Category Archives: News

News

Mutual Relations Between Bishops and Religious

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Pope Francis greets crowd as he arrives to celebrate Mass at Church of the Gesu in RomeOne of the most important documents affecting religious issued by Pope John Paul II was Mutuae Relationes (Directives for the Mutual Relations Between Bishops and Religious in the Church).

The document, published in 1978, said that bishops are “entrusted with the duty of caring for religious charisms.” The specific charism requires from the religious institute “a continual examination regarding fidelity to the Lord; docility to His Spirit; intelligent attention to circumstances and an outlook cautiously directed to the signs of the times; the will to be part of the Church; the awareness of subordination to the sacred hierarchy; boldness of initiatives; constancy in the giving of self; humility in bearing with adversities.”

Pope Francis told Major Superiors in a meeting on November 29, 2013, that the document needs updating. As a Jesuit, Provincial, Archbishop and now Pope, the Holy Father knows “by experience the problems that can arise between a bishop and religious communities.” Religious communities may, without warning, abandon an apostolate in the diocese. Bishops “are not always acquainted with the charisms and works of religious.”

“Religious,” he said, “should be men and women who are able to wake the world up.”

At the conclusion of his lengthy remarks, he told the assembled that the year 2015 would be dedicated to the consecrated life.

“The involvement of religious communities in dioceses is important,” the Pope said. “Dialogue between the bishop and religious must be rescued so that, due to a lack of understanding of their charisms, bishops do not view religious simply as useful instruments.”

 

 

News, Women's Communities

An American Canonization Cause Advances

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langeLast year, an American cause for canonization took another step forward. In June of 2013, Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (c. 1794-1882), the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, was exhumed from her resting place (read a fascinating eye-witness account by a well-know forensic anthropologist) in a Baltimore cemetery and moved to the sisters’ Motherhouse to be interred in the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Providence.

“We have prayed fervently for this day to become a reality, and now God has  answered our prayers,” said Sister Mary Alexis Fisher, OSP, Superior General of  the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

Mother Mary, along with Sulpician Father James Nicholas Joubert, founded the first religious congregation of women of African descent in the United States. Mother’s cause was opened in 1991 and officially approved in 2004.

Though not an-American born citizen, this Cuban emigre was moved to help African American refugee children in the slave state of Maryland. She opened a school for children, many years before the Emancipation Proclamation. As one can readily imagine, poverty and racial injustice were her companions on the heroic road of sanctity.

Currently, the Order has 80 members serving in the U.S. and Costa Rica, committed to education of children and service to the poor. To see a moving video of the reinternment ceremony, click here.

News

Do You Honor the Mother of Jesus?

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26 Martyrs Monument
26 Martyrs Monument

In 1854, Japan opened its doors to the West and soon thereafter, Catholic priests entered the country. Among those who came was the French priest, Fr. Bernard Petitjean (later Bishop of Nagasaki) of the Sociéte des Missions Étrangères. For ten years he labored with a fellow priest yet seemed to make no headway with the native people.

But in 1865, when Fr. Bernard Petitjean was praying in a chapel he had built in Nagasaki, Japan, some women approached him and asked him three questions:

Do you honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus?

Do you obey the Great Father in Rome?

Do you have a wife?

Father answered “yes” to the first two questions and “no” to the second and the  women went away. Sometime later, some men approached him and told him they were Catholics. Three hundred years ago, their ancestors had known Christians who were not Catholic and they wanted to know: are you Catholic, part of the universal Church? For 300 years they had secretly kept the faith and as Father was to discover later, so did an estimated 15,000 others.

When Catholicism was first brought to Japan by St. Francis Xavier on Assumption Day in 1549, conversions were plentiful. By 1614, there were an estimated 400,000 Catholics in Japan. However, persecutions were severe, many were martyred and in the 1630’s all Christians went into hiding. By 1640 not a priest or religious was left alive. An edict was issued that read: Let no Christian dare venture into Japan…They shall pay for it with their heads.

Oura NagasakiThese remarkable Japanese Catholics passed the down the Faith from generation to generation for 200+ years. No Mass, no Confession, no Anointing of the Sick in all those years. Pope Pius IX called this “The miracle of the Orient.”

The Oura Church in Nagasaki commemorates Fr. Petitjean’s first encounter with the women. Also known as the Church of the Twenty-Six Martyrs, it faces Nishizaka Hill where 26 martyrs were crucified in 1597. As you can see by the picture, a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary greets visitors at the entrance of the church, a reminder of the first question posed by the Japanese women: Do you honor the Mother of Jesus?

(Most of the information in this article came from the October-December 2013 of Contact  magazine, published by the Confraternity of Christ the Priest in Australia, whose missionary priests seek to evangelize the 96% of the population who do not go to Mass.)

News

A Priest’s Farewell Address to His Holy Father

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Fr. Fabrizio De Michino of Naples, Italy, died recently at age 31 of a rare heart condition. At his funeral in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows were almost 3000 people who came to remember this dedicated servant of God. The following is his letter to Pope Francis written shortly before his death.

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fabrizio RIP PriestTo His Holiness, Pope Francis

Holy Father,

In the daily prayers that I offer to God, I do not cease to pray for you and the ministry that the Lord himself has entrusted you with, so that you might always have the strength and joy to proclaim the beautiful news of the Gospel.

My name is Fabrizio De Michino, and I am a young priest of the Archdiocese of Naples. I am 31, and have been a priest for five years. I serve in the Archdiocesan Seminary as an educator in diaconal formation as well as in a parish in Ponticelli, located on the outskirts of Naples. The parish, which recalls the miracle that happened on Esquiline Hill, is named in honor of Our Lady of the Snows, and in 2014 it will celebrate the centenary of the coronation of its wooden statue, which dates back to 1500 – an image that is very dear to all the inhabitants of the parish.

Ponticelli is degraded by poverty and high crime, but every day I truly discover the beauty of the Lord’s goodness on those who trust in him and the Blessed Virgin.

I, too, have been able to grow in my love for our Heavenly Mother during my time at this parish, while also experiencing her closeness and protection in the face of my adversities. Unfortunately, over the past three years, I have been fighting a rare disease – a tumor located just inside my heart, which within the past month has metastasized to my liver and spleen. But throughout these difficult years, I have never lost the joy of being a preacher of the Gospel. Even in my fatigue, I perceive a strength that does not come from me, but from God – a strength that allows me to continue on in my ministry. There is a scriptural passage from Ezekiel that accompanies me and instills in me a confidence in the strength of the Lord: “I will give you a new heart; I will place in you a new spirit. I will tear out your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ez. 36:26).

During this time, I have felt the close presence of my bishop, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, who supports me constantly, though sometimes he tells me to rest so that I might not become too fatigued.

I thank God also for my family and friends, and for my fellow priests, who sustain me while I undergo my various therapies, sharing with me these inevitable moments of suffering. My doctors also give me great support, and seem to do the impossible to find the right treatments for me.

Holy Father, I’m beginning to write at length now, but I just want to tell you that I offer all this to the Lord for the good of his Church – and for you, in a special way, so that the Lord will bless you and be with you always in this ministry of service and love.

I beseech you to include me in your prayers. I ask the Lord every day to help me to do his will, always and everywhere. I do not ask God for my healing, but rather the strength and joy to remain a true witness to his love and a priest in the model of his own heart.

Assured of your fatherly prayers, I greet you devotedly,

Don Fabrizio De Michino

 

News, Women's Communities

Giving Everything to the One Who is Everything

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soscommhe IRL is happy to welcome a new Affiliate Community: The Sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows in Lafayette, LA!

The sisters were founded in 1839 in Coriano, Italy, by Bl. Elisabetta Renzi (1786-1859). In 1947, they opened their first mission in Louisiana and today also serve God’s people in Mexico, Brazil, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Their apostolates include: education, catechesis, parish ministry, and social services. They also promote devotions to Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows; Christ Crucified; the Eucharist; and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What better companions for life’s journey!

World Youth Day 2014
World Youth Day 2014

Their motto is ardere et lucere meaning “to burn and to light.” Bl. Elisabetta said, “We are called to burn in order to give light and warmth to our brothers and sisters.” Their patroness is Our Lady of Sorrows from whom they learn to be women of strength, faith and love, particularly in times of darkness and suffering, united with Mary at the foot of the cross.

The characteristics of this beautiful congregation’s charism are:

  • The acceptance of the cross.
  • Love of the Eucharist, which is the source of the sister’s spiritual life and mission.
  • Love of evangelization, catechesis and education
  • Abandonment to Providence
  • Intense union with God in prayer
  • Union and communion with the other sisters
  • A spirit of service in charity and humility, simplicity, cordiality, joy in duty, gladness of spirit, and love leading to sacrifice
  • Being contemplatives in apostolic action: “to burn and to light.”

Lord, fill my heart with a love as great as Elisabetta’s for all people, and with an ardent desire to proclaim everywhere the Good News of salvation, so that all may come to know, love and follow You.

For more information, visit their very informative website

sos

News

A Priest in a Cassock Went Into a Krispy Kreme…

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dwightIn a recent blog entry, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a convert from Anglicanism, described his experience at a Krispy Kreme donut shop. It demonstrates how the wearing of a cassock (or habit or Roman collar) can initiate positive conversations on the Faith.

Pope Francis says religious need to give witness not proselytize, and what better way to do that than by wearing something distinctive that says “I am Catholic. Feel free to talk to me!” Proudly proclaim your faith, when necessary use words!

So many conversations are initiated when people see religious or priests. A few years ago, I accompanied a group of 4 sisters to a Holy Hour in our Church which hasn’t had a religious community onsite in 40 years, and many people stopped us afterwards to say how happy they were to see young sisters in habits.

There is a wonderful YouTude video showing religious communities who wear habits. You might be surprised to see how many young nuns/sisters are in habits and to know that most of them are IRL Affiliates.

There is another story in Homiletic & Pastoral Review about sister in a habit and the impact this habit had on a prison.

I am a Minister of Care and bring Communion to the sick in a hospital. When I visit as a civilian, I am invisible. But when I am wearing my name tag that indicates I am a Catholic, I act differently and am treated differently. I have a responsibility to the Church community I represent and to the Lord. I smile at everyone, go out of my way to be helpful, and generally try to live up to what the name tag implies. So many times, a nurse has stopped me to ask to receive Communion for herself or for one of her patients. I feel that I am representing Christ in my own small way to my little flock. For sure, I am bringing Christ to them.

That is what a habit does; it reminds people to Whom they belong and it reminds people “in the world” of the other world of faith we are all called to.

 

 

 

Cloistered life, News, Women's Communities

The Carmelite Family Grows

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alex sdIn their Christmas 2013 newsletter, the Discalced Carmelites of Alexandria, South Dakota, mention that they are beginning a new foundation in Hague, North Dakota, at the invitation of Bishop David Kagan of Bismarck. Forty acres of land including a farmhouse, outbuildings and a pond make up the property that was purchased by the Diocese. After suitable repairs are completed, the Carmel of the Holy Face will come into existence. They were blessed to receive donations from another Carmel of an altar, tabernacle, grating for the Choir, choir benches, Carmelite statues and books, and much more.

The Monastery of Our Mother of Mercy and St. Joseph in Alexandria was founded 17 years ago as a foundation from Buffalo, NY. It has been led with motherly wisdom by Mother Marie Therese of the Child Jesus during all those years. She has taught “us little ones to follow Jesus and Mary and to treasure and persevere in Our Carmelite vocations.”

The Carmelite Monastery in Alexandria has at least 19 members, including one novice, one postulant and five who made their first profession. They obviously are doing well enough to expand and bring blessings upon another Diocese!

The new foundation has not been without its challenges. Yet they quote St. Raymond of Penyafort who said, “May you never be numbered among those whose house is peaceful, quiet and free from care….Your purity of life must be made purer still, by frequent buffetings, until you attain perfect sincerity of heart.”

They also quote Tertullian who explains that while the old way of prayer “was able to rescue from fire and beasts and hunger even before it reached its perfection,” Christian prayer “gives the armor of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what it is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God.”

How happy it is to dwell in His house, in imitation of and with Mary in
Nazareth, as well as at the foot of the Cross, comforting Him through our
sacrifices, collecting and disseminating by prayer the grace won by Him through
the shedding of His Blood – under her gaze, to leave all to find All and to
spend one’s life in His Presence!

 

 

Liturgical Year, News

Christmas Greetings

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christmas giorgione

“Christmas is the celebration of the presence of God who came among us to save us.The birth of Jesus is not a fairytale! It is the story of a real event, which occurred in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.

Faith allows us to recognise in the Child born to the Virgin Mary the true Son of God, made man for our love. In the face of the child Jesus we contemplate the face of God, who did not show Himself to us in strength, in power, but in the weakness and fragility of a newborn.

This is our God, who comes so close to us, as a child. This Child shows the trust and tenderness of the boundless love with which God surrounds each one of us. This is why we celebrate Christmas, reliving the same experience of the shepherds of Bethlehem.”

-Pope Francis, December 20, 2013

News, Women's Communities

Pope John Paul II Eucharist Center Opens

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There are many reason to visit the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Alabama, but now there is another reason: the opening of the John Paul II Eucharistic Center.

Sister Mary Jacinta of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration says that many of the people who visit the shrine are not Catholic. Some even come from local colleges on buses to see what a traditional European Church or art looks like. Like the name suggests, Adoration is an important part of the Order’s charism and the exhibits aim to show the purpose and meaning behind Perpetual Adoration. And unfortunately, many Catholics do not understand the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist so it is an educational encounter for them as well.

The exhibits include:

  • Multimedia displays showing how the Passover meal foreshadows the Eucharist
  • Video/depiction of the Last Supper
  • Large paintings from the Masters such as Caravaggio
  • Interactive computer stations where visitors can ask Questions
  • A description of Eucharistic miracles and Eucharistic saints
  • Activities for Children as well

The center is named after Pope John Paul II because of his deep love for the Eucharist. “The Holy Father understood the importance of true culture,” said Sr. Mary Jacinta. “The Eucharistic Center highlights the culture that has flourished from the Church’s Eucharistic life.”

See the complete story in the National Catholic Register.

jpii pics hanceville