Rome, Italy, Aug 8, 2014 / 02:51 pm (CNA) - Ursuline Sister Cristina Scuccia, the young Italian religious who won the last season of The Voice Italy, renewed her temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience on July 29 at one of the congregation’s convents in Sicily.
A member of the Ursuline Sisters of the Sacred Family in Milan informed CNA about the ceremony but said she could not give her name because of harassment the community has endured from Italian tabloids.
In recent days, a reporter from the Italian magazine Di Piu followed Sister Cristina and two others to a store near their convent located on the outskirts of Milan.
“Right now, I’m tired,” she told the reporter. “The last six months have been hard. Right now my commitment is to take care of my interior life in order to be able to continue giving much to others.” The magazine published the comments along with pictures of Sister Cristina and her companions making their purchases at the store.
World Day for Consecrated Life celebrated at Dominican Motherhouse
Local men and women religious honored at Great Bend gathering
Consecrated women and men serving in the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City were honored Feb. 4 with a special Mass celebrated by the Most Rev. John B. Brungardt, and the Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore.
Mass took place at the Dominican Motherhouse in Great Bend, and was followed by a luncheon reception served by the parish Confirmation class. During one of the more moving moments in the Mass, Bishop Brungardt walked up the stairs to the balcony during his homily, where he addressed the oldest members of the Dominican Sisters of Peace housed there.
Following is the bishop’s homily in its entirety.
• • •
Welcome to all as we celebrate World Day for Consecrated Life, as we praise God for the gift of our religious Sisters and Priests ministering in the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City, as we thank the dedicated religious Sisters and Priests who have given their lives in the service of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have truly served as St. Paul described in our first reading: “humbly regarding others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others” (Phil 2). I thank you for all your sacrificial gifts given in teaching, caring for the sick, assisting parishes, spiritual direction, and many other apostolates and ministries. Thank you, consecrated religious!
Three Great Bend Catholics travel
to Haiti to establish sister parish
Jan Frenzl, Jennifer Schartz, and Joleen Tustin recently traveled to Haiti as emissaries for Prince of Peace Parish in Great Bend. Their mission was to make personal contact with Father Roderick Mitial in hopes of building a relationship with a sister parish. They traveled with Star of Hope USA (based in Ellinwood), which has had missions in Haiti for nearly 30 years.
Sponsored by the parish Justice and Peace Commission, the group raised almost $7,500, which will go to the refurbishment of their new sister parish, Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Jennifer, Jolene, and Jan presented $1,000 to Father Roderick, which was used immediately to pay salaries at the parish school, Good Shepherd.
Prince of Peace pastor, Father Reggie Urban, could barely find words to describe the joy he felt in what was accomplished.
“It was just over the top,” he said, proudly. “It was just amazing.”
The three women will share with the parish photos and stories from their trip at a St. Patrick’s Day dinner, Saturday, March 17.
Our Mission
By JENNIFER SCHARTZ
Our mission seemed simple: Make contact with a church in Haiti that could be our sister parish.
What we learned was that any command with the word “Haiti” involved is anything but simple.
The journey actually started more than two years ago immediately after the earthquake in Haiti. The Justice and Peace Commission at Prince of Peace in Great Bend started planning a way to help our Caribbean brothers. Our path eventually crossed with Barry Borror, president and CEO of Star of Hope USA, just 10 miles down the road from us in Ellinwood.
In Korea, Pope Francis to visit cemetery for aborted babies
Vatican City, Aug 10, 2014 / 04:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - During his upcoming trip to South Korea, Pope Francis will pray for the unborn at the “Cemetery for Aborted Children” as part of his visit to the Kkottoghnae Home for the sick.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi also noted in an Aug. 8 press conference that the Pope will deliver his addresses in English and will follow local customs such as removing his shoes before entering certain places.
The Kkttongnae Home located in the Diocese of Cheongju in South Korea was created in 1976 by Father John Oh, the founder of the Kkottongnae Brothers and Sisters of Jesus. The priest was inspired by a beggar named Choi Gwi Dong to feed 18 other sick beggars despite his own physical handicaps.
It offers assistance to the homeless, disabled individuals and alcohol addicts. Currently it can serve around 5,000 people.
The Cemetery for Aborted Children is located behind the home and includes a statue of the Holy Family surrounded by cross representing the unborn.
Announced by the Vatican in March, the Pope’s Aug. 13 – 18 trip follows an invitation from the president of the Korean Republic, Park Geun-hye, and the bishops of Korea.
Following the motto “Rise Korea, clothe yourself in light, the Lord’s glory shines upon you,” the Pope’s visit begins with his departure from Rome the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 13.
Nun who won 'The Voice Italy' renews religious vows
Along the journey
Bishop welcomes more than 175
on the road to the Catholic Church
More than 175 men, women and children on the road to becoming Catholic were officially welcomed along their faith journey Feb. 26 by Bishop John B. Brungardt at the Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion celebration at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
One of the most significant events of the liturgical year, this is the official moment that candidates (baptized members of another Christian denomination -- or baptized Catholics -- who are seeking confirmation and first Eucharist) and catechumens (individuals who have not been baptized and who are seeking baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist) declare their commitment to entering fully the Catholic Church at Easter.
The candidates and catechumens --along with their families, godparents, and sponsors -- came from every corner of the diocese, each waiting for that special moment when they would be called by name to sign the Book of the Elect, or to dip their fingers in the baptismal font.
During his homily, Bishop Brungardt called forward third and fourth graders to sit on the steps of the apse. When asked for volunteers, one little boy raised his hand. The bishop led him in a walk around the altar, the cathedra and the pulpit, and as he did so he shared a story of a father and son escaping Nazi soldiers during World War II.
Religious Freedom, Conscience and the Sanctity of Human Life
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of reflections related to the upcoming election, offered by the leaders of the four Catholic dioceses in Kansas. The intention of this series of reflections is not to endorse a particular political party or candidate. Rather, these are provided to assist Catholic citizens who are entrusted with making important decisions to do so in a manner that is consistent with the truths revealed to us by our Faith.
The Role of Conscience
People often hear the advice that they should “follow their conscience.” But what does that mean? For many people, conscience is based on what they feel about what is right or wrong; they perceive conscience as an opinion about a particular matter. For others, conscience is based on their political view or what appears personally beneficial. Most people think conscience is something private, subjective and personal.
As a Church we recognize that conscience is much more than a feeling or opinion. Conscience is a conscious effort to seek the truth about a matter and then to make decisions accordingly. To put it another way, conscience is the process a person undertakes to make judgments about what is true and right based on God’s revelation to us and the light of reason. The Second Vatican Council described conscience as a person’s “most secret core and sanctuary” where one is “alone with God.” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 1965, #16) It is in the conscience that a person hears the voice of God and for this reason, the judgment of one’s conscience must be faithfully followed. To betray one’s conscience is to betray oneself and God. We believe that, in the end, God will judge us based on our conscience. That is, we will be judged based on our attempt to act with integrity and according to what we understand to be right.
Pope Francis takes to Twitter in appeal for Iraqi citizens
by ELISE HARRIS
Vatican City, Aug 11, 2014 / 05:55 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Since Friday Pope Francis has been tweeting three times a day asking faithful and parishes to pray and offer material support for those affected by violence in Iraq.
“I ask all men and women of goodwill to join me in praying for Iraqi Christians and all vulnerable populations,” the first tweet from the Roman Pontiff read on Aug. 8.
Going from a sporadic tweet every two to three days this summer to a seemingly full-fledged campaign to raise awareness of the grave injustices currently happening in Iraq, Pope Francis’ Twitter account, @Pontifex, has been riddled with messages urging support for persecuted Christians and other minorities since Friday, Aug. 8.
A second tweet on the Pope’s Twitter account that day asked for readers to “Please take a moment today to pray for all those who have been forced from their homes in Iraq,” and used the hashtag “#PrayForPeace.”
Prayers urged as black mass organizer claims consecrated Host
Oklahoma City, Okla., Aug 8, 2014 / 04:07 am (CNA/EWTN News) - The purported use of a consecrated Host at a planned satanic black mass at an Oklahoma City civic center would be a “terrible sacrilege” that requires a prayerful response, the local archbishop emphasized.
Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City in an Aug. 4 message lamented that the city-run Civic Center Music Hall was selling tickets for the event “as if it were merely some sort of dark entertainment.”
Rather, he said, the ritual was “deadly serious” and “a blasphemous and obscene inversion of the Catholic Mass.”
“Using a consecrated Host obtained illicitly from a Catholic church and desecrating it in the vilest ways imaginable, the practitioners offer it in sacrifice to Satan. This terrible sacrilege is a deliberate attack on the Catholic Mass as well as the foundational beliefs of all Christians,” the archbishop continued.
‘United for Religious Freedom’
A Statement of the Administrative Committee
Of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered for its March 2012 meeting, is strongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day. In our role as Bishops, we approach this question prayerfully and as pastors—concerned not only with the protection of the Church’s own institutions, but with the care of the souls of the individual faithful, and with the common good.
To address the broader range of religious liberty issues, we look forward to the upcoming publication of “A Statement on Religious Liberty,” a document of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. This document reflects on the history of religious liberty in our great Nation; surveys the current range of threats to this foundational principle; and states clearly the resolve of the Bishops to act strongly, in concert with our fellow citizens, in its defense.
Bishop invites youth to vocation dinners
It’s impossible to miss the look of joy on Bishop John Brungardt’s face when around young people showing an interest in a vocation to the priesthood or religious life.
Beginning in February and continuing into April, Bishop Brungardt and Father Wesley Schawe have been meeting at each deanery with high school aged boys interested in learning about what it is like to be a priest. Three dinners are for high school boys and a fourth dinner will be given for post high school men.
Priests in the boy’s parishes have invited them and the priests attend the dinner also.
“What’s your favorite movie?” one boy asked the bishop at a recent gathering for the Dodge City Deanery.
“I like ‘The Lord of the Rings,’” the bishop replied, “and ‘Marvin’s Room’”
“Who’s your favorite saint?”
“St. John Bosco,” said the bishop, adding that the saint was his namesake.