1. A Visit to the Blessed Mother in Manhattan, By Nicholas Tomaino, The Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2023, Pg. A15, Opinion We’re never too busy to give our mother a call. A visit is even better. Last Friday two friends and I walked 10 blocks to St. Vincent Ferrer Church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, spending an hour in conversation with her. Our Lady is always keen to see us: graciously listening to our petitions and dispensing her undivided love and attention to all comers. I’m writing of Mary, mother of the Whole Christ, given to us by her Son in his last moments on the cross. Many Catholics seek to grow in devotion to her by visiting the places where she’s made her presence felt, and voice heard, on earth. At Guadalupe, Mexico; Fatima, Portugal; and Lourdes, France, she appeared to men, women and children, gently imploring them to repent, do penance and pray the rosary. Such pilgrimages are a privilege, drawing the faithful ever closer to our spiritual mother. Yet it’d be a mistake to believe that we can do likewise only by traveling overseas and only in May, the month the Catholic Church dedicates to her. For the necessary and perennial obligation of deepening in friendship with Our Lady, one needs at most a pair of sneakers, some blessed beads and a sanctuary. Our midday Manhattan pilgrimage brought this to mind. The journey was simple and the plan inspired by St. Josemaría Escrivá (1902-75), the Spanish priest who founded Opus Dei. He created this peripatetic tradition in May 1935, and his model was our guide—pray one rosary en route to a shrine of the Blessed Mother, another on arrival, and one more on the way back. … The beads, and the Blessed Mother, await no matter the hour. Mr. Tomaino is an assistant editorial features editor at the Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-visit-to-the-blessed-mother-in-manhattan-pilgrimage-rosary-lourdes-65f06045__________________________________________________________ 2. Vatican questions $17 million transfer to impact investing vehicle, moves to prevent similar, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, May 31, 2023, 3:12 AM The former monastery on a quiet residential street in Rome once sheltered Jews fearing deportation in World War II. Purchased by the Vatican in 2021 as a dormitory for foreign nuns studying at Rome’s pontifical universities, the building now stands empty, a collateral victim of the latest financial scandal to hit the Holy See. Pope Francis has asked aides to get to the bottom of how at least $17 million, including money to refurbish the dorm, was transferred from the Vatican’s U.S.-based missionary fundraising coffers into an impact investing vehicle run by a priest, The Associated Press has learned. Two years later, the U.S. fundraiser says the money is gone, and the monastery is shuttered. Its renovation is tied up in bureaucratic red tape, while the nuns studying in Rome are still housed at a convent a 90-minute commute away. The story of what happened to the money is one that has vexed Vatican officials on both sides of the Atlantic, all the more because the transfers appear entirely legal. But they have nevertheless prompted the new leadership of the Vatican’s missionary fundraising operation in the U.S., The Pontifical Mission Societies, to replace the staff and board of directors who approved them, and overhaul its bylaws and statutes, to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/31/vatican-mission-impact-investing/ce5007ec-ff7b-11ed-9eb0-6c94dcb16fcf_story.html__________________________________________________________ 3. Vatican reaffirms ‘no’ to birth control, IVF in new family compact, By Elise Ann Allen, Crux, May 31, 2023 While maintaining its stance against IVF, the Vatican issued a new document Tuesday sounding an alarm about declining birth rates and touting alternatives to methods of artificial reproduction the church sees as morally unacceptable. The text also reiterates the Church’s traditional opposition to contraception, despite speculation in some quarters that Pope Francis might be rethinking the teaching of St. Paul VI in his 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae condemning artificial birth control. … https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2023/05/vatican-reaffirms-no-to-birth-control-ivf-in-new-family-compact__________________________________________________________ 4. Catholic Church in California grapples with over 3,000 lawsuits alleging abuse, Advocates have been stunned by the number of cases that surfaced during this revival window, By Alejandro Molina, The Washington Post, May 30, 2023, 4:39 PM At least a third of the 12 Roman Catholic dioceses in California have either filed for bankruptcy or are contemplating doing so to deal with an influx of lawsuits filed by survivors of childhood sexual abuse after a state law opened a three-year window in which cases were exempted from age limits. More than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed against the Catholic Church in California under a 2019 state law that also extended the statute of limitations to allow all alleged victims of sexual abuse to sue up to the age of 40. … The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the most populous Catholic diocese in the country, with some 4 million Catholics, is not planning to file for bankruptcy, despite grappling with at least 1,100 lawsuits. The majority of these cases involve alleged abuse that occurred in the 1970s and earlier, the archdiocese said, and the accused clergy have died or are no longer in ministry. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2023/05/30/catholic-church-california-grapples-with-over-3000-lawsuits-alleging-abuse/__________________________________________________________ 5. Kershaw disagrees with Dodgers’ decision to reinstate gay ‘nun’ group for Pride Night award, By Associated Press, May 30, 2023, 5:03 PM Clayton Kershaw says he disagrees with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to welcome a satirical LGBTQ+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the team’s annual Pride Night. Kershaw told The Los Angeles Times on Monday that the team’s decision to honor the group after it rescinded its original invitation prompted him to approach the Dodgers about expediting the announcement that the team was bringing back Christian Faith and Family Day later this season. … https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/05/30/dodgers-kershaw-pride-night-lgbtq-sisters-of-perpetual-indulgence/761d2fee-ff2d-11ed-9eb0-6c94dcb16fcf_story.html__________________________________________________________ 6. Dictatorship in Nicaragua accuses Catholic Church of money laundering, By Walter Sanchez Silva, Catholic News Agency, May 30, 2023, 2:00 PM The Nicaraguan National Police, controlled by the dictatorship of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, published a statement May 27 accusing the Catholic Church of various crimes such as money laundering, a baseless charge according to human rights defenders. The statement says that the police conducted “investigations that led to the discovery of hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in bags located in facilities belonging to the dioceses in the country,” such as Matagalpa and Estelí. The text also indicates that the investigations “confirmed the illegal withdrawal of funds from bank accounts that had been ordered by law to be frozen, as well as other illegal acts that are still being investigated as part of a money laundering network that has been discovered in dioceses of different departments [administrative districts].” The day before, according to what was reported by various media outlets, the regime had ordered the accounts of the country’s dioceses and parishes to be frozen.… https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254450/dictatorship-in-nicaragua-accuses-catholic-church-of-money-laundering__________________________________________________________ 7. Robert George Encourages Americans: Celebrate Fidelity, Princeton professor explains why he and some friends have decided to proclaim June as the month in which Americans collectively recommit themselves to fidelity., By Joan Frawley Desmond, National Catholic Register, May 30, 2023, Interview According to Professor Robert P. George, fidelity is the key to addressing the problems that beset contemporary America. A leading Catholic public intellectual who is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, George has described the Church’s clerical abuse scandal as a “crisis of infidelity” that requires a recommitment of fidelity to Church teaching “about God, about the dignity of the human person, about sex and marriage, [and] about justice.” Likewise, in the academy and in a variety of forums, he has called for a revitalization of fidelity in politics and other sectors.  Now, following a March 2023 Wall Street Journal poll that marked declining levels of support for organized religion, family formation, community involvement and patriotism, especially among the young, George is working with a group of friends to make the month of June “Fidelity Month.” During a May interview with the Register, he discussed his hopes for this new campaign and explained why Americans need to recommit to faith, family and country.  … https://www.ncregister.com/interview/robert-george-fidelity-month__________________________________________________________

TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association.
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