Washington D.C., Sep 16, 2014 / 02:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pro-life groups have responded forcefully to a new report finding that despite promises from President Barack Obama, more than 1,000 health care plans under the Affordable Care Act cover aborti... Read more
Vatican City, Sep 16, 2014 / 12:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis on Tuesday focused on the importance of giving hope to the world by imitating Jesus Christ’s closeness to God’s people. “When God visits his people he restores ho... Read more
Kaohsiung. Taiwan, Sep 16, 2014 / 09:49 am (CNA).- The Diocese of Kaohsiung in Taiwan has become the first in the Chinese-speaking world to have a parish dedicated to St. John Paul II, where a first-class relic of the Polish saint’s blood is kept... Read more
Rome, Italy, Sep 16, 2014 / 04:31 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The preparatory catechesis document for the 2015 World Meeting of Families is a “wonderful” work that addresses Catholic family issues from a global context, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia said. “It covers all the basic issues – the problems as well as the joys of family life – and situates it in the context of the culture of the world, not just the United States because it’s a world meeting of families,” Archbishop Chaput told CNA in Rome Sept. 15. The recently published catechesis, titled “Love is Our Mission – the Family Fully Alive,” explains Catholic belief on human purpose, marriage and the family. It will be published in six languages. The archbishop said he thinks the document is “a wonderful piece of work.” “I actually enjoy reading it. Even though I read it from start to finish, I read it over and over again because I think it's very, very good.” The catechesis is intended to help preparations for the eighth World Meeting of Families, which will take place Sept. 22-27, 2015 in Philadelphia. Established by St. John Paul II in 1994 to help strengthen family bonds worldwide, the event is expected to draw tens of thousands of participants from around the world. The catechesis focuses on 10 themes, the World Meeting of Families website says. It teaches that human beings are “created for joy” and have a “mission of love” to receive God’s love and share it with others. It discusses the meaning of human sexuality, the sacramental nature of Christian marriage, and marital love as an image of Jesus Christ’s faithfulness to the Church. The document also discusses the role of children in marriage and the different ways marriage, the priesthood, vowed religious life and the celibate lay vocation can be spiritually fruitful. Other topics discussed include temptations and other challenges to family life, including poverty, affluence, pornography, contraception, and intellectual mistakes that harm family life. The catechesis notes the “painful situations” facing many people, as well as the impact that divorce or same-sex attraction can have on the life of the family. “Christian families and networks of families should be sources of mercy, safety, friendship and support for those struggling with these issues,” the World Meeting of Families’ website said. Archbishop Chaput could not yet definitively confirm whether Pope Francis will attend the Philadelphia gathering next year. “We hope so. I’ve talked to him about it several times and in every situation he’s indicated a hope to come,” the archbishop said. “There’s no official announcement yet – we expect that to come several months out before the event. But we’re working hard and we're expecting him to come and we're making all the preparations necessary for that.” When the world’s bishops gather next month for their Synod on the Family, Archbishop Chaput suggested that they use “Love is Our Mission – the Family Fully Alive” as preparation for discussion. The Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family will meet in Rome Oct. 5-19 to explore the global pastoral challenges for the family in the context of evangelization. Archbishop Chaput said the synod is “very important” not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the world. “Everything comes to us from the family. Every bit of our lives – from our genes, to our ability to deal with problems, how to cooperate with others in society.” “So I’m praying along with everyone else that it be a wonderful experience for everyone and that the Holy Spirit is able to change the world through the work of the synod.” Archbishop Chaput declined to make predictions about the synod. “I can’t predict what’s going to happen any more than anyone else can but the Church is always the Church, always guided by the Holy Spirit, always protected from error and moved towards creativity by the Holy Spirit,” he said. “So, I have great confidence that whatever happens there will be under the guidance of God and we can have confidence in the future.” Read more
Bangui, Central African Republic, Sep 16, 2014 / 02:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Thousands more people have died in ongoing violence in the Central African Republic since December, and many more of the dead may never be counted, new estimates suggest. Th... Read more
Leeds, England, Sep 16, 2014 / 12:15 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Msgr. Marcus Stock, who was appointed Monday as Bishop of Leeds, England, has said in a message to his new flock that his motto as a bishop will be taken from Christ's words at the Last Supper, “I have longed and longed to be with you.” “When I was informed of my appointment, I was given a list of tasks that require fairly quick decisions from me. Among these, was the need to choose a motto for my life as a bishop. However, I needed no time to ponder on this,” Msgr. Stock said Sept. 15. “Many years ago in Rome, on the day of my ordination as a deacon, and just before I made my solemn ordination promises, the late Cardinal Basil Hume said to me, 'Let the words of Our Lord ring in your ears, “I have longed and longed to be with you.” Carry these words not only throughout your diaconate but into your priesthood; then, you will discover that peace, that joy, in the service of the servants of the Lord.'” “Since then, those words have been imprinted deep upon my heart. Desiderio desideravi … Cardinal Hume had used those words to express the great desire and intimacy with which Our Lord wishes to share His divine life and love with each one of us.” Msgr. Stock continued, saying, “if in faith we accept that life and love, we have no need to be afraid, we can bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things. It is that message which I have tried to make central to my ministry as a priest and which I hope and pray will continue to be at the centre of my new ministry as a bishop. So, Desiderio desideravi will be my motto.” Msgr. Stock was born in 1961 in London. He studied theology at Oxford, and dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1988 he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Since 2009 he has been secretary general of the English and Welsh bishops' conference and director of Heythrop College's theology department. Previously, he had served as a parish priest and as the archdiocesan director of Catholic schools; he was named a monsignor in 2011. He began his statement noting his gratitude for the trust placed in him by the Holy Father. “I am only too conscious of my weaknesses and sinfulness. It is therefore with humility and the desire to obey the call to serve, in whatever way the Church asks of me, that I have accepted this appointment. Before all else therefore, I ask for your prayers for me.” Msgr. Stock added to his new flock that “throughout my ministry as a priest, I have been sustained in grace by the prayers of the parishioners and religious that I have been privileged to serve and by the prayers of my brother clergy … this is the first thing for which I hope; to be assured of your prayers. And from now on, I assure you, for my part you will be in the first thoughts of my prayers each day.” He also expressed his gratitude to the former Bishops of Leeds, and to Msgr. John Wilson, who was administrator of the diocese during its vacancy. “I know that I will need to listen carefully to their wise counsel and advice both before and after my ordination as bishop,” Msgr. Stock said. “The third thing for which I hope is for your patience and support. I am sure that my name will be quite unknown to the vast majority of the clergy, religious and lay people of the diocese. Consequently, I hope that you will be patient with me as I get to know the clergy, religious, parishes, schools and the whole area of the Diocese of Leeds. I pray too, that you will support me not only by your prayers but also by your collaboration in the important work of evangelisation … and, in making known to all those people who touch our lives, the infinite mercy of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham commented that Msgr. Stock's appointment “will be a wonderful blessing to the Diocese of Leeds and to the Church in England and Wales and I am grateful that Msgr. Marcus takes with him his experience as a priest of our own archdiocese for twenty-six years.” The date of Msgr. Stock's episcopal consecration has yet to be announced. The Diocese of Leeds serves nearly 158,000 Catholics, who are some eight percent of the local population. As bishop, Msgr. Stock will be assisted by 182 priests, 24 deacons, and 149 religious. The diocese had been vacant since June 2012, when Bishop Arthur Roche was transferred to Rome as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Read more
Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sep 15, 2014 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The annual “Day for the Sick” held by the Archdiocese of Colombo recently drew more than 5,000 Sri Lankan faithful to the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka for a service led the Cardinal Ranjith. The spiritual, inner healing service and blessing of the sick is a renewal of faith held in Ragama, a suburb of Colombo, and has been observed annually for 67 years. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo led the Aug. 31 service, accompanied by two of his auxiliary bishops, Emmanuel Fernando and Maxwell Silva, and hundreds of priests and religious. “There is no point in pleading to God if we are leading a life of duplicity,” Cardinal Ranjith advised those attending the healing service during his homily. He told the faithful that merely listening to homilies is useless without practicing their advice and living it out in a transformation of their lives, urging the people to “turn away from wicked and sinful ways.” Mindful of the challenges facing his people in the wake of tsunamis and an ethnically divisive civil war which ended only five years ago, Cardinal Ranjith stressed that “before anything else, we need to heal the wounds that afflict this land of ours, which is no longer a healthy nation." “The hearts of our people are wounded and plagued with various forms of diseases, where even race and religion do not spare demeaning the dignity of a person,” he lamented. “The tendency we have today is to rise above others in any way possible, using any means, even to the extent of putting down the other … so these wounds in our people only grow deeper and deeper and fester, and thus people become more and more discouraged.” In a pastoral letter last year, the Sri Lankan bishops urged reconciliation and nation building, urging the people to “learn to settle issues among ourselves through dialogue and in a spirit of magnanimity,” rather than inviting foreign organizations to become involved. The country is under pressure from international agencies to probe alleged atrocities and human rights violations during the civil war between Sinhala nationalists and Tamil separatists which claimed at least 60,000 lives. The Church has been instrumental in carrying its mission of evangelization through its social teaching and interreligious dialogue, and has untiringly engaged in helping post-war reconciliation and nation building. The Colombo archdiocese's prayer day for the sick began in 1947, when Archbishop Jean-Marie Masson, O.M.I., had a vision of such a prayer service for those with pain and suffering, to give them spiritual solace and draw them close to God. In the years since, the service has drawn thousands who come in sickness and grief to petition, also for their loved ones, to receive graces and miracles of healing. The basilica at which it is held hold a special significance for Sri Lankans, having been constructed in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary for having protected the island during World War II. In May, 1940, Archbishop Masson had prayed that if the nation was spared the ravages of the war, he would build a basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Lanka. The British navy operated out of bases in Sri Lanka, but the island was itself spared any violence during the war. In 1947, Pius XII granted Archbishop Masson permission to build the basilica, and when the archbishop died later that year, the work was carried out by his successor, Cardinal Thomas Cooray. The Archdiocese of Colombo is currently in the midst of its Year of Mary, which will conclude in November, and is preparing for the Jan. 13-15 visit of Pope Francis, during which he is expected to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka. Read more
Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sep 15, 2014 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The annual “Day for the Sick” held by the Archdiocese of Colombo recently drew more than 5,000 Sri Lankan faithful to the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka for a service led the Cardinal Ranjith. The spiritual, inner healing service and blessing of the sick is a renewal of faith held in Ragama, a suburb of Colombo, and has been observed annually for 67 years. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo led the Aug. 31 service, accompanied by two of his auxiliary bishops, Emmanuel Fernando and Maxwell Silva, and hundreds of priests and religious. “There is no point in pleading to God if we are leading a life of duplicity,” Cardinal Ranjith advised those attending the healing service during his homily. He told the faithful that merely listening to homilies is useless without practicing their advice and living it out in a transformation of their lives, urging the people to “turn away from wicked and sinful ways.” Mindful of the challenges facing his people in the wake of tsunamis and an ethnically divisive civil war which ended only five years ago, Cardinal Ranjith stressed that “before anything else, we need to heal the wounds that afflict this land of ours, which is no longer a healthy nation." “The hearts of our people are wounded and plagued with various forms of diseases, where even race and religion do not spare demeaning the dignity of a person,” he lamented. “The tendency we have today is to rise above others in any way possible, using any means, even to the extent of putting down the other … so these wounds in our people only grow deeper and deeper and fester, and thus people become more and more discouraged.” In a pastoral letter last year, the Sri Lankan bishops urged reconciliation and nation building, urging the people to “learn to settle issues among ourselves through dialogue and in a spirit of magnanimity,” rather than inviting foreign organizations to become involved. The country is under pressure from international agencies to probe alleged atrocities and human rights violations during the civil war between Sinhala nationalists and Tamil separatists which claimed at least 60,000 lives. The Church has been instrumental in carrying its mission of evangelization through its social teaching and interreligious dialogue, and has untiringly engaged in helping post-war reconciliation and nation building. The Colombo archdiocese's prayer day for the sick began in 1947, when Archbishop Jean-Marie Masson, O.M.I., had a vision of such a prayer service for those with pain and suffering, to give them spiritual solace and draw them close to God. In the years since, the service has drawn thousands who come in sickness and grief to petition, also for their loved ones, to receive graces and miracles of healing. The basilica at which it is held hold a special significance for Sri Lankans, having been constructed in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary for having protected the island during World War II. In May, 1940, Archbishop Masson had prayed that if the nation was spared the ravages of the war, he would build a basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Lanka. The British navy operated out of bases in Sri Lanka, but the island was itself spared any violence during the war. In 1947, Pius XII granted Archbishop Masson permission to build the basilica, and when the archbishop died later that year, the work was carried out by his successor, Cardinal Thomas Cooray. The Archdiocese of Colombo is currently in the midst of its Year of Mary, which will conclude in November, and is preparing for the Jan. 13-15 visit of Pope Francis, during which he is expected to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka. Read more
Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sep 15, 2014 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The annual “Day for the Sick” held by the Archdiocese of Colombo recently drew more than 5,000 Sri Lankan faithful to the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka for a service led the Cardinal Ranjith. The spiritual, inner healing service and blessing of the sick is a renewal of faith held in Ragama, a suburb of Colombo, and has been observed annually for 67 years. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo led the Aug. 31 service, accompanied by two of his auxiliary bishops, Emmanuel Fernando and Maxwell Silva, and hundreds of priests and religious. “There is no point in pleading to God if we are leading a life of duplicity,” Cardinal Ranjith advised those attending the healing service during his homily. He told the faithful that merely listening to homilies is useless without practicing their advice and living it out in a transformation of their lives, urging the people to “turn away from wicked and sinful ways.” Mindful of the challenges facing his people in the wake of tsunamis and an ethnically divisive civil war which ended only five years ago, Cardinal Ranjith stressed that “before anything else, we need to heal the wounds that afflict this land of ours, which is no longer a healthy nation." “The hearts of our people are wounded and plagued with various forms of diseases, where even race and religion do not spare demeaning the dignity of a person,” he lamented. “The tendency we have today is to rise above others in any way possible, using any means, even to the extent of putting down the other … so these wounds in our people only grow deeper and deeper and fester, and thus people become more and more discouraged.” In a pastoral letter last year, the Sri Lankan bishops urged reconciliation and nation building, urging the people to “learn to settle issues among ourselves through dialogue and in a spirit of magnanimity,” rather than inviting foreign organizations to become involved. The country is under pressure from international agencies to probe alleged atrocities and human rights violations during the civil war between Sinhala nationalists and Tamil separatists which claimed at least 60,000 lives. The Church has been instrumental in carrying its mission of evangelization through its social teaching and interreligious dialogue, and has untiringly engaged in helping post-war reconciliation and nation building. The Colombo archdiocese's prayer day for the sick began in 1947, when Archbishop Jean-Marie Masson, O.M.I., had a vision of such a prayer service for those with pain and suffering, to give them spiritual solace and draw them close to God. In the years since, the service has drawn thousands who come in sickness and grief to petition, also for their loved ones, to receive graces and miracles of healing. The basilica at which it is held hold a special significance for Sri Lankans, having been constructed in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary for having protected the island during World War II. In May, 1940, Archbishop Masson had prayed that if the nation was spared the ravages of the war, he would build a basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Lanka. The British navy operated out of bases in Sri Lanka, but the island was itself spared any violence during the war. In 1947, Pius XII granted Archbishop Masson permission to build the basilica, and when the archbishop died later that year, the work was carried out by his successor, Cardinal Thomas Cooray. The Archdiocese of Colombo is currently in the midst of its Year of Mary, which will conclude in November, and is preparing for the Jan. 13-15 visit of Pope Francis, during which he is expected to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka. Read more
Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sep 15, 2014 / 08:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The annual “Day for the Sick” held by the Archdiocese of Colombo recently drew more than 5,000 Sri Lankan faithful to the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka for a service led the Cardinal Ranjith. The spiritual, inner healing service and blessing of the sick is a renewal of faith held in Ragama, a suburb of Colombo, and has been observed annually for 67 years. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo led the Aug. 31 service, accompanied by two of his auxiliary bishops, Emmanuel Fernando and Maxwell Silva, and hundreds of priests and religious. “There is no point in pleading to God if we are leading a life of duplicity,” Cardinal Ranjith advised those attending the healing service during his homily. He told the faithful that merely listening to homilies is useless without practicing their advice and living it out in a transformation of their lives, urging the people to “turn away from wicked and sinful ways.” Mindful of the challenges facing his people in the wake of tsunamis and an ethnically divisive civil war which ended only five years ago, Cardinal Ranjith stressed that “before anything else, we need to heal the wounds that afflict this land of ours, which is no longer a healthy nation." “The hearts of our people are wounded and plagued with various forms of diseases, where even race and religion do not spare demeaning the dignity of a person,” he lamented. “The tendency we have today is to rise above others in any way possible, using any means, even to the extent of putting down the other … so these wounds in our people only grow deeper and deeper and fester, and thus people become more and more discouraged.” In a pastoral letter last year, the Sri Lankan bishops urged reconciliation and nation building, urging the people to “learn to settle issues among ourselves through dialogue and in a spirit of magnanimity,” rather than inviting foreign organizations to become involved. The country is under pressure from international agencies to probe alleged atrocities and human rights violations during the civil war between Sinhala nationalists and Tamil separatists which claimed at least 60,000 lives. The Church has been instrumental in carrying its mission of evangelization through its social teaching and interreligious dialogue, and has untiringly engaged in helping post-war reconciliation and nation building. The Colombo archdiocese's prayer day for the sick began in 1947, when Archbishop Jean-Marie Masson, O.M.I., had a vision of such a prayer service for those with pain and suffering, to give them spiritual solace and draw them close to God. In the years since, the service has drawn thousands who come in sickness and grief to petition, also for their loved ones, to receive graces and miracles of healing. The basilica at which it is held hold a special significance for Sri Lankans, having been constructed in thanksgiving to the Blessed Virgin Mary for having protected the island during World War II. In May, 1940, Archbishop Masson had prayed that if the nation was spared the ravages of the war, he would build a basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Lanka. The British navy operated out of bases in Sri Lanka, but the island was itself spared any violence during the war. In 1947, Pius XII granted Archbishop Masson permission to build the basilica, and when the archbishop died later that year, the work was carried out by his successor, Cardinal Thomas Cooray. The Archdiocese of Colombo is currently in the midst of its Year of Mary, which will conclude in November, and is preparing for the Jan. 13-15 visit of Pope Francis, during which he is expected to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Lanka. Read more
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