Tag: Christianity

“But, whether I will it or not, save me, O Lord. For to save a good man is no great thing, and to have mercy on the pure is nothing wonderful, for they are worthy of Thy mercy. But show the wonder of Thy mercy on me, a sinner. In this reveal Thy love for men, lest my wickedness prevail over Thy unutterable goodness and mercy. And order my life as Thou wilt” (the prayer of St. John Damascene).

John’s father, Osip, with grandmother Pelagia     

The word “America” is often used as a synonym for one of the nations in that part of the world, the United States of America, a country of immigrants and settlers. John Chrysostom was born on May 15, 1966 in the town of Rochester, New York to his mother Eugenia-Agnes Harrigen and father Osip Stashko. His paternal grandparents, grandmother Pelagia and grandfather Ivan, were Uniates who moved to America from Galicia (a historical region in western Ukraine) in the Russian Empire. His maternal ancestors were Irish Catholics.   

John’s father, Osip, with his parents, John and Pelagia   

His mother graduated from the university in New York, and she also finished a course in theology. His father, upon earning a college degree, became a radio electronics technician and designer of radar systems for F-18 fighter jets. He spent his entire life working for military industrial complex-aligned companies. He earned a lot, investing in his family and his children’s education. Thanks to this, the children studied only in tuition-based Catholic schools, because in their family faith in God was the number-one priority. The parents absorbed the Christian principles of life with their mother’s milk and passed this on to their children.

His mother gave birth to seven children: the eldest son, Osip, sisters Eugenia, Julia, Christina, Irina-Elena, and the middle son John (the third child in the family). Herald, the youngest in the family, was born in 1975 when his mother was already forty-three years old. This was when abortions became legal in America, so she used to say that Herald was her personal protest against abortions.

John with his brother Herald and sister Irina-Yelena   

His parents agreed on the issue of choosing the name for their middle son. His father wanted to name him Ivan in honor of his brother who died in the battle with the Japanese in the Coral Sea in 1942, whereas his mother, inspired by the life of St. John Chrysostom, also wanted to name her son John, but with the addition of the name Chrysostom (“Golden Mouth” in Greek). As a result, their son was named John Chrysostom. Their family were regulars at the services in Catholic churches, but they also attended Uniate parishes whenever possible. This is where all their children were baptized, even if they had to travel a great distance of four hundred kilometers. John’s father Osip was especially fond of attending church services, and whenever he had the opportunity, he would have spent all his free time at church. His father sang very well and John especially remembered his rendition of the romance, “Dark Eyes.” The family enjoyed listening to gramophone records, and his father read books in Russian and Ukrainian.

When John turned two, his family moved to the city of Garland, Texas, and he was brought up at home until he turned six. John’s family knew the history of their ancestors well, and he heard stories about Russia and Ireland from his childhood.

John was born in the sixties of the twentieth century at the height of the Cold War, when the prevailing stereotypes about his father’s homeland were purely negative, so that Russia (the USSR at the time) was considered an evil empire and Russians the enemies of America. But as a seven-year-old boy, John had a great desire to go and live in Russia. because once he entered school, he was confronted by negativity from his peers for being different. His name, Chrysostom, and the last name Stashko were unlike the other children’s names. Even his features were unlike others and he crossed himself differently, as well. Other children even teased him because his English sounded odd to them. It often happens in American society that people feek oppressed because of their nationality, speech, faith, or culture. Thus, anywhere beyond his home, John was known as John. John knew deep in his heart that ALL Russians can’t be evil, for his grandparents and his ancestors once resided in Russia, a great country with a great past.

The family often had to move from state to state in search of jobs with bigger salaries to support the family, a typical and frequent occurrence in America. After moving through four states and four schools, at age twelve John entered St. Anselm’s Academy, a Catholic Grammar School for Boys located in Washington, D.C. on the grounds of a Benedictine monastery. The Academy had the children of diplomats as its students and it was quite hard to study there partly because he had difficulty studying Latin. After two years there, John switched to Archbishop John Carroll Catholic High School for boys, and, after graduating at the age of sixteen, he enrolled at the Catholic liberal arts university of Dallas that housed a Cistercian monastery and seminary. John, a technical-minded young man, wanted to be an engineer, but the University of Dallas offered nothing but studies in seven liberal sciences and arts (with a particular emphasis on the Catholic interpretation of philosophy, history, and art), so he chose to study at the Faculty of Physics. While studying there, John took up an intensive Russian language course. In his family, by the time the children grew up, everyone mostly spoke English and so their Russian language skills practically faded away. Fr. Placid, a Hungarian Cistercian priest who came to America in the 1950s, a polyglot who mastered twenty-three languages, helped him to learn his native language. In 1986, at the age of twenty, John earned a bachelor’s degree in Physics. He enrolled at the University of Rhode Island to study Physical Oceanography, but dropped out three months later because he wanted to learn about the world and his place in it. As a result, he enrolled with the U.S. Navy to work as a marine machinist for two years.

In 1989, he started earning his master’s degree at the University of New Mexico. When he successfully passed his exams and defended his thesis in Nuclear Physics, he became involved with the studies of the breaking of symmetry in delta-particle decay at TRIUMF (TRI University Meson Facility) in Canada.

In 1993 John received his Ph.D., and as a research intern at “NSCL” (National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory), he studied the physics of triaxial deformation of nuclei. He worked in Geneva on a similar project that led to the discovery of the Higgs boson. When the government shut down the SSC project (Superconducting Super Collider), many physicists in America became unemployed, so it was a challenge to find a postdoctoral position (work experience in the specialization for a PhD graduate that includes writing scientific articles).

In 1995, his father died of cancer. His death restored John’s faith in God and made it even stronger, because he felt strongly that his father remained close to him as if alive, despite the fact that man cannot defeat death here on earth. It was the same year when John found a job as an engineer at Ford Motor Company, where he designed laboratories for testing and improving cars. He was paid really well, but the work didn’t bring him satisfaction—his vast experience in theoretical physics did not match very well with the monotony of work in the automotive industry. In 1999, after going through several jobs as an engineer, John decided to make a radical change in his life and become a medical professional, not only to earn a living, but also to do good for people. Upon graduating from the Henry Ford Community College and earning his degree, he began working as a paramedic.

At the same time John contemplated becoming a monk, and he even spent some time in a monastery in France; but its traditions were out of accord with the principles of Christian life instilled in his childhood by his parents.

  

In 2002, John met his future wife Rebecca, who was originally from Colorado. Rebecca, a Catholic, had also lived in a convent for some time where she realized she wanted to start a family. In 2003, after deciding to become a doctor, John enrolled at Wayne State University. The young couple were married in a Uniate church in the suburbs of the capital Washington, where his cancer-stricken mother was living. They soon purchased a small apartment in Detroit, where John started medical school and his wife Rebecca enrolled in two departments at once—Slavic Languages and Literature, and Elementary Education. In their spare time, they attended church services together.

John joined the choir, but Rebecca, with her soprano, wasn’t chosen to sing there. When John’s mother passed away in the winter of 2005, the whole family gathered in Washington, DC. Just as after his father’s passing, John felt as if his mother was alive and close to him because of the light and peace emanating from her.

    

Feeling no spiritual unity in the Uniate church, John and Rebecca began to look for an Orthodox church where they would feel accepted. This was where they heard the news that the miracle-working Numerous miraculous healings by Sitka Icon of the Mother of GodHundreds of faithful came out to every stop to attend the Divine services, hear His Grace’s presentation about the needs of the Alaskan clergy, and venerate the Sitka Icon.

“>“Sitka” Icon of the Most Holy Mother of God had arrived from the town of Sitka, Alaska, the place of apostolic labors of St. Innocent of Alaska and Moscow“>St. Innocent of Moscow (Veniaminov). Rebecca at the time was suffering from undetectable endometrial cancer (this diagnosis wouldn’t be known until 2011 following the loss of five pregnancies, with the one in the third trimester). She felt severe pain and thus was unable to become pregnant after more than two years of marriage. John decided to go to the church where the icon was supposed to be staying and it so happened that he greeted the icon of the Mother of God when it had just arrived at the church. He venerated the miracle-working icon even before it was brought inside, and prayed for his wife’s health. When he returned home, John learned that Rebecca was feeling much better and her symptoms had disappeared. A mere month later, their family was overjoyed to learn the wonderful news that they are expectant parents (their only surviving miracle baby). Sure enough, this incident of the Mother of God’s intercession made a profound impact on John’s soul.

To be continued…

Madona, Latvia, March 6, 2024

Photo: pareizticiba.lv An Orthodox church in eastern Latvia aims to repair and beautify the graves of the parents of the great Riga archpastor and New Martyr St. John of Riga (†1934).

The Church of the Holy Trinity in Madona “appeals to all residents and entrepreneurs to help raise funds for the manufacture and installation of an eight-pointed tombstone cross and new tombstones” for Andrei (d. 1921) and Evdokia (d. 1914) Pommer, reports the Latvian Orthodox Church.

The saint’s parents are buried in the Liseskalna cemetery, next to the church.

“It’s the duty of our grateful memory to honorably perpetuate the memory of these faithful, pious people who gave birth to a true defender of the faith and defender of the land of Latvia—the Hieromartyr John Pommer.”

St. John was brutally tortured and finally shot and set on fire while still alive on the night of October 12, 1934. No one knows who exactly killed the beloved Archbishop. The Riga cathedral was not big enough to hold all the people who came to the saint’s funeral, and many lined the streets along which his holy remains were to be carried. The Church celebrated the 20th anniversary of the uncovering of his relics Latvia: 20th anniversary of finding of relics of St. John of Riga celebratedSt. John was brutally tortured and finally shot and set on fire while still alive on the night of October 12, 1934.

“>last year.

“Paying tribute to the memory of Andrei and Evdokia Pommer, we pay tribute to the memory of their son, the Holy Hieromartyr John, Archbishop of Riga and Latvia,” the Church writes.

Donations can be made by bank transfer using the following details:

Madonas (Lazdonas) Svētās Trijādības pareizticīgo draudze
Madona, Rūpniecības iela 75
Reģ. Nr. 90000465226
AS Swedbank
Konta Nr. LV10HABA0551056439093
Maksājuma mērķis: ziedojums kapu labiekārtošanai

Read more about St. John in the article, ““I Will Be Even More Frightening for You Dead Than Alive!”On September 29/October 12 the Church honors the memory of the New Hieromartyr John (Pommer). It brings enormous joy to read his letters and sermons, to plunge into his radiant, fierce and mighty struggle while reading his scenes from his Life. But do we arm ourselves with the experience of our New Martyrs and Confessors? Do we pray to them for victory?

“>I Will Be Even More Frightening for You Dead Than Alive!”

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Pope Francis urged prideful people to recall one of Jesus’ moral commandments to “never judge.”

The sin of pride “ruins human relationships” and is an evil that “poisons the feeling of fraternity that instead should unite humanity,” the pope wrote in the catechesis for his general audience in St. Peter’s Square March 6.

Still recovering from illness, Pope Francis told visitors an aide would read his talk because he could not read well due to a cold. The pope entered St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile and wearing a coat in the brisk weather, but he struggled to lift himself into the vehicle after the audience and instead left the square using a wheelchair.

After his general audience Feb. 28, the pope was taken to a Rome hospital for what the Vatican said were “diagnostic tests,” and during an audience March 2, he told people he had bronchitis.

Pope Francis took the microphone only for his initial and final greetings. At the end of the audience, he renewed his invitation “to pray for the populations that suffer the horror of war in Ukraine, in the Holy Land and in other parts of the world.”

“Let us pray for peace, let us ask the Lord for the gift of peace,” he said.

In the main speech read by Msgr. Pierluigi Giroli, Pope Francis said that “the prideful (person) is one who thinks he or she is much more than he or she really is; one who frets to be recognized as greater than others, always wants to see his or her own merits recognized and despises others by deeming them inferior.”

The pope’s speech cited St. Gregory I, the seventh-century pope who called pride the queen of all vices.

Hidden within pride, Pope Francis wrote, is the “radical sin” of claiming to be like God. He explained that the sin of Adam and Eve recounted in the Book of Genesis was caused by pride, since the serpent that tempted them said that by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge “you will be like gods.”

Those who suffer from an inflated sense of pride, the pope wrote, are quick to make “irrevocable judgments on others, who seem to them hopelessly inept and incapable,” and he explained that prideful people “forget that in the Gospels Jesus assigned us very few moral precepts, but on one of them he was uncompromising: never judge.”

The pope wrote that one knows when he or she is dealing with a prideful person when, by offering a small criticism or even a harmless observation, the other “reacts in an exaggerated manner” and “goes into a rage, shouts, breaks off relationships with others in a resentful way.”

“There is little one can do with a person sick with pride,” Pope Francis wrote, suggesting that patience is the only option when dealing with a prideful person who cannot be spoken with or corrected.

Salvation, however, “comes through humility,” he wrote, which is “the true remedy for every act of pride.”

“It is useless to steal anything from God, as the proud hope to do, because he wants to give us everything after all,” he wrote, urging Catholics to make use of Lent “to fight against our pride.”

After his catechesis, Pope Francis greeted a delegation of bishops from American Methodist churches who had met with officials from the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity March 5.

Kisii County, Kenya and Kimamba, Tanzania, March 6, 2024

Bp. Konstantin, Acting Exarch of Africa for the Russian Church, baptizes a man in Tanzania. Photo: exarchate-africa.ru     

Two mass Baptisms were celebrated within the Russian Orthodox Church’s African Exarchate over the past week.

On March 2, Holy Baptism was celebrated for 30 local residents of Kisii County, Kenya, the Exarchate reports.

The Sacrament was served by Fr. Hermogenes Otara of the Parish of the Apostle Peter in Gesonso and Fr. Theodore Ondoro of the Parish of St. Athanasius in the village of Nyabigege.

The newly illumined were prepared by a three-month catechism.

From the Baptism in Kenya. Photo: exarchate-africa.ru     

Two days later, His Grace Bishop Konstantin of Zaraisk, the acting Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the village of Kimamba, Tanzania, followed by the Baptism of 30 local residents, both adults and children, who were also prepared by catechism.

The bishop was concelebrated by Fr. George Maximov, a student of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, Archimandrite Zacharias (Mulingwa), and clergy of the Central Deanery of the Exarchate in Tanzania.

Mass Baptisms are a common occurrence throughout Africa, both in the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Russian Church’s African Exarchate. 18 people were baptized in Kenya Mass Baptism celebrated in Kenya (+VIDEO)The Sacrament was celebrated by parish rector Fr. Prodromos Kabala and Deacon Anthony Chitwa following the Divine Liturgy. In all, 18 people received Holy Baptism after a year-long catechumenate.

“>last month, and 15 in Tanzania Mass Baptisms celebrated in Tanzania and KenyaThe newly illumined had undergone a year of catechism with Fr. Ambrose.”>in December.

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In a message to parishioners, Father Ed Cimbala, pastor of St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Parish in New York City, revealed that overnight on March 3 intruders entered his rectory and office, wrecking both while he was sleeping in an attack that has raised questions about the vandals’ motivations.

Apparently nothing was stolen in the intrusion. Cimbala wrote: “The detective identified the incident as a potential hate crime as there was no evidence that the intruder was looking for money.”

The incident appears to track with others in which the vandals’ main purpose appears to be to intimidate Catholics and wound their religious sensibilities.

Hostility and vandalism against churches, especially Catholic places of worship, have increased by several multiples since 2018, according to a February report by the Family Research Council (FRC).

The report found that attacks on churches are at an all-time high, occurring in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Specifically, the report documented more than 430 incidents in 2023, double the figure for 2022, amounting to an 800% increase since 2018 or an average of 39 attacks per month. These included vandalism, arson and attempts at arson, bomb threats, interruption of worship, and gun-related incidents.

According to the FRC report, from January 2018 to November 2023, there were 709 vandalisms, 135 arson attacks or attempts at arson, 22 incidents involving firearms, 32 bomb threats, and 61 incidents involving assaults, threats, and interruption of worship.

Commenting on the report’s findings, Arielle Del Turco, director of FRC’s Center for Religious Liberty and author of the report, observed: “Our culture is demonstrating a growing disdain for Christianity and core Christian beliefs, and acts of hostility against churches could be a physical manifestation of that.”

“When a statue of Mary outside of a Catholic church is beheaded, it is natural for congregants to feel disturbed and upset, and that may be the vandal’s aim,” the report noted. “Acts of hostility against churches can send the message — regardless of whether it is the perpetrator’s intent — that churches are not wanted in the community or respected in general. This may cause congregants or church leaders to feel unsafe.”

The symbolism of the vandalism is not lost on observers, who noted, for example, that the Christmas crèche at St. Nicholas of Tolentine Parish in the New York City borough of Queens was attacked twice on the same night in January.

Also during January, suspects broke a stained-glass window and attacked a cross at St. Columba Church in Brooklyn, New York.

Among the multiple acts of hostility and sacrilege was an arson attack at St. Edward Catholic Parish in Elmdale, Minnesota, that charred the sacristy and damaged the interior of the church, causing thousands of dollars in damage.

At St. John the Evangelist Parish in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, a pair of 12-year-old children burned a Bible and an altar in October 2023.

In their January report on religious liberty, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also observed that “recent years have seen an alarming rate of vandalism, arson, and other property destruction at Catholic sites.” The bishops’ report said that the majority of cases occurred at churches and often involved defacement of religious icons with pro-abortion messages, such as “If abortion isn’t safe, neither are you.”

The chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Religious Liberty, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, pointed out that in 2014 when the committee was first formed, vandalism was not a pressing issue but has since become a significant concern.

In their report, the USCCB indicated that “opposition to Christians’ witness against abortion continued to motivate vandalism against churches and pro-life pregnancy centers.”

The USCCB report pointedly questioned “the general failure … of the federal government to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of such attacks, in contrast with the numerous charges brought against pro-life protesters outside abortion clinics.”

In its latest report, the FRC further indicated that “many acts of hostility against churches are likely not reported to authorities and/or are not featured in the news or other online sources …Thus, the number of acts of hostility is undoubtedly much higher than the number reflected in this report.”

In the case of the rampage at St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Parish, pastor Cimbala wrote that New York police were “exceptional” in their response and took evidence and a deposition from him, along with fingerprints. Among the pieces of evidence police took were a switchblade and a fake gun, Cimbala wrote, as they investigated the strange incident.

New York, March 6, 2024

Photo: eadiocese.org     

On Friday evening, March 1, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Synodal Cathedral “of the Sign” in New York City presented a benefit concert raising funds for those suffering in the Holy Land and Ukraine.

In particular, relief funds were raised for the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and the Peace Be With You foundation of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, which provides assistance to children and the victims of the ongoing war, reports the ROCOR press service.

The concert, held in the cathedral “adorned only by candlelight owing to the somber, prayerful nature of the event,” was attended by more than 150 people, including His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, the First Hierarch of ROCOR.

Many members of the 27-member choir come from the areas affected by the war, “which added to the profound nature of the performance.”

The concert was divided into four parts:

Hymns of the Angels, which evocated the hopeful nature of peace and joy from the Matins service and that of Christ’s Nativity. The second, Hymns of Supplication, was denoted by pieces such as Kedrov’s Great Litany, which headlines each divine service, entreating Christ in prayer for peace of the whole world. The third, Hymns of Praise and Thanks, reminded the concertgoers of God’s infinite wisdom and the knowing that “through Him, all things are possible.” The final part, entitled Contemplation and Hope, was the culmination of the concert, remembering those who perished in the wars throughout the world and that their memories are forever, eternal.

A reception was held in the cathedral hall following the concert.

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During February, Pope Francis’ monthly intentions asked the faithful to pray for the terminally ill — as well as their families — with the petition that they “receive the necessary physical and spiritual care and accompaniment.”

Such a plea is — for both those professionally and personally concerned with end-of-life ethics — increasingly urgent in America, where 2024 has seen suicide-enabling legislation introduced or pending in 18 state legislatures.

While those who support euthanasia and medically assisted suicide emphasize empowerment and control, Catholic opponents argue an undeniably dangerous and dystopian dimension has begun to emerge in the sometimes profit-driven realms of health care insurance and medicine: the cost-benefit ratio of prescribing death for terminal patients versus palliative care.

“What we’re seeing with various bills across our country is that we’re getting to the point that — in certain situations and states — any medical professional who upholds the Hippocratic oath and implores the patient not to commit suicide, could be considered a felon,” Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Arlington, Virginia, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, told OSV News.

“This is where it’s going,” Bishop Burbidge warned. “In a state like Oregon, insurance companies deny medical coverage for terminally ill patients — but offer medically assisted suicide as an alternative. This is the path that leads to a culture of death, instead of a culture of life.”

Legislation to legalize physician-assisted suicide moved rapidly in Virginia’s General Assembly session this year, triggering a Feb. 5 statement from Bishop Burbidge and fellow Virginia Bishop Barry C. Knestout of Richmond. The bill passed in the Senate, but ultimately stalled in the House of Delegates with a House committee voting March 4 to punt the bill to the 2025 session.

“Those who are approaching the end of life should have access to high quality medical and palliative care — not drugs to hasten their death,” Bishop Burbidge said. “Vigilance is required for all advocates, family members, and caretakers — more than ever.”

Other Catholic opponents of euthanasia and medically assisted suicide — sometimes labeled medical aid in dying — told OSV News their concerns and shared the efforts they are making to raise awareness around the country.

“Every year, it gets a little more precarious for us, as the proponents of the bill get themselves more organized, raise more money and pick up more sponsors,” said Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference.

In January 2023, the New York state Legislature introduced the “Medical Aid in Dying Act.” A Jan. 18-31, 2024, YouGov poll — commissioned by Death with Dignity — indicated 72% of New York state citizens, including 58% of Catholics, support legalizing medically assisted suicide.

Poust emphasized that “not everyone diagnosed with a terminal illness has a disability — but they will all become disabled as their illness progresses. There is grave concern that there will be coercion and pressure on people with disabilities to end their lives.”

Such concern is no longer purely theoretical either, Poust noted.

“You don’t have to look further than New York’s neighbors to the north, in Canada,” he explained. “They went from passing a bill five or six years ago, similar to New York’s, for people with terminal illnesses. Within a year or two, they expanded it to chronic illnesses that don’t have to be terminal. And now they’re on the verge of expanding it again to people with mental illness.”

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.’”

Pope Benedict XVI lamented the same in a 2007 address to health care workers: “Today’s efficiency mentality often tends to marginalize our suffering brothers and sisters,” the pontiff said, “as if they were only a ‘burden’ and ‘a problem’ for society.”

In a 2014 address to Italian doctors, Pope Francis denounced the “false compassion” of euthanasia.

However, the Catholic Church also says it can be 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.”

In Arizona, both medically assisted suicide bills expired in the 2024 legislative session before being referred to committee.

“We’ll see what happens in the elections — things could change,” cautioned Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference.

“When care is expensive and killing is cheap, which do we think will ultimately prevail?” asked Jason Adkins, executive director and general counsel of the Minnesota Catholic Conference. “Protecting the choices of those who want assisted suicide will ultimately endanger the health care choices of others.”

Minnesota’s medically assisted suicide bill comes up for a vote before the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee March 7.

“The proposed legislation requires all doctors and APRNs (Advanced Practice Registered Nurses) who serve terminal patients to offer assisted suicide as an option as part of their standard of care,” said Adkins, warning that such a prerequisite “will harm the doctor-patient relationship and undermine health care delivery and access, especially for the most vulnerable in our communities.”

Oregon was the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide when its Death with Dignity Act went into effect in 1997.

Nine other U.S. states in addition to Oregon allow medically assisted suicide by either statute or court decision — California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington — as well as the District of Columbia.

A 2020 Gallup poll found 74% of U.S. adult respondents believe “doctors should be allowed to end the life of a patient with an incurable disease ‘by some painless means’ if the patient and the patient’s family requests it.”

Gallup noted that 61% of Americans favor “doctor-assisted suicide for patients living in severe pain with an incurable disease.”

Even among those who attend church weekly, 55% support euthanasia, while 39% support doctor-assisted suicide.

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.

In New Jersey, a physician-assisted suicide law has been in effect since 2019 — and is poised to remain so.

“In the current political climate in the state, I think we are going to see this law in effect for the foreseeable future,” said James King, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference.

For King, facing the issue of physician-assisted death has been intensely personal. When his mother was diagnosed with aggressive terminal cancer, one doctor was chillingly specific concerning how long King’s mother had to live.

“She was advocating for me — or suggesting to me — that I withhold food and hydration from my mom’s care,” King shared. He refused, and the physician quickly asked if he was Catholic. Upon his affirmative response, the doctor informed him, “Well, you know the Holy Father, the pope, changed all the rules about this a couple of years ago — you can withhold nutrition and hydration.” King then pulled out his business card and gave a quick catechesis session.

“That’s the reason we need to raise awareness,” King observed. “You’re already seeing where medical professionals are willing to go.”

With the extra time allowed by palliative care, King’s mother was able to see his youngest son, her grandson, receive his first Communion.

“If a Catholic doesn’t have that information, they could have heard that doctor — saying things with the best intentions, very compassionately, saying the Holy Father changed that — and they could have believed that, and followed that advice,” King said. “That’s the responsibility we have, as church, to help properly teach and catechize the faithful as they face these critical decisions in their lives — for themselves and their loved ones.”

Strongsville, Ohio, March 6, 2024

Photo: uocofusa.org     

A parish formerly of the so-called “Belarusan Autocephalous Orthodox Church” has joined the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Moscow Patriarchate, which includes the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCOR) has broken eucharistic communion with the Constantinople Patriarchate due to its uncanonical activities in Ukraine, and therefore it is not in canonical communion with this formation in the USA.

“In a momentous event, the Our Lady of Zhyrovytsk Belarusian Orthodox Cathedral, nestled in the heart of Strongsville, Ohio, has transitioned into the spiritual fold of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA,” the UOC-USA reports.

Archbishop Daniel of the UOC-USA presided over a “solemn liturgical ceremony, blessing the cathedral and introducing the community to its new pastor, Fr. Roman Yatskiv.

The hierarch presented the cathedral with a new antimens, containing relics of the 5 Holy Martyrs of Constantinople, as well as Chrism consecrated by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, “presented as a tangible symbol of spiritual unity and communion of the cathedral parish community with the fulness of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.”

Photo: uocofusa.org     

“The decision to unite with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA reflects the cathedral’s commitment to embracing its heritage while fostering greater collaboration and solidarity within the broader Orthodox community. It is a testament to the enduring strength of faith and the collective desire to journey together towards a shared vision of spiritual growth and renewal,” the report states.

The group to which the cathedral previously belonged, the “Belarusan [spelled with no ‘i’] Autocephalous Orthodox Church” seems to be a different group than the schismatic “Belarusian [with an ‘i’] Autocephalous Orthodox Church” that OrthoChristian has reported on in the past.

The “Belarusan” Church is run by a three-member Synod, under a “Metropolitan” Seraphim of Vilnius and New York. The cathedral website does not provide any information about other parishes or members of this group.

Belarusian schismatics emboldened by Constantinople’s actions in Ukraine, hope for autocephaly tooThe granting of a tomos of autocephaly to Ukrainian schismatics, which the Ecumenical Patriarchate is preparing for, should have an impact on Belarus as well, the head of the schismatic “Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church” (BAOC) believes.

“>The “Belarusian” Church is run by an “Archbishop” Svyatoslav Login. It was created in America in the second half of the 20th century through the efforts of Vladislav Rizhii-Rizhskii, a priest of the so-called “American Orthodox Catholic Church” The BAOC’s headquarters are in New York. Login is the sole bishop, overseeing 3 parishes in America, 1 in Canada, 3 in Australia, and 1 in England. It has no official churches in Belarus, though there are religious communities there.

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Corfu, Greece, March 6, 2024

Met. Nektarios of Corfu. Photo: iefimerida.gr     

Following in the footsteps of the Metropolises of Greek Metropolis of Piraeus excommunicates MPs who voted for gay marriageIn response to the Greek Parliament’s scandalous decision to legalize gay marriage earlier this month, the Metropolis of Piraeus has excommunicated those MPs who voted in favor of the relevant bill.

“>Piraeus and Greek Metropolitan of Kythira excommunicates legislators who voted for gay marriageThe recent events in Parliament “call for rivers of tears of repentance and heartbreak… Our era is indeed worthy of tears and, without exaggeration, worthy of mourning,” His Eminence writes.”>Kythira, the Metropolis of Corfu has resolved to excommunicate local deputies who voted for gay marriage Greece becomes first Orthodox country to legalize gay marriageGreek Parliament voted late last night, despite the fierce and persistent resistance from the Church and society, to legalize gay marriage and adoption by gay couples.”>last month.

A General Clergy Assembly was held at the diocese’s spiritual center yesterday, March 5, under the presidency of His Eminence Metropolitan Nektarios of Corfu. In the resulting statement, the priests and deacons of the Metropolis express their “deep sadness” that two deputies of their prefecture voted to legalize gay marriage and adoption by gay couples, despite being informed of the Holy Synod’s position on the matter, reports the Orthodoxia News Agency.

“They have gravely erred spiritually, whether because they followed ‘party discipline’ or because they don’t understand that to be a member of the Church one must follow and obey its teachings, not selectively, but in their entirety,” the Assembly states. “For us, therefore, these two parliamentarians cannot consider themselves as active members of the Church.”

Therefore, the deputies are excommunicated within the Corfu Diocese. The Assembly resolved:

We therefore call on them to abstain from any ecclesiastical event, we do not consider that they are allowed to partake of the immaculate Mysteries, and we urge them to repent for their mistake.

We declare, however, that henceforth we will not bestow upon them any honor that stems from the relationship between the state and the Church in official events, in parish worship gatherings, and processions, and we call on them to take responsibility for their actions.

The clergy note that even in the Czech Republic, a country “governed by high rates of atheism among its population,” the Parliament refused to recognize gay marriage or grant them the right to adopt children. Meanwhile, to Greece’s shame, headlines are proclaiming it as the first Orthodox country to legalize gay marriage, the Assembly laments. clergy

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Adolescence is hard. The body puts a kid through years of daily shapeshifting. The mind throws everything into question. And the emotions, like the universe itself, seem to expand at high speed in all directions simultaneously.

Imagine going through all that at what seems to be the end of the world?

I’m not talking about kids today.

I’m talking about another time the world came to an end, and I’m talking about a teen named Patrick. We would later come to know him as St. Patrick. But as a teen he was no saint.

He’d had promising beginnings. He was a cradle Catholic, born into a family inclined to the service of the Church. His father was a deacon, and his grandfather had been a priest. (The practice of celibacy was irregular in Britain back then. Everything was irregular.)

His family was well off, and they could afford to give him what passed for an education in those days.

The problem, though, was with those days. The world seemed to be collapsing quickly. For 3 1/2 centuries, the island of Britain had rested securely in the Roman Empire. It was the frontier, and its borders and coastal lands were guarded by military personnel. They kept the barbarians out. They kept the pirates away.

But then Italy was breached, and later Rome, and the emperors moved their divisions away from the edges of the empire to guard its center.

The edges collapsed. Piracy returned to the seas. The towns and cities were destabilized. And ordinary people began a slide into moral carelessness and then moral lawlessness.

Patrick’s life suffered the same degradation. The child of Christian clergy would confess in his late-life memoir: “I did not know the true God.”

At some point during his youth, Patrick committed a grave sin. He revealed it to a friend, who later went on to blab it to the world. We don’t know what his sin was. He doesn’t bother to name the sin in his memoir, because he assumes all of his readers are already aware, thanks to his friend’s gossip. All we know of the sin is that it was the matter of a day — and not even that. It was the matter of an hour.

But it was a sign of how far Patrick had strayed from God. And he kept straying. “In fact,” he said, “I remained in death and unbelief until I was reproved strongly.”

Reproof came when the world in its dissolution consumed Patrick in his.

Pirates, now roaming freely along the coastline, conducted raids by night on the towns near the shore. One night they came to Patrick’s town, Bannavem Taburniae, and they did what pirates do. Patrick suffered the havoc of violence, fire, the rage of men, and the screams of women. All the valuable possessions of the town were taken to the ship — and among them was Patrick.

Somewhere between a boy and a man, he would surely fetch a high price as a slave.

Patrick saw immediately that he was now just another of the many who had disappeared from the coastal region. “I was taken into captivity in Ireland, along with thousands of others. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved.”

Hours before his capture, he had been a teen full of bluster. Immediately, however, “among foreigners … it was seen how little I was.”

In Ireland, Patrick the slave was made to tend herds of sheep. It was hard, dirty, and lonely work — outdoors in all elements: rain, snow, and high heat. He was “brought low by hunger and nakedness daily.”

He wallowed in misery awhile, but Patrick eventually remembered the lessons his parents and schoolteachers had taught him. “My sins [had] prevented me from really taking in what I read,” he explained. But now repentance opened his mind.

From his earliest years he recalled his lessons on prayer, and he put them to use. Gradually he built up the frequency and duration of his devotions: “I prayed often during the day. More and more the love of God increased. … In one day I would pray up to a hundred times, and at night perhaps the same.”

While exiled in a pagan land — and without Christian books or guides — Patrick became adept at the interior life. He learned to listen for God. He learned to wait. He learned to persevere.

He implored God to help him find his way home, and after some indeterminate time he discovered the way to freedom. A voice told him one night: “You have fasted well. Very soon you will return to your native country.”

And then later: “Look! Your ship is ready!”

That was good news indeed, except that Patrick was 200 miles from the nearest port.

He didn’t care. He started walking.

That began another series of journeys for Patrick, but eventually he did find his way home. And then, in troubling dreams, he received the call to return to Ireland — the land that had enslaved him — and evangelize the people there. His family and friends begged him not to leave them again, and he would have preferred to stay home. But he had learned to trust the promptings of God.

By his own reckoning, Patrick went on to baptize thousands of people in Ireland, including many from the families of kings. The great warriors were alarmed when their sons and daughters eagerly responded to celibate vocations.

Patrick responded with prayerful diplomacy, and by the end of his life he had conquered the island for Christ.

No one had seen that coming — not his parents, not his teachers, not the local clergy in his British hometown.

At home, Patrick was a typical lapsed-Catholic teen, disaffected from religion, bored by prayer, and sinning without compunction. His world, the Roman world, was falling apart; and perhaps he assumed the Christian religion was crumbling with it. Whatever.

Yet his parents had given him what they could. They had given God something to work with.

And God worked what he could.

Patrick won Ireland for Christ, and it was Ireland that won the West back from its decline.

Those children of the warrior-kings? They brought new life to Western monasticism.

The Irish monks went abroad to re-evangelize the dispirited continent of Europe. They were there at the establishment of schools and universities. Later in history, Irish clergy, sisters, and laypeople would immigrate to the United States and astonish the continent with their system of schools, hospitals, orphanages, and vast network of other charities.

As the author Thomas Cahill put it in his book: because of Patrick, the Irish “saved civilization.”

Yet, in some ways, Patrick never made up for his teenage laziness. He never got good at Latin, and his grammar was so bad that he apologized repeatedly for it and confessed himself embarrassed by his own writing.

But it didn’t matter. God overachieved through Patrick the self-professed sinner.

Which of today’s disaffected teens will God summon to become Patrick for tomorrow’s world?