St. James the Less Catholic Parish

Billboard for AI priest Father Justin on social media. / Credit: Catholic Answers / Screenshot

National Catholic Register, Apr 29, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Father Justin, we hardly knew ye.

Just days after debuting an artificial intelligence (AI) priest character to overwhelmingly negative reviews, Catholic Answers has given “Father Justin” the virtual heave-ho.

The lay-run apologetics and evangelization apostolate, based in El Cajon, California, said it will replace him on its app with a lay character named “Justin.” 

“We won’t say he’s been laicized, because he never was a real priest!” Catholic Answers said in a written statement.

“We chose the character to convey a quality of knowledge and authority, and also as a sign of the respect that all of us at Catholic Answers hold for our clergy,” the statement, from Catholic Answers’ president, Christopher Check, explained.

“Many people, however, have voiced concerns about this choice. We hear these concerns; and we do not want the character to distract from the important purpose of the application, which is to provide sound answers to questions about the Catholic faith in an innovative way that makes good use of the benefits of ‘artificial intelligence.’” 

Catholic Answers said it would continue to tweak the way it works with AI.

Depicted wearing a black cassock sitting among chirping birds, the bearded AI “priest” appeared oblivious to the cascade of criticism that erupted on social media after Catholic Answers debuted the character last week.

Some found him creepy. Some didn’t like his voice. Some worried about replacing actual human beings. Some didn’t like his character being a priest. 

“I say this with nothing but respect for you guys and your work, but ... this should’ve just been a plain search engine,” said Father Mike Palmer, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross, on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). “Dressing it up as a soulless AI avatar of a priest does absolutely nothing except cause confusion and invite mockery of your otherwise excellent work.”

Even so, “every knock a boost,” as the old saying about negative publicity goes.

As of last Wednesday afternoon, about 1,000 people an hour were using the “Father Justin” app. Traffic at the Catholic Answers website (Catholic.com) was up 77% in April 2024 versus April 2023, said Donna Barrack, director of marketing at Catholic Answers.

Demand was so high that it was taking minutes to receive an access code by email on Wednesday, something that normally takes a few seconds.

Last Wednesday, the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, ran into technical problems when it attempted to interact with “Father Justin.” Questions had to be shouted into a laptop microphone, and the app took time to translate them into printed words on the screen. “Eucharist” came out “caressed” and, later, “you, you, you.” “Communion” came across as “commute” and later “commune.”

When he understood a question, though, “Father Justin” provided a short, substantive answer.

Asked why you should go to church on Sunday, Father Justin answered with brief quotations from Scripture (Psalm 122:1; 1 Corinthians 12:27; John 6:54) and also explained: “When we gather together for Mass, we are united with Christ and each other in a profound way. We hear God’s Word in the Scriptures, and we receive Jesus himself in the Eucharist. … Going to church isn’t just an obligation, it’s a privilege and a joy.”

“Father Justin” was aimed at providing answers to questions faster than was possible with human apologists on staff. Several years ago, the organization took down a question-and-answer feature on its website because its staff apologists were inundated with thousands of queries.

“With our mission to explain and defend the Catholic faith, we do think artificial intelligence has a usefulness, at least as a starting point. I would caution against it being an ending point in your journey or in your search for answers,” said Chris Costello, director of information technology for Catholic Answers, in a Zoom interview, just prior to the decision to end Father Justin was announced.

Barrack said the “Father Justin” app was an attempt at “gamifying the question-and-answer process” to appeal to young people.

Costello said the intent was never to replace human apologists.

“Obviously, there’s something different in the human delivery,” Costello said. “People … don’t just want the answer. They want to understand the answer. And they want to talk about it and have a back-and-forth, which you can actually do with the application. But I think that there’s always going to be something missing if you don’t have an actual person.”

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and is reprinted here on CNA with permission.

null / Credit: Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 12:40 pm (CNA).

A Pennsylvania priest was arrested this week after police say he misused tens of thousands of dollars in parish funds to purchase video games. 

Father Lawrence Kozak has been on administrative leave in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia since November 2022. The archdiocese told CNA his leave “followed a review of St. Thomas More Parish’s financial activity by the Archdiocesan Office for Parish Services and Support.” Kozak had previously been pastor at the Pottstown, Pennsylvania, parish. 

The archdiocesan review “resulted in certain expenses and expenditure levels utilizing parish funds being questioned,” the archdiocese said. After placing the priest on leave, the archdiocese “referred the matter to law enforcement.”

Pennsylvania law enforcement arrested Kozak last week in connection with the allegations. A criminal complaint filed by Pennsylvania State Police alleges that Kozak “used credit cards for the purpose of obtaining property or services using parish funds valued at” more than $41,000. 

The complaint revealed that an archdiocesan official observed incorrect coding in the parish’s financial records. The subsequent review revealed “an astronomical amount of Apple transactions” in the parish books. 

According to the parish records, nearly 2,200 transactions were related to a category of spending identified as “gaming.” The total amount spent in that category was just under $41,000. 

Among the games purchased using parish funds were Candy Crush, Pokemon GO, and several “slots” games. 

In an interview with law enforcement as part of the investigation, Kozak said he “didn’t realize when he went past the balance on his Apple Card [that] the charges were kicked over to the parish card,” the complaint said.

The priest “expressed that he’s disappointed that he let it get like this and that there’s no excuse except that he wasn’t paying attention and should have been.”

Law enforcement in 2023 met with the new pastor of the Pottstown parish who said that Kozak had paid the parish roughly $41,000 in “reimbursement” after he was put on leave. 

“I am so sorry that I made this mistake which has been any source of stress for you,” the priest wrote to the pastor at the time.

The investigation concluded that there was “probable cause that [Kozak] misused funds” from the parish.

In a statement to CNA on Monday, Archdiocese of Philadelphia spokesman Ken Gavin said Kozak is facing “felony theft charges” over the controversy.

“The archdiocese and the parish will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as the criminal matter enters its next phase,” Gavin said. 

“Pending the outcome of the criminal prosecution, Father Kozak remains on administrative leave,” he added.

Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne. / Credit: Diocese of Burlington, Vermont

CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A New England prelate is urging Catholics to both minister to transgender-identifying individuals in the Catholic Church while still continuously affirming “the goodness of human creation” as male and female.

Coadjutor Archbishop Christopher Coyne of Hartford, Connecticut, told CNA last week that he would make it a point not to challenge a transgender-identifying man or woman when they present as the opposite sex.

Coyne appeared on Connecticut Public Radio earlier this month arguing against the basic claim of gender ideology, which argues that men and women who “identify” as the opposite sex should be treated as such.

“Biology is biology. You’re either XX or XY. That’s a scientific fact. You can’t un-prove that fact,” the bishop told public radio. 

But, he argued, the LGBT debate has “pulled me more into a place of understanding and care,” including regarding transgender-identifying individuals. 

The prelate told CNA he would accept the identity of those men and women as they present themselves to him.

“It doesn’t cost me anything to accept them as they’re presenting themselves, as a brother or a sister, or whatever gender they’re asking me to refer to them as,” the archbishop said. “If they’d like to be referred to by this name or this pronoun, it doesn’t cost me anything to say, ‘Okay,’ and then begin a communication with this person.”

“If I start off just by beginning to define what the conversation will be, I could cut off an opportunity to bring that person more deeply into the Church,” the prelate said. 

“That doesn’t mean I accept what they’re bringing forward,” he pointed out. “It just means I accept what they’re presenting to me as brother or sister.”

Coyne was appointed to the Hartford Archdiocese last year and will succeed as archbishop once current Archbishop Leonard Blair retires. He has in the past offered candid opinions on Church matters, such as arguing that the Holy See should be moved out of Rome and expressing hope that the Church might in the future “ordain or name some deaconesses.”

He stressed to CNA this week that, when ministering to transgender-identified individuals, “the line obviously has to be clearly drawn” on matters such as ordination.

“The line has to be drawn clearly by way of biology,” he said. 

“We’re not intending to hurt this person or shut them off from the community,” he pointed out. “It would have to be clearly defined in terms of what we do. There are certain things that just can’t happen. Now, if that hurts the person and they decide they have to walk away, that’s unfortunate. But we haven’t changed any teachings on this matter.”

“Conversation is very important,” he said further. “When you’re dealing with these issues, especially [with] children — but at this point I’m talking about adults — we need conversation and clear understanding on what Church teaching in this matter is.”

Coyne stressed that, when dealing with children who suffer from gender dysphoria, “we have to be very careful.”

“When the child presents themselves with this issue, we have to first say, ‘We love you, we understand you’re going through these things, we have to be patient and walk with you.’” 

“We have to involve the parent, or parents,” he said. “We walk with the child, we love the child, and we work with the family.”

The Catholic Church in recent years has moved to address gender ideology. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith this month released the declaration Dignitas Infinita, which stressed “the promotion of the dignity of every human person.”

The document states that “all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual difference between man and woman are to be rejected” and that “only by acknowledging and accepting this difference in reciprocity can each person fully discover themselves, their dignity, and their identity.”

Asked how the Church might minister to transgender-identifying individuals while still affirming the truth about human bodies, Coyne said: “I think we continually talk about how we were made in the image of God, that God created us male and female biologically, and that that’s a good thing, and that’s something we should accept.” 

“How we live it out in terms of gender expression is another question,” he argued. 

But “we can continually affirm the goodness of human creation, and our bodies as male and female, and that it’s not something that needs to be in conflict with our gender, or seen as a mistake.” 

“It’s a given. It’s a beautiful thing,” he added. “It’s God’s graces already operating in that person by virtue of creation. Start with the theology.” 

Sidewalk advocates withstand the rain to be present outside a Planned Parenthood in Syracuse, New York. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Sidewalk Advocates for Life

CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

A national organization that organizes sidewalk counseling — the practice of giving women information outside abortion clinics about their other options — is celebrating more than 22,000 lives saved this month on its 10th anniversary. Sidewalk Advocates for Life (SAFL) president Lauren Muzyka said that even in a post-Roe America, their work is very much needed.

The latest numbers from a Planned Parenthood report titled “Above & Beyond,” shows that Planned Parenthood performed 392,715 abortions between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022 —an increase of 18,560 — or 5% — from the previous report, which showed 374,155 abortions in one year. Abortion pill access is also on the rise, with the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute reporting that this accounts for more than 60% of abortions in 2023. Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments about the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone. 

But Muzyka is able to offer a perspective from “out on the sidewalk,” where Sidewalk Advocates encounter women seeking abortions every day.

“In some of our states where abortion is limited, like a six-week ban or a heartbeat ban, it’s really interesting because we’re actually still seeing a great amount of traffic,” she said. “I wish the country could see what we’re seeing in some of these more pro-life states.”

“Even in our pro-life states, we still know that there are women in crisis in our communities that, at the very least, are considering driving 300 or 600 miles away to the next nearest abortion facility,” she told CNA in a phone call. “A lot of people don’t realize, even in the pro-life states, that we still have Planned Parenthood Family Planning Centers on the ground that serve as abortion referral facilities.”

Muzyka gave the example of the state of Georgia. “It’s surrounded by pro-life states,” she explained. “A lot of women are going to Columbus, Georgia, or Atlanta to see if they made the six-week cutoff. If they didn’t, then they’re getting referred to the Carolinas or to Virginia or the Panhandle of Florida.”  

“Sometimes you have very distraught, angry women [who are] overwhelmed because they drove all through the night to see if they made this cutoff,” Muzyka further explained. “Some of them will turn around because they’re met by a sidewalk advocate there, but this is why our states really need to protect life at conception, because sometimes the six-week ban isn’t doing as much as I think the people of that state would desire to protect life and to protect women from this trauma.”

The sidewalk advocates do what Muzyka calls “crisis management.” They stand in strategic places outside an abortion clinic with pamphlets, information, and sometimes small gifts, and talk to women going in for an abortion.

“There’s always a reason or set of reasons that brings a woman to an abortion facility,” Muzyka said. “The idea is, if we can fill that crisis, then what we see is that that mom … often turns back to herself and reconsiders the life of her child. We let her know how we can help her, and then we give her a vision forward for how it’s possible for her to have her child and to have the life that she wants as well.”’

“A lot of women are there because they ironically feel like they have no choice,” she added.

Issues women struggle with vary from a challenging pregnancy diagnosis or severe morning sickness to fear that their parents will kick them out if they don’t have an abortion. 

“All we can do is invite, and it’s up to that other person to respond,” Muzyka said. “We do get a mix of rejection and then people who take us up on that offer of help.”

SAFL is celebrating more than 22,000 lives recorded to be saved from abortion through their sidewalk counseling service. In addition, more than 5,000 “hopeful saves” — women who leave the abortion facility to “think about it.” SAFL also reported 89 abortion workers leaving and 55 abortion facilities closing as a result of their work.

But their success isn’t their own, Muzyka said. 

“It’s the grace of God. It’s his hope, it’s his love, it’s his peace that’s really winning someone over,” she said. “… It’s even right there in our mission statement that we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And that’s really the heart of sidewalk advocacy, is Our Lord sent people out in twos to go spread the Gospel. And this is really the epitome of the gospel of life, is meeting someone there in their moment of crisis and speaking hope and peace into their circumstances.” 

The ministry sees “miracles out on the sidewalk” because it is a “beautiful little mix of practical and spiritual,” Muzyka said. 

SAFL’s top core value is being Christ-centered. Though the organization doesn’t subscribe to a particular denomination, the movement is cross-denominational and “comfortable” for people of any denomination, Muzyka said. Their formation materials incorporate Scripture. 

“And it’s beautiful, because we’re actually seeing this new springtime of collaboration throughout the body of Christ,” Muzyka said. 

“When you go to a Sidewalk Advocates for Life training, there is Scripture from beginning to end, reinforcing basically every major concept that we’re teaching,” she said. “Even the understanding that in every case, there’s a life-affirming solution — really anchoring ourselves and anchoring her into the hope that we have in Christ and giving her his joy and his peace and his love.”

“We really believe, of course, too, that we’re not the ones actually saving these babies,” she added.

The ministry doesn’t just help mothers and babies in crisis, but it offers community to pro-lifers across the country, Muzyka pointed out.

“It’s almost like Sidewalk Advocates for Life is here to say to the pro-life person serving on the front lines, ‘You are not alone, and we’re going to journey with you until you are called elsewhere or until your abortion facility shuts down,’” she said. 

This article was updated on April, 29, 2024 with more recent stats from Planned Parenthood's latest report.

Father Leo Riley, 68, continued to serve as a priest for years after a 2020 sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the Diocese of Venice, Florida. / Credit: Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

CNA Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 19:18 pm (CNA).

A Florida priest who was recently arrested on sex abuse charges was permitted to continue in active ministry for nearly three years after a civil sex abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the diocese in which he serves.

Father Leo Riley, 68, continued to serve as a priest for years after a 2020 sexual abuse lawsuit was filed against him and the Diocese of Venice, Florida. 

The matter came to the forefront this week after Riley was arrested on several sex abuse charges dating back to his time serving as a priest in Iowa decades ago. 

The Charlotte County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that deputies arrested Riley in Port Charlotte on April 24 “on multiple counts of capital sexual battery stemming from his past work as a priest in Iowa.” He was ordained in Iowa in 1982 and served there until 2005.

The civil lawsuit in Florida was filed in July 2020 with the 12th Judicial Circuit Court. It named Riley, the Diocese of Venice, and St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Port Charlotte as defendants, along with Alan Klispie, a music teacher at the parish school. The suit alleges that both Klispie and Riley committed various forms of abuse against the plaintiff for years.

Venice Bishop Frank Dewane told members of the San Antonio Parish in Port Charlotte on Saturday — where Riley was previously pastor — that there is “a pending civil lawsuit of 2020 against Father Riley here in Florida which upon its receipt was reported to the state attorney of Charlotte County.” 

“At the time the civil lawsuit was received, the factual allegations therein were inaccurate and contradictory,” Dewane wrote. 

“The plaintiff has since changed his allegations and the litigation is still pending,” the bishop wrote in the letter.

The diocese said the letter was also being distributed “at all parishes where Father Riley has been previously assigned in the Diocese of Venice.” 

The bishop in the letter urged “anyone who believes that he or she has been the victim of sexual misconduct by someone serving in ministry for the Diocese of Venice” to contact law enforcement as well as the diocese itself. 

Asked if Riley was placed on leave following the 2020 suit, diocesan spokeswoman Karen Schwarz told CNA on Saturday: “Regarding the civil lawsuit of 2020, it is my understanding that Father Riley was not placed on administrative leave at that time, due to the facts of the allegations being inaccurate and contradictory.”

The diocese’s website shows Riley still in active ministry, working as pastor at San Antonio Catholic Church, at least as late as 2022, two years after the suit was filed. The parish is home to St. Charles Borromeo School, a pre-K through eighth grade Catholic school.

Damian Mallard, a Florida attorney who is representing the plaintiff in the 2020 lawsuit, told CNA on Friday that the diocese was aware of the suit when it was filed. “We served them with the lawsuit back then,” he said.

Asked if there had been any communication from the diocese at the time of the filing, Mallard said: “Diocesan lawyers responded to my lawsuit. But there was nothing concerning taking Riley out of his job.”

Mallard confirmed that the suit is still pending. “Riley won’t sit for a deposition because his lawyers demand that I tell them every victim that I’ve found,” he said, “and I said no.”

Several courts have ruled in Mallard’s favor on the matter of detailing the identities of the alleged victims, he told CNA. 

The lawsuit is seeking “damages for my client for what he’s been through,” Mallard told CNA. 

“His life has been destroyed,” the lawyer said. The amount of the damages is “up to a jury to decide,” he added.

Priest arrested this week on sex abuse charges

Dewane wrote the letter this week partly in response to Riley’s arrest by Florida law enforcement earlier in the week. 

In their press release, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said Florida law enforcement officers had worked with the Dubuque, Iowa, Police Department in making the arrest. The Dubuque police “had developed probable cause for five counts of capital sexual battery within their jurisdiction,” the sheriff’s office said. 

Riley, who previously served in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, has been on administrative leave in the Venice Diocese since May 2023 when several abuse allegations from his time in the Iowa archdiocese were made against him. 

Riley’s arrest this week comes after at least a decade of abuse allegations made against the priest.

In a letter released on Friday, Dubuque Archbishop Thomas Zinkula said the “first notice of any allegation of abuse by Father Riley was made in December of 2014.” 

“The claim related to the time period of 1985, when Father Riley would have been in Dubuque,” the archbishop wrote. “Particulars of the allegation were received in February of 2015.”

The archbishop noted that Riley was incardinated into the Diocese of Venice by this time, having been granted that request in 2005 to be near his parents. 

The Dubuque Archdiocese “notified the Diocese of Venice, Florida, and Father Riley was placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation,” the archbishop said.

“The investigation concluded that the best information available at the time did not support a reasonable belief that the allegation was true,” Zinkula wrote. Law enforcement, meanwhile, “chose not to conduct an investigation into the allegation because the applicable statute of limitations at that time had expired.”

Two new allegations were subsequently made against Riley in May of last year, both of them once again stemming from alleged misconduct in Dubuque in the mid-1980s. Upon receiving the allegations, the archdiocese “began an internal investigation into the new allegations, which remains open pending the outcome of the criminal charges.”

It is unclear whether these two allegations against Riley formed the basis of this week’s arrest. The Dubuque police department was unable to provide a copy of the warrant on Friday as it was still listed as active in that jurisdiction. 

On Thursday, meanwhile, the Venice Diocese said in a statement that when the latest allegations were made public last year, DeWane “immediately placed Father Riley on administrative leave, pending the investigation that was to be conducted by the Archdiocese of Dubuque.”

Diocesan spokeswoman Karen Schwarz confirmed to CNA on Friday that Riley “was put on administrative leave in May of 2023 and has not been involved in ministry since then.”

Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell said in announcing Riley’s arrest that “if the accusations are true, then we have had a sexual predator living among us in Charlotte County that was trusted by far too many people simply because of his position.” 

“It is likely that there are more victims, and I encourage them to come forward so that we can make sure this type of heinous thing does not happen to anyone else here,” the sheriff said.

Pope Francis meets Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her 6-year-old daughter on Jan. 10, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 27, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis will attend the G7 summit in June to speak about the ethics of artificial intelligence, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced Friday.

The Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations summit is being held in the southern Italian region of Puglia from June 13–15 and will bring together leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.

Meloni, who will chair the summit, said in a video message on April 26 that Pope Francis had accepted her invitation to attend a session of the summit on the topic of artificial intelligence. 

“This is the first time in history that a pontiff will participate in the work of a G7,” Meloni said.

“I am convinced that the presence of His Holiness will make a decisive contribution to the definition of a regulatory, ethical, and cultural framework for artificial intelligence,” she added.

The Vatican has been heavily involved in the conversation of artificial intelligence ethics, hosting high-level discussions with scientists and tech executives on the ethics of artificial intelligence in 2016 and 2020.

The pope has hosted Microsoft President Brad Smith, IBM Executive John Kelly III, and most recently, Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of Cisco Systems, in Rome — each of whom has signed the Vatican’s artificial intelligence ethics pledge, the Rome Call for AI Ethics.

The Rome Call, a document by the Pontifical Academy for Life, underlines the need for the ethical use of AI according to the principles of transparency, inclusion, accountability, impartiality, reliability, security, and privacy.

Pope Francis chose artificial intelligence as the theme of his 2024 peace message, which recommended that global leaders adopt an international treaty to regulate the development and use of AI.

The pope established the RenAIssance Foundation in April 2021 as a Vatican nonprofit foundation to support anthropological and ethical reflection of new technologies on human life.

The Vatican has confirmed the pope’s participation in the G7 summit.

Gia Chacón (right), founder of March for the Martyrs, said the plight of the tens of thousands of Christian Armenians pushed out of their homes in the disputed Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh region hash been "completely overlooked by the mainstream media.” / Credit: EWTN News Nightly / Screenshot

CNA Staff, Apr 27, 2024 / 09:20 am (CNA).

Marchers are setting out in the nation’s capital on Saturday to call attention to the plight of persecuted Christians throughout the world.

Gia Chacón, founder of For the Martyrs and the March for the Martyrs, said the event aims to highlight often “overlooked” victims of persecution. This year’s march will focus on the persecution suffered by Armenian Christians as well as those in Nigeria and Iran.

In an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol, Chacón said she started the initiative to both increase awareness and provide aid for persecuted Christian communities throughout the world.

Chacón explained that the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan erupted anew last September, when Azerbaijan unleashed military strikes against an enclave of about 120,000 Armenian Christians in the disputed Artsakh or Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

Chacón told EWTN called the situation a “genocide.” 

“As a result of this invasion, over 120,000 Christian Armenians were pushed out of their homes,” she said. “Their history was destroyed. This was an attempt at an ethnic cleansing of the Armenia Christians who have been in this region for hundreds of years.”

“It is completely overlooked by the mainstream media,” she added. “It’s also gone under the radar or supposedly under the radar of the Biden administration. They’re not doing enough to protect Christians in Armenia.”

Meanwhile, Nigeria and Iran are both ranked in the top 10 in the Open Doors organization’s 2024 World Watch List, which ranks the top 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution. 

Between April and June 2023 there were more than 1,600 recorded deaths of Christians in Nigeria, more than 600 Christians abducted, and more than 100 attacks on communities with fatalities, according to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA).

Nigerian Catholic priests are frequently kidnapped and in some cases, murdered. One Nigerian bishop has described the situation in Nigeria as a Christian “genocide.” 

Chacón also highlighted “ongoing human rights abuses … particularly for the Church” in Iran. 

There were 166 documented arrests of Christians in Iran in 2023, according to a 2024 report by Article18. The report found that “many Christians report severe mistreatment during arrest and detention,” while others were not given a reason for their arrest.

But Christians of all traditions “come together as one voice for the persecuted,” Chacón said, adding: “We’ve seen this movement grow every single year.”

Chacón highlighted how not only Catholics and Protestants have joined the cause but also Assyrian, Orthodox, Armenian, Nigerian, and Ethiopian Christians. 

“It’s beautiful to see just the diversity in the crowd,” she said. “It really is a picture and a reflection of the global body of Christ.”

The annual march is taking place in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, starting at 3 p.m. It will feature a kickoff rally on the National Mall with actor Jim Caviziel as a keynote speaker. 

Survivors of persecution and other experts will also speak at the event. The March for Martyrs Procession will start at 4 p.m. and the evening will conclude with a Night of Prayer for the Persecuted at the Museum of the Bible. 

For more details on the march, visit the For the Martyrs website.

Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, chapel and statue. / Credit: Joseph Antoniello, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

Franciscan University of Steubenville will continue to separate its housing, restrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams on the basis of biological sex — rather than self-asserted “gender identity” — despite recent federal changes to Title IX guidelines.

The announcement comes after President Joe Biden’s Department of Education issued a new interpretation of Title IX, which states that all prohibitions on sex discrimination will now apply to discrimination based on a person’s self-asserted “gender identity.” 

Religious schools, such as the Catholic Franciscan University, are exempt from Title IX provisions that violate their faith.

Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, the president of Franciscan University, sent a letter to students that stated that the new interpretation of Title IX does not apply to the university because it is inconsistent with the Catholic Church’s teaching on sex. The university president referenced Franciscan’s compendium on human sexuality, which states that a person’s “sexual identity” is based on his or her biology.

“We believe in the inherent dignity of every human person,” Pivonka wrote in the email. “And as a passionately Catholic institution, we believe in and follow the teachings of the Catholic Church that consider ‘sex’ to refer to the objective reality of a human person as a man (male) or as a woman (female), grounded in and determined by a person’s biology.”

Per the university’s policy, neither employees nor students will be forced to refer to a person with pronouns that are inconsistent with the person’s biological sex. They will also not face any discipline for “holding views and beliefs” consistent with the university’s position on human sexuality, which is based on Catholic teaching. 

In his letter, Pivonka noted that there is a difference between “behaviors that may be judged by our current cultural norms to be discriminatory,” such as explaining the Catholic teaching on sexuality, and “behaviors that, in fact, violate the dignity of a person,” such as harassment or violence. 

“Violations of the dignity of a person will not be tolerated on this campus,” he said. “Presenting authentic Catholic teachings, which convey truth, beauty, liberty, and healing, uplift the human person in every respect. Teaching what the Church teaches is an act of charity and our duty as a Catholic university.”

The Biden administration implemented the new regulations late last week. According to the executive summary, 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 new interpretation of Title IX has already created tension with states that have passed laws restricting women’s and girls’ athletic competitions and other private spaces to only biological women and girls. Public officials in at least two states, Oklahoma and Florida, have already said they would not comply with the new rules. 

null / Credit: KieferPix/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

Provisional data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week showed that the fertility rate in the United States hit a record low and the total number of births in the country was the lowest it’s been in decades. 

According to the report, slightly fewer than 3.6 million babies were born in 2023, or 54.4 births per 1,000 women aged 15 through 44. This was a 2% decline in total births and a 3% decline in births per 1,000 women when compared with the previous year.

The total fertility rate, which estimates how many children an average woman would have over the course of her life based on the yearly data, was just over 1.6 births per woman, which was a 2% decline from the previous year. This is well below the replacement rate needed to sustain a population, which is about 2.1 births per woman over her life.

This was the fewest number of babies born in the United States in a year since 1979 and the lowest fertility rate recorded in American history — just under the previous record lows set in 2020.

The 2023 decline reverses a minor fertility rate bump for the calendar years of 2021 and 2022, which was the first increase since 2014. The 2023 numbers continue a wider trend in fertility declines since the 1960s when contraception became widely available in the United States and the women’s liberation movement began to emerge. Abortion became widely available in the 1970s after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision — which was overturned in 2022.

Fertility rates by age group

The birth rate dropped for teenagers and women in their 20s and 30s — but the decline was sharper for teenagers and women in their 20s than it was for women in their 30s. The birth rate for women in their 40s did not show significant changes. 

According to the data, the 2023 birth rate for teenagers aged 15 through 19 was 13.2 per 1,000 women, which was a 3% decline from the previous year. The birth rate for women aged 20 to 24 was 55.4 births for 1,000 women, which is a 4% decline from the previous year. The birth rate for women aged 25 through 29 was 91 births per 1,000 women, which was a 3% decline from the previous year.

The 2023 birth rate for women aged 30 through 34 was 95.1 births per 1,000 women, which was a 2% decline from the previous year. For women aged 35 through 39, there were 54.7 births per 1,000 women, which was a decrease of less than 1%.

Fertility rates by ethnic group

According to the report, most ethnic groups saw a decline in total births and a decrease in fertility rates from 2022 to 2023 — but this reduction affected some ethnic groups at different rates.

The total number of births was down 5% for American Indian and Alaska Native women, 4% for Black women, 3% for white women, and 2% for Asian women. For Hispanic women, the total number of births went up by 1%. There was not much change for Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander women.

No ethnic group saw an increased general fertility rate from 2022 to 2023. It decreased by 5% among American Indian and Alaska Native women and Black women, by 3% for Asian and white women, and by 1% for Hispanic women. The rate was virtually unchanged for Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander women.

null / Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 26, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

The addition of “gender identity” in the Biden administration’s interpretation of anti-discrimination rules could jeopardize state laws that restrict women’s sports and women’s locker rooms to only women, according to legal scholars.

Late last week, President Joe Biden’s Department of Education redefined the prohibition on sex discrimination in education, enshrined in the 1972 Title IX provisions, to include discrimination based on a person’s “gender identity.” 

The new guidelines prohibit any policy and practice that “prevents a person from participating in an education program or activity consistent with their gender identity.”

Although the new guidelines do not clearly explain how the mandate would be enforced, experts at the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and the conservative Heritage Foundation told CNA that it could force educational institutions to allow men who identify as women to access sports competitions, women’s locker rooms, bathrooms, and dormitories that are exclusive to women. 

Other concerns they noted included free speech protections for those who use pronouns that align with a person’s biological sex when it conflicts with the person’s self-proclaimed gender identity and the effect this change could have on other federal agencies, who base their sex discrimination policies on Title IX.

The guidelines apply to public and private educational institutions that accept federal money, which imposes the new rule on K-12 schools, colleges, trade schools, and other institutions. They apply regardless of whether state laws restrict these competitions and spaces to only women. The law does contain an exemption for religious schools that claim certain provisions of the new rule violate their beliefs. 

“This is a … radical redefinition of sex,” Matt Sharp, who serves as senior counsel and director of Center for Public Policy at ADF, told CNA.

“Rather than sex being based on biology, now your ‘gender identity’ comes into play [in these anti-discrimination provisions],” Sharp said. 

Sarah Parshall Perry, who serves as a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told CNA that the change will have a “catastrophic impact” on women. 

All anti-discrimination provisions that apply to a person’s sex, she noted, will now apply to a person based on his or her self-described “gender identity.”

“All of these [anti-discrimination rules] are lumped under the exact same heading of sex,” Perry, who previously served as senior counsel at the Department of Education, added.

Tension growing between states and federal government

Less than a week into the promulgation of the new guidelines, the reinterpretation is already causing tension with states that have passed laws to protect women’s sports and prevent males from entering women’s locker rooms and bathrooms. Public officials in Florida and Oklahoma have warned the administration that they will not comply with the mandate.

“Florida rejects Joe Biden’s attempt to rewrite Title IX,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a video message posted on X on Thursday. 

“We will not comply and we will fight back,” he said. “We are not going to let Joe Biden try to inject men into women’s activities. We are not going to let Joe Biden undermine the rights of parents and we are not going to let Joe Biden abuse his constitutional authority to try to impose these policies on us here in Florida.” 

Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters called the change an attack on states, families, and women. He instructed school districts to not comply with the administration’s definition. 

“Biden’s rewrite of Title IX is one of the most illegal and radical moves we have ever seen from the federal government,” Walters said. “Oklahoma will not sit idly by while radicals trample on the Constitution and take away women’s rights. We are taking swift and aggressive action against Biden in his war on women.”

Currently, West Virginia is facing a legal challenge against its law that prohibits biological males from engaging in women’s and girls’ athletic competitions. The lawsuit accuses the state of discriminating against males who self-identify as women. It bases its argument on Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination — a claim used in the lawsuit before the federal government officially changed its interpretation.

An appellate court ruled against West Virginia, but the state’s lawyers at Alliance Defending Freedom are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Sharp said the administration’s redefinition of sex discrimination does not change the legal argument used to defend these state laws. 

He told CNA that the administration’s change is “unlawful” and that these interpretations “violate the plain meaning of Title IX,” which is “built upon an understanding that there are … only two sexes.”

“The legal approach is exactly how it’s always been,” Sharp said.

Penny said the administration’s redefinition of sex goes against the “entire purpose and history and mission” of the ratifiers of Title IX, which she said “was a significant movement for the women’s liberation movement.”

Now those who defend the traditional understanding of the law, she noted, are seen as “being conservatives or libertarians.”

“Sex has always meant [the] biological distinctions between men and women,” Penny said.