A family of religious Jews walks at the beginning of Armenian Quarter Street, the entry point to the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem in April 2024. Behind them stands the complex of the Tower of David Museum. / Credit: Marinella Bandini

Jerusalem, May 1, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

During the Jewish Passover (Pesach) in late April, an unprecedented initiative took place in Jerusalem.

On the eve of the festivities, anticipating the arrival of numerous Jewish worshippers to fulfill religious precepts, several posters and pamphlets appeared in the streets of the Old City calling on the public to avoid offensive behavior and harassment toward Christians and non-Jews.

“We must together maintain ‘Derech Eretz’ (‘proper behavior precedes the Torah’) in regard to the respect of mankind, to non-Jews and those of a different religion, especially during Passover and throughout the entire year. We must prevent and prevent others from spitting in the direction of others who are not Jewish,” a short excerpt from the poster reads.

According to local websites, the initiative was promoted by Ahrale Friedman, a resident of the ultra-Orthodox Ramat Shlomo neighborhood located in the newer part of Jerusalem. A source with knowledge of the community but who is unauthorized to speak for it told CNA that the campaign is likely the effort of a broader Jewish organization with connections in the Orthodox world. Regardless, it is the first initiative of its kind.

Several highly publicized incidents involving ultra-Orthodox Jews harassing Christians in the Old City of Jerusalem have been reported. Among the most “hot” areas for this behavior are the Via Dolorosa, the Armenian quarter, and Mount Zion. 

In the last year, a significant public opinion movement both locally and internationally has brought to light these types of incidents, including the controversial practice of spitting at Christians or their holy places as a sign of contempt.

The incidents have decreased in the last few months because of the war — due to the absence of Christian pilgrims and the reduced presence of Jews in the Old City in the early months of the conflict — but the phenomenon has never disappeared.

Just a couple of months ago, the attack on Benedictine Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel, captured live, caused a stir. And in recent days, a video filmed in the Armenian quarter has been circulating in which blasphemies against Jesus in Hebrew can be clearly heard.

On posters and flyers, one can find quotes on the matter from leading rabbinical authorities who have condemned such actions, such as the elder rabbi of the Council of Torah, Rabbi Meir Zvi Bergman.

“There is a new thing today that we should protest with all our might: spitting out on the street, and we are against it. It is blasphemy,” he said.

The Sephardic chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Amer, is also quoted as saying: “This thing is absolutely forbidden, and it is also a blasphemy of God.” 

A quote from Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council of Israel, is also present: “It’s so opposite of Judaism. I don’t know where these spits came from. It’s not ours.”

Yisca Harani, an Israeli lecturer, adviser, researcher, and guide in the field of Christian history who is involved in interfaith activities, told CNA that such an initiative against the behavior “is absolutely beneficial.” 

Harani herself is involved in reporting cases of violence against Christians. In June 2023 she launched the Religious Freedom Data Center, whose aim is “to document all such incidents, bring them to the attention of the relevant institutions, and demand they use the means and measures at their disposal to redress them.” She herself saw some people hanging posters, and she asked the volunteers of her association to distribute these flyers.

She explained that “all the rabbis quoted are very famous. The names of some very radical and very conservative rabbis were taken. It means that if they say not to spit, their audience will have to listen to it very carefully.” 

Harani is convinced that reporting to the authorities is one of the paths to take.

“Only if [the attackers] are going to be treated very very harshly will we see a change,” she said. On the other hand, she believes that the “educational way” is the only one that can guarantee long-term results.

“Posters are a very good example of this,” she said.

The posters clearly state that aggressive behavior toward Christians “will not benefit us and may even harm the global support for the war.” Furthermore, it is said that there were “wicked people” who have used videos in which young people were seen spitting “as an excuse to attack Jews abroad and slander the country and the people.”

“Even without the above-mentioned things,” the posters say, “we must be careful about this and preserve the honor of our Torah as the sons of Abraham our father, peace be upon him, who also received idolaters in his tent and taught us the Kiddush of God and the most distant ones even in days of peace and tranquility in our streets.”

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CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined a request from the porn industry to block a Texas age-verification rule, allowing the law to stand and temporarily derailing the efforts of porn creators to see the new safety measure scuttled. 

The court said in an unsigned order without comment that it was denying a request from the Free Speech Coalition to issue a stay on the law. The Free Speech Coalition includes a porn trade association and several pornography creators. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has defended the law, HB 1181, since its passage last summer. The measure requires porn websites to institute “reasonable age-verification methods” to ensure minors are not accessing explicit sexual content on their sites. 

The attorney general has sued multiple pornography companies in order to enforce the age-verification law. He argued earlier this year that pornography sites “are on the run because Texas has a law that aims to prevent them from showing harmful, obscene material to children.” 

“In Texas, companies cannot get away with showing porn to children,” he said. “If they don’t want to comply, they should leave Texas.”

The porn industry has fought efforts to ensure that minors cannot access sexually explicit videos on their websites. Age-verification laws in Mississippi, Arkansas, Virginia, Montana, Utah, and North Carolina, for instance, have led Pornhub — one of the world’s most prolific porn websites — to stop streaming its graphic sexual videos in those states. 

The website earlier this year ceased offering its website in Texas rather than comply with its age-verification law.

The U.S. crackdown on underage porn access comes as regulators in Europe have undertaken similar measures. The European Union in December announced that Pornhub, along with two other high-traffic pornography sites, would have to comply with age-verification and safety laws passed in 2022 by the governing body. 

Church leaders have been warning about the dangers of pornography for years. In 2022 Pope Francis called pornography “a permanent attack on the dignity of men and women,” arguing that it “is not only a matter of protecting children — an urgent task of the authorities and all of us — but also of declaring pornography a threat to public health.”

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called pornography “a grave offense against God and his gifts to men and women” that offers “a means of selfish, lustful gratification” and which “attacks sexual desire and the conjugal act itself.”

In 2020, meanwhile, Catholic anti-porn advocates launched a new online discussion and prayer platform called SOS Porn Deliverance, which offers “the opportunity for those affected by [porn addiction] to chat confidentially with an e-missionary trained in this mission.”

Pope Francis delivers a message during his general audience on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, May 1, 2024 / 09:45 am (CNA).

On Wednesday, May 1, Pope Francis addressed an international audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican and reiterated the importance of faith in the Christian life as well as the need to continually pray for “real peace” for the whole world.

The Holy Father also deplored war profiteering, decrying the actions of those “making money off death” through huge investments in the production of weapons.

Speaking to thousands of people gathered inside Vatican City on an overcast morning on the feast day of St. Joseph the Worker, the Holy Father spoke about the three theological virtues, beginning with faith, as part of his ongoing catechesis series on vices and virtues.

“What is faith?” Pope Francis asked his listeners. “Faith is the act by which the human being freely commits himself to God.”

Speaking of men and women who are role models of faith, such as Abraham, Moses, and the Virgin Mary, the pope urged his listeners to also welcome God into their daily lives — freely and completely — in spite of life’s difficulties, uncertainties, and tribulations. 

“Faith is the first gift to welcome in Christian life: a gift that must be welcomed and asked for daily so that it may be renewed in us. It is seemingly a small gift, yet it is the essential one,” he said.  

The Holy Father also added that “the great enemy of faith” is fear and not intelligence or reason as many people believe. 

Following his catechesis, Pope Francis greeted parish and religious groups from around the world packed into the crowded hall, many of whom brought flags and banners, and asked them to join him in prayer for peace in the world, particularly for those suffering due to natural disasters and conflict.

“Severe flooding has tragically taken the lives of many of our brothers and sisters, injured others, and caused widespread destruction,” he said about the severe flooding affecting the people of Kenya. “Even amid adversity we remember the joy of the risen Christ, and I invoke upon you and your families the loving mercy of God our Father.”

The Holy Father also reminded his audience to pray for those who are “victims of wars” in Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel, and to not forget the sufferings of the Rohingya refugees and to pray for peace in Myanmar.

“We cannot forget to pray for peace. War is always a defeat. Always,” he said. “We ask for real peace for these peoples and for the whole world. Unfortunately, today, the investments that earn the most income are weapons factories. Terrible. Making money off death. We ask for peace.”

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Both Roman Catholic dioceses in Virginia are urging Gov. Glenn Youngkin to veto bills that would establish a “right to contraception” and require health insurance companies to provide coverage for contraception — but do not contain any religious exemptions or parental rights protections.

“Taken together, these bills would end lives and undercut parental rights,” Jeff Caruso, the executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, which represents the Diocese of Richmond and the Diocese of Arlington, told CNA.

“They also completely disregard the fundamental rights of entities with sincerely and deeply held religious or moral objections to covering or providing abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraceptives,” Caruso said. “We urge Gov. Youngkin to protect life, liberty, and parental rights by vetoing these extremely harmful bills.”

One of the bills, supported by most Democratic lawmakers and opposed by most Republicans, would require that all health insurance plans in the commonwealth include coverage for every contraceptive that has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

These contraceptives include condoms, birth control pills, and some drugs that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has warned can induce abortions in early stages of pregnancy. It does not include mifepristone, which the FDA has approved for use to abort a child in utero up to 10 weeks into pregnancy.

Per the proposed legislation, no insurer, corporation, or health maintenance organization would be allowed to impose “burdensome restrictions or delays” on contraception. The language fails to include exemptions for religious employers who object to contraception and abortion, such as the Catholic Church.

The other piece of legislation would establish a blanket “right” for every person to “obtain” and “use” contraception. The language does not limit this right to just adults but rather extends this right to every “person.” It does not include any protections for parental rights in these decisions.

This new “right” would include both FDA-approved drugs and surgical sterilization, such as castration.

According to the proposal, the right could “not be infringed upon by any law, regulation, or policy.” 

The legislation also establishes a right to file civil lawsuits against “any person” who violates the “right to contraception.” Such lawsuits could be filed by the person who sought contraception, health care providers, or the attorney general.

The sponsors of the bill claimed during committee hearings on the legislation that the “right” does not impose any mandates on health care providers or doctors to provide contraception, but Republican opponents of the bill argued that the broad language could permit lawsuits against health care providers and doctors who do not provide contraception to someone who seeks it.

Youngkin had proposed amendments to both bills, which would have addressed many of the concerns brought up by the Catholic dioceses. However, Democratic lawmakers rejected his amendments and returned the bills back to him for reconsideration.

The governor’s proposed amendment to the health insurance mandate would have added an exemption for “sincerely held religious or ethical beliefs.” His proposed amendment to the bill that would establish a “right to contraception” would have limited its scope to the contraception rights established by the United States Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut.

Youngkin has until May 17 to act on the bills but has not yet said what he will do. When reached by CNA, Youngkin’s press secretary, Christian Martinez, highlighted the governor’s support for contraception access and religious freedom.

“Gov. Youngkin has been consistently clear that he supports access to contraception but desires to protect Virginians’ constitutional rights and religious liberties,” Martinez said.

Democratic lawmakers and lobbyist groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have voiced objections to the governor’s efforts to add religious freedom protections and limit the proposed “right” to contraception. 

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi and Rep. Marcia Price, who sponsored their respective chamber’s version of the legislation to establish a right to contraception, accused Youngkin of trying to “play both sides of this issue because he doesn’t want to anger the loud extremists in his party” in a joint statement. 

“Contraception cannot be played with: This bill is a matter of reproductive justice,” the statement read. “It is time for Gov. Youngkin to stop playing games and just sign the bill.”

Breanna Diaz, the legislative and policy counsel at the Virginia ACLU, accused Youngkin of trying to “water down” the bills with his recommendations. 

“After the fall of Roe v. Wade, it’s become clear that extremists won’t stop at abortion but are after all reproductive health care — including contraception,” Diaz said in a statement.

Alternatively, the Virginia Catholic Conference is urging Catholics to write to Youngkin to encourage him to veto the bills.

Pope Francis waves to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square gathered for his weekly general audience on April 3, 2024. / Credit: Vatican Media

CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of May is for the formation of men and women religious and for seminarians.

“Every vocation is a ‘diamond in the rough’ that needs to be polished, worked, shaped on every side,” the pope said in a video released April 30.

“A good priest, sister, or nun must above all else be a man, a woman who is formed, shaped by the Lord’s grace, people who are aware of their own limitations and willing to lead a life of prayer, of dedicated witness to the Gospel,” he said, adding: “Beginning in the seminary and the novitiate, their preparation must be developed integrally, in direct contact with the lives of other people. This is essential.”

The Holy Father pointed out that “formation does not end at a certain moment but continues throughout life, integrating the person intellectually, humanly, affectively, spiritually.”

“There’s also preparation to live in community — life in community is so enriching, even though it can be difficult at times. Living together is not the same as living in community.”

He concluded with a prayer: “Let us pray that men and women religious, and seminarians, grow in their own vocational journey through human, pastoral, spiritual, and community formation that leads them to be credible witnesses of the Gospel.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

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CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 05:30 am (CNA).

Kansas state legislators enacted four pro-life bills over the abortion-supporting governor’s vetoes but didn’t enact a bill that would have banned gender transitioning for children. 

The abortion measures provide $2 million in state funding for pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, provide tax credits designed to encourage more donations to such centers, require abortion facilities to ask women why they are having an abortion, and create a new crime of coercing a woman to have an abortion. 

Supporters put together the necessary two-thirds majorities to override the vetoes of Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who supports legal abortion. 

Crafters of the pro-life bills acknowledge that abortion is legally considered a fundamental right in Kansas, since the state’s supreme court declared that in April 2019 and the state’s voters in August 2022 rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have flipped the court’s decision. 

Therefore, the bills enacted Monday do not attempt to restrict abortion but instead try to encourage women to choose life, said Chuck Weber, executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, which represents bishops in the state’s four dioceses on political and public policy matters. 

“The abortion industry seems to want women to abort every baby that’s an unplanned pregnancy. Can we not at least give women in an unplanned pregnancy an authentic choice besides abortion?” Weber said in a telephone interview with CNA. 

Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, a political action committee that advocates for abortion in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma, opposed the measures. The give-a-reason and abortion coercion bills “directly interfere with the bodily autonomy of Kansans and their fundamental right to make their own decision about health care,” the organization said in a written statement after Kelly vetoed the bills April 12. 

“These stigmatizing bills were not crafted to improve the health and well-being of Kansans; they were merely meant to shame reproductive care,” said Emily Wales, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes. 

The give-a-reason bill would result in “invasive and unnecessary questions,” she said. 

But Weber told CNA the point of the bill is to help figure out how to help pregnant women choose to give birth if they wish. 

“The more data we have about why a woman chooses abortion will allow policymakers and social service agencies to help women to make an authentic choice for life if that’s what she chooses to do,” Weber said. 

The abortion coercion bill “could further hurt or retraumatize survivors,” Wales said. 

But Weber said the bill is meant to determine if women seeking an abortion are victims of sex trafficking or other kinds of coercion.

One of the abortion bills allows donors to crisis pregnancy centers a tax credit of 70% of what they give, with a total statewide cap of $10 million. It also gives a sales tax exemption for crisis pregnancy centers.

“They’re the front line,” Lucrecia Nold, policy specialist of the Kansas Catholic Conference, said of crisis pregnancy centers. “So let’s give them all of the resources that are available so that we can help these women.”

The bill also encourages adoption by offering a state adoption tax credit that matches the already-existing federal adoption tax credit and by allowing would-be adoptive parents to create an adoption savings account.

An effort to override the governor’s veto of a bill that would have banned gender transitioning for minors failed by two votes when two Republican state legislators flipped at the last minute. 

Opponents of the bill argue that parents and children should decide whether a child who identifies with a gender other than the one that corresponds to the child’s sex should seek to transition.

But supporters say children should be protected from such transitioning, which they argue is harmful and may have permanent consequences.

Weber said supporters of the gender-transitioning ban will try again next legislative session.

“We’re going to continue to try to protect the children of Kansas from these life-changing, life-destructive practices that are both surgical and chemical,” Weber said.

In 2021, the Knights of Columbus announced the selection of this icon of St. Joseph holding the Child Jesus as the centerpiece of the current K of C pilgrim icon prayer program. The original icon was created (or "written") by Élizabeth Bergeron, an iconographer in Montréal, based on a drawing by Alexandre Sobolev. / Credit: Courtesy of Knights of Columbus

CNA Staff, May 1, 2024 / 04:50 am (CNA).

St. Joseph, the beloved spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and earthly father of Jesus, is celebrated twice by the Catholic Church every year — first on March 19 for the feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary, and again on May 1 for the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

While the saint’s March feast dates back to the 10th century, his May feast wasn’t instituted until 1955. What was behind it?

Pope Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker on May 1, 1955, so that it would coincide with International Workers Day, also known as May Day — a secular celebration of labor and workers’ rights. During this time, the Soviet Union proclaimed themselves as the defender of workers and utilized May Day as an opportunity to exalt communism and parade its military prowess. Pope Pius XII chose the date specifically to ensure that workers did not lose the Christian understanding of work.

In his address to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers on that day in 1955, Pius XII said: “There could not be a better protector to help you penetrate the spirit of the Gospel into your life … From the heart of the Man-God, Savior of the world, this spirit flows into you and into all men; but it is certain that no worker has ever been as perfectly and deeply penetrated by it as the putative father of Jesus, who lived with him in the closest intimacy and commonality of family and work.”

He added: “So, if you want to be close to Christ, we also today repeat to you ‘Ite ad Ioseph’: Go to Joseph!”

The Catholic Church has long placed an importance on the dignity of human work. By working, we fulfill the commands found in the Book of Genesis to care for the earth and be productive in our labors.

In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, Pope John Paul II wrote that “the Church considers it her task always to call attention to the dignity and rights of those who work, to condemn situations in which that dignity and those rights are violated, and to help to guide [social] changes so as to ensure authentic progress by man and society.”

St. Joseph is considered a role model of this as he worked tirelessly to protect and provide for his family as he strove to listen to and obey God.

Even before the institution of this feast, many popes were beginning to spread a devotion to St. Joseph the Worker. One of these was Pope Leo XIII, who wrote on the subject in his encyclical Quamquam Pluries in 1889.

He wrote: “Joseph became the guardian, the administrator, and the legal defender of the divine house whose chief he was. And during the whole course of his life he fulfilled those charges and those duties. He set himself to protect with a mighty love and a daily solicitude his spouse and the Divine Infant; regularly by his work he earned what was necessary for the one and the other for nourishment and clothing; he guarded from death the Child threatened by a monarch’s jealousy, and found for him a refuge; in the miseries of the journey and in the bitternesses of exile he was ever the companion, the assistance, and the upholder of the Virgin and of Jesus.”

In addition to being the patron of the universal Church and workers in general, St. Joseph is also the patron saint of several professions including craftsmen, carpenters, accountants, attorneys, bursars, cabinetmakers, cemetery workers, civil engineers, confectioners, educators, furniture makers, wheelwrights, and lawyers.

Jimmy Lai at a Hong Kong protest. / Credit: Courtesy of the Acton Institute

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 18:10 pm (CNA).

An unnamed Hong Kong government spokesperson criticized a bill proposed by two U.S. congressmen that would rename the address of the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office in Washington, D.C., “Jimmy Lai Way,” honoring the 75-year-old democracy advocate who has been incarcerated in Hong Kong since 2020.

The spokesperson called on the U.S. to “stop maliciously interfering” in Hong Kong affairs, according to a Tuesday report by the Hong Kong Free Press.

Representatives Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, and Tom Suozzi, D-New York, proposed the bill last week.

Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy businessman and convert to Catholicism, was arrested on several charges under the controversial national security law, which was passed by China’s communist-controlled government in 2020. His newspaper, Apple Daily, published pro-democracy content and was often critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

Although the Chinese government charged Lai with colluding with foreign forces, critics of the prosecution claim that he — and hundreds of other political and religious dissidents — were arrested for their human rights activism. 

“Jimmy Lai — a courageous man of deep faith who stands for democracy, human rights, and respect for the rule of law — exemplifies moral principle and defiance in the face of tyranny,” Smith said in a statement to CNA. 

“The United States must make it absolutely clear that we stand with him and all other political prisoners in Hong Kong,” he continued. “Until we close it for good, the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office should have a new address that rightfully recognizes this champion of freedom.”

The spokesperson for the Hong Kong government quoted in the Hong Kong Free Press requested that the U.S. “respect the basic norms governing international relations and stop maliciously interfering in the affairs of the HKSAR [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region].”

“The HKSAR government must emphasize that all cases are handled strictly on the basis of evidence and in accordance with the law,” the spokesman said. “All defendants will receive fair trial strictly in accordance with laws applicable to Hong Kong (including the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance) and as protected by the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.”

After Lai’s arrest, the Hong Kong government closed the Apple Daily in June 2021, arresting top staff members and encouraging others to resign. Authorities forcibly removed Lai’s Next Media company from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Lai, who could face life in prison, pleaded not guilty in January to conspiring to collude with a foreign power.

Authorities throughout the world have called for Lai’s freedom. The Congressional Executive Commission on China urged the U.S. government last year to sanction Hong Kong prosecutors and judges if they fail to release Lai.

“The free world must continue calling attention to the Chinese Communist Party’s crimes in Xinjiang, erosion of democracy in Hong Kong, and saber-rattling against Taiwan,” Suozzi said in the April 25 statement.

Smith has advocated for Lai since his arrest, nominating him for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. As chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Smith chaired a congressional hearing last year with testimony by Lai’s son, Sebastien Lai. 

“Jimmy Lai is a man of faith and conviction, someone who fervently believed that Hong Kong’s prosperity and vitality were built on the rights promised to its citizens,” Smith said. “For peacefully acting on this belief, he is arbitrarily detained.”

“[Jimmy Lai Way] will signal to the entire world that the United States stands in solidarity with those who oppose the tyranny and repression of the Chinese government,” Suozzi added.

“For as long as the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office continues to operate in Washington, D.C., their new address will symbolize that this champion of freedom stands against their growing authoritarianism and human rights abuses,” Smith continued in the statement.

“We will continue to press for Jimmy Lai’s unconditional release and seek ways to raise the diplomatic and reputational costs globally for the Hong Kong government and their Chinese Communist Party masters for their rough dismantling of democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Hong Kong,” Smith said.

Smith has also authored legislation (HR 1103) that would require the U.S. secretary of state to determine if the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the United States merit the privileges and immunities granted to them by the International Organizations Immunities Act. 

Both HR 1103 and its companion bill in the Senate (S 490) have been passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and are awaiting final consideration by both chambers.

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CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 17:45 pm (CNA).

Florida’s bishops are welcoming a new law that allows public schools in the state to have volunteer chaplains.

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents bishops in the state’s seven dioceses on public policy matters, did not take a position on the bill while legislators debated it earlier this year.

“However, we recognize the good that chaplains can do in schools by helping students to address their spiritual and emotional needs. We are pleased that parents will determine the services their children will receive in districts that choose to establish chaplaincy programs,” said Michelle Taylor, associate director of communications for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an email message to CNA on Tuesday.

The measure, which takes effect July 1, requires public schools and charter schools that establish such a program to publish on their websites a list of volunteer school chaplains and their religious affiliation. It also requires that parents provide written consent before their child receives services from a chaplain or participates in programs provided by a chaplain.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who signed the bill two weeks ago, said some school districts in Florida are already hosting chaplains, while school officials elsewhere were unsure whether it’s legal to do so.

The new statute clarifies the legal situation and explicitly enables school districts to provide a valuable aid to students, he said.

“Faith leaders and civic organizations are important additional resources for students who may be facing challenges or need to build community and camaraderie,” DeSantis said in a statement. “I’m pleased to be able to expand the variety of options that students have at their disposal in school, and we have no doubt that these options will enhance the experiences of our students.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida opposed the bill, saying it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“Allowing chaplains to provide counseling and other support services in public schools would violate students’ and families’ religious-freedom rights by exposing all public school students to the risk of chaplains evangelizing them or imposing religion on them throughout their school day,” said Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel of the ACLU of Florida, in a statement in March after the Florida House passed the bill.

The Florida House of Representatives passed the bill in February in a 89-25 vote. All the no votes were Democrats. All Republicans voted for it, as did four Democrats.

The Florida Senate passed the bill in March in a straight party-line 28-12 vote, with Republicans for it and Democrats against it.

Texas enacted a comparable bill in June 2023. It took effect at the beginning of the current school year. The ACLU of Florida says 13 other states have had similar bills introduced in the state legislature.

DeSantis signed the Florida chaplain bill April 18 during an appearance at a school in Kissimmee. He said having a chaplain available could help kids who are struggling.

“You’ve got a lot of these problems that kids go through — you know, there’s some students, you know, they need some soul-craft. And that can make all the difference in the world,” DeSantis said.

Capt. (Father) Daniel Mode — who remains a priest in good standing — has been reassigned to an “administrative position” in the U.S. Navy Chief of Chaplains Office, according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. / Credit: Public Domain

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2024 / 17:10 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Coast Guard removed a Catholic priest Wednesday as its head chaplain over his failure to “take appropriate action” after being made aware of “pre-service sexual misconduct by another chaplain.”

Capt. (Father) Daniel Mode — who remains a priest in good standing — has been reassigned to an “administrative position” in the U.S. Navy Chief of Chaplains Office, according to the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA.

The Coast Guard did not provide the identity of the unnamed chaplain involved in the sexual misconduct case. But the military branch said the individual “has already been removed from the Coast Guard and Navy,” according to Stripes.com.

In that statement, the Coast Guard said that an “administrative investigation found that Capt. Mode did not take appropriate action when made aware of pre-service sexual misconduct by another chaplain.”

Mode did not violate any laws or policies requiring punitive action, the Coast Guard said, but instead demonstrated a “failure in judgment below what is expected from his key leadership position.”

The priest has served as the branch’s head chaplain since 2022 and has been ministering and serving in the military since 1988.

Mode was the chaplain for the “Lone Survivor” SEAL team in Afghanistan and authored a book about the famed “Grunt Padre,” Father Vincent Capodanno.

In a statement Friday, the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, said that Archbishop Timothy Broglio “is confident that within hours of receiving documentation of the 2011 incident of sexual misconduct, Father Mode ensured and directed that key Coast Guard personnel and chaplains responsible for advising and briefing their commanders were emailed all of the detailed and pertinent documents.”

The priest told Broglio that “he believed that his initial report in 2022 would be more broadly communicated,” the statement said. 

“However, having reviewed the Coast Guard’s investigation findings, Father Mode now realizes that his presumption that all field commanders involved in the case were informed following the initial report was incorrect,” the statement said. 

Mode told Broglio that he “fully embraces” the core values of the Coast Guard, the statement said. The priest “has earnestly worked to ensure his priorities were aligned with the commandant’s expectations,” the archdiocese said.

“[Mode] stressed the importance of recognizing ‘biases and barriers’ to intervention regarding allegations of sexual assault and apologized profoundly for the circumstances that led to his removal as chaplain of the Coast Guard, which he views as his own leadership failure,” the statement said.

Mode fully supports the Coast Guard’s efforts to address sexual assault “with full accountability and transparency,” the statement said.

“Archbishop Broglio expressed his continued confidence in Father Mode’s giftedness as a Catholic priest and chaplain and his dedication to building and maintaining a safe environment in the Church,” the statement concluded.