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CNSNews.com) – Calling the Obama administration “the most tone deaf to religious liberty issues in recent memory,” Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput warned that religious freedom in the U.S. is “at risk,” and that “the more government mandates evil action, the more likely civil disobedience becomes.” Last February, Chaput urged his fellow prelates to take the “right action…whatever the cost” regarding the Health and Human Services’ contraceptive mandate, which requires nearly all insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act to pay for sterilization, contraceptives, and abortion-inducing drugs. Due to “an unfriendly political class” and believers’ own apathy, Chaput told CNSNews.com, “government...

Barely two months ago the ecclesiastical news circuit was rocked with the revelation that Pope Francis had decided not to renew Cardinal Burke’s membership on the Congregation for Bishops.The New York Times, NPR, NBC and a host of other secular and Catholic news outlets went berserk, seeing in Pope Francis’ decision the promise of a radical reorientation of the curia.At the time, I proposed a counter-narrative: Pope Francis is not about to purge “conservatives” from the curia and we shouldn’t read too much into the Burke news.Well, my counter-narrative received a big boost last week.You shouldn’t feel bad, of course,...

Los Angeles - Peter J. Coulchinsky arrived in the United States from Argentina in 1986 as a young man seeking a law degree. As his time in the U.S. lengthened, the more he decided he wanted to stay. There was just one problem: He had only a student visa. snip Chicago Cardinal Francis George told attendees the need for constant dialogue to accomplish its goals in life was imperative. He noted the need to counter the current "endemic anti-Catholicism" in the country. "We cannot be passive," the archbishop said. "The church calls us to be in the forefront of the...

(RNS) For more than three decades, the Vatican of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI operated on a version of the conservative maxim, “No enemies to the right.” While left-wing theologians were silenced and liberal-to-moderate bishops were shunted aside in favor of hard-liners, liturgical traditionalists and cultural conservatives were diligently courted and given direct access to the apostolic palace. But in a few short months, Pope Francis has upended that dynamic, alienating many on the Catholic right by refusing to play favorites and ignoring their preferred agenda items even as he stressed the kind of social justice issues that...

Full Title: Archbishop Chaput: Non-Catholic enthusiasm for Pope based on hope he’s unconcerned with moral issues RIO, July 24, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview with John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput noted the enthusiasm for Pope Francis coming from “alienated Catholics, non-Catholics and non-Christians,” even more than from the faithful. Asked for an explanation, the Archbishop said it is possible that these admirers “think they would prefer a church that wouldn't have strict norms and ideas about the moral life and about doctrine, and they somehow interpret the pope's openness and friendliness as being...

The Philadelphia archdiocese has revealed that it faces $350 million in long-term debt, aggravated by annual budget deficits. Releasing audited financial statements for the first time, the archdiocese showed a $39.2 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in June 2012. Although that year’s financial reports included some special expenses, such as the costs of sex-abuse litigation, even without those expenses the budget showed a deficit of more than $17 million. The deficit for the most recent fiscal year was $6 million, reported Timothy O’Shaugnessy, who was appointed last year as the top financial officer for the archdiocese. The next...

For eight decades, leaders of a community of Catholic priests and brothers spanning 10 U.S. states acted inadequately in responding to sex abuse allegations and prioritized protecting accused abusers over their victims, concludes an audit released by the group Tuesday. The report, released by a province of Franciscan priests known as Capuchins, could raise questions of how communities of religious, which are not under direct control of bishops, are handling abuse allegations. It also addresses themes many critics of the U.S. church's response to sex abuse have raised since the issue made national headlines in 2002. The report says that...

Now that the trial for abortion provider Kermit Gosnell has ended with a conviction, many are asking what Philadelphia plans to do with the 47 bodies from the case. After Gosnell's arrest in 2011, then-Archbishop Justin Rigali asked the district attorney's office for the bodies of the aborted fetuses. After [the trial] ended and Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison, Rigali's successor, Archbishop Charles Chaput, has renewed the request to bury the bodies. Francis Maier, assistant to Chaput, said "We're not interested in turning it into a circus. Points were made in the trial; now we just want...

(CNSNews.com) - Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput is calling on Americans to wake up and recognize that the Founding Fathers' vision of religious freedom is now threatened by the federal government.

Let’s begin this week with a simple statement of fact. America’s Catholic bishops started pressing for adequate health-care coverage for all of our nation’s people decades before the current administration took office. In the Christian tradition, basic medical care is a matter of social justice and human dignity. Even now, even with the financial and structural flaws that critics believe undermine the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the bishops continue to share the goal of real health-care reform and affordable medical care for all Americans. But health care has now morphed into a religious-liberty issue provoked entirely — and needlessly —...

Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput, head of the archdiocese of Philadelphia, said that in addition to the ongoing trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell, an equally important story is the “failure” of the “most important national media” outlets to cover the case. “The real story in the Gosnell trial is bigger than the ugly allegations against Gosnell himself,” said Abp. Chaput in his April 25 column. “It includes the failure – the allergic disinterest – of some of our most important national media.” Gosnell has been on trial in Philadelphia since Mar. 18. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder,...

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput joined a distinguished group on April 12. It includes four cardinals, a bishop, two governors of Pennsylvania, a United States senator, a Pennsylvania chief justice, three university presidents and scores of Catholic lay leaders. All were recipients of the Sourin Award, given annually since 1960 by Philadelphia’s Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute — popularly known as the Philo — and Archbishop Chaput was this year’s honoree. He accepted the 2013 award from Philo President Thomas B. Byrnes at a dinner before 200 guests held at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue. HC Wood Monuments In his acceptance speech...

Some stories, no matter how unsettling, just can't be ignored – even when some people are determined to look away. The murder trial of Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell will soon go to jury. And like every other criminally accused person under the law, Gosnell is innocent until proven guilty. Whatever the verdict though, there's no ambiguity about the kind of business he ran at his West Philadelphia “Women's Medical Center” – an abortion clinic that critics have likened to a meatpacking plant or a butcher shop, with unborn children delivered into a toilet, and jars of fetal body parts stored...

Archbishop Charles Chaput, currently of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, sees some things a bit differently than I do at times (such as amnesty for illegal immigrants), but I believe he is a sincere, honest, honorable, holy Bishop, and I respect him immensely, and always try to pay attention to what he has to say or write. (He reminds me a little of David going up against Goliath in his new assignment in Philadelphia, with all the problems they've had there!) With that in mind, I wanted to share a link with "ROKU Streaming TV" users, where you can add the...

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia urged the faithful to put their faith ahead of politics, according to an interview with Catholic News Service within two weeks of the presidential election. The Catholic leader clarified the duty of Catholics as he discussed the politics of abortion. He emphasized a need to honor God above country, of “Catholic identity taking precedence over everything.” “We’re Catholics before we’re Democrats. We’re Catholics before we’re Republicans. We’re even Catholics before we’re Americans because we know that God has a demand on us prior to any government demand on us,” he said in a new...

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia celebrates Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica, Oct. 20, 2012. Credit: Matthew Rarey-CNA. Baltimore, Md., Nov 19, 2012 / 11:58 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The current Year of Faith is an opportunity to counter the cultural relativism that plagues modern society and that has led many in the Church to deny Catholic teaching on important topics, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia. “The appropriate response to relativism is faith, where you no longer are the center of the universe, you are no longer the one who decides what’s true,...

October 24, 2012 (HLIWorldWatch.org) - In a recent video interview with Catholic News Service, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said that the position of the Democrat Party on abortion has “gotten worse” over time because Catholics within the party haven’t taken a strong moral stand and shown a willingness to abandon the Democrat Party. “I think many of the Democrats have [taken] Democrat Catholic votes for granted because they’ll go with them no matter what the party position might be on abortion,” Archbishop Chaput said. “That’s why the position of the Democrat Party has gotten worse, and worse, and...

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the November general election approaches, America’s Catholic bishops have been walking a fine line as they strive to avoid appearances of partisanship while at the same time they wage a high-profile battle against the Obama administration over religious freedom. Earlier this month, one of the leading lights in the U.S. episcopate insisted he “certainly” could not vote for Obama, while not specifically endorsing his Republic opponent Mitt Romney. Asked whether a Catholic could vote for Obama in good faith, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia replied: “I can only speak in terms of my...

Charles Chaput, whose blunt speech and strong leadership style made him both a celebrated and a controversial figure for almost fifteen years in Denver, was installed as the ninth Archbishop of Philadelphia on September 8, 2011. To say the very least, he’s had a tumultuous first year on the job. The very day Chaput arrived, he was informed that the archdiocese’s chief financial officer, Anita Guzzardi, had been suspended. She would later plead guilty to embezzling almost $1 million over a decade, to support a gambling addiction. The experience hinted at two constants Chaput has faced -- scandal and red...

In a homily delivered at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that brought the U.S. bishops' "fortnight for freedom" to a close, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput stressed that defending religious liberty is part of the bigger struggle to "convert our own hearts" and to "live for God completely." See here. This struggle to convert our own hearts and to live for God completely encompasses a battle against Satan and his demonic forces. Satan does not want the follower of Jesus to live in peace and harmony. He wants to seduce the followers of the Lord away...