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The US bishops voted Tuesday to advance the cause of beatification and canonization of Servant of God Isaac Thomas Hecker, a 19th-century American priest who founded the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, today known as the Paulist Fathers. Hecker’s cause for canonization was formally opened in 2008, at which time he received the title “Servant of God.” The next step in the process is to publicize the cause for canonization in the Archdiocese of New York, where the Paulists are headquartered.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256020/us-bishops-vote-to-advance-the-cause-of-canonization-for-american-priest-isaac-hecker
The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith released a document on Wednesday reaffirming that Catholics are forbidden from becoming Freemasons. The new document signed by Pope Francis and DDF Prefect Cardinal Victor Fernández was written in response to a bishop from the Philippines who had expressed concern at the growing number of Catholics in his diocese who are taking part in Freemasonry and asked for suggestions for how to respond pastorally. The Freemasons are the largest worldwide oath-bound secret society. Freemasonry promotes ideas and rituals incompatible with the Catholic faith, including indifferentism, or the position that a person can be equally pleasing to God while remaining in any religion, and a deistic concept of a “Great Architect of the Universe.” The Catholic Church’s prohibition on Freemasonry dates back to Pope Clement XII, who formally condemned it in a papal bull in 1738. Catholics who enroll in Masonic associations “are in a state of grave sin and may not receive holy Communion.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256014/vatican-doctrine-office-reaffirms-that-catholics-cannot-be-freemasons
US bishops are hoping for further guidance from the Vatican before they formulate concrete plans to prepare for the final stage of the Synod on Synodality next fall. At the conclusion of the synod’s first assembly that took place at the Vatican between October 4–29, delegates approved a 42-page synthesis document titled “A Synodal Church in Mission” containing more than 80 proposals, including recommendations aimed at giving lay Catholics a greater role in decision-making. The preliminary document did not, however, specify the next steps that dioceses and episcopal conferences should take during the interim period before the synod reconvenes in October 2024. Flores agreed that the USCCB might have to produce its own summary if the Vatican doesn’t provide one soon. Asked if there was a timeline for when additional steps need to be taken, he said it was premature to formulate a schedule.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256019/synod-s-next-steps-us-bishops-look-to-rome-for-guidance-say-priests-and-poor-need-a-voice
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Joseph Moscati, the first modern medical doctor to be canonized.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-joseph-moscati-55
The Church also celebrates Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland. Margaret worked tirelessly to bring justice and relief to the poor of Scotland. She also built churches and encouraged practices of religious devotion. In her private life, she exhibited great prayerfulness and piety. Her influence was seen not only in her husband's life, but throughout all of Scotland.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-margaret-of-scotland-657
Finally, the Church celebrates Saint Gertrude the Great, a distinguished medieval nun and writer in the Benedictine monastic tradition. One of the most esteemed woman saints of the Christian West, she was a notable early devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-gertrude-the-great-715