U.S.
Sen. Durbin won’t receive lifetime achievement award
CHICAGO — Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has decided not to receive a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” scheduled to be presented in November at the archdiocese’s “Keep Hope Alive” celebration, according to a statement by Chicago Cardinal Blase J. Cupich Sept. 30. The award, scheduled to be given to Durbin for his work on immigration issues, had met with significant opposition from several Catholic bishops due to the Catholic senator’s longstanding public position in favor of abortion. “While I am saddened by this news, I respect his decision,” Cardinal Cupich said in his statement. “But I want to make clear that the decision to present him an award was specifically in recognition of his singular contribution to immigration reform and his unwavering support of immigrants, which is so needed in our day.” The decision comes only hours after Pope Leo XIV commented on Cardinal Cupich’s decision to give Durbin the award, saying he was “not terribly familiar with the particular case” but asking for Catholics to have respect for one another when they “look closely at all of these ethical issues,” adding “The Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear.” (OSV News)
Catholic bishops mourn deadly attack on Latter-day Saints church in Michigan
GRAND BLANC, Mich. — Several Catholic bishops are expressing their sorrow over a deadly attack at a Michigan house of worship, which took place just weeks after a mass shooting at a Minnesota Catholic church. At least four were killed when a suspected gunman, a former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq, drove his truck into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township during a Sept. 28 service, and then set the building on fire while shooting into the congregation. Eight victims remain in the hospital, with one in critical condition, and authorities said they expect to find more victims in the chapel’s rubble. In a statement Sept. 29, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Michigan, in whose diocesan territory the Grand Blanc congregation is located, assured the congregation of his prayers and “assuring those who mourn, and those who are injured” of his “solace and support.” In a Sept. 29 statement, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger of Detroit said he was “heartbroken” by the attack. (OSV News)
Mass and procession calls for solidarity with migrants facing mass deportation
WASHINGTON — Nearly 1,000 people joined the procession for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in the nation’s capital, which had “Migrants, Missionaries of Hope” as its theme. They paused at seven reflection stops, traveling through Northwest Washington, D.C., Sept. 28, before concluding the walk at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy celebrated a Mass marking the day. The procession and reflections were organized by the Archdiocese of Washington and Jesuit Refugee Service/USA. The two-and-a-half-hour procession ended with a final blessing on the steps of the Cathedral of St. Matthew, where many participants wiped their brows in the late-afternoon sun before entering the church for the 5:30 p.m. Mass celebrated by Cardinal McElroy. In his homily marking the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Cardinal McElroy said Jesus’s parable of the good Samaritan should guide Catholics’ response in standing in solidarity with those immigrants facing the government’s mass deportation campaign, regarding them as neighbors just as the Samaritan did to the robbery victim needing help. (OSV News)
Religious freedom in nation’s schools examined by Religious Liberty Commission
WASHINGTON — The third meeting of the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission Sept. 29 examined a range of religious liberty issues related to public and private schools, as well as reflections on recent instances of violence at houses of worship. President Donald Trump in May signed an executive order creating a religious liberty commission, which includes Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota. The commissioners gathered at the Museum of the Bible in Washington to examine what recommendations they should make to the president about promoting and protecting religious freedom in a report next spring, although neither Cardinal Dolan nor Bishop Barron were in attendance. Elsewhere in the hearing, Nicole Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, argued there are “hundreds” of state and federal laws that discriminate against religion. (OSV News)
WORLD
Pope will declare St. John Henry Newman doctor of the Church Nov. 1
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV announced he will proclaim St. John Henry Newman a doctor of the Church Nov. 1 during the Jubilee of the World of Education. Speaking after Mass Sept. 28 for the Jubilee of Catechists, the pope said St. Newman “contributed decisively to the renewal of theology and to the understanding of the development of Christian doctrine.” The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints had announced July 31 that Pope Leo “confirmed the affirmative opinion” of the cardinals and bishops who are members of the dicastery “regarding the title of Doctor of the Universal Church which will soon be conferred on Saint John Henry Newman, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Founder of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in England.” St. Newman was born in London Feb. 21, 1801, was ordained an Anglican priest, became Catholic in 1845, was made a cardinal in 1879 by Pope Leo XIII and died in Edgbaston, near Birmingham, England, in 1890. (CNS)
Pope names new prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops
VATICAN CITY — In the first major appointment of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV chose an Italian expert in canon law to succeed him as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Archbishop Filippo Iannone, 67, has led the Dicastery for Legislative Texts since 2018 and will begin his new role Oct. 15, the Vatican press office announced Sept. 26. Pope Leo, as Cardinal Robert F. Prevost, led the Dicastery for Bishops and the pontifical commission from early 2023 until his election as pope in May. The dicastery coordinates the search for candidates to fill the office of bishop in most of the Latin-rite dioceses around the world and makes recommendations about their appointments to the pope. It also deals with setting up, uniting, suppressing dioceses, changing diocesan boundaries, setting up military ordinariates and ordinariates for Catholics who have come from the Anglican Communion. (CNS)
