Relief Efforts Underway in Western North Carolina; Flooding Caused by Helene Devastates Region CHARLOTTE, N.C. (OSV News) — Relief efforts are underway to help communities across western North Carolina reeling from the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene. Unprecedented flooding from the storm swamped municipal water systems, washed away roads and downed utility lines, leaving many mountain communities cut off and in critical need of emergency aid. At one point, authorities closed 400 roads deeming them unsafe for travel. AP reported on Monday, September 30, that supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city of Asheville. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said it was “one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of North Carolina.” As of Sunday, September 29, at least 36 deaths were reported in North Carolina due to the storm, according to media reports, and search and rescue operations continued through the weekend to locate hundreds who remain stranded or unaccounted for. Catholic Charities of the Charlotte Diocese has launched an online appeal at ccdoc.org (Helene Relief Aid) to support communities for what is expected to be a long recovery from this historic storm. The aid agency is coordinating with local first responders and emergency relief agencies such as FEMA and the American Red Cross, and it has also requested disaster grant funding and other help from Catholic Charities USA and its Disaster Response Team out of Alexandria, Virginia. Just War Theory Morally ‘Devalued’ in Today’s World, U.S. Cardinal Says ROME (CNS) — The concept of just war, which has guided Catholic teaching on war and peace since the fourth century, has become “devalued as a moral instrument” due to its application in modern conflicts, said Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego. Speaking on Sunday, September 29, at the inauguration of the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence near the Vatican, the cardinal said that just war theory had become the “central prism” through which Catholic theology views the pursuit of justice. However, as practiced today, the principle’s criteria for a “just war” often function as a checklist of conditions to be met for going to war “rather than as full-bodied moral restraints as they were envisioned,” he said. “I think we have to relativize just war theory, not toss it out entirely but give it a different position than it’s had,” Cardinal McElroy said. “Part of just war theory is that (war) is a last resort. I wonder if we shouldn’t have nonviolent action as a first resort, to plant it at the center” of Catholic teaching on conflict. Just war theory can be traced back to St. Augustine, who argued that war can be morally waged under certain conditions in defense of justice. Yet Cardinal McElroy, an adviser to the new institute — part of Pax Christi International — told Catholic News Service that an emphasis on nonviolence “comes from the Gospel, so it’s always been part of our doctrine.” At Pre-Synod Retreat, Members Urged to Be Open to Others, to the Holy Spirit VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Some members of the Synod of Bishops may need to let go of old ways of doing things and others may need to let go of a desire to make everything new; instead, all of them must allow the Holy Spirit to speak, said Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe. Opening a retreat for members of the synod on synodality on Monday, September 30, the British theologian urged honesty, telling them that the “indestructible peace” given by the risen Christ “does not mean that we live in perfect harmony. We are gathered in this assembly because we do not. But no discord can destroy our peace in Christ for we are one in him.” The 368 synod members, including Bishop Rhoades, along with the theologians and experts assisting them, gathered for a two-day retreat at the Vatican before Pope Francis was scheduled to formally open the monthlong, second session of the synod on Wednesday, October 2. After a similar gathering at the Vatican a year earlier, members were to focus this session on “How to be a missionary synodal Church.” Father Radcliffe told participants that with its focus on mission and on helping the millions of people around the world who are searching for meaning and truth, the synod “is not a place for negotiations about structural change, but for choosing life, for conversion and forgiveness.” As they approach their discussions, Father Radcliffe said, synod members can be certain that “perfect love drives out fear. Let it drive out the fear of those whose visions of the Church are different. The Church is in the hands of the Lord and God has promised that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Pope Prays for Collaboration: ‘Priests Are Not the Bosses of the Laity’ VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Every Christian, whether a layperson or member of the clergy, has a vital role to play in advancing the mission of the Church through collaboration, Pope Francis said. “We priests are not the bosses of the laity, but their pastors,” he said in a video message for his October prayer intention: “For a shared mission.” Christians are called to follow Jesus not with “some people above others or some to one side and the rest to another side, but by complementing each other,” the pope said in the message released by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network on Monday, September 30. “We are community. That is why we must walk together on the path of synodality.” The network posts a short video of the pope offering his specific prayer intention each month, and members of the network pray for that intention each day. In addition to coinciding with the month that includes World Mission Sunday, the pope’s message was delivered as 368 members of the Synod of Bishops began a two-day retreat ahead of the second session of the synod in Rome. Iraqi Archbishop says Rift with Chaldean Patriarch is a ‘Misunderstanding’ ERBIL, Iraq (OSV News) — Iraqi Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil said tensions between himself and Cardinal Louis Sako, the Baghdad-based Chaldean Catholic patriarch, were the result of a misunderstanding and denied accusations he was working against the patriarch. In a message sent to OSV News on Tuesday, September 24, the Iraqi archbishop said he rejected “all accusations in full,” referring to allegations made by the Chaldean patriarchate on August 28 that Archbishop Warda was “deceived by promises” made by political figures behind an attempt to have the government deny recognition of Cardinal Sako’s authority as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church in 2023. Archbishop Warda in a written message to OSV News assured “we are proud of His Beatitude as the head of the Chaldean Church” and rejected “accusations of corruption” and said he would continue to deal with “this issue through the relevant church channels.” In July of 2023, Cardinal Sako left Baghdad after Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid revoked a decree that formally recognized the cardinal as Chaldean patriarch in the country. Expose Evil, Denounce Abuse, No More Coverups, Pope Says BRUSSELS (CNS) — Calling on the world’s bishops not to cover up any instance or form of abuse, Pope Francis said the evil of abuse must be exposed. “There is room for everyone in the Church,” he said, and everyone will face God at the final judgment. However, there is no room for abuse and no room for cover-ups, he said on his final day in Belgium, a country that has been shaken by shocking revelations of abuse by church members, including a Belgian bishop the pope laicized this year, 14 years after the bishop resigned after admitting he abused minors, including his own nephew. In his homily during Mass on Sunday, September 29, in Brussels’ open-air King Baudouin Stadium, the pope strayed from his prepared text to urge bishops to hide nothing, “condemn abuses,” and assist perpetrators in getting help. World’s Oldest Cardinal, Kidnapped During Angola’s Civil War, Dies at 99 VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Angolan Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, the world’s oldest cardinal, died on Saturday, September 28, at the age of 99 and was praised by Pope Francis for the way he led his flock during “troubled and difficult times.” The future cardinal was appointed bishop of Malanje, Angola, in 1975 — the year his country claimed its independence from Portugal, but also the year the long Angolan Civil War began. The war devasted the country from 1975 to 2002 with only three brief and uncertain periods of peace to interrupt the fighting. During a pastoral visit in October of 1982, then-Bishop do Nascimento was kidnapped by armed guerrillas. St. John Paul II appealed for his release during an Angelus address at the Vatican, and the bishop was freed after a month in captivity. In a telegram of condolence, Pope Francis said the cardinal had been “for all an expression of the merciful face of Jesus, the good Samaritan of humanity.” A drone view shows a damaged area, following the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Asheville, North Carolina, September 29, 2024. (OSV News photo/Marco Bello, Reuters) The post News Briefs: October 6, 2024 appeared first on Today's Catholic.