Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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On October 3, Pope Francis addressed participants in the general chapter of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. St. Eugène de Mazenod founded the missionary institute in 1816.

“May your founder, the charism he transmitted to you, and his missionary vision be and remain points of reference for your life and your work; to stay rooted in your missionary vocation, above all by living the testament of your founder, in mutual love among yourselves and in zeal for the salvation of souls,” the Pope said in his address. “It is the heart of your mission and the secret of your life, and this is why the Church still needs you.”

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Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said on October 2 that “human blood is pouring out” after “the enemy massively attacked Zaporizhzhia and its surroundings.”

“We know—we have emphasized and mentioned this more than once—that love creates heroes,” he continued. “This is true Christian love, which flows from the precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord.”

“Today, there are no rear areas in Ukraine,” the prelate added. “Each of us must stand on the front in defense of everything we love so much, everything we call native, in defense of Ukraine. And when we truly love, then we will persevere, we will find the strength not to stop.”

“I am close to the populations of Cuba and Florida, afflicted by a violent hurricane,” the Pontiff said. “May the Lord receive the victims, give consolation and hope to those who suffer, and sustain the solidarity efforts.”

“And I also pray for those who have lost their life and those who have been injured in the clashes that broke out after a football match in Malang in Indonesia,” he added, referring to the Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster.

In a message to participants in the 25th World Congress of Stella Maris (the Apostleship of the Sea), Pope Francis expressed his hope that “Stella Maris will never waver in drawing attention to the issues which deprive many within the maritime community of their God-given human dignity.”

Some maritime workers, the Pope said, “continue to suffer from a variety of unjust working conditions and other deprivations, aggravated not least by the effects of climate change. Moreover, damage to marine environments, as to others, disproportionately affects the poorest and most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters, whose very livelihoods are even threatened with extinction.”

An 84-year-old woman from Lake Odessa, a town of 2,000 in central Michigan, was shot in the back shoulder as she was distributing pamphlets against a pro-abortion ballot initiative. The woman was able to drive herself to the police station and was then taken to the hospital.