Rimini, Italy, Sep 3, 2016 / 05:50 am (CNA).- To overcome conflicts, to fight hatred with goodness, to make Ukraine a free and European country: these are the tasks of the Catholic Church in Ukraine, according to a priest with knowledge of the situatio... Read more

Rome, Italy, Sep 2, 2016 / 01:52 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- As the situation in Yemen continues to worsen, Bishop Paul Hinder on Friday requested prayers for priests, for the Missionaries of Charity, and for kidnapped priest Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, whose situation is uncertain. “I do not know how we can continue in the present situation,” said a visibly moved Bishop Hinder. “And pray for Fr. Tom, if he's dead or not. We don't know.”   The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia spoke briefly Sept. 2 at the end of a symposium on Mother Teresa, foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, who will be canonized Sunday. The event was hosted by Asia News in Rome. Not originally scheduled to speak, the bishop apologized that his remarks were unprepared, as he had just left his office in Abu Dhabi that morning. “I suffer due to the situation that has arisen in Yemen, where 7 million people die of hunger; there is security for no one, it's not a question of being Christians or Muslims,” he said. “The insecurity is general in the entire country, caused by the civil war.”   The bishop offered an update on Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, an Indian national who was abducted March 4 when four gunmen attacked a Missionaries of Charity-run retirement home in Aden, the provincial capital of Yemen, killing 16 people, including four Missionary of Charity sisters. It remains unclear who was behind the kidnapping. The plight of Fr. Tom garnered significant international attention when rumors arose that he was to be crucified on Good Friday. However, these rumors were later discredited.   While reports earlier this year indicated that Fr. Tom was safe and perhaps close to release, Bishop Hinder cautioned that the priest’s condition remains unknown. As the situation in Yemen worsens, they are having difficulty bringing any priests and sisters into the country, the bishop noted, asking for prayers for that intention, explaining that several sisters and their patients had recently been removed from Yemen “for weeks or maybe months,” and asked for prayers for the remaining sisters and for priests still waiting to go there but delayed by problems in acquiring visas. “The community located in Ta'izz had to leave their house, because they found themselves in the middle of two sides of the war and had to move to Sanaa. We are waiting to be able to send them back, but in this moment it is not possible,” said the bishop. “We find ourselves in a situation in which the sisters have lived for months without the Eucharist,” he lamented. “And I can imagine the pain that creates for them, if you know Mother Teresa, who will soon be a saint.” Bishop Hinder talked about the bravery of the Missionaries of Charity, even following the martyrdom of four of their sisters. “Some days after the sisters were killed, March 4, I met the only survivor,” he said. “The first thing she said to me is: 'I want to return, as soon as possible and as soon as I have permission.'” “Imagine this zeal in this situation of martyrdom. It…has entered the Congregation from their foundress,” he shared. “My predecessor has met many times with the Mother Superior in Sanaa, and he said: 'Thanks to you we have priests here with us.'” The Missionaries of Charity sponsor the visas for the priests in Sanaa and Tais. “I have always admired them: when I went to them in my visits, their spirit of simplicity and joy...I always saw the sisters smiling. My predecessor said: 'But how do they do it in this situation?'” The civil war in Yemen began in March 2015. That month Houthi rebels, who are Shia Muslims, took over portions of Yemen seeking to oust its Sunni-led government. Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen's north, has led a coalition backing the government. Both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have set up strongholds in the country amid the power vacuum. The civil war has killed more than 6,000 people, according to the United Nations. “I invite you to pray for the priests and that others can unite to them. The mission in the state of war, despite the difficulty, must continue,” Bishop Hinder said. “Fr. Tom was abducted: he had returned to Yemen, asking me and the provincial for permission. I told him: 'If you want, I will help you enter my country.' Certainly today it's painful to think about,” he said. “But I am still convinced it was right. In war you can never predict what happens.”   Read more

Rome, Italy, Sep 2, 2016 / 06:29 am (CNA).- Twenty-two years ago, Mother Teresa of Calcutta quietly visited the Regina Coeli prison in Rome, and now, just days before her canonization, she has “returned” for another visit, thanks to the help of technology. The Regina Coeli prison in Rome, located not far from the Vatican, hosted an emotional encounter of detainees and two Missionaries of Charity – members of the congregation that Mother Teresa founded – who were able to bring the soon-to-be saint to life through a documentary film teaching more about her. The prison currently houses 900 detainees, but in years prior, it had come to hold some 1,200. Father Vittorio Trani, a Conventual Franciscan and prison chaplain for 38 years, knew them all. He explained to CNA that Mother Teresa visited the prison in May 1994. “She came somewhat incognito. I gave permission so they would let her in (because of the heavy security measures) but I didn't tell anyone about it. She came in and attended Mass with a few detainees. It was very emotional,” he related. “We had set aside a nice chair for her in the middle, but when she came and saw it, she looked at me and said no and went to another simple chair that was in the back,” the priest recalled with a smile. “Like other great saints, Mother Teresa has a lot of importance here also because the detainees see her as someone close (to them), she had that ability to be close to people,” he noted. The priest explained that “we organized this encounter; it's a very good occasion for the prisoners who don't know her to get to do so” but especially to “bring them the message she came to announce to them.” “This Sunday, the day of the canonization, we will celebrate a Mass, and then afterwards everyone will be able to see the ceremony on the television they have in their cells,” he said. Fr. Trani said that “pastoral ministry in this prison is somewhat different” because “they stay here for a short time, just until the first court proceedings.” “We do a pastoral ministry of encounter, where we sow and then we'll see if it remains and then bears fruit, but we give them a word of hope and try to stand alongside the person.” In addition, we have celebrations such as the Eucharist and periods of prayer,” he added. In his opinion, prison “is one of the privileged places where God is most felt” because “the reality of being without freedom or without family leads all of them to reflect on what is the fundamental point of their lives.” Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator for the cause of Mother Teresa, was also at the event, along with Sister Patrick – a representative of the congregation in Calcutta – and Sister Cyrenne. They carried in procession a reliquary of Mother Teresa's blood from the prison chapel. Sister Cyrenne explained to the detainees that the future saint “needs to be placed within a specific historical situation.” “God called her and entered into our history, he became present, he called and there was a response of love. Mother Teresa said 'yes.'” The concluding highlights of the visit were the testimonies read by some of the detainees, visibly moved, in which they especially spoke of the need to have peace and hope. Once the encounter was over, Sister Patrick and Sister Cyrenne gave out holy cards of Mother Teresa to everyone and placed a medal of the saint of Calcutta around their necks as they spoke with them and encouraged them.   Read more

Norwich, U.K., Sep 2, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For more than 950 years, pilgrims have been making their way to a small medieval village in England's Norfolk region to visit the site of a Marian apparition and what is believed to be the oldest shrine to Our Lady in the world. Save for a tiny chapel on the outskirts of the town of Walsingham, and a single stone arch of what had been the priory, almost nothing remains of the original pilgrimage site which was decimated during the English reformation under the orders of Thomas Cromwell. Yet several centuries after its destruction, hundreds of thousands of people flock yearly to the Catholic shrine. In fact, the numbers seem to be on the rise. What is it that continues to draw pilgrims to venerate a site where little to nothing of its architectural origins remain, nearly a thousand years after the first apparitions took place? “The importance of shrines is not that they are historical artifacts,” said the rector of Walsingham, Msgr. John Armitage, in a phone interview with CNA. “It’s a link between heaven and earth.” The origins of the devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham date back to the year 1061, when the Virgin Mary appeared a noblewoman named Richeldis de Faverches in a series of visions. During the visions, Richeldis was brought in an ecstasy to the house in Nazareth where Gabriel announced the news of Christ's birth. Mary then requested that an exact replica of the house be built in Walsingham, which would come to be known as the Holy House. “From that time, through till the reformation, in 1538, Walsingham was one of the great shrines of Christendom,” and the only shrine dedicated to Our Lady, Msgr. Armitage said. It is a great source of pride that Walsingham is the site of the oldest Marian shrine in the world, he said. “Indeed, if you go to Nazareth, and you stand in front of the Holy House in Nazareth, if you look up, you’ll see all the different images of the Shrines to Our Lady around the world. And the first one that is displayed there is the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.” Although the shrine itself was destroyed in 1538, a small nearby chapel where pilgrims en route to Walsingham would stop remained. “It’s where the pilgrims would come and before they entered the shrine ground, they would go to confession and then they would take their shoes off, and leave them at the slipper chapel – hence its name – and would walk barefoot into the shrine in the village.” This tradition continues to this day, the rector added. “Once (the pilgrims) have finished their devotion at the slipper chapel shrine, they then walk along what’s called the Holy Mile into the village.” After the shrine was rebuilt in the 20th century, the site began to see a resurgence of pilgrims which continues to this day. “Walsingham is a great crossroads of Catholics in England,” Msgr. Armitage said, and many consider it to be the “spiritual heart” of the country. The shrine has become an active pilgrimage site, and offers daily Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and opportunities for prayer and reflection. It is also currently undergoing expansion of its services, with the construction of a new pilgrimage center and the establishment of a new media center run by EWTN. “There is a strong connection here,” Msgr. Armitage said. “People do come. We have around about 300,000 people who pass through Walsingham over the course of the year, ranging from organized pilgrims to just people passing.” The rector said he has noticed a recent increase in the number of pilgrims to the site, especially during the Year of Mercy. “I think sometimes people come on pilgrimage when they’re a bit lost about their faith,” he said. “They want to go to a place of pilgrimage.” “The important thing about places of pilgrimage is not that they are just like going to visit an old castle. You go to a place of pilgrimage because something happened.” For instance, in visiting Nazareth, pilgrims experience the place where “the Word was made Flesh, and lived among us.” Likewise, this experience of a historical event is connected with a shrine, such as that of Walsingham, Msgr. Armitage explained: “the World was made flesh, and lived among us here. Something happened here.” “It’s an expression of the Incarnation. Here, in our world, in a particular moment in history, something of God happened.” Read more

Norwich, U.K., Sep 2, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- For more than 950 years, pilgrims have been making their way to a small medieval village in England's Norfolk region to visit the site of a Marian apparition and what is believed to be the oldest shrine to Our Lady in the world. Save for a tiny chapel on the outskirts of the town of Walsingham, and a single stone arch of what had been the priory, almost nothing remains of the original pilgrimage site which was decimated during the English reformation under the orders of Thomas Cromwell. Yet several centuries after its destruction, hundreds of thousands of people flock yearly to the Catholic shrine. In fact, the numbers seem to be on the rise. What is it that continues to draw pilgrims to venerate a site where little to nothing of its architectural origins remain, nearly a thousand years after the first apparitions took place? “The importance of shrines is not that they are historical artifacts,” said the rector of Walsingham, Msgr. John Armitage, in a phone interview with CNA. “It’s a link between heaven and earth.” The origins of the devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham date back to the year 1061, when the Virgin Mary appeared a noblewoman named Richeldis de Faverches in a series of visions. During the visions, Richeldis was brought in an ecstasy to the house in Nazareth where Gabriel announced the news of Christ's birth. Mary then requested that an exact replica of the house be built in Walsingham, which would come to be known as the Holy House. “From that time, through till the reformation, in 1538, Walsingham was one of the great shrines of Christendom,” and the only shrine dedicated to Our Lady, Msgr. Armitage said. It is a great source of pride that Walsingham is the site of the oldest Marian shrine in the world, he said. “Indeed, if you go to Nazareth, and you stand in front of the Holy House in Nazareth, if you look up, you’ll see all the different images of the Shrines to Our Lady around the world. And the first one that is displayed there is the shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.” Although the shrine itself was destroyed in 1538, a small nearby chapel where pilgrims en route to Walsingham would stop remained. “It’s where the pilgrims would come and before they entered the shrine ground, they would go to confession and then they would take their shoes off, and leave them at the slipper chapel – hence its name – and would walk barefoot into the shrine in the village.” This tradition continues to this day, the rector added. “Once (the pilgrims) have finished their devotion at the slipper chapel shrine, they then walk along what’s called the Holy Mile into the village.” After the shrine was rebuilt in the 20th century, the site began to see a resurgence of pilgrims which continues to this day. “Walsingham is a great crossroads of Catholics in England,” Msgr. Armitage said, and many consider it to be the “spiritual heart” of the country. The shrine has become an active pilgrimage site, and offers daily Mass, Eucharistic Adoration, and opportunities for prayer and reflection. It is also currently undergoing expansion of its services, with the construction of a new pilgrimage center and the establishment of a new media center run by EWTN. “There is a strong connection here,” Msgr. Armitage said. “People do come. We have around about 300,000 people who pass through Walsingham over the course of the year, ranging from organized pilgrims to just people passing.” The rector said he has noticed a recent increase in the number of pilgrims to the site, especially during the Year of Mercy. “I think sometimes people come on pilgrimage when they’re a bit lost about their faith,” he said. “They want to go to a place of pilgrimage.” “The important thing about places of pilgrimage is not that they are just like going to visit an old castle. You go to a place of pilgrimage because something happened.” For instance, in visiting Nazareth, pilgrims experience the place where “the Word was made Flesh, and lived among us.” Likewise, this experience of a historical event is connected with a shrine, such as that of Walsingham, Msgr. Armitage explained: “the World was made flesh, and lived among us here. Something happened here.” “It’s an expression of the Incarnation. Here, in our world, in a particular moment in history, something of God happened.” Read more