2024 Al Smith Dinner Raises Record $10 Million NEW YORK (OSV News) – The 2024 Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner held on Thursday, October 17, and attended by 1,100 guests, raised nearly $10 million – a record for the event – while reflecting the unease of the times. Former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, gave a free-flowing 28-minute address including some fond memories of his father, him crediting God for surviving the attempts on his life, and delivering a number of quips, but none poking fun at himself. He delivered a number of barbs at Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and former President Barack Obama. Harris, the Democratic nominee, declined to attend in person, but sent a video message that featured her with comedian and actress Molly Shannon’s Saturday Night Live character, Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher, who said Jesus was the night’s fact-checker. Catholic comedian Jim Gaffigan, the evening’s master of ceremonies, made fun of both candidates, and – referencing Pope Francis’ comments about voting for the lesser of two evils – he asked New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, “One, do you agree? And two, who’s more evil?” To laughter, he said, “OK, I’ll get back to you.” Vatican Statistics Show Decline in Worldwide Baptisms, Clergy VATICAN CITY (CNS) – While the number of Catholics and permanent deacons in the world rose in 2022, the number of seminarians, priests, men and women in religious orders, and baptisms declined, according to statistics published by Vatican officials. At the end of 2022, the number of Catholics in the world reached 1.389 billion, up 0.79 percent from 1.378 billion Catholics at the end of 2021, according to officials with the Vatican’s Central Office of Church Statistics. Officials with the Vatican agency, Fides, published a brief overview of the global numbers on Thursday, October 17. While the number of Catholics is increasing, the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism has decreased worldwide. It fell from 17,932,891 baptisms administered in 1998 to 13,327,037 in 2022, according to a summary of the report. The total number of diocesan and religious order priests decreased slightly by 142 men to a total of 407,730, the Vatican officials said. The number of permanent deacons (50,159) saw a 1.99 percent increase from the previous year, with the most growth in Europe. Florida Church Suffers Second Fire Since 2023 ORLANDO, Florida (OSV News) – After suffering a catastrophic arson attack in 2023, officials with a Catholic church in suburban Orlando, Florida, reported that it was once again possibly the victim of another arson attack at its temporary worship space. In June of last year, arsonists set fire to Incarnation Catholic Church, a parish of the Houston-based Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a Catholic diocese with Anglican traditions Pope Benedict XVI established in 2012. The church was destroyed on June 24, 2023, as a result of the arson, and the Incarnation parish community subsequently moved into a temporary space in Orlando while raising funds to rebuild its church. The incident has been under investigation by local and federal authorities. A second fire broke out again in the early morning of October 16, with damage concentrated around the altar, with charred remnants covering the table, lecterns, screens, statues, floors, and walls. The parish website confirmed that the newest incident is again being investigated by the Orlando Fire Department. Jesus ‘Brings Us to His Heart,’ Archbishop Tells Congress OCEAN CITY, Maryland – In just 45 minutes, Archbishop Richard G. Henning presented salvation history according to sacred Scripture in an engaging keynote address on Saturday, October 5, during the Eucharistic Congress sponsored by the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington. More than 2,000 people attended the celebration of the Eucharist as the source and summit of their Catholic faith. Archbishop Henning, who is currently head of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, but will be installed on Thursday, October 31, as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, greeted the large and diverse crowd in both English and Spanish. Many wore headphones, allowing them to hear the address translated. He implored his listeners to understand the full import of the “achingly beautiful lines of holy Scripture, when the heavens open and the Father says, ‘This is my beloved son,’ as Jesus offers Himself in perfect and absolute trust” in partnership with God. “This Jesus draws us to Himself,” Archbishop Henning said. “He brings us to His heart, and brings us with Him to the heart of God.” LA Archdiocese to Settle 1,300 Historic Abuse Claims LOS ANGELES (OSV News) – The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached an agreement in principle worth $880 million to compensate more than a thousand decades-old claims of childhood sexual abuse. Announced on Wednesday, October 16, in a joint statement from archdiocesan counsel and a committee of plaintiffs’ lawyers, the global settlement caps a yearlong mediation process that followed California’s three-year revival of civil claims of past sexual abuse involving minors. The 1,353 claims to be compensated by the agreement are based on allegations against priests, other clergy, women religious, and laypeople from the archdiocese, along with religious order priests and clergy from other dioceses who were serving in the archdiocese. “I am sorry for every one of these incidents, from the bottom of my heart,” wrote Archbishop José H. Gomez in an October 16 letter to LA Catholics. “My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered.” Most of the allegations covered by the agreement happened more than 50 years ago, including some dating back to the 1940s. In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 218, which opened a three-year “lookback window” that allowed old claims to be filed from the beginning of 2020 through the end of 2022. In the global settlement announcement, the archdiocese affirmed that none of the settled claims involved allegations against priests currently in ministry. Pope Francis’ Memoir to Be Published VATICAN CITY (CNS) – An Italian publisher announced the global release in January of “Hope,” a book it described as Pope Francis’ autobiography, which the pope apparently planned to have released only after his death. Mondadori, the Italian publisher coordinating the global release, announced the publication on Wednesday, October 16, at the Frankfurt Book Fair and said it would be released in 80 countries on January 14. Random House will publish the book in the United States. Mondadori said Pope Francis began working on the book with Italian editor Carlo Musso in 2019 with the understanding it would be published only after his death, but the Holy Year 2025 and its focus on hope led him to permit the early release of “this precious legacy.” Priest Killed in Mexico’s Violent Chiapas State MEXICO CITY (OSV News) – An Indigenous Tzotzil priest and peace activist was murdered after celebrating Sunday Mass in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state, where the Catholic Church has denounced government inaction in the face of rising violence. Father Marcelo Pérez, who ministered in Indigenous regions rife with territorial conflicts and later denounced drug cartel violence, was shot dead on Sunday, October 20, by two assailants on a motorcycle as he drove away from the Guadalupe church in San Cristóbal de las Casas, according to Mexican media reports. Officials with the Mexican bishops’ conference condemned the murder of Father Pérez, saying in a statement the same day, “This act of violence, perpetrated at the end of Mass when the padre was leaving to continue his pastoral duties, not only deprives the community of a dedicated pastor, but also silences a prophetic voice that tirelessly fought for peace with truth and justice in Chiapas.” Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, retired bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas, said Father Perez “was a priest very focused on his vocation, very prayerful, very close to the tabernacle, and very committed to his people.” Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, ecclesiastical adviser to the Napa Institute, carries the monstrance during a Eucharistic procession through Midtown Manhattan in New York City Oct. 15, 2024. A few thousand worshippers packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral for Holy Hour and Mass before participating in the procession. The event was a collaboration of the Napa Institute and the Hallow prayer app. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz) The post News Briefs: October 27, 2024 appeared first on Today's Catholic.