2024-04-19-eEdition

PAGE 2 THE CATHOLIC WEEK APRIL 19, 2024 reflects the gravity and central- ity of the theme of dignity in Christian thought." The title of the document is taken from an Angelus address St. John Paul II gave in Ger- many in 1980 during a meeting with people with disabilities. He told them, "With Jesus Christ, God has shown us in an unsurpassed way how he loves each human being and thereby bestows upon him infinite dignity." The document is dated, "2 April 2024, the nineteenth an- niversary of the death of Pope St. John Paul II." Cardinal Fernandez said initially the dicastery was going to call the document "Beyond all Circumstances," which is an affirmation by Pope Francis of how human dignity is not less- ened by one's state of develop- ment or where he or she is born or the resources or talents one has or what one has done. Instead, he said, they chose the comment St. John Paul had made. The declaration noted that the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World also listed attacks on human dignity as ranging from abor- tion and euthanasia to "subhu- man living conditions" and "de- grading working conditions." Members of the doctrinal dicastery included the death penalty among violations of "the inalienable dignity of every person, regardless of the cir- cumstances" and called for the respect of the dignity of people who are incarcerated. The declaration denounced discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and particularly situations in which people are "imprisoned, tortured and even deprived of the good of life solely because of their sexual orientation." But it also condemned "gender theory" as "extremely dangerous since it cancels dif- ferences in its claim to make everyone equal." Gender theory, it said, tries "to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference." The Catholic Church, the declaration said, teaches that "human life in all its dimen- sions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God.This gift is to be accepted with gratitude and placed at the service of the good." Quoting Pope Francis' exhortation "Amoris Laetitia," the declaration said gender ide- ology "envisages a society with- out sexual differences, thereby eliminating the anthropological The Catholic Week APRIL 19, 2024 Volume 90, Number 08 Official Publication of the Archdiocese of Mobile Published since 1934 The Catholic Week (USPS 094-660) is published bi-weekly by the Archdiocese of Mobile 356 Government Street Mobile, AL 36602 Periodical Postage Paid at Mobile, Alabama —POSTMASTER— Send address changes to: The Catholic Week, PO Box 349, Mobile, AL 36601 Mobile P.S. Form 3541-N —PUBLISHER— Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi —EDITOR— Robert W. Herbst 251-434-1544 rherbst@mobarch.org —PRODUCTION— Pamela C. Wheeler 251-434-1545 tcw@mobarch.org —ADVERTISING— Claudia T. Sims 251-434-1543 csims@mobarch.org —OFFICE HOURS— 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday —PHONE NUMBERS— 251-432-3529 FAX: 251-434-1547 —OFFICE ADDRESS— 356 Government Street Mobile, Alabama —MAILING ADDRESS— PO Box 349 • Mobile AL 36601 —WEBSITE— mobarch.org/thecatholicweek —ONLINE EDITION— www.mobarch.org —SUBSCRIPTIONS— Claudia T. Sims 251-434-1543 csims@mobarch.org $22 out-of-parish, and $24 out-of- state. Address all subscription cor- respondence to The Catholic Week , PO Box 349, Mobile AL 36601. When changing address, renewing or inquiring about a subscription, customer should include a recent address label with old address and new address and allow four weeks for address change to take effect. DEADLINES for MAY 3, 2024 News copy and photos: APRIL 23, 2024, NOON Advertising Camera-ready Ads: APRIL 23, 2024, NOON The Office for the Protection of Minors and Adults Reports of abuse should be made to civil authorities in your county. If the report involves a member of the clergy, Archdiocesan employee or lay volunteer, please also notify the Office for the Protection of Minors and Adults at 251-434-1559. If the report of abuse involves a bishop, please notify the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service at ReportBishopAbuse.org or 1-800-276-1562. The Archdiocesan Child Protection Policy can be found at the websites mobarch.org or protection.mobarch.org Baldwin/Escambia Deanery St. Lawrence Parish—7 p.m. ( 2 nd Tuesday of most months) May 14, no training June-July Mobile Deanery St. Dominic Parish—7 p.m. ( 4 th Wednesday of most months) April 24, May 22, June 26, July 24 Montgomery Deanery Montgomery Catholic High—6:30 p.m. ( 4 th Wednesday of most months) April 24, May 22, no training June-July Dothan Deanery Training sessions are conducted on an “as needed” basis. Contact your pastor in the Dothan area for more information. 1 Reverend Monsignor James F. Byrnes........................................ 1966 2 Reverend Michael F. Filan........................................................................ 1922 Reverend Charles D. Meyers.................................................................1945 Reverend P. A. O’Conner............................................................................1945 11 Reverend Monsignor Philip Cullen ................................................. 1966 12 Reverend Thomas Kennedy..................................................................1994 14 Right Reverend Michael Portier..........................................................1859 16 Deacon Dr. George Hicks........................................................................2002 17 Reverend Hinton Anthony Lipscomb ............................................1970 Deacon H. Leo Ollinger..............................................................................2001 18 Reverend Richard Barry.............................................................................1957 21 Reverend Andrew McGovern .............................................................. 1960 22 Reverend Monsignor James Wesley Oberkirch...................2001 Reverend Edwin P. Beachum...............................................................2008 23 Reverend Monsignor James McGarahan...................................1865 Reverend David Alexander Becherer ............................................2013 Deacon John F. Ross ....................................................................................2018 24 Reverend Patrick Joseph Ruddy ...................................................... 1966 25 Reverend Patrick Gregory Delahunty............................................1965 Reverend Paul S. Tipton............................................................................2008 26 Reverend Monsignor Paul J. Mullaney .........................................1987 27 Reverend Emmet B. Kennedy..............................................................1954 Deacon Joseph Philip McGonagle................................................... 2012 28 Reverend Monsignor David Sullivan ..............................................1988 Deacon Abraham Q. Lopez ...................................................................2014 30 Reverend Jerome Shultz .........................................................................1943 Archdiocesan Clergy Deceased in May basis of the family." Dicastery members said it is true that there is a difference between biological sex and the roles and behaviors that a given society or culture assigns to a male or female, but the fact that some of those notions of what it means to be a woman or a man are culturally influenced, does not mean there are no differences between biological males and biological females. "Therefore," they said, "all attempts to obscure reference to the ineliminable sexual differ- ence between man and woman are to be rejected." Again quoting Pope Francis' exhortation, the declaration said, "We cannot separate the masculine and the feminine from God's work of creation, which is prior to all our deci- sions and experiences, and where biological elements exist which are impossible to ignore." "Any sex-change interven- tion, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception," it said. Howev- er, the declaration clarified that "this is not to exclude the possi- bility that a person with genital abnormalities that are already evident at birth or that develop later may choose to receive the assistance of healthcare profes- sionals to resolve these abnor- malities." Members of the dicastery also warned about the impli- cations of changing language about human dignity, citing for example those who propose the expressions "personal dignity" or "the rights of the person" instead of "human dignity." In many cases, they said, the proposal understands "a 'person' to be only 'one who is capable of reasoning.' They then argue that dignity and rights are deduced from the individual's capacity for knowledge and freedom, which not all humans possess.Thus, according to them, the unborn child would not have personal dignity, nor would the older person who is dependent upon others, nor would an individual with mental disabilities." The Catholic Church, on the contrary, "insists that the dignity of every human person, precisely because it is intrinsic, remains in all circumstances." The acceptance of abortion, it said, "is a telling sign of an extremely dangerous crisis of the moral sense, which is becoming more and more incapable of dis- tinguishing between good and evil, even when the fundamental right to life is at stake." "Procured abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth," it said. The document also repeated Pope Francis' call for a global ban on surrogacy, which, he said, is "a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother's material needs." Surrogacy, it said, transforms a couple's legitimate desire to have a child into "a 'right to a child' that fails to respect the dignity of that child as the recipient of the gift of life." Extreme poverty, the mar- ginalization of people with dis- abilities, violent online attacks and war also violate human dignity, the document said. Document From page 1 ByThe CatholicWeek The Archdiocese of Mobile released a statement on Saturday, April 13 regarding Fr. David Tokarz, pastor of Our Savior Parish in Mobile. Below is the statement.  MOBILE — The Archdiocese of Mobile is aware that misde- meanor charges have been brought against Fr. David Tokarz, Pastor of Our Savior Church in Mobile, by an adult woman. Since this is an active legal matter, questions about the charges should be referred to Fr. Tokarz’s attorney. We ask for your prayers for all affected by this situation. Statement from the archdiocese regarding Fr. DavidTokarz