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The Trinity: A Mystery for Eternity

By Carl E. Olson on Jun 10, 2022 05:00 am
Readings: • Prov 8:22-31 • Ps 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 • Rom 5:1-5 • Jn 16:12-15 The apologist and novelist Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) dryly noted, in an essay titled “The Dogma is the Drama,” that for [...]
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Prayer and Mortification: Liturgical Abnegation is Freedom

By David Fagerberg, Ph.D. on Jun 10, 2022 12:06 am
Prayer is not a matter of getting God to give us what we want, it is a method for making us want what God desires to give. That is, it is not a matter of [...]
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Ruth Institute’s 5th Annual Summit will address effects of the Sexual Revolution

By Jim Graves on Jun 09, 2022 10:58 pm
The Ruth Institute’s 5th Annual Summit for Survivors of the Sexual Revolution will be held Friday and Saturday, June 24-25, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It will feature speakers who have lived through – and escaped [...]
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How Latvia’s Christian churches use JPII’s natural law teaching to defend life and family

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 09, 2022 11:17 am
Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia (left), speaking during a Catholic conference in Warsaw in May 2022 on the natural law legacy of John Paul II (right.) / Photos by Lisa Johnston and L'Osservatore Romano

Warsaw, Poland, Jun 9, 2022 / 09:17 am (CNA).

Constant cooperation and dialogue among Catholic, Lutherans, Orthodox, and other Christian denominations have been crucial to protect life and family in the Baltic nation of Latvia, Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia, said during a recent Catholic conference in Warsaw.

Stankevičs spoke May 19 at the conference “St. John Paul II Natural Law Legacy,” organized by the Ave Maria School of Law and the Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw.

In his speech, Stankevičs shared his personal ecumenical experience in Latvia as an example of how the concept of natural law proposed by St. John Paul II can serve as the basis for ecumenical cooperation in defending human values.

The metropolitan archbishop, based in Latvia's capital, is no stranger to ecumenical work and thought. In 2001, he became the first bishop consecrated in a Lutheran church since the split from Protestantism in the 1500s. The unusual move, which occurred in the church of Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral in Riga, formerly the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, signaled the beginning of Stankevičs’ cooperation with the Lutheran church in Latvia, a cooperation that would ultimately become a partnership in the cause of life and the family. Since 2012, the archbishop has served on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity

“I would like to present this ecumenical cooperation in three experiences in my country: the abortion debate, the civil unions discussion, and the so-called Istanbul convention,” Stankevičs began. 

Entering the abortion debate

Ordained as a priest in 1996, Stankevičs struggled to find proper consultation for Catholic couples on natural family planning. It was then that he decided to create a small center that provided natural family planning under the motto “let us protect the miracle [of fertility].”

This involvement in the world of natural family planning would lead him into the heart of the abortion debate in Latvian society, and, ultimately, to the conclusion that moral discussions in the public square benefit from a basis in natural law, something emphasized in the teachings of John Paul II. 

“I knew that theological arguments would not work for a secular audience, so I wanted to show that Catholic arguments are not opposed to legal, scientific, and universal arguments, but rather are in harmony with them,” Stankevičs said. 

“[A] few years later our parliament introduced the discussion to legalize abortion. No one was doing anything so I decided to do something. I consulted some experts and presented a proposal that was published in the most important secular newspaper in Latvia,” the archbishop said.

Stankevičs' article, “Why I was Lucky,” used both biological and theological arguments to defend human life. He noted that his own mother, when pregnant with him, was under pressure to get an abortion; “but she was a believer, a Catholic, so she refused the pressure.” 

After the Latvian parliament legalized abortion in 2002, the different Christian confessions decided to start working together to protect the right to life and the family.  

In Latvia, Catholics comprise 25% of the population, Lutherans 34.2%, and Russian Orthodox 17%, with other smaller, mostly Christian denominations making up the remainder.

“We started to work together by the initiative of a businessman in Riga, a non-believer who wanted to promote awareness about the humanity of the unborn,” the archbishop recalled.

“Bringing all Christians together in a truly ecumenical effort ended up bearing good fruits because we worked together in promoting a culture of life: From more than 7,000 abortions per year in 2002, we were able to bring it down to 2,000 by 2020,” he said. 

Map of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Shutterstock
Map of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Shutterstock

Ecumenical defense of marriage, family

Regarding the legislation on civil unions, another area where Stankevičs has rallied ecumenical groups around natural law defense of marriage, the archbishop said that he has seen the tension surrounding LGBT issues mount in Latvian society as increased pressure is brought to bear to legalize same-sex unions. 

Invited to a debate on a popular Latvian television show called “One vs. One” after Pope Francis’ remark “who am I to judge?” was widely interpreted in Latvian society as approving homosexual unions, Stankevičs “had the opportunity to explain the teachings of the Catholic Church and what was the real meaning of the Holy Father’s words.” 

After that episode, in dialogue with other Christian leaders, Stankevičs proposed a law aimed at reducing political tensions in the country without jeopardizing the traditional concept of the family. 

The legislation proposed by the ecumenical group of Christians would have created binding regulations aimed at protecting any kind of common household; “for example, two old persons living together to help one another, or one old and one young person who decide to live together.” 

“The law would benefit any household, including homosexual couples, but would not affect the concept of [the] natural family,” Stankevičs explained. “Unfortunately the media manipulated my proposal, and the Agency France Presse presented me internationally as if I was in favor of gay marriage.”  

In 2020, the Constitutional Court in Latvia decided a case in favor of legalizing homosexual couples and ordered the parliament to pass legislation according to this decision.

In response, the Latvian Men’s Association started a campaign to introduce an amendment to the Latvian constitution, to clarify the concept of family. The Latvian constitution in 2005 proclaimed that marriage is only between a man and a woman, but left a legal void regarding the definition of family, which the court wanted to interpret to include homosexual unions. 

The Latvian bishops’ conference supported the amendment presented by the Men’s Association, “but most importantly,” Stankevičs explained, “we put together an ecumenical statement signed by the leaders of 10 different Christian denominations supporting the idea that the family should be based on the marriage between a man and a woman. The president of the Latvian Jewish community, a good friend, also joined the statement.” 

The Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia, honors soldiers who died during the Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920). Shutterstock
The Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia, honors soldiers who died during the Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920). Shutterstock

According to Stankevičs, something strange happened next. “The Minister of Justice created a committee to discuss the demand of the constitutional court, and it included several Christian representatives, including three from the Catholic Church, which worked for a year.” But ignoring all the discussions and proposals, the Minister of Justice ended up sending a proposal to parliament that was a full recognition of homosexual couples as marriage.

The response was also ecumenical: Christian leaders sent a letter encouraging the parliament to ignore the government’s proposal. 

According to Stankevičs, the proposal has already passed one round of votes “and it is very likely that it will be approved in a second round of votes, with the support of the New Conservative party. But we Christians continue to work together.”

Preventing gender ideology 

The third field of ecumenical cooperation mentioned by Stankevičs concerned the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty which the Latvian government signed but ultimately did not ratify.

The treaty was introduced as an international legal instrument that recognizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women. 

The convention claims to cover various forms of gender-based violence against women, but Christian communities in Latvia have criticized the heavy use of gender ideology in both the framing and the language of the document. 

The word “gender,” for instance, is defined as “the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men,” a definition that allows gender to be defined independent of biological sex and therefore opens the document to the question of whether it really is aimed at the protection of women. 

Christian communities also question the biased nature of the committee designated to enforce the convention. 

The governments of Slovakia and Bulgaria refused to ratify the convention, while Poland, Lithuania, and Croatia expressed reservations about the convention though it was ultimately ratified in those countries, a move the government of Poland is attempting to reverse. 

“When we found out that the Latvian parliament was going to ratify it, I went to the parliament and presented the common Christian position,” Stankevičs explained. As a consequence of that visit, the Latvian parliament decided not to ratify the convention, Stankevičs said, crediting the appeal to the unity provided by the common Christian position argued via natural law. 

“In conclusion,” the archbishop said, “I can say that in Latvia we continue to defend the true nature of life and family. But if we Catholics would act alone, we would not have the impact that we have as one Christian majority. That unity is the reason why the government takes us seriously.”

[...]
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A Double Persecution: The Witness of Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen

By Dr. R. Jared Staudt on Jun 09, 2022 03:03 am
If the Church is to continue to be Christ’s presence in the world, then part of that mission includes continuing his sacrifice. I recently wrote about the sacrificial witness of the priest in the face [...]
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End Roe—and then fight the primary cause of abortion

By Monica Migliorino Miller on Jun 09, 2022 12:33 am
“One third of all pregnancies in Detroit ends in abortion.” Such was the shocking May 22, 2014 headline of the Detroit News in huge black letters above the fold. The article reported on statistics for [...]
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Archbishop Cordileone ‘stood up for what’s right’ in actions toward Pelosi, Fresno bishop says

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 08, 2022 08:01 pm
Bishop Joseph V. Brennan of Fresno, California. / Screenshot of Diocese of Fresno YouTube video Denver Newsroom, Jun 8, 2022 / 18:01 pm (CNA). Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco was right to ask House Speaker Nancy Pelosi not t... [...]
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Halo full of sci-fi action, but also develops deeper themes

By Thomas P. Harmon on Jun 08, 2022 06:16 pm
Halo, now streaming on Paramount+, is full of fun—and mostly cartoonish—sci-fi action, but also manages to touch on more ambitious themes concerning transhumanism, the relationship between artificial intelligence and human beings, and the corruption of [...]
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FULL TEXT: Letter from Colorado bishops to Catholic lawmakers who backed abortion law

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 08, 2022 07:48 am
Aerial/Drone photograph of a sunset over the Colorado state capital building. Capital city of Denver. / Shutterstock Denver Newsroom, Jun 8, 2022 / 05:48 am (CNA). The bishops of Colorado on Tuesday issued an open letter asking Catholic lawmake... [...]
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Extra, extra! News and views for June 8, 2022

By CWR Staff on Jun 08, 2022 05:00 am
The Pride Flag – “St. Augustine calls pride the libido dominandi — the lust for domination — and he describes this as a spiritual disposition which is fundamentally disordering.” The Two Cities in June (Post Liberal [...]
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The Summer Reading List: A Ukrainian Primer

By George Weigel on Jun 08, 2022 03:04 am
Given the rubbish about Ukraine spewed out by Russian propaganda trolls and regurgitated by foolish or ideologically besotted Americans, this year’s annual Summer Reading List will focus on serious books that explain the background, including [...]
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The Two Cities is a remarkable, comprehensive history of the world

By Conor Dugan on Jun 07, 2022 11:45 pm
A common theme of many postliberal thinkers is that we are too often hemmed in by the boundaries and limits of contemporary thinking. As David Schindler, D.C. Schindler, Michael Hanby, Patrick Deneen, and others have [...]
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Can anything good come out of Hollywood?

By Carl E. Olson on Jun 07, 2022 09:58 pm
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Douglas Beaumont, about his book The Message Behind the Movie—Reboot: Engaging Film without Disengaging Faith (Ignatius Press, 2022). Douglas earned a Ph.D. in theology from North-West University and [...]
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Metropolitan Hilarion moved in Russian Orthodox Church shake-up

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 07, 2022 10:20 am
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev meets with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Dec. 22, 2021 / Vatican Media. London, England, Jun 7, 2022 / 08:20 am (CNA). Metropolitan Hilarion has been released from his position as the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief... [...]
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Dr. Ray Guarendi answers common questions about adoption

By Paul Senz on Jun 06, 2022 06:39 pm
The prospect of adoption is daunting, even frightening, to most people. There are so many unknowns and so many questions: Can we love a child like your own who isn’t your own flesh-and-blood? This child [...]
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Why this August’s extraordinary consistory of cardinals is significant

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 06, 2022 06:46 am
An ordinary public consistory at the Vatican on Oct. 20, 2014. / Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk. Vatican City, Jun 6, 2022 / 04:46 am (CNA). Under the Code of Canon Law, reformed in 1983, there are two types of consistories of cardinals: ordinary an... [...]
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Previously unknown document by Blessed Franz Jägerstätter discovered

By Michael J. Miller on Jun 06, 2022 12:00 am
The Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter (1907-1943) was executed by the occupying Nazi regime for his refusal to serve in the armed forces of the Third Reich. His conscientious objection was based on his deep Catholic [...]
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Dozens feared dead in attack on Catholic church in Nigeria

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 05, 2022 11:13 am
Breaking News / CNA Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 5, 2022 / 09:13 am (CNA). Gunmen have killed multiple worshipers Sunday at a Catholic Church in southwestern Nigeria, according to state officials.Dozens of people, including children, are beli... [...]
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On Pentecost and “Matters Not Dictated By the Holy Spirit”

By James V. Schall, S.J. on Jun 05, 2022 12:00 am
“Objection: The Scripture is plainly full of matters not dictated by the Holy Spirit. –Answer: Then they do not harm faith. Objection: But the Church has decided that all is of the Holy Spirit. Answer: [...]
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What is a Woman? reveals the deeper problems with transgenderism

By Nick Olszyk on Jun 04, 2022 02:33 pm
MPAA Rating: Not rated at the time of this review (for adults) CNS Rating: Not rated at the time of this review (for adults) Reel Rating: 4 out of 5 reels The title of this [...]
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Bishop of Kyiv after 100 days of war: ‘Please, let us not stop praying for Ukraine’ 

By Catholic News Agency on Jun 04, 2022 11:00 am
A young girl draws on the wall of a destroyed house in the village of Andriivka, Kyiv region, on June 3, 2022 on the 100th day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sergei Chuzavkov/AFP via Getty Images) / Sergei Chuzavkov/AFP via Getty Images Ro... [...]
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Pentecost Sunday: Three essential truths about the Holy Spirit

By Carl E. Olson on Jun 03, 2022 11:00 pm
Readings: • Acts 2:1-11 • Psa 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 • 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 • Jn 20:19-23 “Spirit and fire are united—a true miracle, air and fire are joined together—awesome sight!” So wrote [...]
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Matt Walsh’s film What is a Woman? is both valuable and incomplete

By Amy Welborn on Jun 03, 2022 05:40 pm
What is a Woman, a film from Matt Walsh and the conservative Daily Wire website, was released this week. The 90-minute collection of interviews and commentary on gender identity is well-produced, amusing, and frustrating. It’s [...]
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The place of grandparents in handing on the Faith

By Russell Shaw on Jun 03, 2022 03:33 pm
In one of the Wednesday audience talks he’s been giving on aging, Pope Francis declared what he called “the alliance of the generations” to be “indispensable.” “A society in which the elderly do not speak [...]
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