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By Holly Meyer and David Crary |
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By Holly Meyer and David Crary |
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Hello, World of Faith readers, This week, we bring you the latest on what’s happening in Gaza, why a Vatican commission says no to ordaining women as deacons, and how the West Virginia Supreme Court issues a key decision about religious exemptions for required school vaccines. |
A memorial site at the spot where Ran Gvili, the last hostage in the Gaza Strip, was killed while fighting Hamas militants, in Kibbutz Alumim, Israel. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) |
A single hostage's remains in Gaza after identification of Thai worker's remains |
Israeli and Thai officials say remains that militants in Gaza handed to Israel were those of a Thai agricultural worker killed during the 2023 attack that started the war. The return of Sudthisak Rinthalak’s remains leaves remains of a single hostage, Israeli Ran Gvili, to be returned in the first phase of the ceasefire deal. Read more.
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The subsequent phases under a U.S.-drafted, U.N.-backed plan for Gaza remain deeply uncertain. There has been no word on how provisions for Hamas’ disarmament will be carried out, or how a planned international security force will be established.
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Sudthisak had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel. Thais make up a large part of Israel’s agricultural workforce. They were the largest group of foreigners taken captive by militants in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack.
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Israeli Ran Gvili is now the last hostage whose remains have yet to be returned. Gvili was an Israeli police officer killed at Kibbutz Alumim as he fought to protect residents and save Israelis fleeing gunmen at the nearby Nova music festival.
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Vatican commission again says no to ordaining women as deacons; recommends other ministries |
A second Vatican study commission has determined that women should not be ordained as deacons. The Vatican took the unusual step of publishing a synthesis of the commission’s findings, including the members’ votes on specific theological questions. The conclusion left open the possibility for further study but proposed instead the creation of new lay ministries to give women more participation in the life of the church. Read more.
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Catholic women do much of the church’s work in schools and hospitals and are usually responsible for passing the faith to the next generation. Some have complained of their second-class status.
Deacons are ordained ministers who perform many of the same functions as priests, presiding at weddings, baptisms and funerals. They can preach but cannot celebrate Mass.
- For male seminarians, the diaconate is a transitional ministry on their way to being ordained as priests. Married men can also be ordained as permanent deacons. Women cannot, although historians say women served as deacons in the early Christian church.
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West Virginia again bans religious reasons for school vaccine exemptions |
West Virginia’s Supreme Court has reinstated a ban on parents citing their religious beliefs to opt out of required school vaccines for their children. The Supreme Court acted six days after a county circuit judge issued an injunction in a lawsuit filed in June. The judge had said children of families who objected to the state’s compulsory vaccination law on religious grounds would be allowed to attend school. Read more.
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West Virginia was among just a handful of states that granted only medical exemptions from school vaccinations when Gov. Patrick Morrisey issued an executive order in January allowing religious exemptions. Morrisey’s authority to issue the order was challenged in a lawsuit.
The state’s school vaccination policy has been heralded by medical experts as one of the most protective in the U.S. for children. It requires children to receive vaccines for numerous diseases – including chickenpox, measles, mumps, polio and tetanus – before starting school.
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At least 30 states have religious freedom laws modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows federal regulations that interfere with religious beliefs to be challenged.
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