Dublin, Ireland, Aug 26, 2018 / 01:27 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- During his last stop in Dublin Sunday, Pope Francis met with the bishops of Ireland, telling them to take encouragement for their daily ministry in the truth found in Christ.
“In your da… […]
Knock, Ireland, Aug 26, 2018 / 05:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Sunday during a quick visit to Knock Shrine in county Mayo, Pope Francis entrusted the Irish people to the care of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Mary our Mother is also … […]
Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 26, 2018 / 04:51 am (ACI Prensa).- Two seminarians in Mexico have launched a project on Facebook to offer evangelization and pastoral ministry tools for the deaf.
The initiative is called EvangeLíSaMe (EvangelizeMe) and was created by seminarians Juan Gómez, age 28, and Edwyn Alvarado, age 25, two months ago.
The capitalized letters in the title stand for “Mexican Sign Language,” Gomez told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language sister agency. He explained that the goal is to create “an online place for evangelization in Mexican sign language and for the human development of deaf people.”
On the EvangeLíSaMe Facebook page, Gomez and Alvarado share two minute videos each week, offering catechesis or a reflection in Mexican sign language.
They are also putting together a catechesis photo manual “that could be used in parish centers where there are deaf children who want to make their First Communion.”
The seminarians got to know each other through social media, as they both worked in deaf ministry in their respective dioceses.
Gomez has been working in deaf ministry in the Diocese of Irapuato for a year and received training at San Juan de los Lagos in 2013. Alvarado, who is preparing to be a priest in the Missionaries of Saint Charbel order, has been doing work with the deaf for four years.
Gomez said he felt motivated to learn sign language because during his formation period, “they sent me out on mission to a home for people with disabilities, and it was there I got to know about this reality. I saw that [those who were deaf] had many limitations because there were very few people who could communicate with them.”
He said the Facebook initiative originated when the two seminarians “saw the need for sign language interpreters to bring God’s message in the different dioceses in Mexico.” In some areas of the country, there are few resources for deaf people seeking to grow deeper in their faith.
With EvangeLíSaMe, they hope to “eliminate the barriers to communication, so more deaf people may know God.” They also hope that people in other Mexican dioceses will join the project.
Alvarado is scheduled to be ordained a priest in 2020 while Gomez has already completed his formation and is awaiting the date for his priestly ordination.
This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Washington D.C., Aug 25, 2018 / 10:01 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington has denied a report that he was informed about restrictions apparently placed by the Vatican upon his predecessor, Archbishop Theodore McCarrick.
“Cardinal Wuerl did not receive documentation or information for the Holy See specific to Cardinal McCarrick’s behavior or any of the prohibitions on his life and ministry suggested by Archbishop Vigano,” the cardinal’s spokesman, Ed McFadden, told CNA.
On Aug. 25, Archbishop Carlo Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States from 2011 to 2016, released a “testimony,” alleging that in 2009 or 2010, after receiving reports of habitual sexual misconduct on the part of McCarrick, Pope Benedict XVI had ordered that “the Cardinal was to leave the seminary where he was living, he was forbidden to celebrate [Mass] in public, to participate in public meetings, to give lectures, to travel, with the obligation of dedicating himself to a life of prayer and penance.”
Vigano wrote it was “absolutely unthinkable” that Archbishop Pietro Sambi, nuncio at the time the restrictions were imposed, would not have informed Wuerl about the restrictions placed upon McCarrick, who was, according to DC sources, living at that time in Washington’s Redemptoris Mater Seminary.
“I myself brought up the subject with Cardinal Wuerl on several occasions, and I certainly didn’t need to go into detail because it was immediately clear to me that he was fully aware of it,” Vigano added. The archbishop mentioned one specific interaction, in which he raised with Wuerl a vocations promotional advertisement inviting young men to meet with McCarrick. Wuerl, he said, immediately said he would cancel the ad.
Wuerl does not dispute that he discussed with the archbishop a vocational promotion. However, according to McFadden, “Archbishop Vigano presumed that Wuerl had specific information that Wuerl did not have.”
While McCarrick reportedly did move from Redemptoris Mater Seminary in 2009 or 2010, McFadden said that “Cardinal Wuerl categorically denies that he was ever provided any information regarding the reasons for Cardinal McCarrick’s exit for the Redemptoris Mater Seminrary.”
A source close to the cardinal told CNA that Wuerl had the impression some issues had arisen when McCarrick left the seminary, but neither McCarrick nor the apostolic nuncio spoke with him about the matter.
Vigano offered a different account: “Cardinal Wuerl, well aware of the continuous abuses committed by Cardinal McCarrick and the sanctions imposed on him by Pope Benedict, transgressing the Pope’s order, also allowed him to reside at a seminary in Washington D.C. In doing so, he put other seminarians at risk.”
McCarrick was removed from ministry on June 20, after the Archdiocese of New York deemed credible an allegation that he had serially sexually abused a teenage boy in the 1970s. Since that time, allegations have been made that McCarrick serially sexually abused at least one other teenage boy, and that he sexually coerced and assaulted young priests and seminarians during his decades of priestly and episcopal ministry. On July 28, McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals was accepted, and he awaits a Vatican trial.
A source close to McCarrick’s case told CNA that when Wuerl was informed that McCarrick was being investigated for an allegation of sexual abuse, he requested that McCarrick withdraw from public ministry, and McCarrick refused. The source said that Wuerl was not permitted by canon law to forbid McCarrick from exercising ministry in the Archdiocese of Washington, and that McCarrick has also refused requests from other Church leaders to avoid travel or ministry in their dioceses.
Archbishop Vigano’s “testimony” said that Wuerl’s “recent statements that he knew nothing about it, even though at first he cunningly referred to compensation for the two victims, are absolutely laughable. The Cardinal lies shamelessly.”
Vigano’s missive said that McCarrick has exercised influence over Vatican figures for decades, saying that the archbishop has had particular influence over Pope Francis. He said that McCarrick influenced several of the pope’s recent episcopal appointments, among them the 2014 appointment of Cardinal Blase Cupich to the Archdiocese of Chicago and the 2016 appointment of Cardinal Joseph Tobin to the Archdiocese of Newark.
The archbishop’s letter said that “Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses, and resign along with all of them.”
The Vatican has not yet responded to Vigano’s testimony.
Dublin, Ireland, Aug 25, 2018 / 05:34 pm (CNA).- On Sunday, August 26, Pope Francis will become the second pontiff to visit the Knock Shrine. During his visit, the pope will visit the Apparition Chapel and pray the Angelus before returning to Dublin.
… […]
Dublin, Ireland, Aug 25, 2018 / 05:29 pm (CNA).- On Saturday, Pope Francis met with two representatives from the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors for a 90-minute meeting at the Papal Nuncio’s residence.
Pope Francis apologized for the… […]
Washington D.C., Aug 25, 2018 / 04:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has organized a tour of of the official World Youth Day Cross and Marian Icon to mark the 25th anniversary of the World Youth Day which was held in Denver.
“Each of the five locations will feature special events and liturgical celebrations in commemoration of this historic journey,” according an Aug. 23 statement from the USCCB.
The Aug. 19-27 tour includes stops in Chicago, Miami, Houston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.
“We want women and men of all ages to come out and encounter these important symbols of faith when they are here in our country,” said Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, who serves as the USCCB’s chief liaison for World Youth Day.
“In addition to those preparing to go to Panamá, we hope that young people and young adults who are unable to travel to World Youth Day next year will be part of these local celebrations. We also hope that veterans of past World Youth Days, including those who went to Denver in 1993, will have a chance to join us along the way.”
From the US, the World Youth Day Cross and Marian Icon will go to Panama in advance of the January 2019 World Youth Day being held there.
The USCCB stated that “at least ten U.S. bishops will be part of the pilgrimage”, listing Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Archbishop Wenski of Miami, Bishop Caggiano, Bishop Barry Knestout of Richmond, Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell of Washington, Auxiliary Bishop Mario Dorsonville-Rodriguez of Washington, Auxiliary Bishop George Rassas of Chicago, Auxiliary Bishop George Sheltz of Galveston-Houston, and Auxiliary Bishop Marc Trudeau of Los Angeles.
Archbishop Jose Domingo Ulloa Mendieta of Panama will be present at the events in Miami and Washington, D.C.
Dublin, Ireland, Aug 25, 2018 / 03:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis encouraged attendees at an evening festival for the World Meeting of Families to radiate joy into the world like lighthouses radiate light – giving an example for other families to follow.
“God wants every family to be a beacon of the joy of his love in our world,” the pope said Aug. 25 inside Dublin’s Croke Park stadium.
“What does this mean? It means for a family to be a lighthouse everyone can follow. It means that we, who have encountered God’s saving love, try, with or without words, to express it in little acts of kindness in our daily routine and in the most hidden moments of our day.”
“What is this called? This is called holiness,” he said. And he exclaimed that families are “the hope of the Church and of the world!”
“By your witness to the Gospel, you can help God’s dream to come true. You can help to draw all God’s children closer together, so that they can grow in unity and learn what it is for the entire world to live in peace as one great family,” he said.
Before his speech, the pope watched several choir and dance performances, and listened to six testimonies from families of different backgrounds and countries telling how they are living the “joy of the Gospel.”
The families were from India, Iraq, Burkina Faso, Ireland, and Canada. One couple shared how they overcame heroin addictions and now have a family of 10 children.
The family from Iraq, who now lives in Australia, told Pope Francis about how their son and brother, Fr. Ragheed Ganni, was killed several years ago by terrorists after saying Mass.
The Indian family explained the importance they place on quality family time and how they choose to limit use of technology.
Responding to these testimonies in his address, the pope praised a limiting of technology, which he said can be dangerous because it puts each person in his or her own “orbit” and away from concrete reality.
He also noted that social media can be used for good, such as to maintain connections with people they may have met at the World Meeting of Families this week.
Families should discern, however, if they might need to cut down on technology time in their house to spend more time as a family and in prayer, he said.
He praised the family from Iraq for responding to the evil of their son and brother’s murder with forgiveness. “Almost incredibly, they were able to find love in the peace of Christ, a love that makes all things new,” he said.
Dublin, Ireland, Aug 25, 2018 / 01:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis met early Saturday evening with eight abuse victims in Ireland, during his visit to the country for the World Meeting of Families.
A statement from the Vatican press office… […]
Dublin, Ireland, Aug 25, 2018 / 09:24 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The first place children learn the faith is in the home, following the good example of their parents, Pope Francis said during a meeting with newly-wed and engaged couples in Ireland.
“T… […]
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