Catholic laypeople in the Archdiocese of Cologne have called for a local synod to address the ongoing crisis in Germany’s most populous diocese.
“We must make every effort to reestablish a genuine dialogue between the cardinal, senior members of the diocesan leader-ship and the grassroots of the church,” said Tim-O. Kurzbach, president of the Cologne arch-diocesan council of Catholics.

The translation of the Bible to be used in the new edition of the lectionary for Mass in England and Wales is being amended to use gender-inclusive language where contextually appropriate, The Tablet can reveal.
For 18 months, the Depart-ment of Christian Life and Wor-ship of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has been adapting the text of the English Standard Version Catholic Edi-tion so that inclusive translations are used whenever translators’ footnotes in the original text of the ESV-CE indicate they are appropriate, for example when the Greek word adelphoi (bro-thers) refers to both men and women.
The wording of the ESV-CE has been adapted to make it more inclusive approximately 142 times in the two volumes of the lectionary already prepared.
The Archbishop of Cardiff, George Stack, chair of the Department of Christian Life and Worship, told The Tablet: “We can’t change the language of the Bible, but we can adapt it so that it speaks powerfully to people in this age.”

One of the most formative moments early in my artistic journey was hearing Andrew Peterson’s song “Let There Be Light.” I was in my late teens at the time, just beginning to grapple with the musical gifts that would eventually lead me to a career in composition. But as Peterson crooned the lyrics, “When your spirit is hovering over the deep / In the image of God just look into that darkness and speak,” I remember the light bulb illuminating in my mind: My creativity is an act of faith.
That singular notion has stayed with me throughout my life, fueling my creative work and giving me a sense of purpose. And I can think of numerous musicians, authors, poets, artists, and theologians who have similarly encouraged me along the way.
Fine artist Makoto Fujimura is undoubtedly such a figure. While his stunning work has captivated countless people around the world, the way he has lived out his vocation far exceeds the bounds of his artistry. Throughout his public life, he has promoted the interaction of art, culture, and faith through founding the International Arts Movement, establishing his own Fujimura Institute, and, more recently, serving as the director of the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has also come alongside many other artists, advocating for them and supporting their efforts, as he did for me in writing the foreword to my first book.
In each of these pursuits, Fujimura has sought to promote a vision of what it means to create and how acts of creativity relate to our faith. Now, in his engaging book Art and Faith, Fujimura gathers the many themes from each corner of his vibrant career into a single volume that persuasively articulates a “theology of making” (to quote the book’s subtitle) while communicating that vision in a contemplative style that itself radiates the very creativity he advocates throughout the book.

In his latest salvo to challenge Rome’s authority, the president of Germany’s bishops’ conference has said that any German Protestant who wishes to receive Holy Communion in a Catholic Church on Öku-menischen Kirchentag — a day of Christian unity in May — may do so.
“Anyone who is Protestant and attends Communion can receive Communion,” Bp Georg Bätzing told an online discussion in Frankfurt on April 22 about the May 15 event that usually brings thousands of Christians to the city for ecclesial events.
“We want to take steps towards unity,” he said, adding that “whoever believes in conscience what is celebrated in the other denomination will also be able to approach [the altar] and won’t be rejected.”
According to the German bishops’ news site Katholisch.de, the bishop of Limburg went on to say that the practice “has been maintained up and down the country” and is actually “nothing new.” Perhaps what is new is that it is being discussed, he continued, adding that he does not expect “an objection from Rome.”
He noted the existence of Vatican reservations about the Church in Germany, saying: “For many officials in Rome, the German Catholic Church has a Protestant smell.” He claimed this is “not the case at the highest level of prefects,” but with officials who have no experience with the Church in Germany.
Bishop Bätzing went on to note “fear” in Rome about the Synodal Path in Germany, and the challenge of preserving unity, but added: “You can also endanger unity by nurturing it with instruments that are unsuitable for the time and world in which we live with its cultural diversity.”
Pope Francis, he added, has repeatedly said that “the Church cannot be controlled centrally” and that decentralized decisions have to be made within the framework of Catholic doctrine and canon law. “This is the way that we’re trying,” Bishop Bätzing said.
The bishop was alluding to a passage in the Pope’s 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium in which the Pope wrote that the Second Vatican Council called for a “concrete realization of the collegial spirit,” and that he regretted that this desire “has not been fully realized, since a juridical status of episcopal conferences which would see them as subjects of specific attributions, including genuine doctrinal authority, has not yet been sufficiently elaborated.”

According to an ancient Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Very often, we focus not on those initial small steps but on giant leaps, often undertaken by government. Think, for example, of Franklin D. Roosevelt signing Social Security into law in 1935, a giant step that changed the lives of the elderly. Or Lyndon B. Johnson’s signature on the Medicare law 30 years later that did the same. Or the big steps contained in the just-passed American Rescue Plan, which, among other things, aims to reduce childhood poverty by 50 % . Each of these big steps impacts all of our lives.
But sometimes it’s the small steps we take that change the country in profound ways. In 2008, 56% of Americans believed that gay marri-ages should not be recognized as valid. That same year, 52 % of California voters voted to ban gay marriage, even as 61 percent backed Barack Obama  Four years later, Vice President Joe Biden endorsed gay marriage during a memorable appearance on “Meet the Press.” A few days later, Obama declared his position had “evolved.” Today, 67% say gay marriages should be recognized — an all-time high. Millions of first steps led to profound change.
Today another series of small steps are altering how we live and act. For the first time, the Gallup Organization reports that membership in a Christian church, synagogue or mosque has fallen from 61% in 2010 to 47%. Meanwhile, those who profess no religious preference grew from 8% to 21%  over the last decade. And among those who do express a religious preference, the number of congregants has declined from 73% to 60%.

In commemoration of Arme-nian Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24, Bishop David J Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace highlighted the tragic loss of so many Armenians in what has been called the first genocide of the 20th century.
Bishop Malloy’s full state-ment follows:
“April 24 is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the 1915 start of a campaign that resulted in the death of as many as 1.2 million Armenian Christians — victims of mass shootings, death marches to distant camps, torture, assaults, starvation, and disease. Thousands of Armenian children were torn from their families and forcibly converted. This horrific tragedy was intended to eliminate the Armenian people and their culture in what has been called the ‘first genocide of the 20th century.’

The Franciscan University of Steubenville is conducting a re-search study to better under-stand COVID-19 and herd immunity.
Through its School of Natural Applied Sciences, the university plans to evaluate 500 students and faculty by the end of April. The study is led by biology professor Dr. Kyle McKenna.
The Biology Department and the Franciscan Institute of Science and Health provided for the initial costs of the study, but it recently received a grant by the American Life League.
According to a university statement, McKenna said senior nursing majors have already drawn blood from 200 indivi-duals. The blood is then analyzed for coronavirus antibodies.
“We want to know what percentage of people on campus demonstrate an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 virus,” said McKenna.
“To achieve herd immunity which limits transmission of the virus, you need at least 60 to 70 percent of a given population to be resistant to infection, either through exposure to the virus or vaccination.”

As part of a so-called “listening phase”, the Church Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean wants to promote the exchange that “will be the leitmotif of the entire process of discernment before and during the Assembly”.
This first phase has now been officially opened and is expected to last until mid-July. In his video message for the opening event, Pope Francis emphasized that the assembly should be a sign of the “Church without exclusion” “We strive for the full and broad participation of all the pilgrim people of God in Latin America and the Caribbean”, said Mauricio López, coordinator of the events committee for the listening phase, “so that this gathering becomes a celebration of our ecclesial identity at the service of life”. “This event wants to be a true expression of a presence”, continued Lopez, “which takes into account the hopes and desires of all the people who make up the Church, the people of God, especially at this moment of deep crisis”. All men and women members of the Church will be able to participate. The goal is to listen carefully to the cries of the poor and of mother earth, affected in this period by the Covid-19 pandemic and all other pandemics of inequality and exclusion.

The Croatian government is offering college scholarships to young Christians at risk of persecution. The country’s education and foreign ministries have invited Christian students from developing countries to apply for the scholarships by May 17. “The planned funding of 1.5 million kuna ($237,000, 200,000 euros) is intended for scholar-ships for young people who are persecuted for their faith.

The Islamic State has claimed another Christian victim. And Egypt’s Coptic Ortho-dox Church has won another martyr.
“We are telling our kids that their grand-father is now a saint in the highest places of heaven,” stated Peter Salama of his 62-year-old father, Nabil Habashi Salama, executed by the ISIS affiliate in north Sinai.
“We are so joyful for him.”
The Salamas are known as one of the oldest Coptic families in Bir al-Abd on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai Peninsula. Nabil was a jeweler, owning also mobile phone and clothing shops in the area.
Peter said ISIS targeted his father for his share in building the city’s St. Mary Church.
In a newly released 13-minute propaganda video entitled The Makers of Slaughter (or Epic Battles), a militant quotes the Quran to demand the humiliation of Christians and their willing payment of jizya—a tax to ensure their protection. Nabil was kidnapped five months ago in front of his home. Eyewitne-sses said during his resistance he was beaten badly before being thrown into a stolen car. It may be that these were separate kidnappers, because in the video that shows Nabil’s execution, he said he was held captive by ISIS for 3 months and 11 days.
On April 18, he was shot in the back of the head, kneeling.
Egypt police killed three suspected militants allegedly involved in the slaying of a Coptic Christian man kidnapped more than five months ago in a restive part of Sinai Peninsula, the Interior Ministry said Monday.
Security forces exchanged fire with Islamic State group militants while chasing them in the Abtal area of North Sinai province, the ministry said in a statement. Three of the militants were killed and police were chasing three others. The statement did not say when they fighting took place.