U.S.
As record heat scorches the globe, climate advocates urge action
WASHINGTON — More than 80 million Americans were under dangerous heat advisories in late July. Temperatures in California’s Death Valley have hovered around 120 degrees Fahrenheit at midnight. Spain, Greece and Italy have recorded all-time high temperatures. In several Middle Eastern countries, the heat index mid-July reached 152 F, considered almost at the limit for human survival. Pope Francis referenced the recent heat headlines during his July 23 Sunday Angelus message in Rome, while making a global plea “to do something more concrete to limit polluting emissions” and “protect our common home.” Steven Coleman, a leader of the Catholic Action Team for the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and the Care for Creation Team at Madison’s St. Dennis Catholic Parish, said small, individual efforts — such as carpooling, recycling, water conservation, limiting use of plastics — should be a priority for people, including Catholics, but more important, he advised, is to “have the courage to talk about it.” (OSV News)
Rediscover Jesus, Scriptures to renew Church, culture, say evangelists
NAPA, Calif. — Rediscovering the person of Jesus and Scripture can renew the Catholic Church amid secularization and scandal, according to prominent lay evangelizers at the Napa Institute’s 13th annual summer conference July 26-30 in Napa, California. “We need Jesus, we need the Church, and we need to undergo transformation ourselves,” said Curtis Martin, founder of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students), one of several keynote speakers. The institute’s episcopal adviser, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, led the conference’s opening prayer. Martin and fellow presenters spoke in depth regarding the conference’s theme, “What We Need Now: Renewing God’s Presence in Our Lives, in Our Church, and in Our Culture.” Among the speakers was former vice president and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Pence who delivered an address highlighting the need for the role of faith in public life. (OSV News)
U.S. bishops recognize three pro-life advocates for their longtime efforts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. bishops recently recognized three pro-life advocates for their longtime efforts by conferring the 2023 People of Life awards. The recipients were Margaret (Peggy) Hartshorn, board chair of Heartbeat International, a network of U.S. pro-life pregnancy resource centers; Aurora Tinajero, a pro-life advocate and radio host based in Texas; and the late clinical bioethicist, pediatrician and neonatologist Dr. Kathryn Moseley, who until her death in June at age 70 had been the assistant professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Michigan. The recipients were honored July 17 during the annual Diocesan Pro-Life Leadership Conference in Toledo, Ohio, with Moseley feted posthumously. Established in 2007 by the USCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, the People of Life award recognizes Catholics who have answered the call outlined by St. John Paul II in “The Gospel of Life” (“Evangelium Vitae”) by dedicating themselves to pro-life activities and promoting respect for the dignity of the human person. (OSV News)
Kerry Alys Robinson named as next Catholic Charities USA president and CEO
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Kerry Alys Robinson has been named as the next president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, the organization representing the interests of its 167 member organizations dedicated to carrying out the domestic humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in the United States. When Robinson, currently an executive partner of Leadership Roundtable, begins her tenure Aug. 23, she will become the second layperson and second woman ever to lead CCUSA, the group said. In a July 25 statement, CCUSA board chair Neal Black said Robinson’s “entire professional life has been devoted to serving and bettering our Church.” In a July 25 statement, Robinson said, the Gospels “call Catholics and all people of good will to serve those most in need of our aid.” She also said, “The staff and volunteers of Catholic Charities agencies around the country answer that call every day: feeding the hungry, comforting the afflicted and welcoming the stranger.” (OSV News)
WORLD
Vatican officials meet German bishops to continue dialogue on Synodal Path
VATICAN CITYS — Representatives of the Roman Curia and the German bishops’ conference discussed theological and disciplinary issues related to the German Church’s Synodal Path in a “positive and constructive climate” during a meeting at the Vatican July 26. The meeting was a “continuation of the dialogue initiated during the ‘ad limina’ visit of the German bishops in November 2022,” the Vatican and the German bishops said in a joint communique July 26. In the wake of the clerical abuse scandal and with the release of a major study of its suspected causes, the German bishops’ conference and the Central Committee of German Catholics launched the Synodal Path in 2019 to come up with appropriate responses. The process began with forums to discuss issues in the four areas the study identified as containing the “systemic causes” of sexual abuse and its cover-up: the exercise of power in the Church; sexual morality; priestly existence; and the role of women in the Church. (CNS)
US official calls state of religious freedom in Nigeria ‘abysmal’
WASHINGTON — The chairman of U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, has described religious freedom conditions in Nigeria as “abysmal.” Speaking July 18 at a House subcommittee hearing on religious freedom, he pointed to the country’s “blasphemy laws and armed attacks on believers that have continued to worsen,” and noted that Africa’s most populous nation is like “a slow-motion genocide.” The country has maintained its rather unflattering status as a place where it is increasingly becoming harder to live as a Christian, with instances of crime against Christians happening every day and kidnapping of priests seen as organized crimes. On July 10, Father Joseph Azubuike at St. Charles Parish in the Diocese of Abakaliki in Ebonyi state was abducted, along with three other people, not far from his rectory. According to a January report by research organization SB Morgen Intelligence, not fewer than 39 Catholic priests were killed by gunmen in 2022, while 30 others were abducted. The report also showed that 145 attacks on Catholic priests were recorded within the same period. (OSV News)