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South Dakota to create ‘Med Ed’ video to combat ‘abortion misinformation’

South Dakota's Governor Kristi Noem arrives to speak during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on Feb. 23, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. / Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 13:00 pm (CNA).

A prominent pro-life group is praising South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for signing a “Med Ed” bill that it says will mandate the creation of an informational video to combat “abortion misinformation.”

According to a March 25 statement by Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA), the South Dakota bill is the “first legislation of its kind drafted to end the confusion caused by the abortion lobby through direct education to doctors.”

Kelsey Pritchard, SBA state public affairs director, said in the statement that “though every state with a pro-life law allows pregnant women to receive emergency care, the abortion industry has sown confusion on this fact to justify their position of abortion without limits.”

“With many in the media refusing to fact-check this obvious lie, other states should look to South Dakota in combating dangerous abortion misinformation,” she said.

The bill, passed overwhelmingly by the Republican-controlled legislature, was signed into law by Noem, who is also a Republican, on Monday. Introduced by state Rep. Taylor Rehfeldt, who is a nurse, the bill requires the South Dakota Department of Health to create an informational video describing the state’s abortion law and clarifying when “life-threatening or health-threatening” exceptions apply.

Now that the bill has been passed into law the Department of Health has until Sept. 1 to create the video and accompanying informational materials. The video and materials will be posted to the Department of Health’s website for doctors and the public to use as a reference in understanding the state’s abortion laws.

South Dakota is one of 14 states that prohibit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. While some states allow exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and fetal anomaly, South Dakota only makes exceptions in cases where the mother’s life or health is in danger.

The ACLU of South Dakota decried the bill when it passed out of committee, saying in a Feb. 28 statement that it “gives anti-abortion activists a guise to appear to care about pregnant patients while actually passing legislation that further enshrines anti-abortion cruelty.”

Pritchard, however, said that the new informational material will help to clear up confusion on when the exception allows an abortion to take place in the state.

“Regardless of political affiliation or whether someone is pro-life or pro-choice, South Dakotans of all philosophies can celebrate that moms will be better protected through direct education to our doctors on their ability to exercise reasonable medical judgment in all situations,” she said.

According to SBA, Kentucky and Oklahoma have also taken steps to clarify their abortion exceptions and the Texas Medical Board is currently considering issuing a clarification to its life of the mother exception.

Easter holiday is canceled then restored in heavily Christian Indian state

St. Paul's Church, in Imphal, capital of Manipur state, after the church was set on fire in 2023. / Credit: Anto Akkara

Bangalore, India, Mar 28, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

After Indian officials’ announcement that Easter Sunday would be a “working day” this year was met with widespread protests from Christians, the governor of the state of Manipur in northeast India issued a statement reestablishing the annual holiday.

The March 28 reversal by the Manipur government, which is led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came within 24 hours after Manipur Gov. Anusuiya Uikey canceled the Easter holiday.

“In partial modification of the government order … dated 27th March, 2024, the governor of Manipur is pleased to declare that only the 30th March 2024 [Saturday] will be working day for all government offices,” the order read.

The previous day the government had announced that “the governor of Manipur is pleased to declare 30th [Saturday] and 31st [Sunday] March 2024 as working days for all government offices.”

Christians account for nearly half of Manipur’s population of 3.7 million. 

Archbishop Linus Neli, who heads the 100,000-strong Catholic Church in the state, told CNA that the Church had protested the cancellations of the Easter holiday to government officials. 

“We are storming the competent authority, awaiting reply,” Neli said.

A half an hour later, the archbishop shared with CNA the government’s “revised order regarding [Easter] working day.”

Tribal dancers waiting their turn at the celebration following the installation Mass of the new archbishop of Imphal Archdiocese, Linus Neli. Credit: Anto Akkara
Tribal dancers waiting their turn at the celebration following the installation Mass of the new archbishop of Imphal Archdiocese, Linus Neli. Credit: Anto Akkara

Prior to that, several Christian groups including those in Manipur had called for the cancellation of the order that stunned the Christians across the country.

“The decision to declare these sacred days as regular working days is not only insensitive but also disrespectful towards the religious sentiments of the significant portion of the population in Manipur,” lamented the Senapati District Catholic Union of Manipur in its condemnation of the governor’s order on the morning of March 28.

Of the 3.7 million Christians in Manipur state, 26% are ethnic Naga tribals, 16% are members of Kuki tribes, and more than 10% of the nearly 2 million Meiteis have also embraced the Christian faith in Manipur.

“By compelling government offices to operate on these holy days, the order not only disregards the religious rights of the Christian community but also fails to recognize the cultural diversity and religious pluralism that should be upheld and respected in democratic society,” the Senapati district Catholic forum pointed out.

“Height of insanity of the Manipur government,” a Christian pastor from Manipur who runs a theological college outside Manipur told CNA.

“What is happening is Manipur is nothing new,” John Dayal, an outspoken Catholic columnist and activist, told CNA.

“The BJP governments both at the national level and in several states had tried to insult and tinker with Christian holy days like Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter several times in the past,” Dayal pointed out.

“In 2002, I moved the Delhi High Court successfully against the bid to make Good Friday and Easter Sunday ‘working days’ against the Atal Behari Vajpayee [who was the BJP prime minister then],” said Dayal, a former member of the National Integration Council headed by the prime minister.

“This Manipur move is keeping with [Prime Minister] Modi’s consistent scheme to whittle away rights of Christianity and Islam in new ‘Bharat.’” (Bharat is the new name the Hindu nationalist BJP has proposed for India).

Since May 2023, Manipur has seen a protracted violent clash between the majority Meiteis, most of them Hindus, and the minority Kukis (all of them Christians) that has left more than 230 dead by the official conservative death toll. Over 50,000 Kuki Christians have been chased out from the Imphal valley along with over 10,000 Meiteis who were driven out from Kuki strongholds.

Amid the violence, over 600 churches have also been destroyed. The majority of them were Kuki, but 250 Meiti Christian churches were destroyed as well in what is seen as an attempt to stop Meiteis from embracing the Christian faith. 

Meanwhile, in another piece of good news for the Christian community, Carmelite Sister Mercy, who had been arrested on a charge of “abetting the suicide” of a sixth-grade girl at the Carmel School in Ambikapur in central Chattisgarh state, was released on bail on March 28 by the trial court.

The girl student committed suicide at home after the nun had questioned her and two other girls for being together in the bathroom for a long period of time. After other students complained to the nun, she asked the girls to bring the parents to school the next day.

Following the suicide of the girl, Hindu nationalist organizations promptly organized a huge crowd to march to the school. Police were brought in and arrested the nun the next morning. Although the large crowd tried to storm the school on Feb. 8, police prevented an arson attack.

Trump’s Bible peddling: welcome message or ‘misunderstanding’ about the faith?

Trump announced his Bible project on social media during Holy Week, saying he partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood on the initiative. / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN News Nightly

CNA Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s message touting a patriotically-themed King James Bible is seen as either a welcome, “heartfelt” religious exhortation or a “potentially dangerous misunderstanding” about the Christian faith, according to several Catholic observers.

Trump announced his Bible project on social media during Holy Week, saying he partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood on the initiative. Greenwood’s 1984 song “God Bless the USA” is traditionally played before Trump’s campaign rally and event speeches.

In addition to the sacred Scriptures, the “God Bless the USA Bible” includes the Constitution of the United States and the country’s Declaration of Independence as well as the lyrics to Greenwood’s hit song.

“Our Founding Fathers did a tremendous thing when they built America on Judeo-Christian values. Now that foundation is under attack, perhaps as never before,” Trump declared. He went on to exhort Americans to “pray that God will bless America again.”

“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country,” Trump stated. “It’s one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire.”

“This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back to America and to make America great again is our religion,” he repeated.

Needed and ‘heartfelt’ message

“We need more politicians promoting the Bible and our founding principles,” commented Brent Bozell, founder of the Media Research Center and author of “Stops Along the Way: A Catholic Soul, a Conservative Heart, an Irish Temper, and a Love of Life.”

“Good for Donald Trump actually promoting religion,” he added.

CatholicVote President Brian Burch seconded Bozell, saying: “It’s refreshing to hear a presidential candidate talk this way.”

In contrast, Burch said, the administration of incumbent President Joe Biden “has put our churches under surveillance, refused to prosecute violence against our churches, and decimated religious freedom protections.”

For his part, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told CNA he also welcomed the message. 

“His belief in God, his belief in the importance of Christianity, going to the core of his message [of] the intertwining of religion and the fate of this country — are all heartfelt,” Roberts said. 

“I think it’s important we not overthink this, or over-scrutinize it, but to see it for what it is, which is a great witness by a political leader who has not always spoken about his faith,” he said.

Roberts argued that critics of Trump could learn from the parable of the prodigal son. “When any man or woman maybe has not been the greatest witness of God’s truth decides that he or she wants to speak up, let’s welcome him or her with open arms,” he said.

‘Potentially dangerous misunderstanding’

Bradley Gregory, an associate professor of biblical studies at Catholic University of America (CUA), on the other hand, argued that Trump’s Bible marketing “reflects a basic, potentially dangerous misunderstanding of how our Christian faith should relate to our politics.” 

Gregory, who also serves as associate dean for graduate studies at CUA’s School of Theology and Religious Studies, said that it’s “often underappreciated just how much our understanding of Scripture is affected by what we ‘pair’ with it, either mentally or in this case physically within the same book.” 

“Whenever Scripture and something political are implied to be on the same level, even subconsciously, it makes it that much harder for the Church to see and challenge things that might be in conflict with the Gospel,” Gregory said. 

“And worse, one of the sad patterns of Church history is that when Christians do this and invest political causes with a kind of religious devotion, compromises that betray the heart of the Gospel are usually not far behind,” he said.

Roberts noted that for Catholics, Trump’s promotion of the King James Bible left something to be desired. That version has traditionally been used by Anglicans and other Protestant denominations; it is distinct from the version of the Bible approved by the Catholic Church, which in the U.S. includes the New American Bible among other approved translations.

“It’d be nice if [the God Bless the USA] Bible had all the books in it,” Roberts said. “As a serious Catholic, I’m going to read one version of the Bible,” he said. “The entire Bible. It’s not going to have anything additional in it."

Matthew Bunson, vice president of EWTN News, made similar observations in an interview on the subject with “EWTN News Nightly” anchor Tracy Sabol on Wednesday.

Trump is tapping, Bunson said, "into what is a wider concern in the United States for decline in religiosity, a decline, as he puts it, in prayer,” he continued. “It’s captured all, I think, by the phrase that he uses in his social media blasts [Wednesday], that he wants to ‘make America pray again.’”

Bunson’s full interview with Sabol can be viewed below.

New Hampshire legislators reconsider ‘medical aid in dying’ legislation

The state capitol building of New Hampshire in Concord, New Hampshire. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Baltimore, Md., Mar 28, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).

The New Hampshire House of Representatives is poised to reconsider its narrow passage of a bill that would legalize assisted suicide in the “Live Free or Die” state.

Last week, New Hampshire state representatives passed HB 1273 by a margin of just three votes, 179-176. Twenty-four representatives abstained during the vote. However, the bill has not been advanced to the New Hampshire Senate, as one member of the slim majority, Rep. Mike Ouellet, filed a motion to reconsider. 

The Republican politician had initially voted in favor of the proposed law. However, the following day, Ouellet revealed that he wanted to change his vote due to his faith.

“I’ve been a practicing Catholic my whole life,” the lawmaker told the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism. The Republican politician felt “torn because the bill would conflict with his faith.”

HB 1273 has nine co-sponsors in the lower house (six Democrats and three Republicans) but only one co-sponsor (Debra Altschiller, a Democrat) in the state Senate.

The measure would allow health care providers to “provide a prescription for medical-assistance-in-dying medications to an individual” after determining that individuals have “mental capacity; terminal condition; [a] prognosis of six months or less, or is enrolled in Medicare-certified hospice; voluntarily made the request for medical assistance in dying; and the ability to self-administer the medical assistance in dying medications.”

If the New Hampshire House of Representatives confirms the vote in favor of HB 1273, the state Senate will then take up the bill. The upper chamber is comprised of 24 members (14 Republicans and 10 Democrats); but since the 179-176 vote in the lower house was not along party lines, it is unclear how the Senate would line up on the controversial issue.

Whither Sununu?

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has also not disclosed whether he supports or opposes HB 1273. The Republican politician, who decided not to run for reelection in 2024, has both Catholic and Greek Orthodox ancestry. He was sworn in on a Greek Orthodox Bible that belonged to his great-great-grandfather. 

However, in a March 10 interview with Manchester-based WMUR-TV, Sununu expressed that he was open to considering the proposed law: “I don’t want to say it’s absolutely dead on arrival.” 

New Hampshire would join neighboring Maine and Vermont if HB 1273 passes the state Senate and is signed into law by the governor. It would also become the 11th state to legalize physician-assisted suicide.

The Diocese of Manchester, which takes up the entire state of New Hampshire, has rallied opposition to the bill. Bishop Peter Libasci issued a document on end-of-life issues in April 2022, mere months before the introduction of the legislation.

Rationale for opposition to bill

The document, titled “Three Beliefs: A Guide for New Hampshire Catholics on End-of-Life Decisions,” indicated that the faithful “should avoid the opposite extremes of the deliberate hastening of death on the one hand and the overzealous use of treatment or care to artificially extend life and prolong the dying process on the other.”

The diocesan guide also made it clear that “assisted suicide (or ‘euthanasia’) is a grave evil. It is always morally wrong. In the Catholic view, there is never a situation where it is right to either assist in someone else’s suicide or to arrange for it on one’s own behalf.”

An update on the Manchester Diocese’s “Catholic Citizenship News” website, posted after the House’s initial vote, disclosed that “the diocese is working alongside the NH Coalition for Suicide Prevention, a diverse group that includes health care providers, veterans, and people with disabilities and their advocates. The Church teaches that suicide is always a tragedy and that a caring community should respond with hospice and palliative care to better meet the needs of those facing the end of life.”

130,000 oppose leftist government’s attempt to change meaning of Spain civil war monument

A monumental cross towers above the Valley of the Fallen complex. / Credit: Wikimedia Commons

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 10:30 am (CNA).

The Association for Reconciliation and Historical Truth has garnered more than 130,000 signatures on a petition calling for the Madrid regional government to protect the Valley of the Fallen as an asset of cultural interest (BIC, by its Spanish acronym) in opposition to the socialist government’s plans to desacralize and reconfigure the area’s historical significance.

In the petition, which is posted in Spanish on HazteOir’s web portal, the petition’s promoters explain that “the social-communist government has put the machinery in motion to destroy the Valley of the Fallen and transform it into a “museum” of horrors by rewriting history with falsehoods, blaming one side for all the evils [of the 1936–1939 Spanish Civil War] and hiding the crimes of the other.”

Two years ago, the Madrid regional government, headed by President Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the People’s Party, refused to declare the area as a BIC on the basis that the regional Heritage Law prevented it. “After updating the Heritage Law and running out of excuses, she’s still not keeping her word,” the association charges.

The Valley of the Fallen is a monumental complex that has previously been designated as a national heritage site. It was built in the Madrid mountains after the Spanish Civil War with the intention of serving as a center for reconciliation and for the interment of combatants from both sides of the conflict.

The complex has an underground basilica in which thousands of combatants from both sides are buried. Above it stands the largest cross in the world certified by the Guinness Book of Records at 500 feet tall. In the surroundings, a monumental Way of the Cross was built, almost three miles long with about 2,300 steps that ends at the basilica.

Next to it, a community of Benedictine monks from the Monastery of St. Dominic of Silos was established.

Pope Pius XII erected the monastery as an abbey in 1958, the only one in the 20th century to not have been previously designated a priory. In 1960, Pope John XXIII raised the abbey’s church to a minor basilica.

Initially, a social studies center was established on the grounds, which functioned from 1958 to 1982. The abbey runs a hostel and the Holy Cross Choral School, where about 30 boys are educated.

Currently, the Valley of the Fallen is in disrepair due to inadequate maintenance by the government’s national heritage agency. Since 2019, the government has announced plans to eliminate the Holy Cross Valley of the Fallen Foundation, an institution created at the time of the monument’s construction, and create in its place a new legal framework.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis asks priests to weep over their sins

Pope Francis presides at the Vatican's chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Mar 28, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).

On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis presided over a chrism Mass at which more than 1,880 priests, bishops, and cardinals renewed the promises made at their ordinations.

Pope Francis encouraged the priests to turn their gaze upon the crucified Lord and to weep over their sins in repentance, saying that tears can “purify and heal the heart.”

“Once we recognize our sin, our hearts can be opened to the working of the Holy Spirit, the source of living water that wells up within us and brings tears to our eyes,” Francis said on March 28.

Pope Francis speaks at the Vatican's chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Pope Francis speaks at the Vatican's chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

“The Lord seeks, especially in those consecrated to him, men and women who weep for the sins of the Church and the world and become intercessors on behalf of all,” he added.

Forty-two cardinals, 42 bishops, and 1,800 priests living in Rome concelebrated the Mass with the pope in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Holy Thursday marks the institution of the Eucharist and institution of the sacrament of the priesthood at the Last Supper. Pope Francis will also preside over a Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening at a women’s prison in Rome.

The 87-year-old pope arrived in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday morning in a wheelchair. Before giving his more than 20-minute homily, the pope took a sip of water and put on his reading glasses.

Pope Francis reflected in his homily on Peter’s tears after denying the Lord three times as recorded in the Gospel of Luke: “Peter remembered the word of the Lord … and went out and wept bitterly.”

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis presides at the altar during the Vatican's chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis presides at the altar during the Vatican's chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

“Dear brother priests, the healing of the heart of Peter, the healing of the apostle, the healing of the pastor, came about when, grief-stricken and repentant, he allowed himself to be forgiven by Jesus. That healing took place amid tears, bitter weeping, and the sorrow that leads to renewed love,” he said.

Compunction

Pope Francis said that he wanted to speak to the priests about the importance of compunction — an awareness of guilt due to sin — which the pope admitted is a “somewhat old-fashioned” term and “an aspect of the spiritual life that has been somewhat neglected, yet remains essential.”

The pope added that compunction “is not a sense of guilt that makes us discouraged or obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial ‘piercing’ that purifies and heals the heart.”

“Compunction demands effort but bestows peace. It is not a source of anxiety but of healing for the soul, since it acts as a balm upon the wounds of sin, preparing us to receive the caress of the heavenly physician, who transforms the ‘broken, contrite heart,’” Pope Francis said.

Clergy assembled at the Vatican's Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Clergy assembled at the Vatican's Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

The pope said that through compunction “the natural tendency to be indulgent with ourselves and inflexible with others is overturned and, by God’s grace, we become strict with ourselves and merciful toward others.”

“Weeping for ourselves … means seriously repenting for saddening God by our sins … It means looking within and repenting of our ingratitude and inconstancy, and acknowledging with sorrow our duplicity, dishonesty, and hypocrisy — clerical hypocrisy, dear brothers, that hypocrisy which we slip into so much — beware of clerical hypocrisy,” Francis said.

“How greatly we need to be set free from harshness and recrimination, selfishness and ambition, rigidity and frustration, in order to entrust ourselves completely to God and to find in him the calm that shields us from the storms raging all around us,” he added.

“Let us pray, intercede, and shed tears for others; in this way, we will allow the Lord to work his miracles. And let us not fear, for he will surely surprise us.”

During the Vatican’s chrism Mass, the pope, as the bishop of Rome, blessed the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens, and the chrism oil, which will be used in the diocese during the coming year. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis served as the celebrant at the altar.

The oils were processed up the main altar of St. Peter’s in large silver urns as the hymns of the Sistine Chapel Choir filled the basilica.

Urns of oil are displayed at the Vatican's Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Urns of oil are displayed at the Vatican's Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Pope Francis prayed over the oil of the sick: “O God, Father of all consolation, who through your Son have willed to heal the infirmities of the sick, listen favorably to this prayer of faith: Send down from heaven, we pray, your Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, upon the rich substance of this oil, which you were pleased to bring forth from vigorous green trees to restore our bodies, so that by your holy blessing this oil may be for anyone who is anointed with it a safeguard for body, mind, and spirit, to take away every pain, every infirmity, and every sickness.”

The blessed oil will be used for the anointing of the sick in Rome throughout the year.

Pope Francis thanked the priests gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica for all they do to bring “the miracle of God’s mercy” to the world today.  

“Dear priests, thank you for your open and docile hearts; thank you for your labors and thank you for your tears; thank you because you bring the miracle of mercy … you bring God to the brothers and sisters of our time,” he said. “Dear priests, may the Lord console you, confirm you, and reward you.”

Watch the full Mass here:

ACLU sues Ohio over law banning transgender treatments for minors

null / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a lawsuit against the state of Ohio that challenges the constitutionality of the statewide ban on doctors providing sex change drugs and operations to children.

In a lawsuit filed in the Court of Common Pleas for Franklin County, the ACLU alleges that the state’s prohibition on minors receiving transgender drugs and surgeries violates several parts of the Ohio Constitution, including the health care provision and the equal protection clause. It seeks to overturn the statewide restrictions that would otherwise go into effect on April 24 and asks the court to declare the law unconstitutional. 

The ACLU is further challenging another provision of the law that requires that only biological girls can participate in high school and college female athletics. The ACLU claims the rules are discriminatory against youths who identify as transgender.

“The ban on gender-affirming care will cause severe harm to transgender youth,” Freda Levenson, the legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement

“These personal, private medical decisions should remain between families and doctors; they don’t belong to politicians,” Levenson said. “[This law] violates the Ohio Constitution in multiple ways. We will fight in court to ensure that trans youth and their parents can access critically important, lifesaving health care without government intrusion.”

The law was enacted on Jan. 24 of this year when Republican lawmakers voted to override a veto from fellow Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, another Republican, indicated that he will defend the state law in court. 

“We protect children with various restrictions that do not apply to adults — from signing legal contracts to buying alcohol and tobacco and more,” Yost said in a post on X, formerly called Twitter. 

“As I promised during the veto override, my office will defend this constitutional statute,” Yost added.

The law prohibits doctors from removing a child’s genitals or performing surgery to sterilize the child if those surgeries are intended to facilitate a sex change. It also prohibits doctors from removing healthy female breasts or altering the child’s genitals, chest, or any other part of the body to make them appear like that of the opposite sex. 

Under the law, doctors could also not provide puberty-blocking drugs or any other drugs or hormone treatments that are meant to facilitate a gender transition in children.

What the lawsuit argues

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two families who have children who identify as transgender as plaintiffs, states that “gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition” and claims that the law “prohibits the use of well-established treatments for gender dysphoria in transgender adolescents.” 

“Withholding gender-affirming medical treatment from adolescents with gender dysphoria when it is medically indicated puts them at risk of severe and irreversible harm to their health and well-being,” the lawsuit argues.

The lawsuit claims that the law violates the health care provision in Article 1, Section 21 of the Ohio Constitution, which states “no federal, state, or local law or rule shall prohibit the purchase or sale of health care or health insurance.” It also alleges that the law violates the equal protection clause in the state’s constitution, which declares that “all political power is inherent in the people [and] government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit.”

The lawsuit further alleges that the law violates the due process rights of the parents because it prevents them from providing certain medical care to their children in violation of their rights. 

“By preventing Ohio physicians from prescribing medication to treat gender dysphoria in adolescents, the health care ban poses an enormous threat to transgender adolescents and their families, now and in the future,” the lawsuit claims.

The ACLU is asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order, which would prevent the law from going into effect while the court considers arguments about the constitutionality of the legislation.

5 tips for evangelizing on social media

Based on his extensive apostolate on the internet, Dominican friar Nelson Medina offers several tips. / Credit: Shutterstock

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Friar Nelson Medina, a Dominican known for his extensive apostolate on the internet, offered five tips for Catholics to do a better job evangelizing on social media.

The Colombian priest, who holds a doctorate in fundamental theology, shared the following recommendations with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

Dominican friar Nelson Medina uses social media as part of his apostolate.
Dominican friar Nelson Medina uses social media as part of his apostolate.

1. Practice gratitude.

“Consider it a privilege and a great opportunity to use these new means of communication to bear witness and reach many people,” Medina said, encouraging the faithful to be grateful.

2. God doesn’t need a perfect façade.

The Dominican also encouraged internet evangelists to avoid “the temptation to present your life or person as if you never had problems, because the people you are addressing certainly do.”

3. Be aware of your responsibility.

Medina also pointed out that anyone presenting himself or herself as a Catholic evangelizing on social media “somehow represents the body of Christ.”

“Consequently, the immense price of his blood is at stake in everything we do with our social media,” he emphasized.

Consequently,  the Colombian priest stressed: “Stay faithful to the sound doctrine and morality of the Church.”

4. Don’t give too much importance to haters or trolls.

“You may encounter ridicule or attacks. In such cases we must remember that Christ told us that this was going to happen,” Medina noted.

So, “we shouldn’t give it utmost importance but rather handle the situation with the tools that social media itself gives us and move on,” he said.

5. Always nourish your personal life as a Catholic.

“Remember that nothing can replace the life of prayer, the sacraments, and belonging to a real community of people like yourself who are on their journey to the Lord,” he concluded.

This story was first publishedby ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Singing this song on Holy Thursday can purify your soul

null / Sidney de Almeida / Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Did you know that it is possible to sing a special song of adoration on Holy Thursday and have your soul purified?

It’s true, and the song is “Tantum Ergo.”

First, some background...

A plenary indulgence is a grace granted by the Catholic Church through the merits of Jesus Christ to remove all temporal punishment due to sin.

What does this mean?

“An indulgence does not confer grace. An indulgence is not a remission of the guilt due to sin. The guilt due to sin is ordinarily taken away by the sacraments of baptism and penance (confession), in which we receive forgiveness for sins through Jesus Christ,” the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains in this helpful Q&A.

“Although guilt is taken away, and with it the eternal penalty that is due to sin, namely, damnation, the eternal loss of the presence of God, there remain consequences for sins that those who have committed them must bear. There is what is traditionally called the temporal punishment for sin.”

What is temporal punishment?

As the USCCB explains: “Every sinful act creates a disorder within the soul of the human person; it distorts our desires and affections, leaving us with ‘an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth or after death in the state called purgatory.’”

For this reason, the USCCB continues: “Those who have received forgiveness for their sins still have an obligation to undergo a difficult and painful process (the temporal penalty for sin) to be purified of the consequences of their sins and to restore the disrupted relationships.”

Through a plenary indulgence, we can be spared this purification process. As the USCCB explains it: “By God’s grace, participation in a prayer or action that has an indulgence attached to it brings about the necessary restoration and reparation without the suffering that would normally accompany it.”

On Holy Thursday, you can receive this special gift, resulting in the purification of your soul, by singing the “Tantum Ergo.” If you aren’t familiar with this beautiful hymn, watch this short video.

The “Tantum Ergo” is the last two verses of “Pange Lingua,” a Latin hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas. “Tantum Ergo” is short for the first words of the hymn’s second-to-last verse, “Tantum ergo Sacramentum,” which in Latin simply means “Therefore, so greatly the Sacrament.”

These magnificent verses are an expression of adoration of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. For this reason, it is usually sung before the benediction when the priest blesses those gathered with the monstrance. 

After Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the faithful are invited to participate in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the night. This represents the disciples who were invited to stay up throughout the night with the Lord during his agony in the garden before his betrayal by Judas. Singing the “Tantum Ergo” at this time is how you obtain the plenary indulgence.

As always the case with plenary indulgences, certain conditions must be satisfied to receive the grace. According to the USCCB, these conditions are: sacramental confession, reception of holy Communion; prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father; and complete detachment from all sin, even venial sin.

The first three conditions (confession, Communion, and prayers for the pope’s intentions) can be fulfilled a few days before or after performing the works to gain the indulgence (in this case, singing the “Tantum Ergo” during adoration), but it is appropriate that Communion and the prayer take place on the same day that the work is completed.

Here are words to the “Tantum Ergo”:

Tantum ergo Sacramentum

Veneremur cernui:

Et antiquum documentum

Novo cedat ritui:

Praestet fides supplementum

Sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque

Laus et iubilatio,

Salus, honor, virtus quoque

Sit et benedictio

Procedenti ab utroque

Compar sit laudatio.

Amen.

And here’s the English version:

Down in adoration falling,
Lo! the sacred Host we hail,
Lo! oe’r ancient forms departing
Newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying,
Where the feeble senses fail.

To the everlasting Father,
And the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Spirit proceeding
Forth from each eternally,
Be salvation, honor, blessing,
Might and endless majesty.
Amen.

This story was originally posted on CNA on April 13, 2022, and has been updated.

What is the ‘sacred triduum’? A CNA explainer

A stripped altar on Holy Thursday 2015 at Mater Dei Parish in Irving, Texas. / Credit: Mater Dei Latin Mass parish via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Denver, Colo., Mar 28, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).

At the end of the season of Lent — and right before Easter — the Catholic Church observes the “sacred triduum.” Many Catholics have questions about what happens during the Triduum and how they should observe this time.

What is the triduum?

The triduum is a period that begins on Holy Thursday and ends at the conclusion of Easter Sunday.

It encompasses the evening of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.

The term “triduum” means “three days” and refers to any three-day observance. Technically, the triduum during Holy Week is known as the “paschal triduum” or “Easter triduum.”

The word “paschal,” which is used to refer to Easter, comes from the Greek word “pascha,” which comes from the Hebrew word “pesach,” which means Passover. Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection, which is connected theologically to the Passover feast, is referred to as the paschal mystery.

What happens on Holy Thursday?

On the evening of Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, which commemorates Christ’s Passover meal with his apostles the night before he died. The Mass of the Lord’s Supper most especially remembers the institution of the Eucharist — the sacramental gift to the Church of Christ’s body and blood, given in the transformation of bread and wine.

Often, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the priest washes the feet of some members of the congregation, recalling Christ’s washing of feet at the Last Supper. “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do,” Christ told his apostles.

Why is it called ‘Maundy Thursday?’

Holy Thursday is sometimes called “Maundy Thursday.” The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word “mandatum,” which means mandate.

On Maundy Thursday, Christ gave us a mandate: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

Is Holy Thursday a holy day of obligation?

No. And people may not be able to attend the Mass of the Lord’s Supper for a variety of reasons: their family needs, work schedule, or health. But it’s a beautiful Mass. You should go if you can!

Is there Mass on Good Friday?

No, there’s no Mass on Good Friday.

In fact, after Mass on Holy Thursday, the altar is stripped of its cloth. Crosses are removed from the Church or covered. No candles burn in the church.

The Blessed Sacrament is not reposed in the church’s tabernacle but in another small chapel.

On Good Friday, the church is empty of many of its symbols. It is adorned like a church in mourning. And, at 3 p.m., the Church offers the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion.

At this celebration, Scripture is read that recounts the prophetic anticipation of Christ’s passion and recounts the passion narrative itself. Communion is distributed. Believers are invited to venerate the cross — to come forward and kiss or reverence a cross.

“Behold the wood of the cross,” the priest proclaims.

I know that Good Friday is a solemn day, but what should we do all day?

Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstaining from meat. You can read more about that here.

On Good Friday, families should try to observe a quiet day of simplicity in addition to attending the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion.

This might mean praying the rosary together or reading Scripture together. It might mean keeping the TV off or going for a family hike. The idea is that it should be a day of reflection and should be noticeably different from other days of the year.

If you haven’t yet gone to confession during Lent, Good Friday is also an excellent day to go to confession — and take your family.

What does one do on Holy Saturday?

The culmination of Holy Saturday is the Easter Vigil. But it’s a long day, and people often ask what they should do with the rest of it.

Many families use Holy Saturday as a day for spring cleaning or garden planting. Some spend the day outdoors, and some spend the day preparing for an Easter feast. All the better if Holy Saturday is a day of prayer.

And some people dye Easter eggs!

And the Easter Vigil?

The Easter Vigil is one of the most beautiful liturgies in the Church’s calendar. It is spectacular and full of beautiful Catholic symbolism.

The vigil begins at night. It starts with a fire, which is blessed, and from which is lit the paschal candle. The whole of salvation history is proclaimed during the readings.

A beautiful Easter proclamation, called the Exsultet, is sung, usually by a deacon. (Done well, this is, in my humble opinion, one of the most beautiful things the Church does in a liturgy.) Men and women are welcomed into the Church: Some will be baptized and confirmed, and others, already baptized, will receive confirmation.

The Easter Vigil is awesome. Fair warning: It’s also long. And a lot of readings take place with the lights off. Some parents decide it is too much for children, while others bring their kids in pajamas and let them sleep in the pews. At the Easter Vigil, that’s perfectly understandable. A scan of your local parish church suggests that kids aren’t the only ones who sometimes fall asleep during the readings. It’s all part of the experience.

So, after that ends, is it Easter?

It sure is. If you go to the Easter Vigil, you may want to stay up and celebrate. The Lord’s resurrection is what Easter is all about. Some people will, of course, go to Easter Sunday Mass and then spend the day feasting with family and friends.

One piece of advice for celebrating Easter: Remember the poor, the lonely, the outcasts. If you really want to celebrate Easter, invite someone to your table who might have nowhere else to go. You’ll be glad you did.

And then Easter is over?

The triduum ends on the evening of Easter Sunday. But the “octave” of Easter lasts for eight days. And the liturgical season of Easter lasts for 50 days, all the way to Pentecost.

What does this mean? It means it’ll soon be time to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Get ready for it!

This article was first published in April 2016 and has been updated.