U.S.

Missouri-based network connects abortion survivors worldwide

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Melissa Ohden said she never planned to start an organization. Ohden, who joined the Catholic Church in 2014, belongs to St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Gladstone, Missouri. She leads the Abortion Survivors Network (ASN), the world’s only organization dedicated to providing “a safe place for (abortion) survivors to finally share their story, be themselves, be vulnerable, to finally heal.” Ohden first became involved with pro-life ministry in 2007, sharing her own story of having survived a saline infusion abortion in 1977 at 31 weeks. As she shared her story at various events, other abortion survivors began asking her for help. For years, Ohden connected survivors with other survivors, guided them to counselors, helped them write their testimonies and invited them to policy groups. In 2019, Ohden said she realized God had been calling her to a ministry for abortion survivors all along and officially started ASN with one specific purpose. (OSV News)

Dodgers’ faith night ‘not enough’ to address controversy over anti-Catholic concerns

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to host a July 30 Christian Faith and Family Day does not allay concerns and outrage over the team’s plans to honor a self-described ”order of drag, queer and LGBTQ+ nuns,” Catholic experts told OSV News. “This is not a quid pro quo,” said Kathleen Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference. “You can’t have a night where you invite one group that is openly bigoted towards another, then invite that other group. Why do you have to encourage inclusivity at our expense?” Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw called for the relaunch of the club’s annual Christian event, which had been on pause since the COVID pandemic, after the team said it would proceed with feting the LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence during a June 16 Pride Night game. The invitation had been briefly withdrawn after protests, but reinstated with a public apology to the group from the Dodgers. But the move is “not enough” to counter the Sisters’ mockery of Catholic beliefs, part of “the last acceptable prejudice in America,” said Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester on Twitter. (OSV News)

Pope appoints two auxiliary bishops for San Diego

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis has appointed Father Michael Pham, vicar general of the Diocese of San Diego, and Father Felipe Pulido, vicar for clergy and director of vocations for the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, as auxiliary bishops of San Diego. Bishop-designate Pham, 56, who was born in Vietnam, was ordained for the Diocese of San Diego June 25, 1999. Besides his diocesan position, he also is pastor of Good Shepherd Parish in San Diego. Bishop-designate Pulido, 53, who was born in Mexico, was ordained for the Diocese of Yakima June 28, 2002. The appointments were publicized in Washington June 6 by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. (OSV News)

WORLD

Pope prays for Indian train crash victims

BALASORE, India — Government authorities June 4 were working to get rail services back in operation in the district of Balasore after the deadliest train crash in India in decades killed 275 people and injured at least 1,000 June 2. Investigators said the crash involving three trains may have been caused by signaling failure. At the Vatican, Pope Francis during his Sunday Angelus remembered the victims of a crash that involved three trains. “May our heavenly Father receive the souls of the deceased into his kingdom,” he said, echoing a papal telegram sent to the apostolic nuncio of India. The pope June 4 also assured the injured he is close to them and their families. CNN and other news outlets reported June 4 that the death toll was lowered to at least 275, after officials found that some victims had been counted twice during the chaos that followed the crash. By June 4, rescue efforts had ended and the derailed cars had been removed from the tracks. The crash occurred in Odisha state in eastern India about 137 miles southwest of Kolkata. (OSV News)

Nicaraguan regime freezes bank accounts of dioceses nationwide

MANAGUA, Nicaragua— Nicaragua has frozen the bank accounts of dioceses nationwide as the regime of President Daniel Ortega escalates its persecution of the Catholic Church with accusations of theft and money laundering. The country’s banking regulator also requested of the Nicaraguan bishops’ conference and Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes of Managua “the presentation of the documents that show the movements of the dioceses’ bank accounts so that the laws of the country are complied with at all times, avoiding the illegal acts that have been committed,” according to a May 27 statement from the National Police. The independent newspaper Confidencial wrote that the frozen accounts were first reported in the Diocese of Estelí, where imprisoned Bishop Rolando Álvarez of Matagalpa is apostolic administrator. (OSV News)

Pope names Cardinal Farrell next head of Vatican City high court

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has named U.S. Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, to be the next president of the supreme court of Vatican City State. Until Pope Francis modified the judiciary of the city-state in April, the president of the court always was the prefect of the Apostolic Signature, the Holy See’s highest court. The current president is Cardinal Dominque Mamberti. The Vatican announced June 2 that Cardinal Farrell, 75, would become president of the Court of Cassation, as the Vatican’s highest civil court is known, beginning Jan. 1. The position is not a fulltime role. As judges on the court, Pope Francis named Cardinals Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, Paolo Lojudice of Siena and Mauro Gambetti, the papal vicar for Vatican City. All four cardinals were appointed to five-year terms. (CNS)