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Diocese of Lake Charles

LAKE CHARLES — A former “fake-news” journalist for Cosmopolitan, a urologist expelled for defending the integrity of the medical profession, and an attorney devoted to promoting the dignity of the human person were all honored on July 17 for their efforts to promote family values.

The third annual Ruth Institute awards dinner was part of a two-day Summit for Survivors of the Sexual Revolution held July 17-18 at Treasures of Marilyn’s. The Ruth Institute provides decades of research to support individuals and families harmed by divorce, the hook-up culture, and other forms of family breakdown.

This year's recipient of the Public Witness of the Year Award is Sue Ellen Browder for her courageous expose in her book, Subverted: How I Helped the Sexual Revolution Hijack the Women’s Movement. As the dinner’s keynote speaker via video, Browder shared details of how she helped invent the “Cosmo Girl” during her two decades of writing for Cosmopolitan magazine after she was hired in 1971. 

While Browder, who grew up in the small town of New Hampton, Iowa, did not live the lifestyle that she was soft selling to other women, she said she honestly believed that people knew the stories she was writing about casual sex, contraception and abortion as a woman’s path to personal fulfillment were all a fantasy. 

“It wasn’t until I became a Catholic at the age of 57, after I had been away from Cosmo for many years, that I could look back at what I had been doing and see the damage it had done to the culture,” she said. That’s when she knew she had to come clean and seek forgiveness.

The propaganda that was used to sell the sex revolution’s false values to American women were stories that were made up to make it seem as if single women were having these happy-go-lucky sex lives, said Browder.

“Propaganda is the language of the serpent. It contains some truth, but it is twisted,” she said. “Modern propaganda is far more subtle and sophisticated than a straight-out lie. It is purposely designed not just to change what you think, but also to change how you act.”

Browder said God was never mentioned in Cosmopolitan. She also said that telling the truth about contraception, abortion, the sexual revolution and anything that is sold by Cosmo advertisers is considered an attack.

“What made me most miserable in my life was having an abortion when I was 27,” Browder said upon reflecting on her conversion experience in 2003. “What made me happiest was my beautiful 40-year marriage. Today, what has healed the pains of my past and brought me the deepest joy I have ever known is my relationship with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Receiving the Professional Integrity Award was Dr. Paul Church, a practicing urologist for more than 35 years and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston before his retirement from clinical practice in 2017.

Dr. Church was fired, and his medical license nearly revoked when he challenged hospital superiors to be more truthful about the health consequences of high risk LGBTQIA+ sexual behavior. Met with increasing efforts to silence his concerns, he was eventually expelled from the medical staff in December 2015. Two other hospitals where Dr. Church held appointments expelled him as well, and a fourth hospital revoked their staff position offer fearing repercussions from the LGBT community.

In his acceptance of the award via a video message, Dr. Church said in its decision to expel him, it was evident the medical center had chosen the path of political correctness and promotion of a social agenda unrelated to a practice of medicine or the advancement of healthcare.

“It’s easy to become discouraged in this climate of political correctness and censorship and rejection of the truth,” he said. “We aren’t winning many battles, but we must continue to fight the good fight and support prayerfully and financially those organizations on the frontlines like the Ruth Institute.”

The Public Activist Award was presented in person to Cathy Cleaver Ruse, whose professional experience spans the fields of communication, public policy and law.

The “condescending” attitude of the Fairfax County School Board in Virginia is all it took to light a fire under Ruse when she learned her local school board voted to allow transgender bathrooms.

Even though her children attend Catholic schools, when she heard there was only one “no” vote for the policy, she decided to attend a board meeting so she could meet the person who cast the lone vote.

“A woman named Elizabeth Schultz was my new hero,” said Ruse. “I thanked her and told her I wanted to help. I have been singularly focused about five years now. It was if God anointed me to go fight for this.”

Ruse serves as Family Research Council’s Senior Fellow for Legal Studies and Legal Supervisor for Ave Maria School of Law/Culture of Life Foundation Washington Externship Program.

Live-streaming and online programs during the Summit were available on topics including: Surviving Childhood Sexual Abuse, Clergy Sex Abuse By the Numbers, Pornography as a Public Health Crisis, Medical Issues in the LGBT Subculture, Reporting on the Transgender Movement, and Protecting Your Family from Pornography. Each topic concluded with a Q&A discussion panel.

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The Ruth Institute, founded by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse in San Diego in 2008, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It has since relocated to Lake Charles in 2015. For more information, visit www.ruthinstitute.org or call 760-295-9278. To learn more about Sue Ellen Browder's conversion story, click here.

The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, hereby announces the pastoral assignments for the year Two Thousand and Twenty for the Diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

His Excellency, The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, Bishop of Lake Charles, ordained four men to the priesthood for the Diocese of Lake Charles on Saturday, June 27, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The four are the Reverend Samuel Bond, the Reverend Joseph Caraway, the Reverend Andrew DeRouen, and the Reverend Levi Thompson. Additionally, Bishop Provost ordained the Reverend Mr. Michael Beverung as a transitional deacon, the penultimate step to ordination to the priesthood. Bishop Provost's homily follows.

By Vatican News

Mater misericordiae”, the Latin for “Mother of mercy”; "Mater spei", or “Mother of hope”; and “Solacium migrantium", or “Solace of migrants” are the new invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Litany of Loreto, which is often recited at the end of the Rosary.

The addition that Pope Francis has made to the Litany of Loreto, was made public by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, on Saturday.  It was timed for the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, June 20.

In a letter to the presidents of bishops’ conferences worldwide, Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Prefect of the Congregation, and its Secretary, Archbishop Arthur Roche, note that through the course of centuries, Christians have been using innumerable invocations and titles to call upon the Virgin Mary, “as the privileged and sure way to an encounter with Christ”.

Responding to the needs of our times
“Referring to the present times, marked by feelings of uncertainty and trepidation, the People of God,” they say, “devoutly recourse to her, full of affection and trust.”

“Discerning this sentiment and welcoming the desires expressed,” the Congregation explains, “the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis, wishes to provide that in the formulary of the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, called ‘The Litany of Loreto’, the invocations ‘Mater misericordiæ’, ‘Mater spei’ and ‘Solacium migrantium’ should be inserted.”

According to directions, the invocation, “Mother of mercy” is to be inserted after “Mother of the Church”, "Mother of hope” after “Mother of Divine Grace” and “Solace of migrants” after “Refuge of sinners”. 

In an interview, Archbishop Roche explained that these invocations “respond to the realities of the time that we are living”.  Speaking to Vatican News, he said that many people across the world who are afflicted in many ways, not only by the Covid-19 pandemic, but also forced from their homes because of poverty, conflict and other reasons, are invoking Our Lady. 

Invocations not new
Archbishop Roche said that the Holy Father wanted to respond to this moment by including these invocations.  The archbishop pointed out that these invocations are not new because they are part of the tradition of the Church that go back many centuries, such as the prayer and hymn, “Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy, Hail our hope…”. 

“All these invocations,” he said, “have been put into the Litany of Loreto, which is beloved by people throughout the world.”  “It is now responding to a real need that there is in our world today for the assistance of Our Blessed Lady.”

What is the Litany of Loreto?
The Litany of Loreto takes its name from the Marian shrine of Loreto in Italy, where it is believed to have been used as far back as 1531.  It was officially approved in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V, who suppressed all other Marian litanies used publicly.  The Litany of Loreto is the only approved Marian litany.  However, many more Marian litanies were and are in use, but are designated for private devotion, as is evident, for example, in the so-called Officia Mariana. 

Through the centuries at least 7 new invocations to Mary were added.  Saint Pope John Paul II added “Mother of the Church” in 1980, and “Queen of families” in 1995.  Pope Francis has now added three more.

There are also other litanies such as of Saints, of the Names of Jesus, of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, of Saint Joseph (1909), of the Precious Blood and also of Divine Mercy.

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Diocese of Lake Charles

LAKE CHARLES — God’s call to five men overcame many twists and turns in recent months leading up to the Sacrament of Holy Orders on Saturday, June 27, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

By Pamela Seal 
Diocese of Lake Charles 

The first concern that crossed Sister Miriam MacLean’s mind when she canceled this year’s Jazz Brunch was how Catholic Charities of Southwest Louisiana was going to adapt to operating with fewer funds. She quickly discovered that she would be working with more money, not less, because of generous donors in the community.