For Liberia's faithful, only Christ offers hope amid Ebola panic
Monrovia, Liberia, Oct 9, 2014 / 11:51 am (CNA/EWTN News) - With hundreds dead from the devastating Ebola virus and no signs of relief on the horizon, one archbishop in Liberia says the people’s faith is what helps them maintain hope.
“The people of Liberia are very religious people who believe and hope in eternal life,” Archbishop Miroslaw Adamczyk, the Holy See’s apostolic nuncio to Liberia, said Sept. 30.
“Liberians have suffered much and continue to have a difficult life, but they also have great patience – and they know how to be happy and enjoy life. I hope that this night of Ebola will pass away as soon as possible, and that we can fully enjoy life again.”
“Ultimately, our hope is always the same: we hope in Jesus Christ who has overcome suffering and death. We are sure that He will not disappoint us,” the archbishop told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need Sept. 30.
Beloved figure gets the graphic novel treatment in
The rosary – pray it, don't just say it, priest exhorts
By MATT HADROM
Washington D.C., Oct 9, 2014 / 11:56 am (CNA/EWTN News) - Catholics praying the rosary must rediscover the contemplative nature of the prayer and not just recite it speedily if they wish for it to truly transform their lives, said a Dominican priest in the nation’s capital.
“It [the rosary] will produce – if prayed correctly – a lot of grace in our personal lives,” said Fr. Basil Cole, O.P. However, in the past few decades, “it wasn’t taught. It was just simply said…it was therefore not devotional, it did not bring grace.”
Fr. Cole is a professor of moral, spiritual, and dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He has written and spoken about the rosary and previously served as the temporary head of the Rosary Center in Portland, Oregon.
Fr. Cole spoke with CNA on Oct. 7, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The feast dates back to 1571, when a Christian naval alliance gained a decisive victory against a large Turkish armada threatening the coasts of Europe.
Be on your guard – the devil never rests, Pope Francis warns
By ELISE HARRIS
Vatican City, Oct 10, 2014 / 06:57 am (CNA/EWTN News) - In his homily on Friday Pope Francis encouraged faithful to guard their hearts by doing a daily examination of conscience, saying that we if we don't, we risk letting the devil in rather than the Lord.
“Guard the heart, as a house is guarded, with a key. And then watch the heart, like a sentinel: How often do wicked thoughts, wicked intentions, jealousy, envy enter in?” the Pope asked his Oct. 10 Mass attendees.
The devil, he cautioned, “never leaves that which he wants for himself,” which are our souls.
Pope Francis began his reflections by turning to the day’s Gospel reading from Luke, Chapter 11, in which Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of demons, and in which he describes how when an evil spirit leaves a person, it comes back with more and makes the person worse off than before.
Woman flees kidnappers; must prove to U.S. Immigration that her life was at risk
By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
The demand was clear: Hand over $8,000 or the entire family would be “disappeared” or slaughtered -- one implying the other.
Corina was a teenager living in a rural region of Guatemala at the time. Although settled amongst the ranch country of the Central American nation, Corina and her family were far from impervious to the demands of kidnappers, who preyed on families – especially those with relatives living in the United States.
“They knew my parents and aunts and uncles were here, and that they could get the money together,” Corina said.
Did they pay?
“Yes,” Corina said. “They did send it so that we would be safe.”
The threats did not end with the delivery of the $8,000 that her relatives were able to scrape together. Less than a year later, a note was slipped under their door. The gang or cartel members demanded $25,000.
“If they didn’t get it, they warned us they would kidnap me and my grandparents,” Corina said.
There was no possibility that the family could raise such an amount.
Dominican Sisters honored for
decades of service to God’s people
Editor’s Note: Due to the high number of Sisters celebrating their jubilees, space constraints only allow the SKR to include the three 50-year jubilarians in this issue. The other Sisters celebrating their jubilees will be highlighted in the next issue of the Register. Congratulations to all the Sisters celebrating their jubilees!
This year, the Dominican Sisters of Peace celebrate a year of Jubilee, commemorating significant profession anniversaries of 63 golden and diamond jubilarians, including 14 Sisters with ties to the Dodge City diocese.
Here are the three Sisters who are commemorating milestone “golden jubilees”:
Sister Francine Schwarzenberger, OP
Sister Francine was born in Collyer, Kansas, to Michael and Ida Heier Schwarzenberger. She has four brothers and three sisters: Donald, John, Richard, Martin, Mary Beth Segawa, and Serena Billmeyer. Her parents are still living and reside in Denver.
After earning a BS in Elementary Education, Sister Francine taught in Catholic schools of the Dodge City diocese for 10 years, but her call to pastoral ministry and liturgical music began early in her ministerial life. She earned an MM in liturgical music from Catholic University in Washington, DC, and also holds an MA in specialized ministry from Iliff School of Theology in Denver. She held various positions in the Dodge City diocese in this ministerial area: Diocesan Liturgical Coordinator, Associate Director of the RENEW Program, and Diocesan Coordinator of Pastoral Services.
‘The Source and the Summit’
Youth take a deeper look at the Mass at summer camp
Left: 5th, 6th grade camp -- Right: 7th, 8th grade camp
There’s a reason why the scenic canyon lands some dozen miles north of Camp Lakeside (near Scott City) were nicknamed “Little Jerusalem” by a couple who once visited the Holy Land.
For the nearly 60 seventh and eighth graders and fifth and sixth graders who attended the Catholic summer camps at Camp Lakeside June 6-9 and 20-23, respectively, the scenic canyon land looked not unlike the land that Christ once walked.
The theme of the camps was, “The Source and the Summit.”
‘Our mission is to show each person the love of Christ’
October is Respect Life Month
By Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap.
USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities
Pope Francis has captivated the world with his humility, warmth and compassion for each person. Vivid accounts of his tenderness for “the least of these”—the elderly, the imprisoned, those with disfiguring disabilities, the unborn, and many more—seize our attention. Why?
At the heart of each of these interactions is a truth which resonates in our hearts, revealing to us something essential to understanding ourselves and our purpose.
We are loved.
In his 2013 Day for Life Greeting, Pope Francis conveyed that “even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.” We see Pope Francis living out the truth of these words in his actions.
We want to be part of a society that makes affirmation and protection of human rights its primary objective and its boast. Yet to women faced with an unexpected pregnancy, abortion is often presented as their only “choice.” A large percentage of children pre-diagnosed as having Down syndrome are never given the chance to live outside their mothers’ wombs. Elderly members of our families fear they will become burdensome and seek physician assisted suicide. We see these and many more of our brothers and sisters pushed to the periphery.
These tragedies go directly against respect for life, and they represent a direct threat to the entire culture of human rights. Rather than societies of “people living together,” our cities risk becoming societies of people who are marginalized, uprooted and oppressed.
What can be done to prevent this? We must draw close to Jesus in prayer and in the sacraments. We must ask the Lord for the grace to see ourselves and others as he sees us—as masterpieces of his creation. When God created each of us, he did so with precision and purpose, and he looks on each of us with love that cannot be outdone in intensity or tenderness. We must look at ourselves and at others in light of this truth and treat all people with the reverence and respect which is due.