Lord we pray "Help me to continually increase parish vitality and reflect the presence of Christ in the world."

Browsing News Entries

Browsing News Entries

Religious sister attacked in Jerusalem; suspect arrested (AP)

Israeli police arrested a man who pushed over and attacked a French religious sister in Jerusalem. The sister is a researcher at the French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research.

“This is not an isolated incident, but part of a troubling pattern of growing hostility toward the Christian community and its symbols,” the Faculty of Humanities at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said in a statement.

Vatican diplomat warns against AI in nuclear weapons systems (Holy See Mission)

A Vatican diplomat expressed concern about the incorporation of AI into nuclear weapons systems.

Addressing a UN discussion of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (1968), Msgr. Robert D. Murphy, Chargé d’Affaires of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, said:

Integrating advanced systems, including artificial intelligence, into nuclear decision-making processes introduces new layers of complexity, reducing the time available for deliberation and increasing the risk of miscalculation. At the same time, the opacity of such systems may obscure the basis on which critical assessments are made, thereby undermining the conditions necessary for clear and accountable human judgement.

Decisions of such gravity must be firmly rooted in human responsibility; otherwise, instability and ethical concerns will worsen. Bearing this in mind, progress in disarmament must not be delayed and requires a renewed commitment to concrete, mutually reinforcing steps.

Lambeth Palace denies that Anglican primate described Catholic teaching on women's ordination as injustice (Catholic Herald)

Lambeth Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, denied that Dame Sarah Mullally, the new archbishop, described Catholic teaching on women’s ordination on injustice.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury categorically did not say—or suggest—that the ban on women’s ordination in the Catholic Church is ‘an injustice,’” Lambeth Palace said in a statement.

The statement “further explains that an interview given by Sarah Mullally to PA Media while in Rome was manipulated by a YouTube channel, APT, in a way that substantially and materially altered its meaning,” The Catholic Herald reported. “This was then picked up by a number of media outlets.”

Vatican prosecutors defy appeals-court order [News Analysis] (CWN)

Vatican prosecutors have refused to comply with an order from a Vatican appeals court, in the latest stunning development in the long-running “trial of the century.”

May. 1 Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter; Opt. Mem. of St. Joseph the Worker, Opt. Mem.

The Optional Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker was established by Pope Pius XII in 1955 in order to Christianize the concept of labor and give to all workmen a model and a protector. By the daily labor in his shop, offered to God with patience and joy, St. Joseph provided for the necessities of his holy spouse and of the Incarnate Son of God, and thus became an example to all laborers. "Workmen and all those laboring in conditions of poverty will have reasons to rejoice rather than grieve, since they have in common with the Holy Family daily preoccupations and cares" (Leo XIII).

Apr. 30 Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter; Opt. Mem. of St. Pius V, Pope and Religious, Opt. Mem.

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Pius V (1504-1572). He joined the Dominicans at the age of fourteen; he was sixty-two when he was elected Pope. His reign, though short, was one of the most fruitful of the sixteenth century. To Protestantism, which had proclaimed the Reformation, St. Pius replied by applying the decrees of the Council of Trent for the reform of the Church. He played a great part in the return of the clergy to ecclesiastical discipline. Against Islam, which threatened the West, he succeeded in forming a coalition of Christian forces: and by public prayers, organized everywhere at his request, he was instrumental in obtaining the decisive victory of Lepanto in 1571. He died the following year on May 1. We also owe to St. Pius the reformation of the liturgical books of the Roman Rite.

Apr. 29 Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church, Memorial

Today is the Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380). She was born Catherine Benincasa in Siena at a date that remains uncertain, was favored with visions from the age of seven. Becoming a tertiary of the Dominican Order, she acquired great influence by her life of prayer and extraordinary mortifications as well as by the spread of her spiritual writings. Her continual appeals for civil peace and reform of the Church make her one of the leading figures of the fourteenth century. Worn out by her mortifications and negotiations she died in Rome on April 29, 1380.

Apr. 28 Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter; Opt. Mem. of St. Peter Chanel, Priest & Martyr (NZ, Feast); Opt. Mem. of St. Louis Mary de Montfort, Priest , Opt. Mem.

Today the Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of St. Peter Chanel (1803-1841). St. Peter was born in France in 1802. He was ordained a priest in 1827, and engaged in the parochial ministry for a few years; but the reading of letters of missionaries in far-away lands inflamed his heart with zeal, and he resolved to devote his life to the Apostolate. He joined the Society of Mary (Marists), and in 1836 he embarked for Oceania. He died a martyr's death on the island of Futuna, Melanesia. He is called the apostle of Oceania where he spread the Gospel.

Apr. 27 Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter, Weekday

Today is the traditional feast of Our Lady of Montserrat. Monserrat is located in the region of Catalonia in Spain. Legend relates that the original sculpture was carved by St. Luke and brought to Montserrat by St. Peter in 50 A.D. St. Ignatius of Loyola, a former Crusader, decided to become a missionary after having prayed before this image of Mary.

Apr. 26 Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday), Sunday

Jesus said: "The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger, they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers." Christ Himself is the Good Shepherd, who knows each one of His sheep, who gives His life for them and snatches them from the jaws of the marauding wolf. He is the true shepherd who fulfills Ezechiel's prophecy foretelling for Israel a shepherd from the end of time who was to deliver his people.