Rouen, France, Aug 3, 2016 / 06:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- During Tuesday's funeral Mass for Fr. Jacques Hamel, who was killed last week by Islamic State terrorists, the Archbishop of Rouen said the priest's death urges us to respond to God in our lives. “The death of Jacques Hamel called me to a frank yes – not to a tepid yes,” Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said Aug. 2 at Rouen's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. “A 'yes' to life, like Jacques' 'yes' at his ordination. Is this possible? We must respond yes every time. God will not force us. God is patient. God is merciful. Even when I, Dominique, said no to love, even when I said to God 'perhaps later', even when I forgot, God waits for me because of his infinite mercy. But today, can the world still wait for the chain of love which will replace the chain of hate?” Fr. Hamel, who was 85, was killed July 26 in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen, while saying Mass. The assailants, who were armed with knives, declared their allegiance to the Islamic State, and were later shot dead by police. Thousands attended the priest's funeral Mass, including government officials and representatives from the Jewish and Muslim communities. Archbishop Lebrun said Fr. Hamel “has no more to fear God. He presents himself with his just works.” “Of course, we cannot pass judgement on the heart of our brother. But so many testimonies cannot be wrong! Fr. Jacques Hamel had a simple heart.” He recounted that Fr. Hamel had been ordained a priest 58 years, adding that before the priest's years of faithful charity “I feel small.” “Jacques, you were a faithful disciple of Jesus. Wherever you went, you did well.” Prior to the homily, Fr. Hamel's sister Roselyne spoke about his mercy and love, saying that he had refused to become an officer during his military service in colonial Algeria so that he would not have to order others to kill. She said: “The God of love and mercy chose you to be at the service of others … until your last breath.” Archbishop Lebrun suggested that Fr. Hamel's confidence in Christ's resurrection was “rooted in the experience of death in Algeria … Perhaps this mystery, this secret you confided was what was winning hearts in our assembly: yes, Christ is risen. Death is not the last word.” “For you, Jacques, the resurrection of Jesus is not a catechism lesson, it is a reality, a reality for our heart, for the secret of the heart, a reality at the same time to share with others, as a confidence,” the archbishop said. He added, “God knows, before the reality of your death – so brutal, unjust, and horrible – that we must look deep into our hearts to find the light.” The archbishop exhorted those present: “let us be simple and true with ourselves. It is in our heart, in the depth of our heart that we must say 'yes' or 'no' to Jesus, 'yes' or 'no' to the path of truth and of peace; 'yes' or 'no' to the victory of love over hate, 'yes' or 'no' to his resurrection.” He lamented, asking if there would be “any other killings before we are to be converted to love, and to the justice which builds up love?” Archbishop Lebrun exclaimed that there are “too many deaths in the Middle East, too many deaths in Africa, too many deaths in America! Too many violent deaths, enough!” He recalled that Fr. Hamel tried to push away his murderer with his feet, saying twice, “Go away, Satan.” The archbishop interpreted this as Fr. Hamel expressing his “faith in man, created good, but grasped by the devil.” “With Jesus every man, every woman, every human person can change their heart with his grace. We recall the words of Jesus even as they seem beyond our strength today: 'I say to you: love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you'.” The archbishop said that in the face of such diabolical violence, we must remember in our heart that “God has fashioned us for love” and be ready to pray for those in the power of evil. He offered his admiration to Fr. Hamel's family, saying, “Your brother, your uncle was a pillar. He continues to be.” “It is not for me yet to declare Fr. Jacques 'martyr'. But how do we not recognize the fecundity of the sacrifice he has lived, in union with the sacrifice of Jesus which he faithfully celebrated in the Eucharist?” Archbishop Lebrun then turned to the Catholic community of France, especially those who do not often attend Mass. He appealed to them to visit a church in the coming days “to affirm that violence will not take root in your heart, to ask for grace from God; please to light a candle in the church, a sign of the resurrection, to collect yourself and open your heart to what is most profound; if you can to pray, to supplicate.” Read more

Rome, Italy, Aug 2, 2016 / 10:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Italian bishops' conference has issued an advisory to pilgrims, after a young Italian girl died of meningitis while she was returning home from World Youth Day in Poland. The Italian publication Corriere della Sera identifies the girl as Susanna Rufi, 19, who died Monday in Vienna, Austria, as she was returning home to Italy. “She had been preparing for WYD for a year,” recounted Fr. Alessandro, the parish priest of her local Saint Polycarp parish in Rome, according to Corriere della Sera. “She was a wonderful girl, very active in the parish,” he said, adding that she got good grades, and was active in the choir. Rufi had reported feeling ill on Sunday evening, after arriving in Vienna with some 50 young people from the parishes of Saint Polycarp and Our Lady of Good Counsel, reports the Italian agency. Meningitis is an infection-based inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include a headache, fever, and stiff neck. Meningitis, which can be fatal, is spread through respiratory droplets, for example through coughing or sneezing. According to an Aug. 1 statement issued by the Italian bishops' conference, the members of the girl's pilgrimage group have taken a prophylaxis as a precaution. The conference advised all World Youth Day pilgrims who passed through the Italian House – the center in Krakow which served Italian pilgrims – to undergo the same prophylaxis, per the advice of the Vienna hospital. Those at risk of exposure who experience a high fever, headache, sore throat, vision problems, or loss of consciousness should go immediately to the hospital, as these symptoms could indicate an infection, the statement advised. The bishops' conference offered its condolences to the girl's family, “at the conclusion of an experience which was a lesson in fraternity and sharing.” Tens of thousands of Italians were among the many pilgrims to attend World Youth Day in Krakow, which at its peak was attended by as many as 2 million people during its final days.   Read more

Madrid, Spain, Jan 2, 2017 / 11:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Maria* has not had an easy life. Several years ago, while pregnant with her second child, she checked into a detox center for those with drug addictions. Social services had already taken temporary custody of her first child, as she was in no condition to take care of her. But determination and the help of Project Mater has made it possible for her to move forward. The 32-year-old is now rehabilitated and receives help from the organization, which is dedicated to supporting mothers at risk of abortion and social exclusion. “If it weren't for Project Mater, I could not have gotten my daughter back. They've helped me to have housing, food and the basics. I am really grateful to them,” she told CNA. Maria sees the assistance not as a permanent measure, but as “a push to go forward, especially because the children's father is in prison in another country.” Now pregnant with her third child, she is drug-free and finding that life is beginning to stabilize. “When I got pregnant with my third child I honestly did think of aborting. The first people I told were my mother and Balbi [Balbina Rojas, the coordinator of Project Mater]. She congratulated me and told me she would help me and that everything would work out ok.” “Without Mater, I couldn't have done it. I wonder what I would have done if they hadn't been there,” she said. Project Mater was started by Archbishop Braulio Rodríguez of Toledo, who wished to implement a diocesan project that would involve family counseling centers, life and family ministries, the pastoral secretariat of the diocese and Caritas. In the first year since its beginning, some 150 mothers with children less than a year old and at risk of social exclusion or affected by post-abortive syndrome have come through the program. “For the moms who come, it's basically a process of accompaniment, acceptance, listening, care...We try to address their needs in all the areas that the mother may ask for, including finances,” coordinator Balbina Rojas told CNA. The initiative was born in conjunction with the Year of Mercy and with a distinct pastoral emphasis. “The heart of Project Mater is the chapel,” Rojas said, explaining that the mothers who participate in the project as well as their children are entrusted to the care of the Virgin Mary. “The volunteers, psychologists, and priests who work in Mater share the mercy that we receive from God, listening, counseling, giving material and spiritual food,” Rojas said. The goal is that “the moms may heal and cleanse their wounds, to take care of them and their children  as long as necessary, to give that warmth, that affection, that tenderness that so many of them need. Also to help them see what things need to change in their lives, to get reoriented, with all the means that the Church, in this case the Diocese of Toledo, has to offer them.” Cases like Maria’s are common at Project Mater. Rojas recalled another mother who had made up her mind to abort, but changed her mind and went ahead with her pregnancy. “One time she told me that thanks to Mater, she had been able to see her son's beautiful eyes.” She also remembered the case of a woman whose child had a serious deformity deemed “incompatible with life.” “The mom decided to continue the pregnancy because her child was fighting for his life in the womb despite the difficulties, and so she would also fight for the life of her child,” she recalled. The little boy died two hours after being born, and was baptized. “It was something profoundly moving for us because we were witnesses of this tremendous testimony for life and for fighting for the life of the mother and child,” Rojas said. Many mothers who have had abortions also come to Project Mater because of the psychological scars they are experiencing. “The person a lot of them first come to is a priest, and it's very important to receive the grace of Confession and forgiveness for that sin,” Rojas said. “But it's also necessary that psychologists provide therapy for them so they can overcome all that's happened that has so marked them, leaving them in pain and laden with guilt.”*Name has been changed for the protection of privacy.This article was originally published on CNA Aug. 2, 2016. Read more