Dr Tracey Rowland US pandemic stimulus bill excludes Catholic school students and their families
The chairman of the US bishops’ education committee said October 1 “it is unconscionable” the HEROES Act stimulus bill proposed in the House is excluding Catholic school students and their families.
The bill includes $225 billion for education, including $182 billion for K-12 schools, but “provides no equitable services for students in non-public schools and maintains language that prohibits any funds from being used to provide financial assistance to non-public school children”, said a news release about the measure from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In his statement, Bishop Michael Barber of Oakland, California, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Catholic Education, noted the Covid-19 pandemic “has affected all Americans, including those whose children are enrolled in Catholic and non-public schools”.
Russia’s Catholic Church warns against proposed curbs on clergy
Catholic Church officials in Russia criticised planned religious law changes that will require all clergy who studied abroad to retrain in a Russian college.
“Like other confessions, we find it absurd to talk of recertifying priests who are already in service and of having to send our archbishop back to seminary for a course in Russian history and spirituality,” said Fr Kirill Gorbunov, vicar general of the Moscow Archdiocese.
“Of course, Catholic priests coming here from Poland, Italy or Spain need acculturation and we don’t always have the opportunity to provide this. But this shouldn’t be regulated by the state,” Fr Gorbunov told the Catholic News Service.
Church officials’ concerns stem from draft amendments to Russia’s 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations, which would bar “clergy who receive religious education abroad” from ministering unless they obtain “recertification within a Russian religious organisation” and “receive additional professional education”.
Australian academic Tracey Rowland wins prestigious Ratzinger Prize
Tracey Rowland, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia, has won the Ratzinger Prize for theology, often described as the field’s equivalent to the Nobel Peace Prize.
The award is a stunning win for the Melbourne, Australia-based academic, who is the first Australian and only the third woman to receive the prestigious award.
The Ratzinger Prize is awarded to two individuals each year regardless of their religious denomination.
Pope Francis announced on October 1 that Ms Rowland would share this year’s award with Jean-Luc Marion, a French philosopher and Catholic theologian. The prize is awarded in three areas: the study of sacred Scripture, patristics and theology.
Mexican archdiocese says phony priests proliferate during pandemic
A Mexican archdiocese has disavowed people posing as priests during the coronavirus pandemic. The Archdiocese of Toluca, west of Mexico City, said the priests were not in proper standing, but had targeted people wanting to celebrate Mass in their homes and receive sacraments there or at funeral parlours, the El Sol de Toluca newspaper reported.
The newspaper reported “dozens of complaints” from people, some of whom had tried to register the sacraments that they or their family members had received.
Archbishop Francisco Javier Chavolla Ramos of Toluca told an archdiocesan radio program in June that he had noticed an upswing in reports of phony priests identifying themselves as part of the archdiocese, according to the Milenio newspaper.