Rome & the World: better than right or left • English Catholic schools and LGBTQ+ • & more…

In her weekly newsletter for The New York Times, Tish Harrison Warren, an Anglican priest in the USA, talks about the ‘whole life’ movement. Warren explains she was interested in this group as it is committed to protecting the life and dignity of all people, particularly those who are vulnerable, “from womb to tomb,” regardless of which issues are supported by which political faction. This means the movement is opposed to abortion, euthansia and the death penalty and also promotes policies such as having a living wage, universal access to health care and racial justice, transcending the usual Democratic versus Republican divide in the USA. “A whole life movement that doesn’t track with our right/left political binary is right where it should be because this binary is a terrible, limiting, toxic thing. This movement is about something bubbling up from outside of those national political assumptions and power structures,” Charlie Camosy, a Catholic and leader within the movement, told Warren. 

The New York Times, English

Charles de Foucauld engaged in an experience of fraternity "offered to all, without consideration of religious, ethnic or national belonging," explained Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers, paying tribute to the French monk who lived much of his life in the Algerian desert and who will be canonized on May 15, 2022. The prelate published a reflection on the website of the Catholic Church of Algeria, in which he insists on the "successive conversions" and the many "new departures" that marked the life of the future saint. "This testimony still speaks to thousands of people," he explains, and shows "his missionary zeal and his concern to reach those who are farthest from the proclamation of the Gospel, even to the borders of the French Sahara.” According to the French Archbishop, it is only when Charles succeeds in establishing this "relationship of otherness and reciprocity proper to friendship" that he becomes the "universal brother" he so desired to be. In his reflection, Bishop Vesco also placed Charles de Foucauld alongside others who were killed due to their faith in Algeria or in France, such as the monks of Tibhirine or Father Hamel.

Fides, Italian

Teachers at a Catholic school in southeast London went on strike after the cancellation of a lecture by a children's author whose books feature homosexual characters. The decision was recommended by the Archdiocese of Southwark and caused a stir. The British press seized on the subject to castigate the 'brutal and unfair' attitude of the Catholic Church, which, once again, seems to exclude LGBTQ+ people. However, the author of the article takes the opposite view of these accusations. A Catholic school has a "moral obligation" not to accept the promotion of content that goes against its teachings, he says. A Catholic school can therefore refuse to host an author who is committed to the promotion of LGBTQ+ rights.

The Catholic Network, English

Four men, including one priest, were sentenced to 7 years in jail, after being accused of trying to murder the Bishop of Rumbek (South Sudan), Christian Carlassare, on April 25, 2021. The 45-year-old Italian and Comboni missionary had been recently named Bishop when two armed men broke into his home and shot at his legs. After a period of convalescence in Italy, Bishop Carlassare returned to Rumbek and on March 25, 2022, finally received his episcopal ordination in the city's cathedral. "Although saddened by what has happened and the suffering that comes with it, we pray that the truth may lead to conversion,” the Italian prelate said of the verdict of the trial.  

Avvenire, Italian

Although a Catholic consecrated woman, Sister Prasanna Devi, now 88 years old, lived for years following the Hindu ascetic life. For 40 years, she lived alone in a forest near Girnar, a sacred space for the Jain and Hindu religions. UCA News tells the story of how this nun decided to follow the great acculturation movement launched within the Catholic Church in the 1970s. Not belonging to any congregation, she took her vows in 1997 with a bishop, and pledged to live in chastity, poverty and obedience. She lived as a hermit in this remote part of the world, wearing the orange habit of the Hindus. In 2014, a bad fall forced her to join an annex of a Catholic church for care. Since then, a Catholic parish in western India has taken her in and is helping her live out her old age peacefully. Even today, many Hindus continue to visit her because of her reputation for holiness.

UCA News, English