Lou wants to keep this part of her life hidden — or at the very least, dictate for herself how much Jackie learns about her past — the closer the two get, the more Jackie is pulled into the violent orbit of her life. It implodes in a macabre manner when out of love and in a steroid-induced daze and state of rage, Jackie murders Lou Sr.’s operative. 

It is the aftermath of this grisly murder where Glass’ film dives into the messiness that comes when we embed our lives with others and how ascribing salvific qualities to those whom we hold most dear ultimately undoes the very bonds of our relationships. 

After Lou disposes of the body, she tells Jackie that they have to lay low as the cops (who are all on Lou Sr.’s payroll) will do everything they can to find the culprit. The two get into an argument as Jackie realizes that this means she can’t attend the bodybuilding competition that she dreamed of. Her violent choice, though made out of love, comes at great cost. Jackie and Lou realize that in order to be with each other, they will have to sacrifice and step into the mess of each other’s lives, and such dedication is costly. 

As Lou Sr.’s forces close in on the two, Lou finds herself returning the favor as she murders more than a few lackeys to protect Jackie. These actions intertwine Jackie and Lou’s lives in ways not easily untangled. This is captured in another surreal moment when Jackie, against Lou’s wishes, decides to leave town to attend the bodybuilding competition. During her showcase, Mansell’s score swells rapturously as if to cheer her on before the scene cuts to a shot of a victim Jackie brutally murdered. Jackie, haunted by what’s she’s done, stumbles and breaks form. She begins convulsing and in a surreal moment, vomits up Lou onto the bodybuilding stage. It’s a clever showcase of how the two are involved in such a way in each other’s lives that they can’t easily separate from each other. After watching « Love Lies Bleeding, » another verse came to mind: the apostle Paul’s famed description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:7: Love « bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. » 

Even amidst the carnage, Jackie and Lou’s love for one another embodies aspects of this. The tragedies that unfold are a reminder that love transforms all who are involved. It requires you to give something of yourself, and you can’t hope to walk away unchanged after giving of yourself so deeply to another. 

In this way, the film both celebrates the power of affection but also reminds us to be wary about who and what we give the totality of ourselves. If you’re going to love someone, do it fully and well. But remember to count the cost.

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An ecological approach to Holy Week

In 1950, the renowned German theologian and theological peritus at the Second Vatican Council, Jesuit Fr. Karl Rahner, published a short article titled, « A Faith That Loves the Earth, » in the journal Geist und Leben. The focus of his reflection was an attempt to say something about the joyful mystery of Easter, which is, as he put it, « the most human message of Christianity. » And yet, Rahner notes, this « is the reason we have such a hard time understanding it. For what is the most true and obvious, in short, the easiest, is also the hardest to live out, to do, and to believe. »

Rahner emphasizes our creatureliness, finitude and precarity as human beings, and reflects on the importance of Christ’s full participation in that same human experience we all share. The mystery of Easter is the summation of God’s incarnational expression of love — God’s emptying God’s self of all power and control (Philippians 2:6-11) in order to participate in the full range of creaturely existence, drawing near to human and nonhuman creatures, becoming a part of creation like us.

Precisely as one who is also fully divine, Christ’s participation in the created order shows forth not only the inherent goodness of creation — something the second-century theologian Irenaeus of Lyon worked hard to communicate millennia earlier — but also the capacity of creation to receive the greatest good God could bestow to it, the gift of God’s very self. In this way, what we celebrate at Easter is the full affirmation of the presence of the divine in the world and the hope we have of new life to come.

Rahner writes: « His resurrection is like the first erupting of a volcano, which shows that the fire of God is already burning inside the world and its light will eventually bring everything else to a blessed glow. He is risen to show that it has already started. »

Easter is not only about the resurrection of one individual, but it is also about the whole of creation and salvation history, which are inextricably united. Easter is not only significant for us human beings alone, but also for all God’s creatures. In a particularly moving passage, Rahner explains:

Christ is already at the very heart of all the lowly things of the earth that we are unable to let go of and that belong to the earth as mother. He is at the heart of the nameless yearning of all creatures, waiting — though perhaps unaware that they are waiting — to be allowed to participate in the transfiguration of his body. He is at the heart of earth’s history, whose blind progress amidst all victories and all defeats is headed with uncanny precision toward the day that is his, where his glory will break forth from its own depths, thereby transforming everything.

And because Christ is at the heart of all of creation, we can say that it is not only Easter but all of Holy Week that has significance for more than just humanity alone. 

Take Sunday’s celebration of Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem. Nonhuman creatures, animals like the donkey upon which he rides and plants like the palms cut down and laid on the path before him, play a key role in the final chapter of the paschal mystery. 

When we grasp those palms in our hands this weekend, and hold them up with shouts of « Hosanna » then raise them to be sprinkled with life-giving water, what thoughts enter our mind? Do we think about what significance there might be for the rest of creation in what we commemorate this week? Do we recognize the way nonhuman creation participates in the event of Christ’s arrival?

What about Holy Thursday? The institution of the Lord’s Supper — what the Second Vatican Council called the « source and summit » of our faith — is fundamentally about a meal shared by Jesus Christ with those women and men closest to him. They took « fruit of the earth and work of human hands, » as our eucharistic prayer reminds us, and consumed it as we do all food. 

The intimacy of the eucharistic meal is obviously about the sacramental presence of Christ drawing near; of God becoming « closer to us than we are to ourselves, » as St. Augustine famously described. But it is also about real bread and real wine, which began as wheat and water and grapes, and which nourishes and becomes part of us as all our food does.

It can be easy to overlook the ecological significance of the Eucharist, but as Pope Francis has taught in « Laudato Si’, On Care for our Common Home, » the Eucharist has cosmic implications:  

Indeed the Eucharist is itself an act of cosmic love: « Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in some way celebrated on the altar of the world. » The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, « creation is projected towards divinization, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself. » Thus, the Eucharist is also a source of light and motivation for our concerns for the environment, directing us to be stewards of all creation.

When we say « amen » to « the body of Christ, » may we also say « amen » to our interconnectedness with and interdependence on the rest of creation, recognizing that the Word first became part of that creation in the Incarnation and continues to draw near to creation in the transformed food we consume at Mass.

Rahner makes the point that even Christ’s death has environmental significance, thereby signaling the ecological importance of Good Friday. He explains:

Especially because he died, he belongs to the earth, for putting someone’s body into earth’s grave means that the person (or the soul, as we would say) who has died enters not only into relationship with God but also into that final union with the mysterious ground of being, where all space-time elements are tied together and have their point of origin. In his death, the Lord descended into the lowest and deepest region of what is visible. It is no longer a place of impermanence and death, because there he now is. By his own death, he has become the heart of this earthly world. …

In addition to reflecting on the agonizing death of an innocent man executed by the state, which continues to unveil the radical injustice of the death penalty and the culture of death reflected in support for capital punishment today, perhaps we might also reflect on the ecological implications of Christ’s death. 

Rahner suggests that we think about the present and future time as « still Holy Saturday until the last day, which will be the day of Easter for the entire cosmos. » He adds that Easter calls us forward « as a loving faith that allows us to be brought along on this unimaginable journey of all earthly reality headed toward its own glory, a journey that started with the resurrection of Christ. »

As we commemorate the paschal mystery this Holy Week, may we also remember that we are « children of this earth, » as Rahner puts it. And may the creatureliness that we share with all of God’s creation and with the Word incarnate, challenge us to also consider this sacred time of year through ecological lenses.

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Catholic leader champions Heritage Foundation’s right-wing brand

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by WyoFile, an independent news organization reporting on the state of Wyoming. It is being republished in a condensed form and in two parts, with permission via the Institute for Nonprofit News, of which NCR is a member. This is the second part. The first part is available here

Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts traces his faith-based conservatism to his distressed childhood in boom-bust Lafayette, Louisiana, where his French Acadian ancestors came as religious refugees from Nova Scotia in the late 18th century. 

In the late 1970s, when Roberts was a boy, Lafayette was in the midst of a major oil and gas boom. The city and surrounding eight parishes that form the area known as Acadiana had the lowest unemployment rate and the highest per capita income in the state. At its peak in 1981, there were 750 oil-related businesses in Lafayette serving the Louisiana coast onshore and offshore drilling operations.

During that boom, Roberts’ parents divorced. Then the oil glut hit, dropping crude oil prices from $35 a barrel in 1981 to under $10 a barrel in 1986. The bottom fell out of the Lafayette economy, bankrupting businesses and driving people from homes they could no longer afford. 

« My parents divorced when I was 4, » Roberts recalled in an interview with Wyofile. « Amid all of that, when I was 9, my 15-year-old brother committed suicide.

« I think in my hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, we saw the deterioration of American society sooner or in greater relief, greater contrast than the rest of the country. All that to say, you know, my faith, the Holy Spirit was not just active, but very present — very, very present. I think we would never want to be so presumptuous as to refer to our own faith as unshakeable. But mine has felt that way since that moment. » 

The bottoming out of the oil industry « revealed the early signs of institutional decay — families, associations, etc. — that simply weren’t up to the task of keeping society stable. I think that experience was very formative in my kind of conservatism — in particular, gravitation toward [Pat] Buchanan. »

Roberts threw himself into church, school and scouting. He was a champion high school debater, a skill that would serve him well at Heritage. At the end of the 1992 school year, the Lafayette Daily Advertiser newspaper featured Roberts as one of the top students at Lafayette High School. 

‘Historian of race’

Roberts earned a scholarship to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he got a history degree in 1996. His first interest was Civil War military history but finding that area too crowded he switched to what he would later call the « more PC » field of race and slavery history at the University of Texas at Austin.

According to his graduate school advisers, Roberts excelled at UT from the start. His dissertation examining the lives and struggles of antebellum slaves in his Louisiana homeland was groundbreaking in terms of primary source documentation and detail, according to his dissertation committee supervisor James Sidbury, now a professor of history at Rice University in Houston.

Sidbury said that Roberts was always much more conservative than most of his professors and fellow graduate students, but that he got along well with everyone.

Still, Sidbury and others who worked with him at UT said they have been surprised by the harsh tones and forceful rhetoric of Roberts’ more recent attacks on « critical race theory » in American education. When he was at UT, they saw him more as a Karl Rove-George W. Bush kind of Republican, something he clearly is not now. Both Bush and his political adviser Rove are leading Trump critics. 

For his part, Roberts says his politics have not changed much, if at all. 

« I don’t think I’ve had any radical shifts in perspective on anything related to that, » Roberts told WyoFile. « I lament that CRT [critical race theory] and DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] have taken over, and not just from some knee-jerk conservative standpoint, but from my perspective as a historian of race, those tropes are divisive and undermine much progress we’ve made as a society. »

A move out West

In 2006 he returned to his native Lafayette to serve as headmaster and president of a new private Catholic pre-K through 12 school he helped found, the John Paul the Great Academy. He then moved on in 2013 to take over as president of Wyoming Catholic College

« From the moment I learned about Wyoming Catholic College, which was just before I saw that they were hiring for the second president, it captivated me, » Roberts said. « And the most succinct way I can explain that is, if Wyoming Catholic College had existed when I was looking for colleges, and I knew about it, I would’ve gone there. And the reasons are its commitment to faith, the academic rigor of the curriculum, which I would’ve found appealing and do find appealing as an adult and also as a parent. » 

Some Lander residents chafed at his school’s conservative moral policies and how they sometimes spilled over into the often-rowdy town, a mecca for rock climbers and adventurers drawn to the towering Wind River peaks nearby.

In 2015, for example, a gathering of the Wind River Pride organization in City Park was countered by a college-sponsored « traditional marriage picnic » a week later in the same spot. 

Shop owner Susan Meeker said she tired of female Wyoming Catholic College students coming into her women’s clothing store on Main Street to complain that window bra displays were upsetting male students.  

« I was having a bra fitting event and fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer, » said Meeker, who now lives in Colorado, « and I had a poster with a picture of a woman wearing a bra. Nothing trashy, slutty or whatever. Just a very sensible bra. These students came in all upset and wanted me to take it down. »

The school itself has strict behavior policies. Students can hold hands, but premarital sex is seen as not in keeping with Catholic teaching. There is a 10:30 p.m. curfew. Male students are banned from going shirtless. There are dances — ballroom and Western — and concerts, but Wyoming Catholic College is the opposite of a party school. Wearing his trademark black Stetson and Lucchese goatskin boots, Robert would lead horseback expeditions for outdoor prayer and study including an annual « ranch blessing. » 

Politics and publicity

While the college’s conservative values sometimes collided with the greater Lander community, Roberts and his family fit nicely into the small mountain town. Kevin played noontime pickup basketball at the Mormon church gym, where he was known for his sneaky right-handed set shot. Roberts and his wife participated in neighborhood road maintenance and water meetings. When something upset him, Roberts wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, a civic practice he began as a high school student in his hometown of Lafayette.

But Roberts alienated some in the community because of comments he made when he rejected federal Title IX money for the school.

« The strings attached to that money, » Roberts told Wyoming Public Radio at the time, « would allow the federal government to invoke an interpretation of Title IX, in particular concerning transgendered persons and people with a same-sex attraction who want to bring a certain activity or activism to our college — either as students, or as employees — or — and this is very troubling for us — even people who want to use our restroom facilities and dorms. »

Roberts’ political activism sometimes grated on his own faculty. Glenn Arbery, the man who followed him as president, credits Roberts with skillfully publicizing the college. « Kevin put us on the map, » Arbery said. « He made an issue of our not taking federal aid. He made sure he got interviewed by The New York Times. He was always thinking in terms of publicity and of the political impact of the college. » 

But the faculty of the college were not always on board with the kind of political agenda that Kevin felt the college should have. « We are a ‘Great Books’ Catholic college that doesn’t necessarily have an activist understanding of itself. That became a kind of real tension because Kevin had one idea of the college and most of the faculty had a different idea, » Arbery said. 

After Wyoming U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 2016, Roberts briefly toyed with the idea of seeking her vacated congressional seat. But then a better offer came along from the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin. 

Roberts became the Texas nonprofit’s chief executive officer in 2018 and immediately became one of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s top advisers. Abbott named him to head the 1836 Project, created to celebrate Texas history as an independent Republic and as a counter to The New York Times’ 1619 Project, which examined slavery and the founding of the U.S. While at Texas Public Policy, Roberts again eschewed any kind of federal aid, including COVID relief funds. 

He launched a Texas Public Policy video podcast, « The Advance, » where he moderated interviews with conservative leaders in a format that he later recreated at Heritage with « The Kevin Roberts Show. » Long an admirer of Heritage, he adopted the proactive policy strategy that Edwin Feulner, former Heritage president, had pioneered in the Reagan years. Like Feulner, Roberts had learned the value of repetition of themes and phrases. Feulner once likened it to selling toothpaste.

« Proctor and Gamble does not sell Crest toothpaste by taking out one newspaper ad or running one television commercial, » Feulner wrote in a 1985 essay titled « Ideas, Think-Tanks, and Governments. »

« They sell it and resell it every day by keeping the product fresh in the consumer’s mind. »

So when the offer came along to lead and — indeed revive — the country’s most powerful conservative mouthpiece, Roberts jumped at the opportunity. 

At 49, he is still a young man with seemingly boundless energy and a willingness to appear and present conservative positions whenever he is summoned, even before the « global elites » at the Davos World Economic Forum if necessary. Along the way, the product of a hardscrabble broken home has been able to dramatically increase his income from the $94,000 a year he made at John Paul the Great Academy, to $146,000 at Wyoming Catholic College, to $280,000 at Texas Public Policy Foundation to his current $668,000 at Heritage. 

But despite his lucrative and meteoric rise in conservative circles, Roberts says his heart still belongs to Wyoming. « We try to get back there at least once a year. I average two or three times a year since we’ve left. »

Roberts said he has ruled out the idea of  returning to Wyoming to run for public office, but can imagine returning to live full time once his days at Heritage are over. He refers to Wyoming as his « spiritual home. »

For many, however, Wyoming politics seem to have coarsened in recent years with deep fissures in the ruling Republican Party. That coarsening has been often led by MAGA-style Republican politicians, who have little patience for compromise or even civility. But Roberts sees this movement more as a kind of retreat from the patrician GOP politics once practiced by the Cheneys — Dick and Liz — and before that, Sen. Alan Simpson.

« Wyoming politics are only seen as being more divisive now, » he said in a later email exchange, « because more populist conservatives, like my friend Harriet Hageman, are displacing the establishment types, like [Liz] Cheney. 

“It’s a necessary and good realignment. » 

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Ukrainian archbishop: Pope Francis doesn’t understand Putin

A prominent U.S. Ukrainian Catholic leader has sharply criticized Pope Francis’ recent suggestion that Ukraine might enter negotiations to end its brutal, two-year war with Russia, calling the pontiff’s remarks « very problematic. » 

In an exclusive interview with National Catholic Reporter, Archbishop Borys Gudziak, who represents Ukrainian Catholics across much of the eastern U.S., said he and people across Ukraine « were really knocked off balance » by the pope’s suggestion.

« Negotiating with Russia and [President] Putin today is a no-go, » said Gudziak, speaking in an interview for NCR’s The Vatican Briefing podcast. « Ukrainians have tried. They see that he is a relentless killer. »

« I think the Holy Father really cares for the people of Ukraine, and he cares for the suffering people of the world, » said the archbishop. « The expression … was very unfortunate. »

Gudziak, who currently heads the Archeparchy of Philadelphia, has been a leader in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church for decades. He previously led the eparchy responsible for Ukrainian Catholics across France, Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The archbishop was speaking to NCR while in Washington for a conference hosted by Georgetown University. He was responding to a question about an interview with Francis that was released by a Swiss broadcaster on March 9.

In that papal interview, which has not yet been released in full, Francis appeared to suggest that Ukrainian political leaders should not be ashamed to enter peace talks. « I think that the strongest one is the one who looks at the situation, thinks about the people and has the courage of the white flag, and negotiates, » the pope said.

The pontiff’s remarks have drawn criticism from across Ukrainian society. « Our flag is blue and yellow. We live, die and win under it. We will not raise other flags, » Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on March 10.

In the NCR interview, Gudziak spoke movingly about the suffering of the Ukrainian people over the past two years, and in previous conflicts with Russia. 

« I think even the Holy Father has difficulty understanding who the world is dealing with, who Ukraine is dealing with, » said the archbishop. « Ukrainians have no questions. »

Gudziak mentioned the thousands of Ukrainian families who have lost someone in the war, or have family members who are missing in action, and are wondering if they are still alive.

« Hundreds of thousands of families are living in this acute anxiety from day to day, » said the archbishop. 

« I think that that’s the message that the Holy Father needs to hear and that’s something that he is incredibly responsive to, » said Gudziak.

« There’s many things he does behind the scenes to try to help, but the communications need to be systematic, » said the archbishop. « They need to be coherent and they can’t be manipulated. »

Referring to the pope’s March 9 interview, Gudziak said: « The Russians really had a field day. »

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Life-threatening safety concerns keep Burkina Faso Catholics away from Sunday Mass

The majority of Christians in Burkina Faso are now shying away from Sunday services and instead praying at home after a series of deadly attacks by Islamist militants targeted churches and killed scores of worshippers.

The latest attack by insurgents on a Catholic church in the northeastern part of the country on Feb. 25 left at least 15 people dead. Local church officials told OSV News that gunmen on motorcycles suspected to be Islamist militants raided the church during Sunday worship in Essakane village, close to the border with Mali, indiscriminately shooting at worshippers, including little children on their parents’ laps.

« People are devastated and are … avoiding Sunday Mass for fear of further attacks, » said Father Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vicar general of the Diocese of Dori, where the attack took place.

« The church is under attack, and we ask for your prayers during this difficult time and prayers for those who died and were wounded during the recent attack, » he told OSV News.

The vicar general noted that most Christians in his diocese are « shaken » by the recent terrorist attack on a Catholic church. « It’s a sad situation, and it’s going to affect our pastoral activities as people continue to stay away from places of worship, » he said.

The West African nation of 21 million people has experienced civil war between the government and Islamist rebels since 2015. The recent report by Human Rights Watch underlined that non-state armed groups control up to 50% of the country’s territory, and the conflict has led to the death of thousands of people and displaced over 2 million people.

« Conflict-related violence resulted in the deaths of nearly 7,600 people in over 2,000 incidents in 2023 alone, » the report said.

Since 2021, jihadists have increasingly targeted Christians in villages, churches and workplaces — with a target of killing them. Islamist militants also have destroyed churches and warned Christians not to publicly worship. In 2024, Open Doors ranked Burkina Faso as the 20th worst country to live in as a Christian. The country is 25% Christian and 60% Muslim.

« Christians have been disproportionately impacted by the growing insurgency in the north of the country, with churches and Christian communities singled out in attacks, while Muslims who do not side with the Islamic extremist groups have also suffered greatly, » Jo Newhouse, Open Doors spokesperson for the work in sub-Saharan Africa, said after the Feb. 25 attack on a church service.

« Burkina Faso has been known for religious tolerance and social cohesion amongst people, however the growing Islamic insurgency threatens the peaceful coexistence of the Burkinabe, » he explained.

In mid-February, members of the Burkina Faso and Niger bishops’ conference said that at least 30 parishes had been closed and most pastoral activities disrupted due to ongoing insecurity, especially in the country’s northern and eastern regions.

« Overall, some thirty parishes and their associated structures … remain closed or inaccessible, » the bishops said in a statement issued at the end of the Feb. 12-18 plenary assembly in the Diocese of Kaya, northeast of Ouagadougou, the country’s capital.

Martin Ouedraogo, a former catechist in the Diocese of Dori, said thousands of Christians across the country were troubled and afraid of attending Mass for fear of attacks.

The continuous attacks by jihadist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State on Christians, he said, has instilled fear to express their faith in public. Those from Muslim backgrounds experience more violence and rejection from their families and communities.

« It’s a crime to introduce yourself as a Christian in this country, especially in northern and eastern regions, and as a result, people are now afraid to attend Mass, » Ouedraogo said, noting that several churches have closed down. « We are discouraging congregants in most rural areas from attending Sunday worship services for safety reasons. But we urge all Catholics to pray from home and pray the rosary for an end to the terror attacks targeting Christians and places of worship. »

Ouedraogo said that hundreds of church leaders and their families across denominations have been kidnapped and remained in captivity for years since the insurgency began in the landlocked country, which is ruled by a military dictatorship.

« Majority of Christians here are living in camps because they have been displaced from their homes due to their faith, » he said, urging support for suffering Burkina Faso Christians with food donations and other basic needs. « Families have lost their loved ones, their homes, their properties, and their children have been pushed out of school and wandering in various displaced camps. »

Meanwhile, Ouedraogo and other religious leaders urged the government to provide security to the Christian population and ensure freedom of worship.