Notre Dame’s President Jenkins faces angry campus (The New York Times) All the humility in the world might not have spared Father Jenkins from the storm of protest he now faces over the latest news from South Bend: that he not only violated his own health rules — appearing without a mask at a White House reception last month for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, a Supreme Court nominee and former Notre Dame Law School professor — but also is infected with the coronavirus himself. Students have petitioned for his resignation, angry over what they consider his hypocrisy as well as the rising tide of infections on campus. Others have reported him to a coronavirus hotline for violating his own mask mandate…
El Paso’s Bishop Seitz under quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 (KVIA-TV) The bishop of El Paso’s Catholic Diocese is under quarantine at home after reporting a fever in recent days and then testing positive for Covid-19, church officials said Wednesday. In a statement, the diocese said Bishop Mark Seitz suffered a low-grade fever over the weekend and began self-isolation after twice testing positive for the coronavirus…
Brooklyn bishop calls NY coronavirus restrictions ‘outrageous’ (CNA) The Bishop of Brooklyn has strongly criticized the re-imposition of strict coronavirus rules on places of worship in New York City-area hot zones, saying Catholic churches have worked hard to prevent coronavirus spread and Catholics deserve access to their churches. “It is outrageous that after incurring great expense to implement all the safety protocols, our parishes are being forced to reduce capacity to a maximum of 10 people in the red zone and 25 people in the orange zone,” Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn said Oct. 5, using the color codes for the restriction categories…
Priest sues state and local leaders over coronavirus restrictions (KPBS) A Catholic priest who oversees churches in four California counties, including San Diego, is suing Gov. Gavin Newsom and 19 other state, county and municipal officials, alleging COVID-19 restrictions on places of worship are unconstitutional. Father Trevor Burfitt contends in his court papers that public health guidelines restricting worship activities are “no longer warranted” and “causing far more harm than good…”
Catholic Charities pledges to seek passage of pandemic relief bill (CNS) The president of Catholic Charities USA said the agency would turn to Capitol Hill to get a pandemic relief bill passed after it called President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend talks on the legislation “heartless.” Dominican Sister Donna Markham told Catholic News Service early Oct. 7 that the president’s decision the day before to pull out of talks and to wait until after the Nov. 3 election to negotiate a bill would stress families that are struggling with unemployment because of the economic recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic…
A college student’s journey into the Catholic Church (Mason City Globe Gazette) Jack Lander went into the Kairos Retreat like any other junior at Newman Catholic. He didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t have his phone and he wasn’t sure what the coming days would look like…
