Saint Joseph Catholic Church

TPS (temporary protected status) allows migrants from some countries to live and work in the US, and a federal appellate court has ruled that President Trump has the authority to end TPS for migrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Sudan. Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, joined the chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Migration and the president of Catholic Relief Services in lamenting the decision.

In a case similar to that of a Detroit priest, Father Zachary Boazman “reviewed a family recording of his infant baptism in 1992” and saw that the deacon of the Diocese of Fort Worth used an invalid baptismal formula. He immediately contacted Archbishop Paul Coakley and was baptized, confirmed, and ordained. In addition, the archbishop “sanated (validated) the marriages celebrated by Father Boazman in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City ... Baptisms he performed were not affected, since anyone can baptize as long as they use the required wording with the proper intention.”

“For years, the congregation had tried to purchase property in Woodcliff Lake in order to build a worship center big enough for its needs,” according to the report. “On three separate occasions, the borough purchased or re-zoned the parcels Valley Chabad attempted to purchase, preventing development of a Chabad house.” Valley Chabad is “an Orthodox Jewish congregation affiliated with the Chabad Lubavitch Hassidic movement,” according to the federal court decision.

In a message to the sick and elderly priests of Lombardy (map), Pope Francis said, “In reality, you are priests who, in prayer, in listening, in the offering of suffering, carry out a ministry that is not of secondary importance in your churches ... Fragility can be ‘like a refiner’s fire, like fuller’s lye’ (Malachi 3:2), which, lifting us up towards God, refines us and sanctifies us. Let us not be afraid of suffering: may the Lord bear the cross with us!”

Priests of the Neocatechumenal Way made unauthorized changes to two Philadelphia churches during the Covid lockdown.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin has warned pastors that with the city announcing “level 3” Covid restrictions, churches will be closed “except for private prayer, weddings and funerals.” Public celebration of Mass will be suspended. The archbishop gave no sign of opposition to the government mandate, saying, “we are called to make painful sacrifice for the common good.”

It would “be the worst thing if something like a German national church were to be created here,” said Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, who expressed hope that the synodal path would initiate “a true reform, which is definitely needed in the Church.” He added that many German Catholics do not know “who Christ is, what the Church is, they no longer know what a sacrament is, what the sacramental structure of the Church is.”

Our Lady of the Rockies Shrine in Canmore, Alberta, is a new shrine of the Diocese of Calgary. The shrine, constructed at the cost of 16 million Canadian dollars ($12.1M US dollars), is “strategically placed at the crossroads of one of Canada’s premier tourist destinations,” according to the report.

Two ranking Vatican officials have signed a public statement pledging cooperation in the battle to eliminate corruption. The Vatican cited the accord between Father Juan Antonio Guerrero, who heads the Secretariat for the Economy, and Alessandro Cassinis Righini, the acting auditor general, as “a further concrete act that demonstrates the desire of the Holy See to prevent and combat the phenomenon of corruption inside and outside the Vatican City State.” Father Guerrero, a Jesuit priest, occupies the office once held by Cardinal George Pell. Righini is the interim auditor general. Libero Milone, the last auditor general, was forced to resign in June 2017; a permanent replacement has not yet been named.

St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663) was born at Cupertino, Italy, and died in Osimo. He was of lowly origin and had little formal education. In his youth he was employed as an apprentice to a shoemaker. He joined the Conventual Franciscans as a lay brother but was later ordained a priest. He was noted for his great austerities, his angelic purity, his great devotion to Our Lady and especially for his ardent love of God. According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is his feast.