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Currents News for Thursday, June 6, 2019

On the newscast: A teenage girl let herself die, and Pope Francis is speaking out; An immigrant mother is fighting to live and to care for her two young boys. Others are stepping in to help them; Pope Francis will meet Russian president Vladimir Putin at the Vatican on the Fourth of July. There’s also news about the Pope and married priests; Plus a senior citizen refusing to be a victim.

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A Dying Mom’s Last Wishes: Care for Her Family

By Tim Harfmann

Maria Barragan has been given weeks to live. Her doctors said after battling stage four cancer for over a decade, chemotherapy is no longer working.

“I’m sick. I’m sad. I’m scared.”

Maria’s a U.S. citizen and an immigrant from Guatemala. She’s worried most about her sons, 13-year-old Cristian and nine-year-old Daniel.  “So much stress for me. I need help,” said Maria.

But her husband, Benjamin, is stuck in Mexico.

He’s been there for months after U.S. officials discovered he crossed the border illegally years ago. Now, he can’t get a green card for at least 10 years.

The boys and their dad are only able to talk over the phone. “I’m trying to be as happy as possible,” said Cristian. “Because I’m talking to him at least.”

“It’s really sad and I don’t understand why. That was, like, 20 years ago,” said Daniel about his father’s illegal crossing into the U.S. “He’s our dad. A family can’t really be broken apart.”

Helping out during the trying times is Amy Lyons, a parishioner at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

She signed-up as guardian for the boys so they aren’t forced into foster care if their mom passes away.

“I just have faith that I’ll have the strength and that I’ll manage it and do well for them,” said Amy emotionally.

Amy and other friends are trying to get Benjamin into the U.S., enlisting the help of doctors and politicians. But so far, the request for a humanitarian return to the country has been turned down twice.

The family is praying to God.

“Please, I need to stay for my sons. I’m sorry. And thank you for this day,” said Maria as she looks up to heaven.

“God is God, so I just know that God is listening to me,” said Daniel.

The Barragans will continue to pray as they hope to be reunited.

Euthanasia vs Assisted Suicide: Bioethics Professor Examines Death of Dutch Teen

Currents News Staff

Seventeen-year-old Dutch Noa Pothoven is the most recent case in the debate for the right to life, questioning whether euthanasia or assisted suicide is to blame for her death.

Having a terminal illness, being given a limited time to live or “unbearable suffering”, these are all reasons one can request euthanasia or assisted suicide in the Netherlands.

Fr. Gonzalo Miranda, an expert on euthanasia in Rome, explains that while morally, both are means to an end, legally they are viewed differently.

“For a legal point of view, it’s very important because in some places euthanasia isn’t legal, but assisted suicide is,” said Miranda.

Fr. Miranda says when the state does not uphold the dignity of life and encourages one to continue living, pressure is placed on each person.

“This young 17-year-old girl who just committed suicide in Holland. She had a series of problems and a temptation to kill herself. When she finds an environment in society that says, ‘It’s a right,’ if you want euthanasia, you have a right to it. This creates a terrible pressure,” he added.

He asserts a definition of who is able to die and when is established. If a person is young, healthy or useful, the state automatically gives them a greater dignity than an older person who is in deteriorating health.

“We have two types of citizens, group A and group B. For some, we have to protect their life, even against their will. For others, no,” Miranda continued.

Pope Francis also tweeted after Noa’s death saying, “Euthanasia and assisted suicide are a defeat for all. We are called never to abandon those who are suffering, never giving up but caring and loving to restore hope.”

In the United States, physician-assisted suicide is also legal is some states, owing the reason to “terminal illness” or having less than “six months to live.” suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10-34.

The World Remembers D-Day, 75 Years Later

By Elizabeth Bachmann

WASHINGTON (Catholic News Service) – In remembering the estimated 4,400 Allied troops who died storming the beaches of Normandy, France, 75 years ago on D-Day, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services said that “Jesus Christ reminds us there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

“At this time, in particular, we express deep gratitude for those who laid down their lives on D-Day,” he said in a statement June 4.

Archbishop Broglio planned to travel again to France for the 75th anniversary of the Normandy invasion to commemorate and give thanks for the lives lost on the beaches of Normandy, in Europe and in the Pacific. The German casualties on D-Day were between 4,000 and 9,000.

“We ask God that their sacrifice not be in vain,” Archbishop Broglio said. “We beg him to transform our power to turn war into a force for peace, to transform our weapons into plowshares, to give us the ability to negotiate, to talk and to listen.”

In 2015, he journeyed to Normandy to commemorate the sad day and to help dedicate a monument on Utah Beach depicting three American GIs emerging from a Higgins boat. The Higgins boat was designed by Andrew Jackson Higgins to facilitate easy landing on beaches and in marshes, and was used extensively in the D-Day operations.

Archbishop Broglio remembered the boat’s designers, those who “labored with vision to accomplish a goal, the liberation of peoples, their brothers and sisters in human society.”

While in Normandy, Archbishop Broglio also attended a commemoration for fallen Danish troops and celebrated Mass on the feast of Corpus Christi, during which he prayed for world peace.

At that time, he said he “was struck by the number of French men and women who came up to me and said: ‘We will never forget what your countrymen did here.’”

Archbishop Broglio reminded the nation, too, to remember the sacrifices of American servicemen, as well as those of every soldier and civilian who lost life or loved ones.

For this year’s commemoration, Archbishop Broglio prayed that Catholics and all Americans will “remain vigilant against the forces of evil in our troubled world, and to pour our energies into building lasting peace and justice among nations.”

Francis To Meet Putin Ahead of Vatican Ukraine Meeting Next Month

Currents News Staff

Francis is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vatican on the fourth of July.

Catholic leaders from Ukraine will gather at the holy see shortly after to discuss the continuing conflict there and the fallout from the separation of the Russian and Ukrainian orthodox churches.

This will be the third meeting between the Pope and President Putin.

Illinois Bishop Issues Communion Ban, Bars Abortion Lawmakers From Receiving Eucharist

Currents News Staff

The fight for the sanctity of life is taking a new turn tonight.

The Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, Thomas Paprocki is barring some state politicians from receiving holy communion.

He is invoking canon law after state lawmakers passed a bill that declared abortion a “fundamental right”.

The bishop is strongly urging the leaders who pushed the legislation through to go to confession.

Otherwise, they “are not to be admitted to holy communion. Because they have obstinately persisted in promoting the abominable crime and very grave sin of abortion.”

Senior Citizens

Joe Estevez interviews some of the residents and caregivers at a 13-acre senior care residence run by the Carmelite Sisters in Santa Teresita, California

Miracles

In this episode, Joe Estevez discusses different miracles and later interviews Sarah C. Patterson, a woman who, despite Downs Syndrome, works at a job and wants to be an actress.