Human composting, alkaline hydrolysis disrespect the human body, U.S. Catholic bishops say

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., Mar 23, 2023 / 14:50 pm

The U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee on Thursday issued a statement reiterating the Church’s preference for burial of the deceased and stating that newer methods — namely alkaline hydrolysis and human composting — do not show respect for the human body.

“In recent years, newer methods and technologies for disposition of the bodies of the deceased have been developed and presented as alternatives to both traditional burial and cremation. A number of these newer methods and technologies pose serious problems in that they fail to manifest the respect for last remains that Catholic faith requires,” the bishops wrote March 23.

“Unfortunately, the two most prominent newer methods for disposition of bodily remains that are proposed as alternatives to burial and cremation, alkaline hydrolysis and human composting, fail to meet this criterion.”

The Catholic Church teaches that one day, at the final resurrection, the souls of the dead will be reunited with their bodies. Catholics are “obliged to respect our bodily existence throughout our lives and to respect the bodies of the deceased when their earthly lives have come to an end. The way that we treat the bodies of our beloved dead must always bear witness to our faith in and our hope for what God has promised us,” the bishops wrote. (Continue reading)

Discovering Pier Giorgio Frassati: Film sheds light on humanity, holiness of Italian blessed

By Hannah Brockhaus

Rome, Italy, Mar 22, 2023 / 09:00 am

That Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati liked to go mountain climbing is not a surprise to those who know even a little about the 20th-century Italian youth’s story.

“To the Top,” a new docudrama produced in cooperation with EWTN, uses this aspect of the blessed’s life as a focal point to better understand both Frassati’s humanity and his holiness.

“Pier Giorgio Frassati was one of these strong and powerful figures that we could really present to the audience of EWTN,” the film’s writer and director, Daniela Gurrieri, told EWTN News during production in August 2022.

“The audience will discover many aspects that are normal aspects of a youth of his time,” she said. “He loved to go with his friends in the mountains, to play jokes among them, to laugh, to have a good time together. But at the center of everything was faith, was prayer, was love for God.” (Continue reading)

Satanic priest turned saint, Bartolo Longo is proof that no one is too lost to be found

Sometimes reading the lives of the saints is discouraging. They may have been imperfect, as we all are, but it can seem that none of them ever really sinned the way people today do. Even proverbial bad boy St. Augustine was a decent guy by today’s standards. It’s easy for those of us who have made terrible choices to feel discouraged.

May I introduce Blessed Bartolo Longo?

Like many saints, Bartolo was raised in a faithful Catholic family. Unlike most saints, Bartolo spent his 20s as a Satanic priest.

Born in 1841, Bartolo Longo lost his father when he was only 10. From that time, he grew more and more distant from his Catholic faith. When he began university studies in Naples, at the University where St. Thomas Aquinas himself had studied, he was eager to enter fully into the experience of a secular university. In mid-19th-century Italy, that meant anti-clericalism, atheism, and ultimately the occult. (Continue reading)

Pope Francis hears confessions at Roman parish: God lifts us up when we hit ‘rock bottom’

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Mar 17, 2023 / 12:30 pm

Pope Francis heard confessions at a parish in Rome on Friday and encouraged people to remember that God “holds out his hand and lifts us up whenever we realize that we are ‘hitting rock bottom.’”

In the presence of eucharistic adoration, the pope presided over a Lenten penitential service on March 17 to open “24 Hours for the Lord,” an initiative in which certain Catholic churches around the world will remain open 24 consecutive hours with round-the-clock confession and adoration.

“Brothers, sisters, let us remember this: The Lord comes to us when we step back from our  presumptuous ego. … He can bridge the distance whenever, with honesty and sincerity, we bring our weaknesses before him,” Pope Francis said.

“He holds out his hand and lifts us up whenever we realize we are ‘hitting rock bottom’ and we turn back to him with a sincere heart. That is how God is. He is waiting for us, deep down, for in Jesus he chose to ‘descend to the depths.’” (Continue reading)

Cardinals Müller, Burke rebuke German bishops over same-sex union blessings

By Tyler Arnold

Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2023 / 13:09 pm

A synod of German bishops overwhelmingly approved Church blessings of same-sex unions and unions between divorced and remarried Catholics, but the move has faced harsh criticism from some members of the Catholic hierarchy who have accused the German bishops of abandoning the faith. 

German Cardinal Gerhard Müller and American Cardinal Raymond Burke rebuked the German bishops and called on them to be sanctioned in an interview on EWTN’s “The World Over with Raymond Arroyo,” which aired on Thursday night, March 16. 

“There must be a trial and they must be sentenced and they must be removed from their office if they are not converting themselves and they are not accepting the Catholic doctrine,” Müller said during the interview.

“That is very sad that a majority of bishops voted explicitly against the revealed doctrine, and the revealed faith of the Catholic Church and of all our Christian thinking, against the Bible, the word of God in the Holy Scripture and in the apostolic tradition and in the defined doctrine of the Catholic Church,” the cardinal added. (Continue reading)

No, Pope Francis didn’t really hint that the requirement for priestly celibacy will be lifted

By Father Thomas Petri, O.P.

Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2023 / 09:45 am

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his election to the See of Peter, Pope Francis sat down with Infobae — a news agency from Argentina — to reminisce about his pontificate and to discuss issues affecting the Church and the world. During the interview, he said: “There is no contradiction for a priest to marry.” He called priestly celibacy “a temporary prescription” and said that it’s a prescription that could be reviewed.

The Holy Father made clear what he meant by his words. He said that celibacy is a “temporary prescription” inasmuch as “it is not eternal like priestly ordination, which is forever.” Secular media outlets and even some Catholic news organizations immediately jumped to the conclusion that the pope is open to revising the discipline of celibacy and that he even might lift it. 

Of course, he said no such thing. When the requirement for celibacy was openly discussed at the 2020 Amazon Synod, Pope Francis chose not to even mention celibacy in his postsynodal exhortation. (Continue reading)

This is not my project

By Marrick Kowalski

“One of the most fundamental statements of faith is this: your life is not about you. You’re not in control. This is not your project. Rather, you are part of God’s great design. To believe this in your bones and to act accordingly is to have faith.” This quote from Bishop Robert Barron sinks deep into my soul. At first glance, it seemed harsh, but the more I mulled it over in my head and heart, the more freedom I felt.

 This is not your project. As someone who works in ministry, I find it very easy to get caught up in the idea that it is my project, my youth night, my classroom visit, my prayer night, etc. If my goal is to provide a safe space for young people to be themselves in the light of their identity as children of God and create opportunities for growth in head knowledge and heart knowledge of Jesus Christ, then these things cannot be my projects. I am not in the business of converting hearts; Jesus is. My job is to facilitate encounters with Jesus so that others may know and love Him. (continue reading)

‘Not an easy job’: Pope Francis asks for prayers on 10th anniversary as pope

By Hannah Brockhaus

Rome Newsroom, Mar 12, 2023 / 11:00 am

Pope Francis asked for prayers as he spoke about the future of the Church and his pontificate so far in an interview published in the early hours of Sunday.

Speaking to the Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, Francis declined to evaluate his pontificate so far, saying the Lord will judge his life one day based on whether he practiced the Corporal Works of Mercy as taught by Jesus.

“The Church is not a business, or an NGO, and the pope is not an administrator who has been commissioned to balance the numbers at the end of the year,” he said, according to an English transcript published on Il Fatto Quotidiano March 12.

The interview, one in a slew of recent papal interviews to be published, marks the March 13 anniversary of Pope Francis’ election to the papacy. (Continue reading)

Pope Francis: Gender ideology is ‘one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations’ today

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Mar 11, 2023 / 05:20 am

Pope Francis has said that gender ideology is “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” today.

In an interview with journalist Elisabetta Piqué for the Argentine daily newspaper La Nación, Pope Francis explained the reasoning behind his strong statement.

“Gender ideology, today, is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations,” Francis said in the interview published on the evening of March 10.

“Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs differences and the value of men and women,” he added. (Continue reading)

Pope Francis says imprisonment of Nicaraguan bishop reminds him of Hitler’s dictatorship

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Mar 10, 2023 / 08:00 am

Pope Francis called Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega “unstable” and likened Nicaragua’s Sandinista government to Nazi Germany in an interview published Friday.

Speaking about Nicaragua’s Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison by Ortega’s dictatorship last month, Pope Francis said: “It is something out of line with reality; it is as if we were bringing back the communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitler dictatorship of 1935.”

“They are a type of vulgar dictatorships,” he added, also using the Argentine word “guarangas,” meaning “rude.”

Pope Francis said: “With much respect, I have no choice but to think that the person who leads [Daniel Ortega] is unstable,” according to a transcript published on March 10 by the Spanish-language news outlet Infobae. (Continue reading)

United Nations equates Sandinista Nicaragua with Nazism

By Martin Barillas

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 10, 2023 / 04:52 am

Amid ongoing reports of oppression of the Catholic Church and the Nicaraguan people under the regime of President Daniel Ortega, concerns grow about worsening persecution.

The U.N. is among those concerned, likening Nicaragua’s Sandinista government to Nazi Germany.

“The use of the justice system against political opponents, as in Nicaragua, is exactly what the Nazi regime did,” said Jan Michael Simon, according to The Río Times. His comments were also reported in other news outlets, including The New York Times. Simon chairs the U.N.’s Human Rights Group on Nicaragua, which was established in 2018 to report on the ongoing repression of political dissidents and the Catholic Church. (continue reading)

The handiest tip for busy parents if they can’t focus when praying

As our lives seem to get busier, with constant distractions around us, it’s hard to stay focused on anything. And if the kids have been driving us a little crazy and we’re exhausted at the end of a long day, we can easily zone out while praying.

Yet, our prayers are a great way of not only expressing our concerns and gratitude to our Heavenly Father, but allowing us to take stock of our lives. So, it’s important we pray well.

One way to do this is to really consider each and every word. Again, not easy if we’re suddenly anxious about whether we’ve locked the doors or turned off the oven. But, there is an effective way to pray that I’ve been using recently, and it might help you, too.

One of the issues about saying prayers we’ve said for years is they become a little rote. Think of all the times you’ve said the Lord’s Prayer without really considering each word. It’s a prayer we’ve said so many times it can become a little meaningless if we’re not focused. But, these common prayers are key to my strategy…(continue reading)

‘Bravo Mayor Adams!’ NYC Mayor’s Speech On State And Religion Draws Catholic Kudos

By Kurt Jensen

(OSV News) — Blunt remarks by New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a Feb. 28 interfaith breakfast made waves amid critics’ accusations of intolerance. However, some Catholic leaders praised the mayor’s remarks about the importance of faith to society as being on point.

Adams, a former police officer and the city’s mayor for just over a year, leaned into language about the separation of church and state and restoring prayer in public schools in a way seldom spoken by a major politician in decades.

The mayor also was careful to include other faiths in his address before participants gathered at the New York Public Library’s Celeste Barton Forum in Midtown Manhattan.

As he began to address the question of separation of church and state, Adams said, “Our children (are) stopping at the local bodega and they get gummy bears that’s laced with cannabis — and they’re sitting in the classroom and we are asking, ‘Why can’t our children read and write? Why don’t they behave?'”

Adams said children need to have instilled in them “some level of faith and belief.” (continue reading)

Pray for your bishop with this short prayer

When Jesus founded his Church on earth, he entrusted it to the care of the apostles, who were the first bishops or “shepherds” of the Christian faithful. They passed on that special task to others through the laying on of hands (the sacrament of Holy Orders), a tradition that continues to the present time.

Many are the responsibilities of the bishop, being the chief shepherd of a specific geographic location. It is a weighty task, one that is impossible to manage without the spiritual support of his flock.

Below is a brief prayer that can be said for your local bishop (or for multiple bishops), asking God to fill your bishop with courage and strength to remain faithful to Christ and guide the people entrusted to his care with holiness of life (continue reading.)

Knights of Columbus’ new film on humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Here’s how to watch

By Joe Bukuras

Boston, Mass., Feb 25, 2023 / 05:00 am

Husbands have been separated from their wives; children separated from their parents, and thousands of civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

In the trailer for the Knights of Columbus’ new film, “In Solidarity with Ukraine,” Natalia Lvivska of Gostomel, one of the millions of displaced Ukrainians, said: “We were even afraid to leave the house. The road was also dangerous and scary. It’s not a movie. It’s reality.”

The documentary premieres on Feb. 26 and will run for six weeks on ABC-affiliated stations across the country.

The interview with Lvivska is one of many personal stories that the Knights of Columbus will be presenting in their new documentary about the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn nation, which its director says tells a story of “charity, solidarity, and prayer.” (continue reading)

Pope Benedict XVI’s very concrete advice for being a little holier every day

Far from the image some people have of a theologian disconnected from the realities of life, Benedict XVI had a very clear perception of the difficulties encountered in living daily in God’s presence.

In an Advent homily in 2009, he noted: “In our daily lives we all experience having little time for the Lord and also little time for ourselves. We end by being absorbed in ‘doing.’” Who hasn’t experienced periods when the number of things we have to do overwhelms us and we no longer have the time or the availability of mind for what’s truly essential? (continue reading)

Mark Wahlberg to inspire fellow Catholics to fast this Lent

One of the things we know about the actor, entrepreneur, and family man Mark Wahlberg is that he knows how to hone his physique. From carefully putting on weight to play Fr. Stuart Long, to becoming action-hero ready in Unchartered, Wahlberg knows all about dieting and exercising.

However, add to this his deep faith and his willingness to share how important it is to him, and the father-of-four is the perfect candidate to guide us in Lent on fasting.

Wahlberg himself is a fan of intermittent fasting, and sometimes goes 48 hours without food. So for him, Lenten fasting should be pretty easy. However, for most of us, the idea of going without food for a prolonged period of time can be a little daunting. (continue reading)

Nicaraguan bishop stripped of his citizenship, kept in isolation

After refusing to leave with the rest of the 222 political prisoners flown to the U.S. on Thursday, Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez was sentenced to 26 years in prison in Nicaragua. According to media reports quoted by NPR, “Álvarez stopped at the stairs leading to the airplane and said, ‘Let the others be free. I will endure their punishment.’”

In a speech confirming the release-exile of the 222 political prisoners, Ortega himself said that the Nicaraguan bishop had been taken to Cárcel La Modelo, a prison where most political prisoners opposing Ortega’s regime are held. According to local Nicaraguan reports, he is kept in isolation in cell Number 300, also known as the “infiernillo” (Spanish for “tiny hell”), a maximum-security cell. (continue reading)

Beatification date announced for married couple with seven children martyred by Nazis

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Feb 15, 2023 / 04:00 am

The beatification date has been announced for Józef and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven children, who were killed by the Nazis for hiding a Jewish family in their home in Poland.

The Archdiocese of Przemyska announced Tuesday that the entire Ulma family — including one unborn child — will be beatified on Sept. 10.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, will preside over the beatification ceremony in Markowa, the village in southeast Poland where the Ulma family was executed in 1944. (continue reading)

EWTN exclusive web series ‘James the Less’ promises to be ‘both comic and moving’

By Francesca Pollio Fenton

Denver, Colo., Feb 13, 2023 / 14:32 pm

What happens when an atheist looking for a job meets a girl wanting to become a nun? That is the premise of a new EWTN web series titled “James the Less,” premiering Feb. 13.

The EWTN exclusive five-episode web series will air Monday through Friday, Feb. 13–17, at 8 p.m. ET on EWTN’s YouTube channel. Each episode is approximately four to nine minutes long.

James Little is fresh out of college and in desperate need of work. Walking around town, he bumps into a girl outside of a church who asks him if he’s attending Mass. James is an atheist. However, a help wanted sign on the church bulletin board catches his eye and entices him to interview for the position: handyman. He accepts the position at St. James the Less Church and starts to encounter Catholicism. Soon, James finds his ideals challenged by the no-nonsense pastor Father Lambert Burns and through his romantic pursuit of parishioner Anne-Marie.

Director of Studio Operations for EWTN Stephen Beaumont called the result of the series “both comic and moving.” (continue reading)

Investigations into St. Louis pediatric transgender clinic opened after whistleblower report

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., Feb 10, 2023 / 17:45 pm

Lawmakers in Missouri have announced at least two official investigations into a children’s transgender clinic in St. Louis, after a whistleblower revealed Thursday in a sworn statement that she witnessed doctors, among other things, prescribing puberty-blocking drugs to minors without parental consent. 

In a Feb. 10 blog post, a former employee of the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Jamie Reed, said she left in November 2022 because the hospital was, in her view, “permanently harming the vulnerable patients in our care.”

“Almost everyone in my life advised me to keep my head down. But I cannot in good conscience do so. Because what is happening to scores of children is far more important than my comfort. And what is happening to them is morally and medically appalling,” Reed wrote. (continue reading)

Nicaragua’s dictatorship sentences Bishop Rolando Álvarez to 26 years in prison

By Walter Sanchez Silva

ACI Prensa Staff, Feb 10, 2023 / 18:00 pm

The dictatorship of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua sentenced on Friday, Feb. 10, the bishop of Matagalpa, Rolando Álvarez Lagos, to 26 years and four months in prison, charging him with being a “traitor to the homeland.”

The sentence against Álvarez comes just one day after the dictatorship deported 222 political prisoners to the United States.

Álvarez refused to get on the plane with the deportees, Ortega himself said yesterday afternoon in a speech.

The sentence read this afternoon by Judge Héctor Ernesto Ochoa Andino, president of Criminal Chamber 1 of the Managua Court of Appeals, states: “The defendant Rolando José Álvarez Lagos is held to be a traitor to the country.” (continue reading)

Ukrainian Greek Catholics to celebrate Christmas on December 25

By Lisa Zengarini

As from this year, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) will be celebrating Christmas on the 25 December, and not on January 7, and the Epiphany on 6 January instead of the 19th. 

The switch of dates is part of a major change decided last week by the Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, moving away from the Julian Calendar which is presently used almost exclusively by the Russian Orthodox Church and other Eastern Churches under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Moscow (continue reading.)

Benedict XVI describes ‘Protestantization’ of the Eucharist in posthumous publication

By Hannah Brockhaus

Rome Newsroom, Feb 8, 2023 / 08:30 am

In a 2018 essay published after his death, Pope Benedict XVI said a Protestant-like understanding of the Eucharist and strong calls for intercommunion are often found together.

Commenting on the current situation of eucharistic life in the Catholic Church, the pope emeritus said: “One process of great impact is the almost complete disappearance of the sacrament of penance.”

There is also the understanding of Communion as merely “a supper,” he added. “In such a situation of a very advanced Protestantization of the understanding of the Eucharist, intercommunion appears natural.” (continue reading)

Catholic aid agencies respond after devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., Feb 7, 2023 / 12:50 pm

Catholic aid agencies worldwide are coordinating and sending aid after a series of massive earthquakes shook parts of Turkey and Syria, leaving continued devastation in their wake. 

According to the latest available estimates as of midday Tuesday, the 7.8-magnitude quake ​​has left at least 6,200 people dead in Turkey and Syria, the New York Times reported. In Syria, which has been ravaged by more than a decade of civil war, countless buildings collapsed Feb. 6, including several Catholic churches, reported ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language partner agency.

Nikki Gamer, a spokesperson for the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services, told CNA that CRS is supporting local church partners in Turkey and Syria, including Caritas Turkey and Caritas Syria, but coordination remains difficult. CRS is raising funds via a banner on its website (continue reading.)

Dictatorship in Nicaragua sentences seven more clergy and laity to 10 years in prison

By CNA Staff

CNA Newsroom, Feb 7, 2023 / 14:50 pm

In a new attack on the Catholic Church, the Nicaraguan dictatorship led by President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, sentenced three priests, a deacon, two seminarians, and a layman from the Diocese of Matagalpa to 10 years in prison. 

According to reports from the local newspaper La Prensa and the Nicaraguan Center for Human Rights (CENIDH), the sentence was issued on Feb. 6 by Judge Nadia Tardencilla of the Second Criminal Trial District.

The sentence consists of five years for the crime of “conspiracy to undermine national security and sovereignty” and five years for “spreading fake news” with an additional 800 days monetary fine based on the convicted person’s daily salary (continue reading.)

Canadian man says hospital staff ‘pressured’ him to euthanize his wife

By Terry O’Neill

Vancouver, Canada, Feb 7, 2023 / 15:10 pm

Richard Leskun remained at his wife Marilynn’s side nearly 24 hours a day after she was admitted to Abbotsford Regional Hospital, the result of a fall from her wheelchair. 

Over the next several days Leskun found himself not only caring for his 71-year-old wife but also fending off efforts by medical staff to let her die, before they offered to do the job themselves. 

The Sunshine Coast widower is sounding the alarm over what he says is a shocking and dangerous bias in the medical system toward the promotion of death for sick and elderly patients.

Leskun, 75, made the charge after he said medical staff at the Abbotsford hospital “pressured” and “badgered” him to allow his wife of 50 years, Marilynn, to die, and then suggested that he let her be euthanized (continue reading.)

Pope Francis ‘left without words’ after children’s shocking stories of violence in eastern Congo

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Feb 1, 2023 / 13:07 pm

In a moving encounter with Pope Francis, children from eastern Congo laid down the machetes and knives used to kill their families at the foot of Christ’s cross to symbolize their forgiveness.

“I place before the cross of Christ the Victor the same knife as the one that killed all the members of my family,” Léonie Matumaini from Mbau elementary school told the pope on Feb. 1.

The child’s heartbreaking witness on the pope’s second day in the Congolese capital of Kinshasa served as a shocking reminder of the horrors taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s conflict-ridden eastern region.

It was one of several wrenching testimonies the pope heard during his encounter with victims of the violence. He told them afterward their stories had left him “without words.” (continue reading)

Blood-stained shirt of beatified judge killed by Mafia displayed in Rome

By Hannah Brockhaus

Rome Newsroom, Jan 20, 2023 / 13:30 pm

The shirt worn by Blessed Rosario Livatino when he was murdered by the Mafia in Sicily in 1990 was displayed in churches and government buildings in Rome this week.

Livatino was beatified in 2021 in Agrigento, Sicily, after Pope Francis declared him a martyr for his death on Sept. 21, 1990, at the age of 37.

While driving toward the Agrigento courthouse where he had been working as a judge, Livatino’s car was hit by another car, sending him off the road. While the young magistrate ran from the crashed vehicle into a field, he was brutally shot in the back and then killed by further gunshots.

The blood-stained shirt the Catholic lawyer and magistrate was wearing that day is now preserved as a relic and has been brought from Sicily to Rome to be temporarily displayed for veneration. (continue reading)

Twin sisters with a special bond speak out for the unborn

By Katie Yoder

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2023 / 08:40 am

Sister Mary Casey O’Connor has more than 100 sisters. But only one of them is her twin sister: Casey Gunning, who has Down syndrome.

“I wish everyone had someone like her because she just taught me what it means to love and to not expect anything back,” O’Connor told CNA. “And I mean, that’s ultimately our experience of God … Casey, for me, is an expression of God’s love.”

The sisters were featured speakers at Friday’s Life Fest and the 50th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. (continue reading)

‘Because love is the answer’: Pre-March for Life rally fires up young crowd

By Peter Pinedo

Washington D.C., Jan 20, 2023 / 13:25 pm

Could the “Life Fest” become a new staple of the annual March for Life?

There were promising signs early Friday morning as an estimated 3,500 people, including many young people, filled a district arena for the inaugural, pre-march rally, organized by the Sisters of Life and the Knights of Columbus.

“Good morning, Life Fest! Our early arrivers — it’s so good to see you!” Catholic singer Sarah Kroger said as her band got the 7:30 a.m. rally started inside the Entertainment & Sports Arena in southeast Washington, D.C. (continue reading)

Report: Christian persecution at its highest point in 30 years

By Hannah Brockhaus

Rome Newsroom, Jan 18, 2023 / 13:05 pm

The persecution of Christians is at its highest point in three decades, according to the latest report from advocacy group Open Doors.

The World Watch List, released by Open Doors on Jan. 18, reported that, overall, the number of Christians facing persecution worldwide remained steady in 2022 at approximately 360 million.

In a list of the 50 countries with the most persecution, North Korea returned to the first spot in 2022. The year prior, Afghanistan had landed in the top ranking following the Taliban’s takeover of the country’s government.

Afghanistan ranks ninth in the latest list because the country’s Christians have either been killed, fled, or are in strict hiding, according to Open Doors’ Italian director Cristian Nani (continue reading.)

‘Catholics Got Talent?’: Competition invites musicians to promote zeal for the Eucharist

By Francesca Pollio Fenton

Denver, Colo., Jan 18, 2023 / 16:00 pm

Catholic poets, composers, and songwriters are invited to participate in a competition in which the winning piece could be performed before 80,000 people at the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis is sponsoring a Eucharistic Revival musical competition in an effort to renew zeal for the Eucharist.

The musical competition is one facet of the multiyear National Eucharistic Revival launched on June 19, 2022 — the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, or Corpus Christi. The revival’s mission is to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy Eucharist,” as stated on the initiative’s website (continue reading.)

Making room

By Marrick Kowalski - Youth Ministry Coordinator, Christ the King Parish, Regina

I was recently at a Mass, where in the homily, the priest said something that stood out to me. “We need to empty ourselves like Mary emptied herself.” I found this intriguing because I have never thought of Mary as empty. After pondering for a while, I concluded that it was less about being empty and more about making room. Mary was not empty for the sake of being empty; Mary was empty for the sake of being filled: filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with grace, filled with love, filled with trust, filled with Jesus Himself. So, if we are to be empty like Mary, then we are also called to be filled like Mary.

What makes Catholicism different than other world religions is that Catholics don’t empty themselves for the sake of being empty; we empty ourselves to be filled with something, or rather someone, greater. Mary was physically filled with Christ as she carried Him in her womb for nine months, but she continued to be filled and to make room for the rest of her earthly life. Our call to carry Christ and to make room looks a little bit different than Mama Mary’s, but it does not mean that call is any less practical! (Continue reading.)

FULL TEXT: Pope Francis’ homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord

By Pope Francis

Vatican City, Jan 6, 2023 / 05:45 am

The following is the full text of Pope Francis' homily for the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica on Jan. 6, 2023.

Like a rising star (cf. Num 24:17), Jesus comes to enlighten all peoples and to brighten the nights of humanity. Today, with the Magi, let us lift our eyes to heaven and ask: “Where is the child who has been born?” (Mt 2:2). Where can we find and encounter our Lord?

From the experience of the Magi, we learn that the first “place” where he loves to be sought is in restless questioning. The exciting adventure of these Wise Men from the East teaches us that faith is not born of our own merits, thoughts, and theories. Rather, it is God’s gift. His grace helps us to shake off our apathy and opens our minds to ask the important questions in life (continue reading.)

Young Catholics converge at SEEK23: ‘I love seeing people fall in love with Jesus’

By Jonah McKeown

St. Louis, Mo., Jan 6, 2023 / 15:45 pm

After three years apart, more than 17,000 people — students, adults, families, bishops, priests, sisters, and more — descended on St. Louis this week for the SEEK23 Catholic conference, put on by the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS). 

The gathering marks FOCUS’ first fully in-person national conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. FOCUS held a national conference in Indianapolis in 2019 and a smaller student leadership summit in Phoenix in the earliest days of 2020. Conferences for 2021 and 2022 were held online due to the pandemic.

The keynote speakers at SEEK23 all told CNA that the conference felt like a return to how the Catholic faith ought to be lived — in community, rather than individually (continue reading.)

Archbishop Gänswein accompanies the Pope Emeritus and the faithful

Some of the faithful at St. Peter's praying before Benedict's body had the chance to thank his faithful secretary.

On January 2, 2022, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who worked as personal secretary for Benedict XVI since 1996, was present in St. Peter’s Basilica as the faithful arrived to pray and pay their respects before the body of the late pope. Many of the faithful rushed to greet the German prelate, who received their thanks and condolences with a big smile and a few words.

Pope Benedict XVI is displayed at the foot of Bernini’s baldachin in St. Peter’s Basilica, as John Paul II was in 2005. The pontiff is dressed in a simple red chasuble over an embroidered white alb, and wearing a miter. He holds a rosary with wooden beads in his hand and does not wear the pallium of the bishop of Rome, unlike his predecessors who died in office (continue reading.)

A Letter to the editor of victoria times columnist

"Assistance in dying is not compassion

In Canada, we are on the verge of making Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) more accessible to those who are suffering from mental illness. When MAID was first made into law in 2016, many of us said that it was the “thin edge of the wedge” into a door that would never close and that expansion of the criteria would be inevitable.

We were scoffed at. However, that door is about to be blasted wide open and many of us could never have predicted the rapidity with which this has escalated.
MAID is not compassion. It masquerades as compassion; but it is not. Suffering has a purpose in this life. It is a part of our collective humanity and always has been.

If you are considering MAID under the present or the new criteria, please consider this first. Perhaps you are lonely, in pain, you feel you are burden to those who love you and that no one needs you around. I would put it to you that there is someone who needs you.

You don’t know this person yet, you will meet them in the future. Maybe the future is tomorrow. This is the person whose hand you will take, whose tear-filled eyes you will look into and to whom you will say: “I have been where you are. I made it to the other side. I’m going to share with you how I did it.” Then you will tell them how to make it through that day and the next day.
This is what compassion and empathy really look like and the only teacher of these qualities is suffering. It takes effort though, more effort than simply putting a needle in someone’s arm. Are we willing to do this work for one another? This is what human beings, decent human beings, have done for one another since time immemorial.
I believe that Canada is filled with decent human beings. Can we all please come together as a human ­family and speak up to oppose these new measures that will turn our ­country into a merciless and ­indifferent ­dystopia?
Please Canada, can we do this now?

Patricia Cuthbertson

Victoria, BC"

Pope Francis: Let us think of the Ukrainian children without heat this Christmas

This college’s Newman Institute is attracting non-Catholics with its ‘Catholicism 101’ class

Pope Francis: Freedom is found in offering to God what is hardest to give up

By Courtney Mares

Rome Newsroom, Dec 7, 2022 / 04:03 am

Pope Francis spoke Wednesday about how freeing it can be to let go of the things that we are most attached to in life and place them in God’s “benevolent hands.”

In his general audience on Dec. 7, the pope said that in the face of rejection, when things do not go our way, it is good to remember that “only God knows what is truly good for us.”

Sometimes there can be a lesson from the Lord in a denial of what we want, the pope explained, adding: “This is not because he wants to deprive us of what we hold dear, but in order to live it with freedom, without attachment.”

“We can only love in freedom, which is why the Lord created us free, free even to say no to him,” Pope Francis said. (continue reading)

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