Benedictine Sisters in Ecuador inaugurate baby drop-off box

Blessed Sacrament Basilica in Buenos Aires, Argentina. / Flickr/Luis Alveart (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nov 22, 2021 / 13:07 pm (CNA).
The rector of the Polish Catholic Mission in Argentina, Father Jorge Jacek Twarog, reported S… […]

Guayaquil, Ecuador, Apr 17, 2018 / 06:40 pm (ACI Prensa).- A new documentary film entitled “All or Nothing” tells the story of Sister Clare Crockett, a religious sister who died in the earthquake that took place in 2016 in Ecuador.

The film which is available in Spanish, English and Italian, is “the true story of a sister who gave everything to God, holding nothing back,” her community says.

April 16 marked the second anniversary of the earthquake that struck Manabí Province in Ecuador, in which 262 people died and more than 2,500 were injured.

Sister Clare Crockett of the Siervas del Hogar de la Madre (Sisters of the Home of the Mother) was killed when the community’s building in Playa Prieta, Ecuador, collapsed in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake.

Four aspirants and one resident youth also died in the quake.

The Siervas del Hogar de la Madre have now released the film “All or Nothing: Sister Clare Crockett,” which tells the story of the 33-year-old religious sister, who had been a rising actress when she left her career to pursue God’s calling.

This documentary film shows more than 15 years of Sister Clare’s life – a life which the sisters say “goes straight to our hearts as a call, to ask ourselves what are we ourselves giving or not giving to God.”

Originally from Ireland, Sister Clare wanted to be an actress. By age 18, she lived a life of partying and alcohol.

One day, a friend asked if she wanted to go on a free trip to Spain. The trip turned out to be a 10-day pilgrimage.

“I tried to get out of it, but my name was already on the ticket, so I had to go. I now see that it was Our Lady’s way of bringing me back home, back to her and her Son,” she said, according to EWTN. “I was not a very happy camper. Nevertheless, it was on that pilgrimage that Our Lord gave me the grace to see how He had died for me on the Cross. After I had received that grace, I knew that I had to change.”

“I knew that I had to leave everything and follow Him. I knew with great clarity that He was asking me to trust in Him, to put my life in His hands and to have faith,” she said. “It never ceases to amaze me how Our Lord works in the souls, how He can totally transform one’s life and capture one’s heart.”
Sister Clare went on to become the voice of Lucy on the long-running EWTN children’s television series “Hi Lucy.”

The distribution of the documentary film “All or Nothing” is free and is scheduled to be shown in Ireland, Canada, the United States, England, Italy, Singapore, the Philippines, Colombia, Spain, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Uruguay, Peru, Nicaragua, Chile, Latvia, Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Viewers interested in scheduling a screening can visit https://www.sisterclare.com/multimedia/film/request?view=form

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Santiago, Chile, Jan 6, 2020 / 06:50 pm (CNA).- A mob of masked protesters set fire Jan. 3 to a Catholic church dedicated to serving the national police in Santiago, Chile, while an anti-government demonstration was in progress in nearby Plaza Italia.

According to local reports, a group of masked individuals surrounded Saint Francis Borgia Church, located two blocks away from the plaza, around 8 p.m., setting fire to a vehicle parked outside and then starting fires inside the church and an attached building.

Three companies of firemen arrived at the scene, but the masked mob blocked their passage and they were unable to put out the fire in a timely manner, according to reports.

The church was built in 1876 and was originally the Sacred Heart of Jesus Chapel of Saint Borgia Hospital. In November 1975, it was set aside to serve the spiritual needs of the Carabineros, the national police force.

The church is situated in the same area of Santiago where Assumption and Veracruz (True Cross) churches were also set on fire last November.

The Carabineros tweeted “we deeply regret to report that Saint Francis Borgia church where we have said farewell to our more than one thousand martyrs has been set on fire by a mob of vandals.”

Anti-government demonstrations broke out in mid-October in Santiago over a now-suspended increase in subway fares. Other regions joined in the protests, expanding their grievances to inequality and the cost of healthcare.

A number of churches across Chile have been attacked and looted amid the demonstrations in the country.

The protests have put pressure on the administration of President Sebastián Piñera to introduce reforms, in addition to announcing the drafting of a new Constitution to replace the one enacted by the military regime of Augusto Pinochet in 1980.

Protest marches often start our peacefully, but end up with clashes between the police and masked protesters, who often turn to attacking churches as well as public and private property.

In a Jan. 4 message following the fire at Saint Franics Borgia church, Chile’s bishop for the military and security forces, Santiago Silva Retamales, expressed his closeness to the Carabineros and condemned the persistent violence in the country.

He called the attack “bewildering” and “incomprehensible,” noting that the church serves not only the national police, but also the whole community.

“To all the members of the beloved institution of the Carabineros throughout the country, spiritually united around this church during recent decades, I express my closeness in these difficult moments and I encourage you to remain determined safeguard order and social peace,” the bishop said.

While the local Church has promoted respect for human rights and the legitimate, just demands of society, it also condemns the “persistent violence that only deepens Chile’s wounds,” he said.

“The future of the country depends on our capacity for sincere dialogue to discern what is just,” Bishop Silva stressed, “with agreements involving all parties that should be respected and concrete actions that would restore to Chile its soul as a people with the vocation of unity, respect for everyone, and integral development.”

A Mass of reparation was offered in front of Saint Francis Borgia church Jan. 5, celebrated by Bishop Silva and concelebrated by the apostolic nuncio, several other bishops, the chaplains of the three branches of the Armed Forces and the Carabineros, along with clergy from these institutions.

In attendance were the General Director of the Carabineros, General Mario Rozas Córdova and his wife, accompanied by the High Command, delegations from the Armed Forces and the Carabineros along with their families, friends of the Carabineros, neighbors and hundreds of other people.

In his homily, Silva said that although “they had burned the church, they had not burned the community, they did not burn the faith.”

“Our hope is untouched,” he said.

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