Classroom in a Catholic school. / Credit: Wuttichai jantarak/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 16:08 pm (CNA).

A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit from an aggrieved substitute teacher who was not rehired by a Catholic school after it was revealed he had entered into a same-sex union, violating the school’s moral code.

The ruling affirmed that religious schools can hold employees to the moral teachings of the Church.

“Religious groups have the freedom to choose who carries out their religious mission,” Luke Goodrich, a vice president and senior counsel at Becket Law — the group that represented the school in court — said in a post on X. 

“This ruling is a win for people of all faiths who cherish the freedom to pass on their faith to the next generation,” Goodrich added.

Charlotte Catholic High School ended its relationship with teacher Lonnie Billard in 2014 after he posted on Facebook that he was engaged to another man and planned to enter into a civil “marriage” with this man. This violated the Church’s teachings about marriage and sexual morality and put Billard at odds with the school’s code of conduct, which prohibits employees from engaging in conduct contrary to the Catholic faith. 

Billard had previously taught English and drama full time but had become a substitute teacher by 2014. He sued the school in 2017, when the school stopped asking him to work, claiming that the school engaged in sex discrimination.

A federal court ruled in favor of Billard back in 2021, but an appellate court overturned that ruling on Wednesday and found that the school was protected under the First Amendment’s right to religious freedom. 

“Faith infused [the school’s] classes — and not only the expressly religious ones,” the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in its decision. 

“Even as a teacher of English and drama, Billard’s duties included conforming his instruction to Christian thought and providing a classroom environment consistent with Catholicism,” the decision read. “Billard may have been teaching ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ but he was doing so after consultation with religious teachers to ensure that he was teaching through a faith-based lens.”

In addressing discrimination laws, the court found that the school is constitutionally protected under the “ministerial exception” in its hiring and firing decisions for that position because the role requires the person to minister the faith to students. The exception, set by the United States Supreme Court, exempts religious institutions from certain discrimination laws in ministerial roles when such laws would prevent them from adhering to their mission of ministering the faith. 

“The ministerial exception protects religious institutions in their dealings with individuals who perform tasks so central to their religious missions — even if the tasks themselves do not advertise their religious nature,” the court found.

“The ministerial exception remains just that — an exception — and each case must be judged on its own facts to determine whether a ‘particular position’ falls within the exception’s scope,” the court stated. “But when the exception does apply, it unambiguously commands that [the courts] ‘stay out’ [of these decisions].”

Billard was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU issued a statement criticizing the court’s decision. 

“This is a heartbreaking decision for our client who wanted nothing more than the freedom to perform his duties as an educator without hiding who he is or who he loves,” the statement read. “Every worker should be entitled to equal protection under the law, and the Supreme Court held as recently as 2020 that this fundamental freedom extends to LGBTQ workers.”

Goodrich said in a post on X that the court’s decision is in line with long-standing precedent on religious freedom. 

“The court’s ruling is consistent with a long line of Supreme Court precedent upholding the freedom of religious schools to select teachers who uphold their faith,” he said.

Father Ricardo Mata. / Credit: Garland Police Department

CNA Staff, May 8, 2024 / 14:27 pm (CNA).

Police in Texas this week announced the arrest of a priest with the Diocese of Dallas over allegations of inappropriate contact with two minors. 

The Garland Police Department said on its Facebook page that officers had arrested Father Ricardo Mata on Monday “on two counts of indecency with a child, a second-degree felony.”

“The allegations are based on reports of inappropriate contact with two juvenile victims, which occurred during a visit to a residence in Garland,” the police said. Investigators are in contact with the Diocese of Dallas, the police said. 

Mata’s bonds were set at $75,000 and $100,000, the police department said. 

In a Tuesday statement on its website, meanwhile, the Diocese of Dallas said that it had been “recently made aware of an allegation by a juvenile girl of inappropriate touching involving a priest.”

“Upon learning of the allegation last week, diocesan officials immediately filed a report with Child Protective Services and law enforcement,” the diocese said.

Mata “was immediately removed from all public ministry when the Diocese of Dallas learned of the allegation,” the statement continued. 

“We are grateful for law enforcement’s thorough response,” Dallas Bishop Edward Burns said in the statement. 

“Let us come together in prayer, respecting the dignity of all involved, seeking strength and guidance from our faith during this challenging time.”

Until recently Mata had been listed as the vicar at the Dallas-area Cathedral Guadalupe. That listing had been removed from the cathedral’s website as of Wednesday.

The priest was born in Mexico and raised in Dallas; he was ordained in 2022. 

Cincinnati Archbishop Dennis Schnurr. / Credit: Archdiocese of Cincinnati

CNA Staff, May 8, 2024 / 12:55 pm (CNA).

Archbishop of Cincinnati Dennis Schnurr has been diagnosed with cancer, the archdiocese revealed this week, with the prelate set to begin preparing for chemotherapy treatment this week. 

An archdiocesan spokesman told CNA on Wednesday morning that on Friday the archbishop “received a post-operation diagnosis of stage 3 small bowel cancer.” 

“His doctor noted that, generally speaking, the archbishop’s health is excellent, and that is certainly a source of optimism for the success of the treatment,” the archdiocese said.  

“The treatment plan includes a regimen of chemotherapy over the next six months, preparation for which will begin this week,” the statement continued. 

“We ask all Catholics and people of goodwill to please keep Archbishop Schnurr in their prayers,” the archdiocese added. 

Schnurr was installed as the Cincinnati archbishop in 2009; he had served as the coadjutor archbishop there from 2008. Before that, he served as the bishop of the Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, from 2001. 

Schnurr turned 75 last year, the traditional age at which a bishop submits his resignation to Pope Francis. 

The archdiocese this week indicated that Schnurr’s retirement may not be imminent; the archbishop ​​“plans on continuing to work while receiving treatments,” the Wednesday statement said. 

null / Shutterstock

CNA Newsroom, May 8, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Montana’s Catholic bishops have issued a joint letter denouncing a proposed pro-abortion constitutional amendment they say would pave the way for late-term abortions, partial-birth abortions, and an elimination of the state’s parental notification requirement for minors in Montana.

In their May 3 letter, the bishops called the initiative an attack on the “recognition of the infinite dignity enjoyed by all persons” that fails to respect “life as a precious gift from God and recognize our sacred duty to nurture and protect every human life.”

“This recognition of the infinite dignity enjoyed by all persons informs our understanding of the basic rights and protections to which all human beings are entitled,” the letter stated. “When those rights are threatened, the Church must speak up with clarity and boldness.”

The statement — signed by Bishop Austin Vetter of Helena and Bishop Jeffrey Fleming and Bishop Emeritus Michael Warfel of Great Falls-Billings — urged Catholics in the state to refrain from signing the petition and to pray for the initiative’s defeat.

The proposed amendment, officially called Constitutional Initiative 128 (CI-128), would “provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” according to the language approved by Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, and would “prohibit the government from denying or burdening the right to abortion before fetal viability,” which is generally interpreted to mean at about 22 weeks.

Jacobsen on April 5 authorized supporters of the initiative to begin collecting the more than 60,000 signatures of registered voters required to place the measure on the Nov. 5 ballot.

In a separate video statement, the bishops emphasized that the proposed amendment would eliminate the existing requirement for parents to be notified before a minor has an abortion.  Fleming said this move would foster a “culture of secrecy” and “undermine families.”

Montana’s initiative comes as pro-abortion groups in more than a dozen states seek to have measures placed on the November ballot.

New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks to the media on May 26, 2022, in New York City. / Credit: Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

A New York Supreme Court judge ruled that a referendum to enshrine a right to abortion in the state’s constitution cannot appear on the ballot in November because the state did not follow the proper procedure — but the state plans to appeal the decision. 

The proposed “Equal Rights” amendment would have established broad rights to “reproductive health care” by prohibiting discrimination based on “pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health care and autonomy.” 

Although the text avoids use of the word “abortion,” the proposal was widely seen as creating a constitutional protection for women to access abortion.

In a ruling on Tuesday, Judge Daniel J. Doyle ordered that the referendum be removed from the Nov. 5 ballot because lawmakers did not follow the procedure laid out in the state constitution.

According to the New York Constitution, lawmakers must submit proposed amendments to the attorney general for review before they can adopt the language. The attorney general must respond within 20 days of the submission, but if the attorney general does not respond in that time frame, the lawmakers can proceed without that official’s input. 

Even though the lawmakers referred the language to the attorney general, the lawmakers voted on the referendum on the same day that they referred it to the attorney general. They had not received a response, nor had they waited 20 days. According to the judge’s ruling, this vote was in violation of the New York Constitution because it bypassed the proper procedure.

“The constitution is the supreme will of the people,” Doyle said in his ruling. 

“This court cannot condone the actions taken by the Legislature in derogation of the expressed will of the people,” Doyle continued. “The Legislature’s vote … prior to receiving the opinion of the attorney general frustrated the deliberative process intended by the people in [the state constitution].”

New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a post on X that she intends to appeal the ruling.

“In New York, the Equal Rights Amendment was advanced to protect people’s fundamental rights like reproductive freedom and access to abortion care,” James said. “The decision to strike the ERA from the ballot in November is disappointing, and we’re appealing to defend New Yorkers’ rights.”

If the judge’s decision stands, it would force lawmakers to start the amendment process from the beginning. To approve an amendment to the constitution in New York, both chambers of the Legislature must approve the proposed language two years in a row — and then it can be placed on the ballot for a vote by the public. 

Current abortion laws in New York allow women to abort their preborn children through the 24th week of pregnancy. 

It’s unclear whether the proposed amendment would have extended this limit until birth. The language would have also promised equal protection under the law and prohibit any person, corporation, institution, or government agency from discriminating against a person covered under the law.

The proposed amendment would have also prohibited discrimination based on a person’s “sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression.”

Voters in various states are slated to vote on abortion-related referendums in November. In some states, petitioners are still working to get proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot.

In conjunction with her efforts to get abortion on the New York ballot, James is also suing pro-life pregnancy centers that offer resources to pregnant women without providing abortions. In her lawsuit, she accused these centers of providing false information about abortion pill reversal drugs.

Demonstrators hold pro-life placards during an anti-abortion protest in Paris on Jan. 16, 2022. Abortion in France is legal until 14 weeks after conception. / Credit: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

United States abortion law is “far more permissive than the vast majority of the world,” according to a study recently released by the pro-life research group the Charlotte Lozier Institute. 

Released on April 30, the study found that out of the nearly 200 members of the United Nations (U.N.), the U.S. is one of only eight with no federal limit on abortion. The study also found that the U.S. is one of just 15 countries to allow abortion past 15 weeks of pregnancy, the point at which a baby can feel pain.

This comes as the Biden administration has been criticizing pro-life state laws limiting abortion as “extreme” and “bizarre” while pushing for a federal law enshrining unrestricted abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.

Mia Steupert, a research associate at Charlotte Lozier Institute, told CNA that “while pro-abortion activists disparage heartbeat protection laws, like in Florida, they turn a blind eye to the real global extremism in our own country.”

She pointed out that seven states plus Washington, D.C., allow abortion for any reason up to the ninth month of pregnancy. U.S. abortion law makes it “a global outlier in a shared category with human rights abusers like China and Vietnam,” Steupert said.

“We should be an international leader when it comes to the human right to life, but instead we are one of eight countries in the United Nations that allows abortion on demand without any gestational limits.”

What did the study find? 

The Lozier Institute’s study found that with no federal limit on abortion, the U.S. is more permissive than over 95% of all U.N. member nations and on the same level as communist China and Vietnam. 

According to the study, the “clear norm among countries that permit elective abortion is to limit abortion to before 20 weeks’ gestation, and elective abortion is more commonly limited to 12 weeks (the first trimester).”

Gestational age marks the duration of a pregnancy, measured from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period, which occurs about two weeks before conception. 

According to the study, only 70 U.N. countries allow abortion “on demand,” that is, for any reason. Of these, only the U.S., China, Vietnam, Australia, Canada, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, and South Korea have no national limitation on abortion. 

Of the 70 countries allowing abortion on demand, more than three-quarters — 55 nations — limit abortion to the first 15 weeks of gestation. Over half — 45 nations — do not allow abortion past 12 weeks. 

The remaining 139 U.N. countries protect all unborn life at all stages of pregnancy and only allow abortion for specific reasons, ranging from the life of the mother to socioeconomic difficulties. 

Based on these findings, the Lozier Institute concluded that a national 15-week abortion limit would “move the United States away from the fringe, ultra-permissive end of the spectrum.” 

Prioritize a culture of life

Steupert told CNA that the study shows Americans need to prioritize creating a “culture of life” by supporting pregnancy resource centers, alternatives to abortion programs, and giving aid to mothers in need. 

She said that the report demonstrates that with no federal abortion restrictions, the U.S. “has some of the most extreme abortion laws in the world.” 

“This reality,” she said, “should alarm Americans and motivate them to protect life and push back against the radical, pro-abortion lobby that has infested our culture.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis listens as Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks during a press conference at the Broward County Courthouse on Aug. 18, 2022, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. / Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

CNA Staff, May 7, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

The attorney general of Florida on Tuesday announced a lawsuit against the Biden administration over new federal rules requiring insurers to cover gender-based surgeries and medical procedures. 

The lawsuit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, is meant to halt the White House’s attempt to “force the state to pay for puberty blockers and gender-transition surgery for children,” Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a press release.

The administration’s recently promulgated rule, filed in the Federal Register on Monday and set to go into effect in July, amends the nondiscrimination clause in Section 1557 of the federal Affordable Care Act by expanding the definition of “sex” to include “gender identity,” among other new additions. 

The change means that any insurer or physician receiving federal financial assistance must cover or provide sex-reassignment surgeries and therapies on the grounds that refusal to do so would constitute discrimination based on sex.

Florida is among the numerous states that in recent months and years have passed bans on extremist gender surgeries and drug prescriptions for minors. Moody in her press release said Florida state law “protect[s] our children from dangerous, irreversible gender-transition drugs and surgeries.”

But, she argued, the Biden administration is “trying to go around our child-protection law to force the state to pay for puberty blockers and gender-transition surgery for children.” 

“These rules trample states’ power to protect their own citizens and we will not stand by as Biden tries, yet again, to use the force of the federal government to unlawfully stifle Florida’s effort to protect children,” Moody said. 

Moody said the state was asking the court to “vacate the 2024 rules,” issue a permanent injunction against them, order that the rules “are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious,” and several other requests. 

The attorney general’s office said they were joined by several other parties in the suit, including the Catholic Medical Association.

In addition to its revision of federal medical rules, the Biden administration last month issued a major revision to federal Title IX education rules that implements similar transgender-reflated requirements. 

The new education policy redefines the prohibition on sex discrimination for schools and education programs that receive federal funding, directing that the rules apply to any form of discrimination that is based on a person’s self-purported “gender identity.”

Those revisions could jeopardize state laws that restrict women’s sports and women’s locker rooms to only women, legal scholars told CNA last month.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. / Credit: Albert H. Teich/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

A federal grant program that provides security funding for houses of worship and other nonprofits will receive $400 million more than it had the previous year amid rising threats, according to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“The fear, the trauma, when synagogues and other houses of worship have to be evacuated … stays with the congregants and people who go the next day wonder, ‘Is it going to happen again? Am I safe?’” Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in a Sunday news conference announcing the increased funding.

“So this is vicious, aimed of course at synagogues above all, but also at mosques and churches and temples, and it has to stop,” he added. 

The Nonprofit Security Grant Program was created in 2004. Although all nonprofit organizations are eligible for funding, nearly all of the money is allocated to religious institutions.

The program received $305 million in federal funding last year, but with the $400 million addition it will receive more than $700 million in 2024.

The money can be used to set up security cameras, build fences, strengthen windows, and hire security guards, among other things. 

The deadline to apply is May 21.

“You don’t have to have been threatened [to apply for funding],” Schumer said on Sunday. “Just the fact that so many people who go to a house of worship are worried that that house of worship may be a target is enough.”

Schumer said applicants should receive funding “within a period of months” after they apply, with the senator noting that the money is already available for distribution. 

He also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will assist small houses of worship with filling out the grant applications if they require assistance.

Schumer cited numbers from the Anti-Defamation League, which says there was a significant rise in antisemitic incidents in 2023, jumping to more than 8,800 from about 3,700 in 2022.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, meanwhile, says anti-Muslim incidents have been on the rise, citing more than 8,000 incidents in 2023, which it said constituted “a 56% jump over the previous year.”

In both cases, the organizations attribute the rise to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Catholic churches have also experienced security concerns ever since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, allowing states and the federal government to restrict abortion. 

Dozens of Catholic churches have been subject to vandalism, which has included the beheading of statues and satanic graffiti, among other attacks.

In December, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) urged lawmakers to include more funding for security for houses of worship. 

The USCCB says there have been more than 300 acts of destruction at Catholic churches since May 2020.

According to the USCCB’s annual religious liberty report published in January of this year, the top threat to religious liberty in the U.S. includes “attacks against houses of worship, especially in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict.”

Bishop Robert Barron. CNA file photo. / null

CNA Staff, May 7, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis this week urged Catholics to join a rally to oppose a proposed constitutional amendment that they say “fails to protect Minnesotans from discrimination based on religion, could constitutionally mandate legal abortion up to the moment of birth, and promotes harmful gender ideology.”

The proposed amendment, sponsored by St. Paul Rep. Kaohly Her of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), adds several protected categories to the state’s constitution, in part saying the state cannot discriminate against a person on the basis of sex.

Within the category of sex, the proposal includes “making and effectuating decisions about all matters relating to one’s own pregnancy​ or decision whether to become or remain pregnant,” as well as “gender identity or gender expression” and “sexual orientation.”

Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, speaking in a May 6 video message on behalf of the state’s bishops, warned that the proposal constitutes “an imposition of the sexual revolution on the people of our state.”

The so-called right to abortion, which the Church has always opposed, would become in Minnesota law “so fundamental that we can’t even legislate against it,” Barron said. In addition, he noted that the proposal lacks the possibility of conscientious objection, meaning churches, schools, and health care institutions guided by faith could be mandated to endorse practices or speech that violate their beliefs. 

“All are welcome” to attend a rally in the Rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul on Wednesday, May 8, at 3 p.m. The rally will “feature inspiring speakers who will exhort those assembled to prayer and action, and offer prayers for unity, understanding, and religious freedom.” The St. Paul and Minneapolis Archdiocese asked those wanting to participate in the rally to register online.

“In a state where diversity is celebrated, we must stand united in safeguarding the rights of individuals to practice their beliefs freely and without fear,” the archdiocese said in an announcement. 

“Specifically, we will be coming together to pray for and urge legislators to oppose the so-called ‘Equal Rights Amendment’ that fails to protect Minnesotans from discrimination based on religion, could constitutionally mandate legal abortion up to the moment of birth, and promotes harmful gender ideology.”

The proposed language was passed by Minnesota’s House Rules and Legislative Administration committee on May 6, MPR News reported. The proposal heads next to a vote of the full House and, if approved, would need to be reconciled with a companion Senate bill, which does not include the language related to pregnancy.

The proposed amendment must be submitted to the people at the 2026 general election, and if ratified by a simple majority, the amendment will be effective Jan. 1, 2027. 

Abortion is already legal up to birth in Minnesota following the 2023 passage of the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, which enshrined a constitutional right to “reproductive freedom,” ensuring the right to abortion in Minnesota up to birth for any reason, as well as the right to contraception and sterilization.

Pope Francis on May 7, 2024, appointed Father James Mark Beckman, 61, a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville. / Credit: Diocese of Nashville

Rome Newsroom, May 7, 2024 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed a new bishop to the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, following former Bishop Richard Stika’s resignation last year. 

The Holy See Press Office announced that Father James Mark Beckman, 61, will be installed as the new bishop of the diocese. The installation will occur in July. 

The bishopric since June 2023 has been under the care of Louisville Archbishop Shelton Fabre, who has served as apostolic administrator following Stika’s departure that month.

Beckman, a Tennessee native, has been a priest with the Diocese of Nashville since his ordination on July 13, 1990. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from St. Ambrose College in 1984 and a master’s degree in religious studies from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium in 1988. 

Since his ordination to the priesthood Beckman has served in a variety of pastoral and educational roles in the Nashville Diocese.

He was assigned as associate pastor of Holy Rosary Church near Nashville and taught at the city’s Father Ryan High School, where he served as associate principal for pastoral affairs.

He subsequently served at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Springfield and St. Michael Mission Church in Cedar Hill. For several years he also served as director of the Diocesean Youth Office. 

Beckman’s appointment comes after a tumultuous few years in the eastern Tennessee diocese.

Stika, who was appointed to the diocese in 2009, was at the center of a scandal over the purported cover-up of the alleged abuse of a seminarian. He was also criticized over his leadership of the diocese. 

According to Catholic outlet the Pillar, in 2021 nearly a dozen Knoxville priests sent a letter to Cardinal (then Archbishop) Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, asking for “merciful relief” from Stika’s leadership, arguing that it was “detrimental to priestly fraternity and even to our personal well-being.” 

Among other allegations, the priests alleged Stika had intimidated clergy in the diocese if he thought they spoke out publicly about misconduct.

In 2022 he was named in a lawsuit that accused him of protecting a seminarian accused of multiple counts of rape. The suit also claimed that the bishop attempted to intimidate an alleged victim, a parish organist, into keeping quiet about the alleged sexual assault and of having accused the alleged victim of being the perpetrator.

In November 2022 the Vatican sent two Virginia prelates — Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge and Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout — for an apostolic visitation to the diocese. While the findings of the visitation were not made public, the Pillar reported that unnamed sources close to the Dicastery for Bishops said Pope Francis had decided to ask Stika for his resignation in light of the results of the investigation.

Pope Francis accepted Stika’s resignation on June 27, 2023. In a subsequent statement Stika expressed his gratitude to the pope for accepting his request, suggesting that he was resigning due to “life-threatening health issues.”