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Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 5, 2024 / 13:45 pm (CNA).
The fatal shooting of a teenager at a Metrorail station near the campus of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., led school administrators to issue a… […]
Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie during a visit to Unbound’s headquarters in Nov. 2023. / Danika Wolf/Unbound
CNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus in the popular television series “The Chosen,” will speak at the spring 2024 commencement at the Catholic University of America (CUA), the school announced Wednesday.
“Countless numbers of people have had their lives changed for the better by Jonathan Roumie through his portrayal of Jesus Christ,” CUA president Peter Kilpatrick said in a March 20 press release.
“Jonathan’s work is a testament to how Catholics can use their God-given talents to deliver messages of hope and to bring people closer to God,” Kilpatrick continued. “I look forward to welcoming him to The Catholic University of America.”
Besides playing Jesus Christ in “The Chosen,” which is now in its fourth season, Roumie has been featured on the Hallow prayer and meditation app, and has served as a ministry leader. He was also a keynote speaker at the annual March for Life in 2023 in Washington, D.C., and has more than 1.4 million followers on Instagram.
“Speaking at The Catholic University of America’s commencement is such an honor because I will be among those who not only value a quality education but a college experience formed by the Catholic faith,” Roumie said in the press release.
“I so look forward to celebrating with these graduates and sharing some insights into how one can live an inspired, fulfilling, and faithful life using the skills, talents, and intellect given to them by God,” he continued.
Roumie will speak at commencement on May 11 and receive an honorary doctoral degree, along with four others.
Rabbi Jack Bemporad, an interfaith leader, will also receive an honorary doctorate. Having fled the fascist takeover of Italy when he was 5 years old, Bemporad has since dedicated himself to improving relations among Christians, Muslims, and Jews across the world. He has authored several books about Christian and Jewish relations and is the founding director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding.
John Finnis, professor emeritus of University of Oxford and University of Notre Dame Law School and a Catholic legal and political thinker and renowned philosopher, will be receiving an honorary doctorate, along with speaker and writer Teresa Pitt Green, advocate, speaker, and co-founder of The Healing Voices magazine.
Father Piotr Nawrot, a Roman Catholic priest of the Divine World Ministries known for rediscovering and reconstructing 13,000 pages of music held by members of the Moxo and Chiquito tribes, among others, will also receive an honorary doctorate.
The commencement ceremony will take place on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with about 1,300 graduating students.
CUA, established in 1887, just announced the launch of its “Lead with Light” brand platform, which Kilpatrick said “encapsulates who we are as an institution.”
The platform, he said, highlights “our dedication to academic excellence” as well as the “warm and welcoming community” at CUA, “where Christ is at the center of everything we do.”
A drawing of the Crucifixion by imprisoned Catholic and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai is unveiled by Lai’s godfather, William McGurn, and his wife and daughter at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 2024. / Credit: Patrick G. Ryan/The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 23, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).
The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., has installed a drawing of the Crucifixion by imprisoned Hong Kong Catholic and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
Father Robert Sirico, a supporter and friend of Lai’s, said during the installation ceremony on Thursday that the sketch is a testimony “not just of Jimmy’s struggle but the struggle of all people of Hong Kong” and “all of the people of China, who will, by faith, resist [oppression].”
The large drawing depicts Christ on the cross flanked by eight orange flowers. It was created by Lai in prison, where, according to Sirico, he has been kept in solitary confinement for close to 1,500 days.
The picture was blessed by university chaplain Father Aquinas Guilbeau. It is now on permanent display by the St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Catholic University’s Busch School of Business.
A successful entrepreneur, newspaper owner, Catholic, and outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Lai has been in a Hong Kong prison since 2020 for his pro-democracy and free speech advocacy.
The activist, a convert to Catholicism, was originally arrested in August 2020 under that year’s controversial national security law, which was passed by China’s communist-controlled government. The law sharply curtailed free speech in Hong Kong in an effort to quash what the Chinese Communist Party considered subversion and sedition in the separately administered region.
The plaque below Lai’s drawing at Catholic University explains that he “cites his Catholic faith as the basis for his refusal to be silenced or flee to save himself from arrest.”
Sirico said that the Hong Kong activist willingly chose to give up his comfortable, affluent life by resisting the CCP and refusing to leave Hong Kong. Although Hong Kongers have for years enjoyed a greater degree of freedom than that found in mainland China, that is now quickly changing as Chinese officials crack down on the region.
“If I go away, I not only give up my destiny, I give up God, I give up my religion, I give up what I believe in,” Lai said in 2020. “I am what I am. I am what I believe. I cannot change it. And if I can’t change it, I have to accept my fate with praise.”
Sirico told CNA that Lai sees his imprisonment as a way of joining in Christ’s passion on the cross. He said that the drawing should serve as an inspiring reminder that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
In prison, Sirico said that Lai has devoted himself to religious reading and prayer. He has also begun creating religious drawings, mostly pictures of the Crucifixion, like the one now on display at Catholic University.
CUA has been a vocal supporter of Lai in previous years. In 2022, the university awarded Lai an honorary degree.
Dr. Peter Kilpatrick, Catholic University’s president, told CNA that Lai “represents resistance to real oppression” and that he “represents freedom.”
Kilpatrick said that he hopes students will look at the drawing and learn about Lai and his resistance in Hong Kong and realize that “there are still people in the world who are willing to fight for the truth and who are willing to fight for freedom.”
“I see freedoms being denied all around the world,” Kilpatrick said. “In 2024, we may have to fight harder … not just in Hong Kong, but perhaps right here in the United States, for freedom to worship as we should and must, for the freedom and the dignity of the human person, which is under assault.”
Chen Guangcheng, a world-renowned Chinese human rights activist known commonly as the “barefoot lawyer,” was also at the dedication ceremony. He told CNA that he came to show his support for Lai.
“Jimmy Lai is a good person,” Guangcheng said. “He used his media to see the truth; that is why the CCP persecuted him.”
Guangcheng urged Americans to do more in support of freedom in Hong Kong and mainland China.
“I think if the Western people and government stand with them, the situation still can change,” he said.
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CNA Staff, Feb 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
A K–12 education initiative out of the Catholic University of America (CUA) seeks to bolster what its director calls “the distinctive excellence of Catholic education” … […]
The vandalized statue of “Mary, Protector of the Faith” on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The vandalism was discovered around 2:30 p.m. Feb. 15, 2024. / Credit: Alex Cranstoun/… […]
In his sprightly tour d’horizon, The Victorian Age in Literature (1911), G.K. Chesterton remarked that “the great Victorian rationalism” had “succeeded in doing a damage to religion” because it had “driven it entirely into the […]
The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with a capacity of 6,000 in its upper church, was standing room only for the National Prayer Vigil for Life on Thursday night. / Credit: Joe Bukuras/CNA
Washington D.C., Jan 18, … […]
Following his release, Bishop David O’Connell (third from left) joined Father Jean Felicien, Monsignor Thomas N. Gervasio, and Monsignor Sam Sirianni at their hotel in Rome. / Credit: TrentonMonitor.com staff photo
CNA Staff, Jan 9, 2024 / 17:40 pm (CNA).
Bishop David M. O’Connell of the Diocese of Trenton, New Jersey, was released from a hospital in Rome on Tuesday, five days after suffering a heart attack, a spokesman for the diocese said.
He was taken to Santo Spirito hospital last Thursday, where he had surgery to open the completely blocked left anterior descending artery, which is the largest cardiac artery in the body, according to the diocese. The type of heart attack the bishop sustained is known as a “widowmaker.”
O’Connell, 68, told other diocesan officials by email that he feels “very lucky” to have gotten medical care quickly after the heart attack, according to TrentonMonitor.com, the news website for the diocese, which consists of four counties in central New Jersey.
“He also gratefully acknowledged that he has received hundreds of get well wishes from throughout the diocese and the wider Church. He again thanked everyone for their support and prayers,” TrentonMonitor.com reported Tuesday.
O’Connell grew up not far from Philadelphia. He is a member of the Congregation of the Mission, which is more commonly known as the Vincentians, after its founder, St. Vincent de Paul.
He served as president of The Catholic University of America from 1998 to 2010. He has served as bishop of Trenton since 2010.
In December 2014, O’Connell had the lower part of his left leg amputated because of recurring infections caused by diabetes.
The bishop went to Italy recently to lead a pilgrimage of 20 priests and two lay diocesan staff members to holy sites in Rome and Assisi.
He plans to return to New Jersey later this week with the other pilgrims and there continue his recovery and rehabilitation.
Portiuncula chapel on the campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville. / Credit: Franciscan University of Steubenville
Denver, Colo., Dec 29, 2023 / 08:00 am (CNA).
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), there are alm… […]
null / Credit: Yeti studio/Shutterstock
CNA Staff, Nov 7, 2023 / 17:15 pm (CNA).
The new analysis of a study that claims to be the largest national survey of Catholic priests conducted in more than 50 years has found, among other things, that p… […]
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