Los Angeles, Calif., Dec 2, 2016 / 12:42 am (CNA).- The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe made its way through the narrow halls of the Century Regional Women Detention Facility in Lynwood, California on Sunday, Nov. 27. Stopping at several two-tier cells at the facility’s east and west towers, Gonzalo de Vivero, director of the L.A. Archdiocese’s Office of Restorative Justice, together with Knight of Columbus Mark Padilla, pulled a makeshift cart carrying the digital reproduction of the original copy of the Guadalupana, a gift to the archdiocese of from Mexico City’s Basilica a decade ago. Accompanied by a few of the facility’s deputies and volunteers from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the men also carried the Virgin’s message of love, forgiveness and reconciliation to the incarcerated women, showing them that they too are important to the Church. Catholic Chaplain Evelia Ortiz couldn’t miss the visit. Every week, from Sunday to Thursday, she offers the incarcerated women the support, comfort and counsel they so much need. Most of the women long for her visit because in Evelia they find someone who does not judge them. “There’s so much hurt, fear, anxiety in them, especially with the ones who are away from their children,” said Ortiz, who is supported in her work by volunteers and priests. She also started as a volunteer and was slowly captured by the women’s needs, which changed her life. “They (the incarcerated women) need our support; an opportunity to find their own path. Some of them tell me these are the only visits they receive,” said Ortiz.‘We’re here for you’ The visitors stopped at each cell for a few minutes, while De Vivero, Padilla and Imelda Bermejo, the Office of Restorative Justice’s coordinator of Families of the Incarcerated, offered a summary of the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s encounter with St. Juan Diego at the Hill of Tepeyac, and they invited the women to venerate the Morenita during a minute of silence. “Think about how amazing it is to have a Mother in Heaven who listens to us and sends our prayers to her son, Jesus Christ. Ask her for her intercession,” De Vivero told them with an empathetic voice. Some of the women looked with curiosity through the thick windows or through slots on the bottom of the thick steel doors, while others remained silent. Some got emotional and cried as they heard more of the story of the apparition of the Virgin to Juan Diego, about the miracle of the roses that Juan Diego found on a hill, during a season when no roses grew, and her request to the humble indigenous to build a Church at Tepeyac, Mexico. De Vivero invited the women to a minute of silence “to feel her unconditional love and to turn her into their celestial Mother at that moment.” In unison, the visitors and the incarcerated women prayed “Hail Mary,” and to end each visit, Bermejo sang a few verses of a very candid song for God. “We are here for you,” De Vivero told the women, adding that Archbishop José H. Gomez had asked him to communicate to them his daily prayers, and asked them to please pray for him. “Let’s pray for one another so that we all can move forward together,” said the director of the Office of Restorative Justice. Some of the incarcerated bid farewell with shy claps or waving good-bye.‘She’s a mother, just like me’ Rosa María, 29, is one of the nearly 2,000 women incarcerated at Lynwood’s facility. She was jailed two years ago; first in Orange and then she was transferred to Lynwood’s jail. The masseuse, who also worked at an optical shop, is waiting for her sentence. Many of her peers are in the same situation, as most of the judicial cases last longer than expected. Soon after her arrest, Rosa María suffered from deep depression, remaining all day in her cell under the bed sheets - but the attention and support from Catholic Chaplain Evelia Ortiz and archdiocesan volunteers helped her overcome her crisis. With teary eyes, she expressed to Angelus News how the image of La Peregrina had brought her hope and joy because as a Catholic she feels a “special connection with the Virgin.” “She’s a mother, just like me,” said the mother of three children, ages 2 to 12, who are under relatives' care. They visit her every two weeks. “Faith has helped me a lot, and here in prison my faith has increased. I take Bible courses that I receive by mail and I reflect very much about how to be a better person.” She is also completing studies to earn a high school diploma. Imelda Bermejo, who in her role as the archdiocesan coordinator of Families of the Incarcerated, organizes support groups for the families of the women in Lynwood’s facility, said several of the women are behind bars for minor crimes that turned into felonies due to procrastination, and some others are in jail for supporting their partners’ criminal activities. Ortiz said the crimes vary from minor crimes to serious felonies, including sentences of life without parole. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LosAngeles?src=hash">#LosAngeles</a> | Virgin of Guadalupe visits women in Lynwood’s jail <a href="https://t.co/yTVpoRJyJB">https://t.co/yTVpoRJyJB</a> <a href="https://t.co/PXEqwuPBvx">pic.twitter.com/PXEqwuPBvx</a></p>&mdash; Angelus News (@AngelusNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/AngelusNews/status/804430694797737984">December 1, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>This article originally appeared at Angelus News of the Archdiocese of LA. Reprinted with permission. Read more

New Orleans, La., Dec 1, 2016 / 05:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- When most people think of New Orleans, they think of Mardi Gras. The raucous parades, elaborate masks, and colorful beads associated with the Carnival season are largely synonymous with the southern Louisiana city. But to Raymond Arroyo, host of EWTN's The World Over, the Big Easy is at its best during another season: Christmastime. To Arroyo, the festive spirit, faith, and traditions of his hometown are unrivaled when it comes to celebrating the Christmas season. “Christmas brings out the best, I think, in every part of the country and the world. But there are things specific to New Orleans that I thought lent themselves to a national exposure,” he told CNA. And now, the New York Times bestselling author hopes to bring a little taste of New Orleans’ Christmas magic to the rest of the country, with a one-hour broadcast documentary airing across the country on American Public Television/PBS throughout the fall and Christmas season. Produced by DP Studios, the Christmastime in New Orleans special is written and hosted by Arroyo. It will also air on EWTN and will be available for purchase on DVD later this year. Featured in the special are some of city’s notable personalities, including actors Wendell Pierce and Jim Caviezel; renowned chefs John Folse, John Besh, and Leah Chase; and musicians from a new 18-piece jazz orchestra, The NOLA Players.   The documentary is one half of a two-part project, which also includes an album featuring music from The NOLA Players. Eighteen of the top jazz musicians in New Orleans come together to form a “super-group” of musical talent, offering original compositions of Christmas classics. Produced by AimHigher Recordings/Verve, the album is currently available world-wide. The program features the work of Mike Esneault as project arranger and music director, as well as vibraphonist/percussionist Jason Marsalis, a member of a famous New Orleans jazz family that also includes his brothers, Wynton and Branford, and his father, Ellis. The Christmastime in New Orleans project was born when Monica and Kevin Fitzgibbons, the co-owners of De Montfort Music and AimHigher Recordings, were intrigued by interviews they had seen on Arroyo’s show about Christmas in his hometown. They had been wanting to do a jazz project, with a focus on faith and family. “I think the heart of it is family,” Monica Fitzgibbons said. “It’s an album that everybody in the family is going to love. All different generations are going to love it. It’s classic, but it’s just made for all ages.” The goal of both the soundtrack and the documentary is to capture the spirit of the people, and to show the magic, color, and fun of Christmas in New Orleans.A family-based society Arroyo grew up in New Orleans, and while he now lives in Washington, D.C., he tries to return to his hometown for the holidays whenever possible. “There’s nowhere else that I feel as connected to the people and activities of Christmas,” he said. Part of what makes the city’s celebrations special are the close family and community ties. In the documentary, Chef John Besh says that while the city has a reputation for wild parties and immorality – largely connected to visitors attending Mardi Gras celebrations – the real New Orleans is a family-based society. This concept of community is lost in so much of America, Arroyo commented, but in New Orleans, there are still special moments and festivities that are built into life where people naturally come together with their neighborhood and family.   “New Orleans culture is made and passed on at the family table,” he said. “That’s why food is such an important part of our culture.” The family table, he continued, is where memories are collected and the faith is transmitted. Generations pass on a common identity, meaning, and history. And this is secret to why the food and music are so good, he said – they are an overflowing of the faith of people, and their love for one another.A message of unity Arroyo said that when he started the project two years ago, he had no idea that it would air during one of the most divisive moments in recent U.S. history. Following a heated election season that left many people feeling estranged from one another, he thinks the program has an important message about unity. A true melting pot of races and nationalities – Native American, French, Spanish, German, English, Italian, and African – New Orleans has enjoyed decades of racial cooperation, intermarriage and shared history that have united the people and removed barriers present in other cities across the country. Renowned chef John Folse explains in the special, “No other city ever, in the history of this world, had seven distinct nations coming together to create what we call the creoles.” From jazz to gumbo, the city’s culture relies upon appreciating the shared contributions of different races and nationalities. Underlying this unity is a common faith that Arroyo describes as “a key part of what holds that particular culture together.” “It’s a lived Catholicism. It’s a big, bold, expressive Catholicism,” he said, citing a local saying that “Catholicism is like the air you breathe in New Orleans.” This shared faith affects everything. The state is divided into “parishes” instead of “counties,” and changes in the liturgical calendar are tangible. Many restaurants do not serve meat on Lenten Fridays. St. Joseph’s Day altars are constructed each year on the saint’s feast day. And following a “dizzying spin of balls and dinners and parades” from Epiphany to Fat Tuesday, the start of Lent is drastically observed. “When Ash Wednesday comes, you feel as if someone threw the brakes on life,” Arroyo said. “All the color, all the magic, all the fun, it just goes away in a flash. You really feel the deprivation of Lent in a way I’ve never felt it anywhere else.”Christmas unlike anywhere else Naturally, this underlying Catholic atmosphere – which permeates the city’s music, food, and way of life – seeps into its Christmas celebrations as well. From the more than 10,000 people that gather for Christmas Caroling in Jackson Square to the tradition of Midnight Mass downtown followed by an elaborate Reveillon Dinner, the Christmas experience in New Orleans is unlike any other. And while most cities see their public Christmas festivities come to a sharp halt on December 26, New Orleans celebrates the full 12 days, after which the transition to the Carnival season begins. In capturing the spirit of the people in New Orleans, Arroyo thinks the project may also have a message for other parts of the country “about a true celebration of faith – how it looks and feels and sounds and tastes.” He commented on what he sees as a tendency among American Catholics to sometimes be overly solemn in their celebrations. “We don’t all have to look like we just lost our best friend every time we celebrate a feast day,” he joked. “We can actually have a good time.” He pointed to the enthusiasm and joy of the jazz musicians, and the zest of the food and music, the singing and dancing. “I wanted that festive spirit, and I think we captured that.” Noting Pope Francis’ warning against Christians who perpetually sport “long faces” and “gloomy looks,” Arroyo commented, “We don’t have that in New Orleans.” From celebrating Christmas and Mardi Gras to saints’ feast days and the lives of loved ones who have died, “you want to express those days in big ways. Because then everybody can take part.” “It’s not something you do alone,” he said. “We need each other. I love that about the faith, and I love that about the way that New Orleans expresses that faith.”   Read more

Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Dec 1, 2016 / 11:44 am (Aid to the Church in Need).- As devastating wildfires continue to burn in East Tennessee, a startling discovery was made. On Thursday, CNN said that one of its affiliate reporters had found a statue of Je... Read more

Washington D.C., Dec 1, 2016 / 11:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pro-life leaders have expressed their dissatisfaction as House Democrats re-elected pro-abortion Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as the House Minority Leader. “We have been in trouble since ... Read more