Melbourne, Australia, Jul 29, 2019 / 03:30 pm (CNA).- On June 24, Sr. Joan Chittister, O.S.B., told the NY Times that she had been disinvited to speak at a 2020 conference of Australian educators, because Archbishop Peter Comensoli of Melbourne had not… […]
Washington D.C., Jul 29, 2019 / 03:16 pm (CNA).- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have issued new guidelines with restrictions for scientists seeking federal grants to use tissue from aborted babies for research.
The NIH said in a July 26 notic… […]
Caracas, Venezuela, Jul 29, 2019 / 02:51 pm (CNA).- After visiting clerics and seminarians in Venezuela, the secretary for seminaries of the Congregation for the Clergy issued a hopeful message for the country, which is facing shortages of basic goods.
“There is no desert that doesn’t end,” Archbishop Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong said, adding that “experiences in the history of Venezuela, and also personal and familial experiences, show that you can move forward.”
Under the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela has been marred by violence and social upheaval, with severe shortages of food and medicine, high unemployment, blackouts, and hyperinflation. More than 4 million Venezuelans have emigrated since 2015.
Archbishop Patrón spoke to Venezuelans through the “Voices of Hope” program of the Venezuelan bishops’ conference.
“I’m going to repeat the words of Pope Francis: let no one rob you of hope. Be free to live in hope, free to love, free to make decisions in favor of Venezuela, and very free to believe,” Patrón encouraged.
“You have also gone through not so easy other personal, familial and national experiences in the past, but Venezuela is great, very great,” exclaimed Patrón, who explained that he was referring to Venezuela as great “because it has the seed of the Kingdom, because it has the presence of God, and you have the love of Our Lady of Coromoto.”
Patrón also emphasized that “the Kingdom of God is growing” and added that during his time in Venezuela he met “young seminarians, priests of all ages and bishops who are very determined to be the presence of God in the current circumstances.”
“Any young man, priest, even the bishops themselves had other possibilities, which perhaps were much more comfortable, humanly understandable and justifiable, but it’s beautiful to realize that we have seminarians, priests and bishops that from within, from the heart, know that it’s worth giving their lives and going through a series of sacrifices, a series of inconveniences, but they are joyful because they are giving their lives so that the Kingdom of God, the values of the Gospel, are lived in Venezuela today,” Patrón said.
The prelate added that the clerics and seminarians “are very Venezuelan because from Venezuela, in Venezuela, from their vocation, they are the best citizens, the best Christians because they are giving their lives, their potentialities, their gifts, their lives, for the people of Venezuela.”
“That’s why, when you come to Venezuela you realize there’s life, there’s youth, there’s priesthood, there’s consecrated life, there are lay faithful who have freely decided to live, develop and give themselves totally to God, for the people of Venezuela and we can say there is a living present and it’s going to see a better future,” the archbishop said.
Finally, reflecting on the formation of seminarians and the ongoing formation of deacons and priests, Patrón stressed that it is necessary to be a pastor for the current situation and for future generations.
“The people of God and we need priests who are integrally formed. The people are praying to have holy, healthy priests, generous priests and this means that in formation we have ‘very human’ human beings, very close to the people of God, and at the same time very close to Jesus Christ, very spiritual. Men of God and men of their people, who give themselves to the people of Venezuela,” he concluded.
Earlier this month the Venezuelan bishops asked that Maduro resign from office, saying his exercise of the presidency is illegimate. They called for the election of a new president as soon as possible.
The bishops cited a July 4 report from the UN human rights commissioner which said the government has committed a variety of human rights abuses, including a high number of extrajudicial killings.
Maduro was sworn in for a second term as president Jan. 10, after winning a contested election in which oppositon candidates were barred from running or imprisoned. Venezuela’s bishops have called his new term illegitimate, and Juan Guaidó, head of the opposition-controlled legislature the National Assembly, declared himself interim president Jan. 23.
Guaidó has been recognized by a number of Western governments, but has been largely unable to secure the support of Venezuela’s military. He has pledged a transitional government and free elections.
Last week the US Treasury Department claimed that Maduro and his government have profited off a food subsidy program through a “vast corruption network,” in which a fraction of the food meant to enter the country was actually imported.
Kampala, Uganda, Jul 29, 2019 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- During the plenary assembly celebrating its golden jubilee, the leadership organization for bishops’ conferences in Africa elected Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Ouagadougou as its president.
The July 19-29 plenary assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar was held in Kampala and was devoted to the theme “That they may know Christ and have life in abundance.”
In its closing message, given July 28, SECAM called its golden jubilee “a time of thanksgiving” and of communion.
The symposium said the jubilee is “a commitment to the service of reconciliation, justice and peace which promotes communion and pastoral solidarity which enables us to stand together against: ideological colonization, land grabbing, political and democratic destabilization, human trafficking, terrorism and arms trafficking, etc.”
The bishops added that SECAM is to be “a sign of hope, especially for families and our countries.”
They noted that “the family founded on the union of man and woman remains the first place of evangelization; that is why SECAM has kept insisting on its importance, vocation and nature as ordained by God.”
They highlighted the importance of integral human development, and “the socio-political dimensions of evangelization and calls on politicians and governments to work for the wellbeing of their people.”
The Ugandan martyrs, the bishops said, “remind us of the importance of remaining faithful to our faith in Christ and to our baptismal commitment. They are also models for all the baptized, especially the catechists.”
SECAM also noted that children “need to be given special attention and quality Christian education to make them effective witnesses to Christ.”
They drew attention to the “irreplaceable role” of women in the Church and society, saying, “their participation in education and evangelization is indispensable.”
At the plenary assembly, the members of SECAM also made a number of commitments and exhortations.
They committed to investing “ more deeply in the biblical, theological, moral and spiritual formation of all the baptized; to nourish them with the word of God and the sacraments, so that they may make the gospel penetrate all aspects of life,” and to making the jubilee “a springboard for the new evangelization.”
The bishops also committed themselves to promoting “ the human formation and the professional, moral and spiritual education of children and the youth and to help them to be more deeply rooted in the values of the gospel,” as well as deepening collaboration with political leaders and holding them accountable, “ so as to put our human and natural resources at the service of development, reconciliation, justice and peace.”
They exhorted religious communities to be true to their vocation and to engage in “missionary exchange” among dioceses, and recommended that “the formation of priests should aim at helping them to develop a deeper personal intimate relationship with Christ, human and spiritual maturity, a sense of service and accountability and passion for the mission of the church.”
“We encourage the particular Churches to engage in the formation, accompaniment and guidance of civil servants and politicians in their respective locations so as to fight against corruption, promote good governance and better management of human and natural resources,” the bishops added.
SECAM elected Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Umtata (Mthatha) as its first vice president, and Bishop Lucio Muandula of Xai-Xai its second vice president. Fr. Terwase Henry Akaabiam was appointed secretary general.
The symposium grew out of the desires of the African bishops at the Second Vatican Council to speak with one voice. SECAM’s stated mission, according to its website, is to “to promote its role as a sign and instrument of salvation and to build the Church as a Family of God in Africa,” while also preserving and fostering communion and collaboration among its member episcopal conferences.
Cardinal Ouédraogo announced at the assembly that SECAM will be issuing a “Kampala Document” after the assembly, to “help the people of God to deepen their knowledge of Christ our Savior and make him known as the Way, the Truth and the Life.”
The symposium intends the document to “become a reference text for our mission.”
Baltimore, Md., Jul 29, 2019 / 11:35 am (CNA).- Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore issued a statement Saturday rebutting a tweet from President Donald Trump that claimed that the city is infested with both crime and rats.
“It saddens me to … […]
Szczecin, Poland, Jul 29, 2019 / 11:03 am (CNA).- A Catholic priest was severely beaten in an attack by three men in the sacristy of St. John the Baptist church in Szczecin on Sunday, in what was reportedly an attempted robbery.
Fr. Aleksander Ziejews… […]
Vatican City, Jul 29, 2019 / 05:01 am (CNA).- The Vatican reported Sunday that bones discovered in previously hidden ossuaries pre-date the 20th century – and therefore cannot be the remains of a Vatican teen who went missing in the 1980s.
Hundr… […]
Vatican City, Jul 28, 2019 / 05:45 am (CNA).- As up to 150 migrants are feared to have drowned in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, Pope Francis made an appeal to the international community Sunday to act decisively to ensure the safety and dignity o… […]
Vancouver, Canada, Jul 28, 2019 / 05:00 am (CNA).- St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be canonized a saint, was celebrated by First Nations people throughout Canada on her July feast day as an important cultural bridge between Catholic… […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Jul 27, 2019 / 04:47 pm (CNA).- Archbishop Carlos Garfias of Morelia expressed his solidarity with the Diocesis of Tlapa and with their bishop, Dagoberto Sosa, after a recent attack against a priest that resulted in the death of hi… […]
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