Bishops Blame Trump . . . San Diego bishops visit migrant children at convention center

The San Diego Convention Center, fitted with cots and not much else, is the temporary home of nearly 1,500 unaccompanied minors. The surge at the border, the highest in 20 years, is stressing the neglected U.S. migrant and refugee systems that were designed to deal humanely with refugees seeking asylum. Many of the children in San Diego are arriving from Texas, but all the border states are being impacted. Federal authorities are partnering with local non-profits such as Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services, and many others to provide basic services to the children, including administering to their spiritual needs. San Diego’s Bishop Robert McElroy and Auxiliary Bishop Ramón Bejarano visited the convention center over Easter to meet the children, most…Continue Reading

The Vatican Remains Silent on the Persecution of Chinese Christians

Last November, Pope Francis, for the first time, called China’s Muslim Uighurs a “persecuted” people, something human rights activists have been urging him to do for years. However, during his solemn Urbi et Orbi  Easter blessing on Easter Sunday, Francis snubbed the Uighurs as he carefully omitted any reference to those suffering human rights abuses under China’s Communist regime when he named an array of countries, such as Lebanon, Jord

Statement on the Reception of Holy Communion by Those Who Persist in Public Grave Sin

Many Catholics and also non-Catholics who, while they do not embrace the Catholic faith, respect the Catholic Church for her teaching regarding faith and morals, have asked me how it is possible for Catholics to receive Holy Communion, while at the same time they publicly and obstinately promote programs, policies and legislation in direct violation of the moral law. In particular, they ask how Catholic politicians and civil officials who publicly and obstinately defend and promote the practice of abortion on demand can approach to receive Holy Communion. Their question clearly applies as well to those Catholics who publicly promote

Conversations with Cardinal Burke March 2021

Bishop Paprocki: Examining conscience before communion is essential

Denver Newsroom, Mar 26, 2021 / 03:12 am MT (CNA).- Amid the debate about whether Catholic public figures who support abortion should be permitted to receive Holy Communion, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois said this week that the most important factor is a personal examination of conscience on the part of those figures.  “I think the first issue is for the communicant himself or herself to examine their conscience and if they are conscious of grave sin, they shouldn’t go to communion,” Paprocki told CNA.  He noted that this is true not only for politicians, but for all Catholics – anyone who is conscious of grave sin s