CNA Staff, Mar 27, 2020 / 01:00 am (CNA).- Catholic leaders in Croatia say they don’t know God’s plans, after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the Croatian capital of Zagreb the morning of March 22, causing dozens of injuries and at least one death. It was the strongest quake to hit the city in 140 years.
Among other buildings, the city’s cathedral was heavily damaged with part of its ceiling caving in. The tip of a cathedral spire crashed through the roof of the archdiocesan building next door. The parliament building and a hospital run by the Sisters of Charity were also damaged.
When the quake struck, the city was in a partial lock down over the COVID-19 coronavirus. According to Reuters, Croatia has had 206 cases of the virus and one death. Residents who had been confined to their homes rushed to the streets to avoid getting hurt or killed.
The city’s archbishop, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, said that the Church does not know the plan of God in wake of the double catastrophe.
“There’s a lot to think about: the coronavirus and now the earthquake. We don’t know what God’s plan is,” the archbishop said in a recent interview.
Cardinal Bozanic, who also spoke with Croatian Catholic Radio and Croatian radio and television, expressed the “human closeness of the Christian bishops to all those who are suffering.”
“This earthquake is a challenge and a sign for all of us, but also a call to solidarity and closeness. I’m among those who don’t have a home these days. I couldn’t stay in (my residence) because it’s damaged. But we’re living in community,” the cardinal explained.
He and others who lived at the archdiocesan headquarters have moved into the seminary, which the seminarians had vacated due to the coronavirus.
The fact that public Masses had been suspended because of the coronavirus was a fortunate coincidence, the cardinal told ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian language news partner, March 25.
“The earthquake happened at 6:25 in the morning and the churches open at 6:00, including our cathedral, the Franciscan church and the Jesuit church where the whole floor collapsed. If it had occurred with the churches full, there certainly would have been victims.” Bozanic explained.
“Thanks be to God we were saved,’ he said, and added “we all have to show solidarity.”
The archbishop also stressed that now the priority is “to think about the families that remain without an apartment or house” and the “churches and parishes damaged in Zagreb and outside Zagreb.”
Bozanic emphasized that “God loves us very much, and for that reason we are called to God’s closeness even in this difficult situation.” “The coronavirus pandemic is a challenge. We have to take it seriously and obey so we can help one another. To be more in solidarity, closer to one another,” he said.
“Priests are celebrating the Eucharist every day and people are called to spiritually connect with them.”
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Dublin, Ireland, Aug 25, 2018 / 05:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In Ireland on Saturday, Pope Francis said the anger of Catholics at bishops’ failure in response to the sexual abuse crisis is appropriate and that he shares those feelings.
“With regard to the most vulnerable, I cannot fail to acknowledge the grave scandal caused in Ireland by the abuse of young people by members of the Church charged with responsibility for their protection and education,” he said to Irish authorities Aug. 25.
“The failure of ecclesiastical authorities – bishops, religious superiors, priests and others – adequately to address these repugnant crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community.” He added: “I myself share those sentiments.”
In his first official speech of the apostolic voyage to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families, the pope said he hopes the “failings of many” will underscore the importance of protecting children and vulnerable adults by all of society.
He referenced the words of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in a letter to the Catholics of Ireland recognized the gravity of the situation of child sex abuse and demanded “truly evangelical, just and effective” measures in response to the betrayal of trust.
Speaking off-the-cuff, the pope added that Benedict’s involvement continues to push Church leaders to “remedy past mistakes and adopt stringent rules to ensure that they do not happen again.”
Francis said his recent letter to the Church affirmed a greater commitment “to eliminate this scourge in the Church; at any cost – moral and suffering.”
He said he is “very conscious” of the circumstances of the most vulnerable and emphasized the goodness of the child, which he said is “a precious gift of God, to be cherished, encouraged to develop his or her gifts, and guided to spiritual maturity and human flourishing.”
“All of us are aware of how urgent it is to provide our young people with wise guidance and sound values on their journey to maturity,” he stated.
In his speech, the pope also spoke out in defense of the “right to life” of the unborn, criticizing the materialistic “throwaway culture” which makes people indifferent to the poor and to the most defenseless.
He also pointed out that the “Christian message” has been a vital part of Ireland, shaping the thought and culture of the people. It is his prayer, he said, that as the country listens to the contemporary political and social discussion, it will not forget its Christian heritage.
Speaking about his reason for being in Dublin, the World Meeting of Families, he called it “a prophetic witness” to the rich heritage of ethical and spiritual values, which it is a duty to cherish and protect and that the Church wants to support people as they try to respond, “faithfully and joyfully to their God given vocation in society.”
There are many difficulties faced by families today – nevertheless, they are “are the glue of society,” he said, and should not be taken for granted.
The World Meeting of Families, he explained, “is not only an opportunity for families to reaffirm their commitment to loving fidelity, mutual assistance and reverence for God’s gift of life in all its forms, but also to testify to the unique role played by the family in the education of its members and the development of a sound and flourishing social fabric.”
Calling the entire world a type of family, he said bonds of common humanity should drive us to take care of the weakest among us, even though we are often left feeling powerless in the face of “persistent evils,” such as racism, ethnic hatred, violence, and contempt for human dignity.
Among these is also the refugee crisis, he said, calling it “perhaps the most disturbing” challenge to consciences. “How much we need to recover, in every instance of political and social life, the sense of being a true family of peoples!” he urged.
Bishop Erik Varden, OCSO, of the Catholic Territorial Prelature of Trondheim, Norway, at the vespers at Santa Maria dell’Anima in Rome. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Dec 27, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).
Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, No… […]
Mother Elvira, the founder of the Comunità Cenacolo, based her efforts to help young people struggling with addiction around the concept of radical trust in God’s mercy and providence. / Courtesy of the Comunità Cenacolo
National Catholic Register, Aug 5, 2023 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
Mother Elvira Petrozzi, who founded Comunità Cenacolo in 1983 to provide hope and healing to those suffering from addiction, died on Aug. 3 in the formation house and residence of her congregation in Saluzzo, Italy. She was 86.
Her death, following a long illness, came just weeks after thousands of people gathered in Saluzzo, a hilltop town in Italy’s northwest Piedmont region about an hour’s drive south of Turin, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Cenacolo Community’s founding there in an abandoned home on July 16, 1983.
In the decades since, the community has grown to encompass 72 Cenacolo houses in 20 countries, including four in the United States.
Mother Elvira called the Cenacolo a “School of Life” because it took people off the streets and gave them a “rebirth” that was “based on a simple, family-oriented, orderly life” with the foundation of prayer, physical labor, discipline, and fraternal sharing.
“How could I invent a story like this? Everything happened without me even realizing it,” she once remarked.
“I dove into God’s mercy and I rolled up my sleeves to love, love, love … and serve!” she said. “I am the first to surprise myself with what has happened and what is happening in the life of the Cenacolo Community. It’s a work of God, the Holy Spirit, and of Mary.”
Bishop Robert Baker, bishop emeritus of Birmingham, Alabama, first met Mother Elvira in 1991. The two developed a close friendship and together they co-founded four Comunità Cenacolos in the U.S. Southwest, including one near Hanceville, Alabama.
Baker was among Mother Elvira’s many friends, supporters, and community members who were able to visit with her in her final days.
“I had the blessing of being invited to come to be at her bedside,” he told the National Catholic Register, CNA’s partner news outlet. “I was with her and I was able to give her a blessing.”
Humble beginnings
Born Rita Petrozzi, Mother Elvira was born in Sora, Italy, in 1937 and grew up in a poor family, taking the name Elvira upon entering the Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne Antide Thouret as a teenager.
It wasn’t until 27 years later that she felt inspired to help young addicts and other youth to change their lives. Rooted in her Catholic faith and God’s love for every person, her methods were so effective that they led to others wanting a Comunità Cenacolo established in their region.
Prior to meeting her, Baker founded a drug addiction center called Our Lady of Hope Community in St. Augustine, Florida. Then visiting Rome when he was rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, he learned of Mother Elvira, spoke with her, and at his invitation agreed to establish a Cenacolo community with her entire program at Our Lady of Hope in 1992. The two friends went on to co-found two other houses in the St. Augustine area and a fourth house in Alabama.
Baker celebrated one of the Masses for the thousands of people attending the 40th anniversary celebration in Saluzzo. In his homily, he reflected on the time when he arranged to use an ornamental nursery to raise funds for the Cenacolo program in Florida, but when community members arrived from Italy they explained that Mother Elvira had instructed them to rely instead on divine providence.
“It was the result of her own closeness to the Lord in the Eucharist, which enabled her to see the immensity of God’s love. And if God loves us so immensely, he will provide for us,” he said.
After 30 years, no one has gone hungry in that Florida house or any of the community’s houses. “The point being, she was right,” Baker said.
Mother Elvira, who died on Aug. 3, 2023, at age 86, was beloved for her infectious trust in God’s providence, her devotion to the Eucharist, and her burning desire to share God’s boundless love with those struggling in life. Courtesy of the Comunità Cenacolo
The daily schedule at these houses includes Mass, eucharistic adoration, Marian devotion with three rosaries minimum a day, and devotion to St. Joseph. Every day members pray simply: “St. Joseph, provide for us.”
“The heart of it is, of course, the Eucharist,” Baker explained.
“Part of Elvira’s training is to divest to get rid of the stuff you don’t need,” he said. “So, the divesting, the trust in divine providence, and then … the Eucharist, praying before the Lord. That’s where her greatest strength was — the Eucharist, where she had all these insights. [You] have to have the sense of God’s immense love, which she had from praying before the Eucharist. And then because you know God loves you immensely, he will provide for you.”
When Baker visited Mother Elvira shortly before her death, he noted upon entering the house a mosaic on the floor that spells out the words “Dio Provvede” (God Provides).
‘Consumed with God’s love’
Florida residents Sean and Elaine Corrigan, who met Mother Elvira in 2000, lived in her community for some time and served in its missions in Brazil.
The couple credits her for saving their marriage.
“She had an extraordinary impact on our lives and on our marriage,” Elaine Corrigan told the Register. “Mother Elvira was a person fully in love with her Savior. She knew, she accepted, and she believed completely in his merciful love, and her great desire was to share him with others.
“I wanted to run after her and soak up all that she had,” she continued. “When we met Mother Elvira, we knew we had encountered a woman completely consumed with the love of God. She knew in the core of her being that he could and would heal people. She shared this hope and mercy with everyone she met.”
Albino Aragno, who started with the Cenacolo more than 30 years ago and today is the director of Comunità Cenacolo America, said Mother Elvira taught him many valuable lessons.
“Mother Elvira always encouraged me. She reminded me that life is precious and that life needs to be lived fully … to never be afraid to do God’s will, and always trust in him,” he said.
“Because of this, I can say that in all these years I can see that our community has kept on going even through so many difficulties, because good always prevails!”
Albino’s wife, Joyce, said Mother Elvira had a profound effect on her from the very beginning.
“Mother Elvira said, ‘Lord, let me know your will in the moment you want me to do it.’ This pierced my heart the first time I heard it and moved me to try to live every moment of my life in surrender and abandonment to his will, as Jesus reveals it at that moment,” she explained.
“It’s so radically opposed to control and trusting ‘in my own understanding,’ as the Psalmist says — my own intellect, perception, and analysis. Jesus calls me to live totally in the moment, not depending on myself.”
Pope Francis paid tribute to the Comunità Cenacolo on its 40th anniversary following his July 16 Angelus reflection.
“I send my heartfelt greeting to the Cenacolo Community, which has been a place of hospitality and human promotion for 40 years,” the pope said. “I bless Mother Elvira, the bishop of Saluzzo, and all the fraternity and friends. What you do is good, and it is good that you exist! Thank you!”
Baker said he observed during a recent Mass how “in periods of the Church there are great saints that get us through the eras in which we live.”
He pointed to St. Benedict in the fourth century, the Dominicans and Franciscans in the 13th century during the Albigensian heresy, and St. Ignatius and the Jesuits in the 16th century at the time of the Reformation.
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