Year: 2020

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News Briefs

‘Save our seniors’ – Italian youth organize campaign to honor elderly in isolation

April 27, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Rome, Italy, Apr 27, 2020 / 09:30 am (CNA).- Italian students have organized a campaign to uplift and honor the elderly, who have suffered heavy losses in Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.

Offering calls and video messages for elderly residents in isolation and a social media campaign to spread appreciation for seniors in their communities, the Catholic “Youth for Peace” movement is seeking to increase solidarity across generations.

The young people have also collected donations for masks, gloves, and other medical supplies for elderly care homes, where social distancing is difficult.

Italy has the oldest population in Europe, and the second oldest in the world after Japan. More than 20% of Italy’s population is 65 or older, according to the United Nations.

Prior to COVID-19, students involved in “Youth for Peace” used to visit nursing homes on a weekly basis.

Elderly care homes across Europe have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus which has led to the deaths of more than 26,600 people across Italy.

“Some of the elderly who died were our friends and many of the affected residences were … the sites of our weekly visits,” Youth for Peace said in a statement released on April 27.

With Italy’s lockdown measures still in place, the youth group is seeking to make the Italian hashtag #SalviamoINostriAnziani, which means #SaveOurElderly, go viral.

 

Adesso tocca a noi!
Salviamo i nostri anziani✌️#salviamoinostrianziani#santegidio #giovaniperlapace❤️? pic.twitter.com/uktjmEIKKJ

— Florian Myrtaj (@Florian09276089) April 21, 2020

 

 

Appoggiamo tutti la campagna dei @gxlapace perché gli anziani sono la memoria e il futuro per i giovani ?????? #salviamoinostrianziani pic.twitter.com/2zNkQI3Y1t

— elia (@svr_elia) April 21, 2020

 

High school and university students posted photos of an elderly acquaintance with the hashtag and a message of appreciation. They also created a group video from their homes calling for “an alternative to death and isolation” for Italy’s seniors.

 

#SalviamoINostriAnziani
La campagna social dei #GiovaniPerLaPace: il #coronavirus sta uccidendo tanti anziani. Troppi. Soprattutto nelle case di riposo. È ora di cambiare. pic.twitter.com/yKWFAqOCNm

— Giovani per la Pace #SalviamoINostriAnziani (@gxlapace) April 21, 2020

 

Some of these posts were shared on Italy’s Liberation Day, April 25, when Italians marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Milan and Turin from Nazi occupation. Veterans of Italy’s resistance movement have traditionally marked the anniversary with parades across the country.

One person shared a post with a photo of an old man that stated: “They freed us. Now it’s up to us. We do not abandon them.”

 

Ci hanno liberato. Ora tocca a noi. Non li abbandoniamo. Liberiamoli. #salviamoinostrianziani #25Aprile #Festadellaliberazione pic.twitter.com/XjvVRGzXca

— Stefano Orlando #SalviamoINostriAnziani (@Steorlando) April 24, 2020

 

The Youth for Peace movement is linked to the Community of Sant’Egidio, a lay Catholic movement centered on peace and helping the poor. The youth group is active in schools and universities to promote solidarity with the elderly, migrants, and the homeless.

As a part of the Save Our Elderly campaign, Youth for Peace has called for Italians to “rethink” institutional nursing homes, and to strengthen home care and co-housing models.

“Every senior has the right to live in a place he can call home. Of these possible solutions, the Youth for Peace want to be promoters and, in the name of an intergenerational alliance, intend to give voice to those who, in the dramatic days of the pandemic, died in silence,” it said.

 

#salviamoinostrianziani aderiamo alla campagna dei GxP che vogliono che rivediamo il sistema delle case di riposo per dare agli anziani una prospettiva di vita fatta di affetti, rispetto e iniziative da condividere con chi è più giovane pic.twitter.com/4yQhPPe4TC

— luana virgili (@luanavirgili) April 22, 2020

 

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News Briefs

Pandemic could take heaviest toll on homeless, says pope

April 27, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Apr 27, 2020 / 06:00 am (CNA).- The homeless “risk paying the heaviest price” amid the coronavirus crisis, Pope Francis has said in a message to street newspapers.

In a statement dated April 21 but released by the Holy See press office April 27, the pope noted that the pandemic posed a dire threat to the more than 100 publications sold by the homeless worldwide.

Thousands of people depend for their livelihoods on the sale of street newspapers, he said. 

“For many weeks the street newspapers have not been sold and their sellers cannot work,” he observed. “I want to express my closeness to journalists, volunteers, people who live thanks to these projects and who in these times are working with many innovative ideas.”

The pope expressed confidence that, despite the present difficulties, “the great network of street newspapers in the world will come back stronger than before.”

“Looking at the poorest people, in these days, can help us all to become aware of what is really happening to us and of our true condition,” he said. 

“To all of you, [I offer] my message of encouragement and fraternal friendship. Thank you for the work you do, for the information you give and for the stories of hope you tell.”

This is not the first time that Pope Francis has shown his support for street newspapers. In 2015, he gave an interview to a representative of the Dutch paper Straatnieuws. 

Straatnieuws is currently appealing for donations. A message on its website says: “The corona crisis has forced us to stop the distribution of Straatnieuws. So sellers are out of newspapers, out of income. We want to support them. For that, your donation is very much needed.”

The Big Issue, a street newspaper founded in the U.K. in 1991, has launched an appeal to support vendors and to ensure that the magazine weathers the pandemic. 

StreetWise, a street magazine sold in Chicago since 1992, is seeking $300,000 to “sustain and subsidize” its vendors. 

A statement on its website says: “With declining sales, our vendors need support now so they don’t lose their hotel rooms, single room occupancies or apartments and end up on the streets or in a shelter. And because many of them are in immunosuppressed conditions they could get very sick or even die.”

The website quoted Pete Kadens, StreetWise’s chairman emeritus, as saying: “This is literally the difference between life and death for our vendors and fellow Chicagoans — I cannot stress that enough.” 

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Italy’s bishops criticize state for keeping public Mass ban

April 26, 2020 CNA Daily News 1

Rome Newsroom, Apr 26, 2020 / 03:29 pm (CNA).- Italy’s bishops have criticized Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte for failing to lift the ban on public Masses.

The Italian bishops’ conference Sunday released a statement denouncing Conte’s decree on “phase 2” of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, which it says “arbitrarily excludes the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people.”

During a press conference April 26 to announce the next phase of Italy’s COVID-19 restrictions, beginning May 4, Conte said funerals may resume with a maximum of 15 people present. Other religious celebrations, including public Masses, will resume “in the coming weeks.”

In their April 26 statement, the bishops referred to two bodies which advised Conte on lifting lockdown measures: the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the equivalent of the Prime Minister’s office, and the Technical-Scientific Committee for COVID-19.

The bishops said: “The Presidency of the Council and the Technical-Scientific Committee are reminded of the duty to distinguish between their responsibility — giving precise indications of a health nature — and that of the Church, called to organize the life of the Christian community, in compliance with the measures prepared, but in the fullness of one’s autonomy.”

The prime minister’s office responded late Sunday night to the bishops’ statement, according to news agency ANSA. The message said “a protocol will be studied that will allow the faithful to participate in liturgical celebrations as soon as possible in conditions of maximum security.”

The Italian bishops’ conference (CEI) said it had been in “continuous and available dialogue” with the government for weeks.

During these negotiations, “the Church accepted, with suffering and a sense of responsibility, the government limitations taken to face the health emergency,” the bishops said, adding that during these conversations “it was explicitly emphasized that — when the limitations taken on to face the pandemic are reduced — the Church demands to be able to resume its pastoral action.”

The statement claims the Italian bishops had also presented their own guidelines and protocols for a transitional phase which would meet all health standards.

Public Masses throughout Italy have been suspended for nearly seven weeks after the Italian government issued a decree March 8 suspending all public religious ceremonies, including funerals.

According to the prime minister’s April 26 announcement, the easing of lockdown measures will allow retail stores, museums, and libraries to reopen beginning May 18 and restaurants, bars, and hair salons June 1.

Movement between Italian regions, within regions, and within cities and towns is still prohibited except under strict cases of necessity.

In a letter April 23, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, wrote that “the time has come to resume the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist, and church funerals, baptisms and all the other sacraments, naturally following those measures necessary to guarantee security in the presence of more people in public places.”

 

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Boston archdiocese assembles teams of priests to anoint coronavirus patients

April 26, 2020 CNA Daily News 0

Denver Newsroom, Apr 26, 2020 / 02:01 pm (CNA).- The Archdiocese of Boston has assembled groups of priests — living together in strategic locations close to hospitals— to administer the anointing of the sick to COVID-19 patients. 

Father Tom Macdonald, vice-rector of St. John’s Seminary in Boston, is one of the priests to have volunteered for the assignment.

“It’s a wonderful experience of priestly fraternity to live in the house. It’s sort of like— I would imagine— living as a firefighter in a firehouse. We’re here, we get calls, we rush out, we come back,” he told CNA.

The volunteers live in dedicated houses with other priests whose sole assignment is to be available to administer anointing of the sick, the archdiocese said. The ministry began the weekend of April 18.

“This is what priests do…it’s an enormous privilege,” Macdonald said.

Suffolk County, where Boston is located, had about 9,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of April 24.

“We are grateful that our priests are able to visit with the seriously ill in hospitals who are suffering from the coronavirus and to be able to provide the Sacrament of the Sick,” Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston said in a statement to CNA.

“This is especially comforting to families who are not currently permitted to visit loved ones in the hospital and who are being treated for coronavirus. Our priests consider this to be a blessing in their ministry. In addition we have received feedback that these visits have had a positive impact on hospital staff.”

The archdiocese trained some 80 priests in total to carry out the ministry, with 30 priests actively doing the anointings and the rest serving as backup. 

The backup volunteers have been providing living space for the priests— such as empty rectories— as well as providing food and errands for the participating clergy.

Father Macdonald has been called to anoint several COVID-19 patients already, and each time the hospital staff has assisted him in donning and removing the necessary protective gear according to hospital’s protocols.

He said all the priests have been trained to minimize time spent in the patient’s room. The priest prays most of the ritual on the doorstep, he said.

The priest then enters the room to perform the actual anointing, which is done with a cotton swab, dipped in the holy oil, and administered on the patient’s foot.

Macdonald said he and his fellow priests are constantly “sharing notes” on their experiences at the hospitals, since each institution has slightly different protocols and equipment.

“It’s very hard being a priest and not being able to celebrate the sacraments for the people, so this opportunity is a great relief in a sense— to do what we were ordained to do,” he said.

“We teach the men at St. John’s [Seminary] that priests run into the burning building, not away from it.”

Father Michael Zimmerman, assistant vocation director for the seminary and another priest volunteer, told CNA that he hopes the word will spread throughout Boston about the availability of anointing for coronavirus patients.

Father Zimmerman started on the team last weekend, covering the Cambridge, Everett, and Mount Auburn hospitals in Boston. So far he has responded to one anointing call, and his fellow priest in the house where they are now living has responded to two.

“Once we’re there, the nurses and the medical staff are very appreciative to have us there,” he said.

He said he and his fellow priest— a religious— have developed a routine of prayer in their house, as well as eating meals together and celebrating Mass.

Father Zimmerman asked for prayers for the patients and the priests and medical staff ministering to them.

“We can’t save everyone— medicine can only do so much. To some degree we have to recognize that we’re not the masters of our own fate, and we have to put it in God’s hands,” he said.

“The medical staff is doing great work, but we also have to recognize that they can’t do everything, and that hopefully takes some pressure off of them, recognizing that this is in God’s hands.”

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