Tag: Christianity

The Catholic vote on Tuesday broke for former President Donald Trump by a large margin nationwide and within swing states in the 2024 presidential election, according to exit polls published by the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and NBC News.

According to the Washington Post’s exit poll, Trump won the national Catholic vote by a 15-point margin: 56% to 41%. This shows a much larger victory for Trump among Catholic voters than the Post’s 2020 exit polls, which showed Trump with only a five-point lead above President Joe Biden, 52% to 47%.

The shift represents a 10-point swing in favor of Trump from 2020 to 2024.

The Washington Post poll also found that 69% of voters who believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases voted for Harris, but Trump managed to win 28% of voters who held the same view.

Trump also won 90% of voters who believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases and Harris won 9% of voters who held that view.

An exit poll from the Associated Press VoteCast showed Trump leading among Catholic voters but by a smaller seven-point margin than the Post’s poll. According to the poll, Trump won the Catholic vote with about 52% compared with Harris’ 45%.

However, the poll also found that 46% of Catholic voters trusted Harris more on abortion policy, while only 36% trusted Trump more on that issue. About 10% trusted neither and 6% trusted both.

According to the poll, 61% of Catholic voters said abortion should be legal in all or most cases and only 38% said it should be illegal in all or most cases. It found that Catholic voters were evenly split on the question of whether abortion should be illegal after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with 49% favoring such a law and 49% opposing it.

The poll found that Catholic voters trusted Trump more than Harris on immigration by a massive 25-point margin, 57% to 32%. It also found that Catholics trusted Trump more on the economy by a 19-point margin, 55% to 36%.

According to the poll, 59% of Catholics were concerned that Harris was too extreme and 58% felt the same way about Trump. About 73% of Catholic voters said they were primarily voting to support their candidate, but 27% of Catholic voters said they were primarily voting to oppose the other candidate.

This shows Trump heavily outperforming earlier polls of Catholics. A poll conducted by Pew in September only showed the former president with a five-point lead over the vice president, beating her 52% compared with 47%.

Catholic voters in 10 key swing states polled by NBC voted for Trump by a 15-point margin, with 56% of the vote going to the former president and only 41% going to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump’s lead was slightly larger among white Catholic voters with 60% supporting the former president and 37% backing Harris.

According to the poll, Catholics accounted for 22% of the voters in those states and white Catholics accounted for 15% of the voters.

The states included in the NBC poll were Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, courted the Catholic vote heavily in the last few weeks of the election. In late October, Trump called Harris “destructive to Christianity” and said Catholics are “treated worse than anybody.” In that same week, Vance published an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, accusing Harris of “prejudice against Catholics.”

Donald Trump on Wednesday won his reelection bid for president, defeating Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris and becoming the first president in nearly 130 years to secure a nonconsecutive White House victory.

Chortkiv, Ternopil Province, Ukraine, November 6, 2024

Photo: spzh.live     

A priest of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church suffered a broken rib during detention at a military recruitment center in the Ternopil Province in western Ukraine, in a pattern of pressure on UOC clergy in the region.

Archpriest Oleg Melnik, 55, was stopped and taken to the Territorial Recruitment Center on Saturday, November 2, ostensibly to clarify whether he had undergone a military medical commission. Despite having valid documentation of his clerical status, Fr. Oleg was detained upon arrival, he told the Union of Orthodox Journalists.

During his detention, officials pressured him to transfer to the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine,” suggesting he could serve as a military chaplain if he switched jurisdictions. “I won’t transfer to the OCU even under threat of execution,” Fr. Oleg responded, defending his Orthodox faith.

The priest reported being denied food for approximately 24 hours, having his phone and clerical identification confiscated, and ultimately being physically assaulted. Though briefly taken to a hospital when his blood pressure spiked, he was returned to the recruitment center where the abuse continued. He is now at home recovering from a broken rib sustained during the incident.

Fr. Oleg was unable to serve the Sunday Liturgy due to his injuries.

This case adds to a More Ukrainian priests called up to the armyAs one UOC hierarch explained, the canons forbid clergy from participating in military activity.

“>growing number of reports from western Ukraine where UOC priests have been Canonical priests targeted for military draft in Western UkraineEarlier this week, two UOC priests, Archpriest Vasyl and Fr. Stepan Guk, were seized by representatives of the local military recruitment center right after celebrating the Divine Liturgy.”>specifically targeted for military mobilization, raising concerns about religious discrimination. Local observers suggest these incidents may be part of a broader pattern of pressure on clergy who remain loyal to the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church rather than joining the state-backed OCU.

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Voters in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota on Tuesday night voted down major pro-abortion proposals in their states, while seven other states saw voters approve measures to expand abortion, in several cases codifying abortion access into the state constitution.

After back-to-back pro-life losses in half a dozen states since 2022, the rejection of the pro-abortion measures in three states on Tuesday represent the first victories at the ballot box for pro-life advocates since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Meanwhile, several states that already do little to restrict abortion committed to make the procedure even more accessible. And in a handful of states, notably Missouri, Tuesday’s results could ultimately negate the strong pro-life legal protections currently in place.

Here’s a breakdown of the results in each state that voted on abortion Nov. 5.

Arizona codifies abortion as a ‘fundamental right’

Voters in Arizona definitively approved Proposition 139, which provides constitutionally for a “fundamental right to abortion.” The measure says the state cannot restrict abortion until the point of “viability,” at approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy, unless it has a compelling reason and does so in the least restrictive way possible.

The measure also prevents the state from interfering with abortions after viability if, in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional, an abortion is “necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.”

The measure will undo Arizona’s current abortion law, which restricts most abortions after 15 weeks.

The Arizona Catholic Conference, representing the state’s bishops, had in late August released a statement expressing “strong opposition” to Proposition 139, saying that despite its claims to be “moderate in nature,” the language of the proposal would make Arizona “one of the most extreme states in terms of abortion.”

Colorado solidifies its abortion bona fides

Already one of the most permissive states in the country in terms of abortion, Colorado voters approved Amendment 79, which enshrines in the state constitution the state laws already in place that allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.

Specifically, it amends the state constitution to say that the government “shall not deny, impede, or discriminate against the exercise of the right to abortion, including prohibiting health insurance coverage for abortion.”

The Colorado Catholic Conference had strongly urged all people to vote no on Amendment 79, noting that among other things, it could open the door for direct taxpayer funding for abortion.

Florida rebuffs abortion lobby, keeps pro-life protections in place

Pro-life advocates expressed elation early in the night Nov. 5 as Florida voters rejected Amendment 4, which would have added a right to abortion before the point of “viability” to the state’s constitution and allowed for abortions later in pregnancy if a woman’s doctor deems it necessary to end the life of her child.

The pro-abortion lobby poured more than $100 million into Florida in an effort to enshrine abortion in the state constitution and negate the state’s Heartbeat Protection Act, one of the most pro-life laws in the country, which restricts abortion after six weeks of pregnancy with limited exceptions.

The measure failed after garnering 57% of the vote; it needed 60% to pass. The measure was strongly opposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Catholic Church in Florida.

The pro-abortion amendment would have directed that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health.” It offered no guidelines in determining a patient’s “health,” rather leaving that assessment up to “the patient’s health care provider.

On Tuesday night, the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops said it was “profoundly relieved at the defeat of Florida’s pro-abortion Amendment 4.”

“This is a positive outcome for Florida and all efforts to promote the flourishing of our state,” the bishops said.

The bishops noted that though the amendment failed, “a majority of Floridians voting in the general election supported it.”

“Much work remains to open hearts and minds to the dignity and goodness of life in the womb and at every stage,” the bishops continued. “We will continue to proclaim in our churches and in the public square the value of every human life and to highlight that there is a better way forward for women, families, and society than abortion.”

Maryland overwhelmingly codifies abortion

Similar to Colorado, Maryland does little to protect unborn children and the measure approved by voters on Tuesday codifies its already permissive abortion laws into the state constitution.

The Maryland Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment, or Question 1, cements an abortion “right” in the state’s constitution and will make it impossible for pro-life laws to be enacted, advocates say. Maryland voters overwhelmingly approved the measure, with roughly 75% voting yes.

Maryland currently places no gestational limits on abortion. Parental notice is required for a minor to have an abortion, but critics say that requirement is easy to circumvent.

The Catholic bishops of Maryland had warned that “a vote against the constitutional amendment is a vote for women and justice” — while acknowledging that “nothing regarding abortion would change in Maryland if this amendment does not pass.”

Missouri votes to undo pro-life protections

Missouri was one of the first states to fully ban abortion after the fall of Roe v. Wade. On Tuesday, voters narrowly approved Amendment 3, which adds a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” to the state constitution, threatening to undo decades of pro-life gains.

Missouri’s Amendment 3 prohibits “any regulation of abortion, including regulations designed to protect women undergoing abortions and prohibit any civil or criminal recourse against anyone who performs an abortion and hurts or kills the pregnant women,” according to the secretary of state’s office.

It mandates that the government “shall not deny or infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions.”

The amendment’s appearance on the ballot was the subject of a court battle, with pro-lifers arguing that the final proposed language not only violated state law by failing to list which laws it would repeal but also mislead voters about the scope and gravity of what they would be voting for. The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately voted 4-3 to allow the measure to appear before voters.

Missouri law had extended protection to unborn babies throughout all of pregnancy with the only exception being cases of “medical emergency.”

The Missouri Catholic Conference, which advocates policy on behalf of the state’s Catholic bishops, has called the measure “an extreme constitutional amendment that legalizes abortion at any stage of pregnancy with no protections for the preborn child, even when the child is capable of feeling pain.”

Montana enshrines pro-abortion court ruling

Voters in Montana, where abortion has been legal for years due to a court ruling, voted roughly 57-43 to establish a “right” to abortion in the state constitution.

Ballot Issue No. 14 amends the Montana Constitution “to expressly provide a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” according to the secretary of state’s office.

The initiative, also known as CI-128, guarantees the right to abortion before fetal viability, enshrining a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that held that pre-viability abortions fall under a constitutional “right to privacy.”

Montana’s Catholic bishops issued a joint letter in May denouncing the proposed pro-abortion constitutional amendment, calling 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.”

On a resource page about the amendment, the bishops noted that the vast majority of the funding for the pro-abortion amendment came from organizations outside Montana.

Nebraska considers competing measures to deliver pro-life victory

Nebraska voters were in the unusual position of choosing between two competing abortion-related ballot measures, one pro-life and one pro-abortion. The voters rejected the measure that would have expanded abortion and approved one that restricts abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The proposed “Protect Women and Children” amendment, Initiative 434, amends the state constitution to outlaw abortion “in the second and third trimesters” except in cases of medical emergencies or when the baby is the result of rape or incest. The measure passed roughly 55-45.

Nebraska’s current state law restricts abortion after roughly 12 weeks.

Meanwhile, voters rejected the pro-abortion ballot measure, Initiative 439, which would have enshrined in the state constitution the “right” to have an abortion until the point of viability or later to protect the health of the pregnant woman.

Officials had clarified that because the Nebraska measures are mutually exclusive and could both be added to the constitution, the measure with the most “for” votes would be adopted.

Nevada takes a step toward fully codifying abortion

Nevadans approved a measure, Question 6, that if ultimately adopted will codify already-existing state laws into the state constitution that allow for abortion up to roughly 24 weeks into pregnancy.

The measure passed roughly 63-37.

In Nevada, a simple majority vote in two consecutive elections is required for state constitutional amendments. So despite passing Nov. 5, the same measure must be approved in 2026 as well.

The Nevada Catholic Conference had urged all voters to vote no on Question 6, saying that among other things it will remove parental notification, consent, and family involvement from “all reproductive decisions for their minor children, including abortion.”

New Yorkers vote to protect ‘reproductive health care and autonomy’

An “equal rights” amendment will be added to the New York Constitution after voters approved it Tuesday. New York is already a haven for abortion, which is accessible through all nine months of pregnancy.

Though it does not explicitly mention abortion, New York’s Proposal 1 will bar discrimination based on “pregnancy outcomes,” “gender expression,” and “reproductive health care and autonomy,” effectively enshrining abortion in the state constitution.

On May 7, a New York state court blocked the proposal from reaching the ballot, citing procedural errors. A unanimous appellate court decision on June 18 reversed the lower court ruling, placing the measure back on the ballot.

The bishops of New York state had urged Catholic New Yorkers to oppose Proposal 1, warning that it would enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution as well as potentially restrict parents’ rights to make medical and other decisions for their minor children, including so-called “gender affirming” procedures.

South Dakota keeps abortion ban in place

By a vote of nearly 60-40, voters in South Dakota rejected a measure that would have instituted a “right” to abortion there. The measure, Amendment G, would have established “a constitutional right to an abortion,” legalizing abortion for any reason during the first trimester and allowing for the regulation of abortion after that point.

Michael Pauley, executive director of the South Dakota Catholic Conference, wrote in a September column that the battle over Amendment G “is a serious matter that affects both the common good of the state and the interests of the Church.”

“A ‘no’ vote on G gives these babies a chance to be born. But if a majority vote ‘yes,’ these babies will die. That is the stark choice before us. Only rarely is an issue of such eternal significance placed into our hands,” Pauley wrote.

Moscow, November 6, 2024

Photo: patriarchia.ru     

The Orthodox Church neither condemns nor welcomes the death penalty, says the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia addressed the issue during a meeting with participants of the Time of Heroes program on Sunday, November 3. The aim of the program is to train leaders from among the participants of the war in Ukraine for subsequent work in state and municipal authorities.

The Patriarch approaches the complex issue of capital punishment first through a theological lens, noting its historical presence and pointing out that “Jesus Christ did not condemn capital punishment, although He Himself undeservedly endured capital punishment.” The Church’s position, he says, is rooted in Biblical teaching, specifically citing the words of St. Paul: Put away the evil person from among you” (1 Cor. 5:13).

The Patriarch interprets this not as a direct command to execute, but as justification for removing extremely dangerous individuals from society when isolation proves impossible.

While acknowledging the gravity of capital punishment as “an extreme measure,” the Patriarch maintains that the Church has taken a measured stance throughout history. He notes that even after Christ’s unjust execution, “the Holy Apostles didn’t say: ‘After such injustice, when our Lord Jesus Christ was subjected to capital punishment, we must all proclaim that it’s terrible and sinful to subject another person to punishment through the termination of life.’”

This historical perspective informs the Church’s current position, which neither condemns nor endorses capital punishment when legally administered, the Patriarch says.

While welcoming the current moratorium on capital punishment, the Patriarch advocates for careful observation of its effects on society, particularly crime rates. He suggests that society can reject capital punishment if it’s deemed “excessive punishment that doesn’t correspond in many cases to the crime, and if the implementation of capital punishment itself negatively affects public morality.”

He also shared a powerful personal experience of meeting a life prisoner, behind double bars, “like in a cage,” whose confession was unlike any he had heard in his life. This experience reinforced his belief that “from a purely moral perspective, any criminal should at least be given a chance to repent.” However, he tempers this compassionate view with pragmatism, acknowledging that sometimes “those who have nowhere to go are very good actors.”

Ultimately, the Patriarch concludes that while it would be “ideal if people weren’t deprived of life,” these decisions should rest with legal authorities rather than the Church.

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West Virginians appeared on track to approve a constitutional amendment to ban medically assisted suicide and euthanasia in their state, with the ballot measure leading by just several thousand votes as the counting of votes from Election Day Nov. 5 continued into the following morning.

With 90% of precincts reporting, votes in favor of the ban numbered 336,039, or nearly 50.5%, and those against it numbered 330,236, or 49.5%, according to a vote tally reported early Nov. 6 by The New York Times.

Amendment 1 states, “No person, physician, or health care provider in the State of West Virginia shall participate in the practice of medically assisted suicide, euthanasia, or mercy killing of a person.” The amendment also makes clear that it does not interfere with the provision of pain-relieving medication in palliative care, the voluntary withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, or the state’s ability to inflict capital punishment.

The Catholic Church in West Virginia had urged passage of the constitutional amendment.

“We are grateful that West Virginia voters have chosen to love, care, and comfort their family members rather than toss them aside. Each and every one of us is a gift from God and it is up to us to cherish that gift until we return to him according to his divine will,” Bishop Mark E. Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston told OSV News.

“It was the slimmest of victories but it passed nonetheless,” said West Virginians for Life, an affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, in a Nov. 6 Facebook post. The organization said it was “so thankful!” for the apparent win.

In an Oct. 18 message regarding Amendment 1, Bishop Brennan had said medically assisted suicide and euthanasia are unacceptable since “our lives are a gift that we did not earn but which we must cherish.

“Suicide, even if done for altruistic reasons, is a rejection of our place in the human community, because we choose to leave it before we have to,” said Bishop Brennan.

He noted that both “the Catholic and Jewish traditions hold that the commandment, ‘Thou shall not kill,’ applies not only to taking someone else’s life but also to taking one’s own.”

The thin line between euthanasia and medically assisted suicide is defined by who administers a lethal dose of drugs. In euthanasia — currently illegal throughout the United States — medical personnel actively kill the patient under certain criteria; in medically assisted suicide, the physician prescribes the lethal drugs to the patient, but doesn’t administer them directly — the patient does.

The teaching of the Catholic Church is quite specific, with the Second Vatican Council condemning “euthanasia or wilful self-destruction” among the moral “infamies” that “poison human society” and are a “supreme dishonor to the Creator.”

Recent popes also have spoken strongly about the issues at stake. In his 1995 encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”), St. John Paul II warned of such procedures, stating, “Here we are faced with one of the more alarming symptoms of the ‘culture of death.’”

The Catholic Church outlines that it is morally acceptable for people to forgo “extraordinary” medical treatment as the Catechism of the Catholic Church notes: “Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of ‘over-zealous’ treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted.”

Bishop Brennan stressed in his Oct. 18 message that “many of the reasons that lead people to choose the help of medical personnel to end their lives can be met by non-lethal means,” such as pain medicine and the support of loved ones.

“Medically assisted suicide corrupts the medical profession” and inverts the medicine’s fundamental principle to “do no harm,” Bishop Brennan continued, pointing to grave abuses of such as the medical experimentation of Nazi doctors, the punitive psychiatric confinements inflicted by Soviet Union doctors, and the forced sterilizations performed by U.S. doctors on thousands of women during the 20th century as part of the eugenics movement.

Bishop Brennan also warned of the expansion of medically assisted suicide in Oregon, making that state “a favored site for ‘suicide tourism,’” as well as in Canada and the Netherlands.

“Where does medically assisted suicide end? In more and more graves,” said Bishop Brennan. “Is this what we want in West Virginia?”

Mt. Athos, November 6, 2024

Photo: mitropolia.md     

A group of Moldovan pilgrims recently carried out renovation work inside the Panaghia Kellia at the peak of Holy Mount Athos.

The project involved the coordination of priests and laymen from four parishes from throughout Moldova and the Great Lavra on Mt. Athos, reports the Moldovan Orthodox Church.

Photo: mitropolia.md     

The parishes organized everything necessary for the interior repairs.

On Tuesday morning, October 29, the pilgrims arrived at the Panaghia Kellia and set to work. This initiative not only improved the conditions of the historic cell but also promoted a deep sense of unity among the pilgrims.

After completing the work, the participating priests officiated the Vigil, the Hours, and at midnight, they served the Divine Liturgy, giving thanks to God and the Mother of God for all blessings received.

Photo: mitropolia.md     

“This restoration work at the Panaghia Kellia demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the Moldovan Orthodox Church’s faithful to preserving the ecclesiastical and cultural heritage of the Garden of the Mother of God,” the report states.

It concludes: “Holy Mount Athos remains a fortress of Orthodox faith and devotion, bringing peace and spiritual fulfillment to all who visit it.”

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The Holy Spirit helps the faithful understand that praying to God is praying to a loving and merciful father, Pope Francis said.

“The Holy Spirit comes to aid us in our weakness” and “testifies to us that we are children of God,” the pope said Nov. 6 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

“We cannot say, ‘Father, Abba,’ without the strength of the Holy Spirit. Christian prayer is not a person at one end of the telephone, speaking to God on the other; no, it is God who prays in us! We pray to God through God,” he said.

Continuing a series of audience talks about the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, the pope spoke about the role of the Spirit in prayer and how Jesus taught his followers to pray for the gift of the Spirit, who dwells in the hearts of the faithful.

The Holy Spirit is also “our advocate and defender. He does not accuse us before the Father, but defends us,” he said. “He convinces us of the fact that we are sinners, but he does so in order to make us able to savor the joy of the Father’s mercy, not to destroy us with fruitless feelings of guilt.”

“We are all sinners,” he said, but “God is greater than our sins.”

People who are afraid of divine retribution for something they have done and cannot find peace should pray for the Holy Spirit “and he will teach you how to ask for forgiveness,” the pope said. “God always forgives us, he is always by our side in order to forgive us.”

“We pray to receive the Holy Spirit, and we receive the Holy Spirit in order to truly pray, that is, as children of God, not as slaves,” he said. That means being able to pray spontaneously, from the heart, when they feel like it and not out of obligation or fear of damnation, he said.

“You pray when the Spirit helps you pray. You pray when you feel in your heart the need to pray and if you don’t feel anything, take a moment and ask, ‘Why don’t I feel the desire to pray? What is happening in my life?’” the pope said.

“We must pray to receive the Holy Spirit,” which is a gift from God who “wants to give us courage” to persevere, he added.

“The Holy Spirit always descends during prayer,” he said. “It is the only ‘power’ we have over the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer, and he cannot resist prayer. We pray and he comes.”

The Holy Spirit is also the one “who gives us true prayer” because many times “we do not know how to pray as we ought,” Pope Francis said.

“Please do not pray like parrots,” mindlessly repeating a string of words, he said. “And when we pray the Our Father, pray: ‘Father, you are my father…’ Pray with your heart, not your lips.”

Not only does the Holy Spirit intercede for the faithful, “he also teaches us how to intercede, in turn, for our brothers and sisters,” by praying for the sick, those in prison and others, he said.

“This prayer is particularly pleasing to God because it is the most gratuitous and altruistic,” he said. “This is a task that is so precious and necessary in the church, particularly during this time of preparation for the Jubilee.”

Mahajanga, Madagascar, November 6, 2024

Photo: exarchate-africa.ru     

A service book for priests has been translated and published in the Malagasy language.

The translation was carried out by several priests of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, and the result was published in Kursk by the VIP Publishing House, the Exarchate reports.

Malagasy, from the Austronesian family, is an official language of Madagascar, alongside French. There are about 25 million native speakers of Malagasy.

Copies of the new publication have already been distributed to local priests in Madagascar. On October 17, Fr. Vasily Randrianaivo and Fr. Nectarios Andriamanana celebrated the Divine Liturgy in their native Malagasy at the Church of St. Nectarios in the city of Mahajanga in northern Madagascar.

The Exarchate also published a Malagasy prayer book in Prayer book published in language of MadagascarMalagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, spoke by about 25 million people in Madagascar and the Comoros.

“>May 2023.

Several dozen baptized into Christ in MadagascarThe service was celebrated by Bishop Prodromos of Toliara.

“>In July of this year, 140 people of all ages were baptized in the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s Diocese of Toliara and Southern Madagascar.

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Iași, Romania, November 6, 2024

Photo: basilica.ro     

An Orthodox addiction recovery center was solemnly blessed and opened in Iași on Monday, November 4.

The new St. Maximilian Center, established as a ministry of the city’s St. Basil the Great Church and blessed by His Eminence Metropolitan Teofan of Moldova and Bukovina of the Romanian Orthodox Church, was inspired by the tragic story of a young addict named Maximilian, reports the Basilica News Agency.

The project was realized with support from the Iași Archdiocese and specialists from Romania and abroad who have extensive experience in addiction. The center has eight places for residential treatment but also operates on a day basis. It is part of a broader program of the Iași Archdiocese for counseling and treating people affected by addictions.

Though we are weak and susceptible to addiction to all kinds of sin, “the man who opens even slightly to God’s help receives from Him both the power to will and the power to fight,” said Met. Teofan.

Photo: basilica.ro     

“We try to address various addictions, not just alcohol or drugs, but also behavioral addictions, gambling addiction, which is growing explosively, even codependency, because around one addict, the whole family suffers,” said Fr. Iulian Negru.

“It’s said that where there’s one addict, there are at least four codependents, who have specific manifestations, and addiction is a family disease. If the entire family environment isn’t healed, the addict will have difficulties recovering and might even be pulled down by those at home.”

And behind every addiction is a trauma that must be treated, the priest emphasized.

The St. Maximilian Center was established with substantial support from Dr. Beatrice Herrmann from Switzerland, whose personal tragedy inspired its creation. After losing her 26-year-old son Maximilian to an overdose a year and a half ago, she found purpose in helping others facing similar struggles.

Through her grief, Dr. Herrmann connected with Fr. Iulian, who has been working in addiction recovery for over 20 years. She describes her son’s death as a transformative experience that led her from personal loss to a broader mission of helping others, seeing this work as a way to honor Maximilian’s memory while supporting families affected by addiction.

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The other day I came across some words of St. John Henry Newman. They are from lectures he delivered in 1837, but they sound like he was talking today.

“The whole course of Christianity from the first,” he said, “is but one series of troubles and disorders. Every century is like every other, and to those who live in it seems worse than all times before it.”

He added: “Religion seems ever expiring, schisms dominant, the light of truth dim, its adherents scattered. The cause of Christ is ever in its last agony, as though it were but a question of time whether it fails finally this day or another.”

Newman’s point was that believers are always tempted to despair about the state of the Church and the state of the world, to think they are living in the worst of times, that the forces in the society and culture are too strong, that the faith is in danger of fading away.

It is true: the Church in every age confronts trials, scandals, and persecutions. In every age, there is the need for renewal and greater fidelity to Christ. Our time is no different.

But the saints know and we know: The victory has already been won. Jesus conquered evil and death and he promised that the gates of the netherworld will never prevail against his Church.

The Church’s liturgical year ends soon, and on that final Sunday we celebrate the victory of “Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe.”

It’s good to remember this as our country concludes another divisive election season that has left many bitter and angry.

Several years ago, after another divisive election, I wrote that no matter who is president, Jesus Christ is still our king. That’s still true.

As Catholics, as the Church, we serve Jesus. He alone defines our mission. That mission doesn’t change: We’re here to proclaim the Gospel, save souls, and build God’s kingdom.  

Again during this year’s campaigns, it became even more obvious to me how important the Church’s mission is at this moment in our nation’s history.

Our deepest problems cannot be solved by politics. Underlying our political debates are issues that are spiritual, moral, and existential.

People are dissatisfied, especially young people. They’re anxious and insecure about the direction the world is heading.

They sense that there’s something wrong with our way of life, that there must be something more than consumption, competition, and seeking pleasure.

They are looking for meaning, for a sense of “roots,” for real community and relationships that will last. They might not put it this way, but they’re also looking for moral direction, for someone they can trust to show them how they should live and what they should live for.

People need Jesus, and they need his Church.

From the first, Jesus said to his followers: “You will be my witnesses.” Now is the hour for our witness.

We know the Gospel’s power; we know how Jesus can transform a person’s life. We know that because he has done it in our lives.

So we must be the ones to show our neighbors that life can be good; that love, joy, and beauty are possible if we follow Jesus and his path for our lives.

People need to hear the good news that their life is sacred, that it has dignity and purpose.

We are not just organisms or machines, as our society would have it. We are children of God, created in his image, made with bodies and souls and the will to love; each of us is given a destiny to share in God’s own divine life.
This is the truth that can set people free. And there’s no telling what our society could become if more people came to live from that truth.

We need to be witnesses to what Jesus taught: that God gives us freedom, not to do what we want, but to do what is right; that character matters and virtue matters; that we can lead holy lives through moral discipline and the grace of God.

Newman wrote: “Not to despond, not to be dismayed, not to be anxious, at the troubles which encompass us. They have ever been; they ever shall be; they are our portion.”

He quoted the psalm: “The waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly. But yet the Lord, who dwelleth on high, is mightier.”

This is the Lord we serve. And in this moment, he is telling us again not to be troubled, but to believe; and to live and share what we believe with joy and hope.

Pray for me and I will pray for you.

And let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary to watch over our country.