John Paul II beatification, May 1
ROME (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II is being beatified Sunday, May 1, not because of his impact on history or on the Catholic Church, but because of the way he lived the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love, said Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes.
“Clearly his cause was put on the fast track, but the process was done carefully and meticulously, following the rules Pope John Paul himself issued in 1983,” the cardinal said April 1, during a conference at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
The cardinal said the church wanted to respond positively to many Catholics’ hopes to have Pope John Paul beatified quickly, but it also wanted to be certain that the pope, who died in 2005, is in heaven.
Newman U. Western Kansas to offer
early childhood education degree
WICHITA -- Western Kansas residents who wish to earn a teaching degree or build on an existing elementary education degree will now have the ability to do so without leaving their hometowns, thanks to a new early childhood education degree program to be offered by the Newman University Western Kansas Center.
Educate, legislate, fund: three responses to Down syndrome
By MATT HADRO
Washington D.C., Oct 27, 2014 / 02:06 am (CNA/EWTN News) - In order to halt the abortion of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome, much must be done for education, research, and legislation to help parents choose life, a panel of experts has said.
“In a sense, Down syndrome is the canary in the coal mine, it’s the test case of how we in a society will deal with difference in disability,” said Mark Bradford of the Jerome Lejeune Foundation.
“Will we welcome individuals into our communities who have genetic differences? Or will we exclude them from our society, marginalize them, push them away, and not allow them to be born?”
St. Teresa of Avila and the keys to union with God
By SARAH METTS
On October 14th the Church celebrates the feast day of one of the greatest of all Spanish saints. A mystic, Carmelite reformer, prolific writer, and the first woman declared a doctor of the Church—St. Teresa of Avila.
Blessed with physical beauty, charm, wit, an affectionate nature, a down-to-earth personality and a keen mind, St. Teresa of Avila would have been a remarkable woman, even had it not been for her great sanctity. But when one considers her heroic virtue, her reform of the Carmelite order, the heights she achieved in prayer, and the wisdom found in her writings about the spiritual life, it becomes clear that St. Teresa is one of the most fascinating saints in the history of the Church.
St. Teresa possessed natural leadership qualities paired with humble obedience to the Church and her superiors; she combined action and an impressive list of accomplishments with sublime contemplation and union with God. Despite her claims to the contrary, St. Teresa was extremely intelligent, and she could hold her own while speaking with the professional scholars of her day. One prominent scholar of the time, a Dr. Manso, said that he “would rather argue with all the theologians in Spain than with this nun who knew no Latin.”(1)
Couples trained to mentor
those preparing for marriage
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
Couples helping couples; that is one of the tasks of the “Prepare - Enrich” marriage preparation program of the Diocese of Dodge City: mentor couples offering a guiding hand to women and men who are preparing for marriage.
In the St. Augustine Room at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, several couples gathered recently to study and understand what they may encounter when serving as a mentor couple.
Dechant Foundation receives grant to establish the
Msgr. George A. Husmann Fund for the
Preservation of Church History
Special to the Register
The Dechant Foundation has received a $50,000 grant from the Msgr. George Husmann trust to establish a fund for the preservation of church history in the Diocese of Dodge City.
“We Catholics are blessed to have a 2,000 year history of our faith,” stated Bishop John B. Brungardt. “This grant will assist us in preserving the wonderful 60 year (and counting) history of our Catholic Diocese of Dodge City.”
“Word of this grant was both a surprise, but a fitting coincidence,” said Tim Wenzl, archivist for the Diocese of Dodge City. “I wrote my first parish history book for Msgr. Husmann in 1982 when he was pastor at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Now, the establishment of this fund, in his name, will support archival research, writing, and the preservation projects in the diocese.”
Is a 'vocation of friendship' key to gay ministry in the Church?
By ADELAIDE MENA
Washington D.C., Oct 24, 2014 / 04:51 am (CNA) - Recovering an understanding of friendship as a vocation could be a way for the Church to help ease spiritual problems of isolation, especially for those who are gay, said one Catholic author who is both lesbian and celibate.
“Friendship is a vocation which can include lifelong devotion and commitment,” said Eve Tushnet, suggesting that Church leaders should “talk more about vocations outside of marriage and the priesthood.”
“That’s totally scriptural, and we should be ahead on this instead of letting the culture lead us around and act like friendship is relatively trivial in the scheme of things,” she told CNA.
Tushnet is a Catholic convert who has described herself as “an openly lesbian and celibate Catholic.” She has written frequently on living out her Catholic faith amid same-sex attraction and recently released a book, “Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith.”
Among the topics that Tushnet has covered is the sense of isolation that can come from the idea that one is called to neither marriage nor religious life, and therefore feeling abandoned to a life of loneliness.
Synod Seeks to be Beacon in Troubled Waters
By JENNIFER MANNING / Catholic Womanhood
This year my 11th grade Morality students are reading Making Choices: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Moral Decisions by Peter Kreeft. The opening paragraph of the book reads, in part, “…our civilization is dying because its fundamental foundation and building block, the family, is dying.”
At first many of the students balked at this assertion and rose quickly to the defense of our civilization and society as we know it. But as the conversation continued, the class took on a more somber tone as more and more examples were raised that underscore Kreeft’s larger point. Broken families, adulterous relationships, lack of quality time spent, cohabitation, and the "hook-up culture" were just a few of the examples mentioned.
Pope Francis called the ongoing Extraordinary Synod for this very reason—the family is facing unique, unparalleled challenges and the Church, as a prophetic voice and as a shepherd and guide, has a moral responsibility to respond to these challenges and to equip bishops and pastors to guide their parish families through these troubling times.
Earlier this week, a midterm report or relatio was shared with the world, and the news cycle has been dominated by controversy on all sides. The mainstream secular media is proclaiming that the Church has changed its teachings on homosexuality and divorce, some Catholics are ecstatically rejoicing that the Church has changed its “tone” on these issues, and some Catholics are defensively voicing concern over the content of the report itself. So what does this report actually say?
I read the working document released earlier this week as a grateful daughter of the Church; the bishops are clearing laboring to bring to light the real and true issues facing the family today. And they have done so not in the hellfire and brimstone manner that those unfamiliar with the Catholic Church have come to expect, but rather in the merciful, “Francis-effect” kind of tone.
Ebola survivor Nina Pham: I believe in the power of prayer
Washington D.C., Oct 24, 2014 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News) - Nina Pham, a Dallas nurse who has been battling Ebola after treating a patient in Texas, has now been declared free of the disease, and gave thanks to God and all those who have prayed for her in recent weeks.
“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham said in a press conference Oct. 24. “I would first and foremost like to thank God, my family and friends. Throughout this ordeal, I have put my trust in God and my medical team.”
Pham thanked everyone who had been involved in her care, both in Texas and Maryland. She offered special gratitude to Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly for donating plasma, calling it a “selfless act.”
“I believe in the power of prayer because I know so many people all over the world have been praying for me,” she continued. “I join you in prayer now for the recovery of others.”
The 26-year-old nurse, described by friends as a devout Catholic, is believed to have contracted Ebola while caring for a Thomas Eric Duncan, a patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Duncan passed away from Ebola Oct. 8.
Pham was transferred to the National Institutes of Health in Maryland on Oct. 16. Numerous tests have now shown her to be Ebola free, and she will return to Texas to continue regaining strength.
Ebola continues to devastate parts of West Africa. The World Health Organization said that nearly 5,000 deaths had been reported as of Oct. 19, but the true numbers could be as high as 15,000.
Pham’s fellow nurse, Amber Vinson, had also contracted Ebola after caring for Duncan. Vinson is currently being treated. Her family said Oct. 22 that she had tested free of the disease.