St. James the Less Catholic Parish

Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, and Rev. Mother Teresa Agnes Gerlach of the Most Holy Trinity Monastery in Arlington, Texas. / Credit: Diocese of Fort Worth; Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity Discalced Carmelite Nuns

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 18:40 pm (CNA).

A Carmelite monastery that has engaged in a yearlong feud with Diocese of Fort Worth Bishop Michael Olson will be governed by a religious association of monasteries going forward — but must normalize relations with the bishop, per a Vatican order.

The Association of Christ the King in the United States of America will oversee the “government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges” of the Arlington-based Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity. This decision ends the bishop’s role as the pontifical commissary, which had previously given him governing authority over the monastery. 

“It is my prayer that the Arlington Carmel will now have the internal leadership needed to save the monastery and enable it to flourish once again, in unity with the Catholic Church,” Olson said in a statement.

A feud between the monastery and the bishop began in late April of last year when the bishop launched an investigation into the Reverend Mother Superior Teresa Agnes Gerlach. She was ultimately dismissed from religious life for alleged sexual misconduct with a priest over the phone and through video chats.

The monastery filed a civil lawsuit against the bishop and the diocese for conduct related to the investigation, which was eventually dismissed by a judge. The bishop imposed harsh penalties on the monastery, which led to the nuns issuing a statement that appeared to reject his authority in governing the monastery.

In the Vatican’s letter to the monastery about the transfer of governing authority, the Church has ordered the nuns to “withdraw and rescind your declaration” challenging the bishop’s authority and “regularize your relationship with the bishop of Fort Worth and the local Church.” The letter also added that the bishop still retains canonical authority over the monastery. 

The Vatican’s letter to Olson thanked the bishop for his “heroic and thankless service to the local church and the Carmel of Arlington as pontifical commissary” and noted the “hardship and unwarranted public attention” brought to the diocese over the past year. 

“We are fully aware that the health and longevity of this monastic community was always your goal, throughout the ordeals of the last year,” the letter read.

The Vatican decree, which entrusted the monastery to the Association of Christ the King, went into effect on Thursday, April 18. With this order, the association’s president, Mother Marie of the Incarnation, is now the lawful superior of the monastery. 

“With the entrustment of monastery to the Association of Christ the King, you are instructed to cooperate fully with the president of the association,” the Vatican informed the nuns.

Olson said in his statement that he “will work closely with [Mother Marie], providing counsel, resources, and support as needed.” The bishop added that, per his responsibility under canon law and the rules of the Carmelite order, “I will oversee at the appropriate time the election of new leadership of the Arlington Carmel.”

“I ask the faithful of the Diocese of Fort Worth and all people of goodwill to continue to pray with me for the Catholic Church in North Texas, in particular the Arlington Carmelites, as we persevere together in service to Christ through ministry to our community,” Olson said.

Bishop Robert D. Gruss. CNA file photo. / null

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

Bishop Robert Gruss of Saginaw, Michigan, issued an apology on Friday for having referred to President Joe Biden as “stupid” during a talk earlier in the month.

Gruss had made the comment in a talk on April 5 titled “Forgiveness as the Heart of Christianity.” During the address the prelate remarked that he “[doesn’t] have any anger toward the president. I feel sorry for him.”

“I’m not angry at him, he’s just stupid,” the bishop said, arguing that he didn’t use the word in “a derogatory way.”

“It’s stupidity in the sense of he doesn’t know until he does things,” the bishop said.

On Friday the diocese provided CNA with a statement from Gruss in which he argued that his remarks “were taken out context.”

“I was speaking in the context of forgiving the president and any people in government who offend us by their words and actions — that we cannot harbor resentment toward them because in doing so, it would be sinful,” Gruss said.

“We must forgive them if we are to be free,” he said.

“I used the word ‘stupid’ in reference to President Biden, recognizing that it was poor judgment in my choice of words,” Gruss said. “It was not meant to be disparaging, and I apologize.”

“I will continue to pray for the president and all political leaders, that they may seek and be guided by the Spirit of Truth,” he said. “I encourage people of all faiths and goodwill to pray for our great nation.”

The bishop noted that “you can find the whole talk online to understand what was really said.”

The Saginaw Diocese, one of seven in Michigan, is located in the central part of the state.

Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz speaks during a Senate Judiciary hearing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 15, 2021, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).

The Department of Justice released a report to Congress on Thursday that concluded that the analysts who created an internal memo linking traditionalist Catholics to violent extremists “failed to adhere to FBI standards” but showed no evidence of “malicious intent.”

Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s 10-page report found no evidence that anyone ordered either of the unidentified analysts who authored the memo to find a link between racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVE’s) and members of any religion or political affiliation. The report concluded there was no “underlying policy direction” indicating a link.

“We also found no evidence that Analyst 1 or 2 took investigative steps beyond searching FBI and other databases to obtain information for the [memo],” the report said.

The since-retracted leaked memo, dated Jan. 23, 2023, originated from the bureau’s Richmond office. It claimed that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists will likely become more interested in “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology” within the next 12 to 24 months “in the run-up to the next general election cycle.”

The U.S. bishops, along with many Catholic leaders, condemned the memo after it was leaked to the press. Additionally, lawmakers, some of whom have accused the FBI of targeting traditionalist Catholics, have demanded answers from the Department of Justice as to how, why, and through whom the document came to be.

The report, which Horowitz said included only a “limited review” due to time constraints given by Congress, focused on the work of two unnamed analysts who were the main authors behind the memo titled: “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

Both analysts denied targeting anyone for practicing their faith, with one of them saying suggestions that his motivations included anti-Catholic bias are “patently false.”

“Analyst 1 also stated that a close reading of the [memo] would show that it was intended to focus entirely on the threat posed by RMVEs and to promote outreach to the Catholic Church, in part to protect that community from potentially violent actors. Analyst 2 similarly stated the intent behind the [memo] was to try to protect these houses of worship by sensitizing them to a potential threat to their congregations,” the report said.

Another major concern raised by critics of the leaked memo was the Richmond field office’s use of biased sourcing, such as the nonprofit activist organization Southern Poverty Law Center, and its designation of nine “Radical Traditional Catholicism” organizations as “hate groups.”

The inspector general asked both analysts about its sourcing and both “acknowledged that there were concerns about perceived bias on the part of those organizations and sources,” the report said.

“However, both analysts said that the intended audience (FBI Richmond executive management) would understand those concerns without the need for commentary and would weigh the information accordingly,” the report said. 

Both analysts denied targeting anyone for practicing their faith, with one of them saying suggestions that his motivations included anti-Catholic bias are “patently false.”

“Analyst 1 also stated that a close reading of the [memo] would show that it was intended to focus entirely on the threat posed by RMVEs and to promote outreach to the Catholic Church, in part to protect that community from potentially violent actors. Analyst 2 similarly stated the intent behind the [memo] was to try to protect these houses of worship by sensitizing them to a potential threat to their congregations,” the report said.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley told CNA Friday that he appreciated the inspector general’s work under a tight deadline.

“However, the report leaves questions unanswered that I and many of my colleagues have been asking of the FBI for over a year. The most important part of this report is what’s not in it, rather than what is,” he said.

“[FBI] Director [Christopher] Wray has failed to sufficiently explain why he described the memo to Congress as a ‘single product’ when there were two — one internal to Richmond, and one the FBI planned to elevate to the whole bureau nationwide,” he said.

“The FBI has also failed to explain why it ordered the permanent deletion of files related to the memo or why it continues to use biased sources like the Southern Poverty Law Center. The FBI owes the Senate many more answers regarding this appalling case,” he said.

CNA reached out to the bureau for comment but did not immediately receive a response by time of publication. 

In a statement to the New York Times on Thursday, the bureau said that its account of the events agreed with the inspector general’s report.

“The FBI has said numerous times that the intelligence product did not meet our exacting standards and was quickly removed from FBI systems,” it said. “We also have said there was no intent or actions taken to investigate Catholics or anyone based on religion.”

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, was tabbed as the next chair of the Committee for Religious Liberty on Nov. 16, 2022, in Baltimore. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/CNA

CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on Friday criticized a new rule from the Biden administration that will force employers to offer leave for employees seeking abortion. 

The Biden administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week issued a change to federal regulations regarding pregnant workers’ fairness, one that mandates employers make “reasonable accommodations,” including granting leave, for workers to obtain abortions.

The new rule, which is set to take effect 60 days from its publication on Friday, is part of the commission’s efforts to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), according to a final EEOC rule change announcement.

Responding to the new rule on Friday, Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, Bishop Kevin Rhoades said in a statement that “no employer should be forced to participate in an employee’s decision to end the life of their child.”

“The bipartisan Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, as written, is a pro-life law that protects the security and physical health of pregnant mothers and their preborn children,” Rhoades, the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee for Religious Liberty, said in the statement.

“It is indefensible for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to twist the law in a way that violates the consciences of pro-life employers by making them facilitate abortions,” the prelate argued. 

The USCCB had last year submitted comments on the proposed rule in which the bishops, along with the Catholic University of America, argued that the PWFA “does not require the provision of any benefit for purposes of facilitating an abortion.” 

“The intent of the PWFA is to require accommodations for ‘pregnancy,’ ‘childbirth,’ and
‘related medical conditions’ — in other words, to assist pregnant workers and workers giving birth to a child by providing accommodations that would permit them to continue to remain both gainfully employed and healthily pregnant,” the bishops and the school argued in the comments. 

“Abortion is neither pregnancy nor childbirth,” they argued. “And it is not ‘related’ to pregnancy or childbirth as those terms are used in the PWFA because it intentionally ends pregnancy and prevents childbirth.”

The USCCB had previously supported the PWFA when it was being considered by Congress, despite some concerns at the time that the bill could be used to force employers to pay for abortion expenses.

The new rule applies to all public and private employers with 15 or more workers and is contingent on the accommodations not presenting an “undue hardship on the operation of the business of the covered entity,” the government says.

Groups of migrants wait outside the Migrant Resource Center to receive food from San Antonio Catholic Charities on Sept. 19, 2022, in San Antonio, Texas. / Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio is denying recent accusations that it misused federal taxpayer funds by paying for migrants’ airfare.

This comes after two South Texas members of Congress, Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, and Rep. Monica de la Cruz, a Republican, accused the San Antonio Catholic relief group of an inappropriate use of funds made available to it by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Jose Antonio Fernandez, CEO of Catholic Charities San Antonio, confirmed to CNA that the group did indeed help migrants with air travel from San Antonio to other locations in the United States, but he claimed that this was a licit use of funds under FEMA’s rules.

Cuellar said in an interview with Border Report that the nonprofit group’s practice of buying airfare for migrants has made San Antonio a destination for many migrants looking to travel to other parts of the U.S. He said that funding he helped secure for Catholic Charities of San Antonio was intended for humanitarian relief, not to purchase airfare for migrants.

“From the very beginning I said it would only be used for food and shelter, maybe transportation inside a city but not to be sending them [across the country],” Cuellar said. “The family or somebody should pay for that, not the taxpayer.”  

De la Cruz, meanwhile, told Border Report that the San Antonio Catholic Charities’ use of funds is “just simply unacceptable.”

“They misused funds and sent these illegal immigrants where their preferred destination was with taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” she said.

Fernandez responded to these allegations by telling CNA that “we have never misused the funding because the funding was given to us to provide transportation.”

According to Fernandez, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) FEMA grant given to Catholic Charities of San Antonio “clearly stated that you could provide transportation.” 

“The funds were given to us to provide food, clothing, all these activities, including transportation,” he said.

“It’s not my interpretation, it is a fact; many companies in the U.S. provide transportation because it is allowed,” he said. “If you contact FEMA, they will tell you that, yes, you are actually allowed to provide transportation.”

CNA reached out to FEMA about its regulations but did not immediately receive a response. 

Fernandez clarified that Catholic Charities of San Antonio is not currently paying for migrants’ air travel and has not been doing so since the end of 2023. 

He said that the group stopped purchasing air travel for two reasons: 1) Limited funding necessitated budget cuts, and 2) instead of receiving EFSP FEMA funding the group is now receiving funding under the Shelter and Services Program, which limits transportation spending to 5% of the grant.

He said that under these limitations San Antonio Catholic Charities would not have been able to offer travel services to all who were seeking it.

“It was a huge amount of money spent, I don’t know exactly the amount, but we just couldn’t afford [it],” Fernandez said, adding: “Hopefully people can find a way and we can try to help them.”

This, Fernandez said, has presented its own challenge with more migrants amassing in San Antonio. In 2023 alone, Fernandez said that San Antonio Catholic Charities helped well over 250,000 migrants with food, shelter, and other services.

“Now we’re seeing a lot more people staying in San Antonio because they don’t have the funds to go someplace else,” he said. “We feed them, we clothe them, we provide them with counseling services, with financial assistance to the people staying in San Antonio, legal services, shelter services. We try to provide them with all these wraparound services to help mind, body, and spirit.”

Tony Wen, a representative for Cuellar, declined to comment further on the matter but did clarify that the congressman “never said they were misusing funds” and that particular verbiage was only used by de la Cruz. 

Despite this, Wen said that Cuellar still stands by his comments about the intended use of federal funds.

A proponent of funding for humanitarian relief at the border, Cuellar recently helped advance an appropriations bill that granted San Antonio Catholic Charities and other border relief groups hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds.

Catholic Charities of San Antonio alone received $10,877,226 from the appropriations bill. Ten other Catholic relief groups at or near the southern border also received federal funding from the same appropriations bill, totaling tens of millions of dollars.

Cuellar and several other lawmakers issued a statement after securing the funding in which they praised Catholic Charities of San Antonio and other similar groups as a “lifeline” in the face of the “historic number of people being displaced from Latin America.”

null / Credit: Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 19, 2024 / 15:30 pm (CNA).

President Joe Biden’s Department of Education issued new regulations on Friday, April 19, that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s “gender identity.”

The new rules, which will go into effect on Aug. 1, redefine the prohibition on sex discrimination for schools and education programs that receive federal funding — including K-12 schools and colleges and universities. Under the new interpretation of the Title IX protections, those rules now apply to any form of discrimination that is based on a person’s self-purported “gender identity.”

According to the executive summary of the Title IX revision, the changes are meant to “clarify that sex discrimination includes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”

The summary further states that, except in certain situations, education institutions receiving federal funding cannot carry out “different treatment or separation on the basis of sex,” which includes a prohibition on any policy or practice that “prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity.”

The new Title IX rules, however, do not have any direct rules related to transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports. About two dozen states have restricted participation in high school and college women’s sports to only biological women. It’s unclear whether these rules would violate the new interpretation of violations based on sex discrimination.

It’s also unclear how these rules would affect state laws that restrict bathroom and locker room access to a person based on his or her biological sex rather than gender identity or whether it would jeopardize free speech in relation to the use of a person’s preferred gender pronouns when those pronouns do not align with the person’s biological sex. The new rules did not clearly explain how the new definition would apply to such situations.

Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Rachel Rouleau expressed concerns that the Biden administration’s new definition of sex discrimination would negatively impact the rights of girls and women in education institutions.

“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex turns back the clock on equal opportunity for women, threatens student safety and privacy, and undermines fairness in women’s sports,” Rouleau said in a statement on Friday. 

“It is a slap in the face to women and girls who have fought long and hard for equal opportunities,” she added. “The administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and common sense, and women are suffering as a result. The administration’s new regulation will have devastating consequences on the future of women’s sports, student privacy, and parental rights.”

Sarah Parshall Perry, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former senior counsel at the United States Department of Education, said in a statement that Title IX is being “manipulated” by “gender activists and woke politicos” through these actions. 

“Under the new rule, girls and women will no longer have any sex-separated bathrooms, locker rooms, housing accommodations, or other educational programs,” Perry said. “Women’s sports are likely endangered too. Any education institution, including many private schools that receive even nominal federal funding, will be affected by this rule.”

Perry suggested that federal lawmakers should challenge the department’s actions “by clearly defining men and women” in legislation.

When Congress first added Title IX’s sex discrimination provisions into federal law in the 1970s, the goal was to give girls and women equal access to education. The law itself does not make reference to “gender identity.”

Other changes included in the administration’s rules related to Title IX include the prohibition on discriminating against a girl or a woman based on her being pregnant, her choosing to have an abortion, or her recovery from pregnancy. The revision also changes the process by which sexual assault allegations are handled.

null / Credit: Dzelat/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 19, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating what it says have been multiple threats made against houses of worship, religious schools, and other institutions — including Catholic ones — in Pennsylvania. 

Pennsylvania local media had reported on the alleged threats made earlier in the week. An FBI spokesman told CNA on Thursday that the bureau “is aware of a number of threats made against multiple faith communities, houses of worship, and schools in Western Pennsylvania recently.”

Investigators have “no information at this time to indicate a specific and credible threat against any faith community, religious institution, or educational facility,” the bureau said.

Agents “continue to work with our law enforcement and community partners to mitigate any threat investigations when information comes to our attention,” the spokesman said.

Diocese increases security at schools amid threats

Wendell Hissrich, the director of safety and security at the Diocese of Pittsburgh in the western part of the state, told CNA that the diocese has increased security at several area schools in response to the threats. 

Hissrich, who served in the FBI for 25 years and previously worked as the safety director for the city of Pittsburgh, said that earlier in the week a diocesan elementary school had received “two simultaneous emails” that were “concerning in nature” via a contact form on the school’s website. 

“The staff notified the authorities and our officers,” Hissrich said. The diocese recently launched a new security protocol that includes armed officers being placed in diocesan schools.

“When the local authorities arrived, they indicated there was a similar incident at another school — not a Catholic school — south of ours,” Hissrich said. He spoke with the FBI who told him threats had been made “to not only the schools but other houses of worship.”

“We increased our security throughout all our diocesan schools” as a result, Hissrich said. 

The security director praised the diocese’s team of officers, who were hired last year and whom the diocese recently began to place in schools.

“The officers we have are all retired from local law enforcement or state police, with in excess of 20 years experience for each of them,” Hissrich said. “We’re very fortunate to have those officers.”

Hissrich said the threat against the school was “not specific” and ultimately “not credible,” though he said that “this time of year, there’s usually an upswing in threats.” 

“We’re prepared for that and we’re still prepared for it,” he said. 

Jewish institutions have also been targeted by threats this month. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said in a statement last week that “several Jewish organizations throughout Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh,” had been “targeted with hoax bomb threats.”

The federation said it had launched a “Virtual Block Watch Program” that would allow citizens to “provide residential or business video surveillance footage to help prevent, deter, and possibly solve crimes.”

Hissrich confirmed that Jewish institutions in the area are being targeted.

“Our Jewish friends are receiving a lot of threats, especially with what’s happening in Israel,” he said.

The FBI, meanwhile, said it urged residents to “remain vigilant and to promptly report any suspicious individuals or activities to law enforcement immediately.”

Worcester, Massachusetts, is home to Clark University, Assumption University, and Worcester State University. / Credit: Shutterstock

Boston, Mass., Apr 19, 2024 / 11:50 am (CNA).

Mary Jane Rein decided to leave her job as executive director of the Holocaust studies center at the secular Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in hopes of finding a “warmer welcome” at a nearby Catholic university in the same city. 

Rein, who is Jewish, announced that she was resigning in an April Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Why I’m leaving Clark University,” following an incident at an event in which students from Clark heckled her as she attempted to introduce the evening’s speaker, an Israeli military reservist. 

“There is no joy in working on behalf of those students who would, with the support of university leadership, try to silence me in public rather than engage with me civilly,” she wrote. “I can’t invest my time and efforts to advance an institution that lacks the strength of character to protect diverse points of view.”

Clark University has since issued a statement to the media denying any wrongdoing.

But Rein has already moved on to her new role at the Augustinian-run Assumption University in Worcester to launch the Center for Civic Friendship, an institution with a stated mission to be a national resource on “civic friendship, its possibilities and boundaries, and what makes it harder or easier to achieve,” the center’s website says.

Assumption is led by Greg Weiner, the first Jewish president of a Catholic university in the United States.

“To my surprise as both a scholar and a Jew, I feel a warmer welcome and more commonality of purpose at a Catholic institution than at Clark, a secular one,” Rein wrote in her op-ed.

“I find common cause with Assumption and have chosen to align myself with its mission to pursue truth in the company of friends. Its commitment to a style of learning that acknowledges and respects different opinions gives me hope that universities can lead us toward a better future,” she wrote.

Rein’s departure follows 20 years with the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, an undergraduate and Ph.D. program studying the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, and other mass atrocities.

Her parents’ extended families were victims of the Holocaust, Rein wrote in the piece. 

CNA reached out to Rein for comment but did not receive a response.

What happened at Clark?

On March 13, Rein, a self-proclaimed Zionist, helped host a pro-Israel lecture at nearby Worcester State University, along with one of Worcester State’s history professors and the advocacy organization Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts.

The lecturer was a man named Shahar Peled, a soldier of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) who was to speak about his experience as a first responder after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on innocents in Israel by Hamas, Rein wrote in her op-ed.

The event was attended by protesters who “repeatedly” interrupted the lecture, stood up and made statements, rang their cellphones, and even pulled a fire alarm, forcing the evacuation of everyone from the auditorium, according to Rein.

Students are shown in a video of the event online yelling at the speaker, calling the IDF “terrorists” and the soldier a “genocide supporter,” while an alarm is heard going off and police are shown directing people to leave the event.

Rein also said that she was heckled at the talk by “a trio” of Clark University Ph.D. students from the Strassler Center who attended the lecture and whom she is familiar with.

When Rein was being introduced so that she could introduce the soldier, one of the Ph.D. students “shouted,” demanding that Rein’s university title not be used, according to her op-ed.

Rein wrote that the same student spoke at a question and answer session after the talk and accused Israel of committing genocide in its military response in Gaza. The three students then approached Rein after the event, demanded that she resign from her position at Clark and threatened to have her “investigated,” Rein wrote. 

A “senior administrator” at Clark then “admonished” Rein the next day, directing her not to use her university affiliation with events not sponsored by Clark, calling it “highly problematic,” Rein continued.

Rein, who said she never mentioned her title, wrote that she asked the administrator if the university would hold others at Clark to the same standard. 

The administrator replied that while faculty members drawing on their “research and expertise” may “speak freely,” an “administrator in an executive position like yours running a center” would create “confusion” if her title was used, according to Rein.

“I suspected I was being asked to censor myself on the basis of my Jewish identity and support for Israel, as I inferred there would be professional consequences if I presented that disfavored view,” she wrote.

In a statement to the Worcester Business Journal, Clark denied allegations of admonishing Rein. 

“Ms. Rein was not admonished,” the statement said. “As a non-faculty administrator of the Strassler Center, Ms. Rein was provided guidance after the event about appropriately clarifying when participation in future activities is in a professional or personal capacity.”

“This is important because it avoids confusion by making clear when an administrator is representing the university. We would provide this guidance to any administrator at Clark University regardless of religion, identity, or political views,” the university wrote.

The school also said that if the interruption had occurred on Clark’s campus, “we would have intervened and handled the disruption consistent with our community standards and policies articulated in our Student Code of Conduct.”

“As specified in our Code of Conduct Clark students are responsible for their behavior outside the university’s confines. However, the university may invoke disciplinary action when notified of violations of federal, state, and local laws,” the statement said.

Catholic universities a haven for Jewish students

“I am ready to sign on to a different cause, one rooted in respect, honest inquiry, and the free exchange of ideas in the context of civic friendship. I will be joining Assumption University, where I will help launch the new Center for Civic Friendship,” she wrote.

Her departure to a Catholic university comes as a number of Catholic universities have sought to make themselves more hospitable to Jewish students amid the war between Israel and Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack on innocents in Israel.

Since the war began there have been several reported instances of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses across the nation that have resulted in the harassment of Jewish students. Many reports have indicated that Jewish students feel unsafe on campus.

Last October, a coalition of over 100 institutions called Universities United Against Terrorism denounced the Oct. 7 attacks, adding that they “stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience.”

Many of those institutions are Catholic, including Assumption University, Catholic University, Franciscan University of Steubenville, University of Notre Dame, Mercyhurst University, and Salve Regina University, among others.

All of the schools in the coalition vowed to offer Jewish students an “expedited” transfer process, Stephen Hildebrand, Franciscan University’s then-vice president for campus affairs told The Times of Israel last November. Hildebrand said that several Jewish students had reached out to the school at the time with interest in transferring.

However, a school spokesman told CNA Thursday that ultimately none ended up doing so but the offer still stands.

“It just seemed so obvious, the right thing to do,” Hildebrand told the outlet. “To make our Jewish brethren aware if they need help that we are here as a safe haven.”

“We are doing this because of our Catholic faith, not in spite of it,” he said.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 17:55 pm (CNA).

Scotland’s only gender clinic for minors is formally pausing the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone medications that are designed to facilitate gender transitions for children after a review commissioned by the English government questioned the efficacy of those practices.

This announcement effectively ends the practice of providing sex-change drugs and hormone medications to children in Scotland — just one month after England instituted the same ban.

Per the new policy formalized on April 18, new patients in Scotland must wait until they are 18 years old to access those drugs or hormone medications. However, patients who are under the age of 18 and have already begun such remedies to facilitate a gender transition will not be forced to stop.

“We are committed to providing the best possible clinical care for young people … and [we] understand the distress that gender incongruence can cause,” the announcement from the Glasgow-based Sandyford Sexual Health Service read.

“While this pause is in place, we will continue to give anyone who is referred into the Young People Gender Service the psychological support that they require while we review the pathways in line with the findings,” the announcement added.

The National Health Services of Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), which is the publicly funded health care system that runs the gender clinic, formally notified its patients of the pause on Thursday.

According to a statement from NHSGGC, these remedies were paused because of the findings in the Cass Review: a comprehensive report on gender transition treatments for minors that was commissioned by the English government. The report, led by Dr. Hilary Cass, found that the rationale used to justify sex-change drugs and hormone alterations to facilitate sex changes in children is based on weak evidence and that the health risks it poses to children are unclear. 

“The findings informing the Cass Review are important, and we have reviewed the impact on our clinical pathways,” NHSGGC Director of Public Health Emilia Crighton said in a statement.

“The next step from here is to work with the Scottish government and academic partners to generate evidence that enables us to deliver safe care for our patients,” she added.

Crighton also said the “toxicity around public debate” about treatments for children with gender dysphoria “is impacting the lives of young people seeking the care of our service and does not serve the teams working hard to care and support them.”

Tracey Gillies, the executive medical director of NHS Lothian, emphasized the importance of putting patient safety above all else.

“The Cass Review is a significant piece of work into how the NHS can better support children and young people who present with gender dysphoria,” Gillies said in a statement. “Patient safety must always be our priority, and it is right that we pause this treatment to allow more research to be carried out.”

Researchers in the United States have also been studying the potential that puberty blockers could cause irreversible negative effects on children. A study published by the Mayo Clinic in March found that boys who take puberty blockers could suffer “irreversible” harm based on the effects the drugs have on testicular cells.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Minnesota, which is a leading research institution in the field of genetics that has produced five Nobel Prize-winning scientists.

Although some Republican-led states in the United States have begun to prohibit doctors from prescribing these drugs and hormone medications to children, the practice is still legal in more than half of the country. Access to these drugs, and access to sex-change surgeries for minors, has become a leading cause of division between Republicans and Democrats in the country.

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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 18, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).

Planned Parenthood’s latest report reveals that the abortion giant performed its highest-ever number of abortions the year Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Released on Tuesday, the 2022-2023 report, titled “Above & Beyond,” shows that Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022. This is an increase of 18,560 — or 5% — from the previous report, which showed 374,155 abortions in a one-year period.

According to an analysis by the faith-based law firm Liberty Counsel, Planned Parenthood’s latest abortion numbers mean that the organization ended 1,075 human lives through abortion every day and 44 every hour.

Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver said that despite the Supreme Court’s 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, “Planned Parenthood’s annual report reveals once again that its primary mission is making huge profit by aborting innocent babies.”

The Planned Parenthood report reflects abortion numbers in the months before and after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022. The document says that locations in states “where abortion is protected” saw a 700% increase in demand. The report also said that Planned Parenthood helped to refer and coordinate travel for over 33,000 abortions.

While showing a 10-year high in abortions, overall services offered by Planned Parenthood, such as cancer screenings, prenatal services, contraceptive services, and STD prevention, continued a downward trend, according to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute.

The Lozier Institute’s analysis of the report found that Planned Parenthood’s total services are down by 17% since 2010 while cancer screenings and prevention services are notably down 71%.

According to the Lozier Institute, Planned Parenthood performed 228 abortions for every adoption referral between 2021 and 2022.

Planned Parenthood’s 2023 revenue, meanwhile, amounted to nearly $2.1 billion, which is an increase from approximately $1.9 billion reported the previous year. As much as $699.3 million of that revenue came from tax-dollar-funded government grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements, according to the report.

Pro-life advocates responded to the report by criticizing Planned Parenthood for its emphasis on abortions rather than health care.

“Planned Parenthood murdered an average of: 1,076 babies every day 45 babies every hour 1 baby every 80 seconds,” Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action, said on X.

“We must defund & shut down Planned Parenthood NOW,” she said.

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute, wrote at National Review that the figures were “consistent with Planned Parenthood’s long-term trend of performing more abortions and providing fewer health services.”

“This is helpful information as pro-lifers continue our efforts to defund Planned Parenthood at both the state and the federal levels,” New said.

“This report is jarringly titled ‘Above and Beyond.’ The sick irony is that they are going ‘above and beyond’ not to care for women but to expand abortion,” Human Coalition President Jeff Bradford said in a statement to CNA. 

The result, Bradford continued, is “more wounded women” and “more dead children.” 

“At Human Coalition, we know full well that vulnerable women are victims of the abortion industry because we see the walking wounded all the time,” Bradford said in the statement. 

“They leave abortion clinics and return to the very circumstances that pressured them to abort in the first place — poverty, unemployment, family pressure, or domestic abuse. Abortion solves none of these problems,” he said.