Catholic News 2
DALLAS (AP) -- The Boy Scouts of America announced Monday that it will allow transgender children who identify as boys to enroll in its boys only programs....
QUEBEC CITY (AP) -- A French Canadian known for far-right, nationalist views was charged Monday with six counts of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder over the shooting rampage at a Quebec City mosque that Canada's prime minister called an act of terrorism against Muslims....
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- U.S. combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan say they are outraged at the temporary ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and the suspension of the U.S. refugee program that has blocked visas for interpreters who risked their lives to help American troops on the battlefield....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The legal fight over President Donald Trump's ban on refugees is likely to turn on questions of a president's authority to control America's borders and on whether the new immigration policy unconstitutionally discriminates against Muslims....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Since taking office 10 days ago, President Donald Trump has moved to consolidate power within a small cadre of close aides at the White House....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times local):...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Defiant in the face of an international backlash, President Donald Trump pressed into his second week in office defending his sweeping immigration ban. Protests persisted at major airports, and concern mounted from U.S. diplomats and members of his own party....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a Democratic appointee, directed Justice Department attorneys not to defend President Donald Trump's controversial executive refugee and immigration ban, declaring Monday that she was not convinced that the order was lawful....
The Chairperson of the Laity Council in Southern Africa has reminded Catholic lay persons in the Southern African region that they have ‘a distinct and very real role’ in the spreading of the Gospel, which the Church desperately needs them to carry out with authority. Malatsi Leonard Kope said this, recently, when he spoke in the presence of Southern African Bishops. This was during the launch of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference Laity Council.The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) have been meeting at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria, South Africa. The Bishops’ conference comprises Botswana, the Republic of South Africa and Swaziland.“To many of us, lay faithful, there is a notion that the only real vocation in the Church is in the ordained or vowed priesthood and religious life. We still believe the Church is the ordained office of priests and the religious. (We think) of them as being the only ones who are c...
The Chairperson of the Laity Council in Southern Africa has reminded Catholic lay persons in the Southern African region that they have ‘a distinct and very real role’ in the spreading of the Gospel, which the Church desperately needs them to carry out with authority. Malatsi Leonard Kope said this, recently, when he spoke in the presence of Southern African Bishops. This was during the launch of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference Laity Council.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC) have been meeting at St John Vianney Seminary in Pretoria, South Africa. The Bishops’ conference comprises Botswana, the Republic of South Africa and Swaziland.
“To many of us, lay faithful, there is a notion that the only real vocation in the Church is in the ordained or vowed priesthood and religious life. We still believe the Church is the ordained office of priests and the religious. (We think) of them as being the only ones who are called to serve. The actual teaching of the Church is that lay people have a distinct and very real role in the spreading of the Gospel, which the Church desperately needs them to carry out with authority, creativity and power that the Holy Spirit has given to them in Baptism,” said Malatsi Leonard Kope, the council’s chairperson.
The Chairperson of the Laity Council thanked the Bishops for their role in bringing about awareness and encouraging them to play their distinctive role in the life of the Church.
Kope urged the laity in Southern Africa to participate and engage more meaningfully in all the Commissions of the Bishops’ Conference, dioceses and parishes.
“Through continued formation and more involvement of the laity in the (life of) mother Church, the world will be brought closer to encountering Christ. Let us all jointly work together with our religious, clergy and the Magisterium of our Church to accomplish the mission of the Church. (Let us) accept the call of God to our specific mission and vocation; encourage Sodality members to live their devotions as a way of making Christ known to the world,” the laity Chairperson said.
Kope further urged Catholic laity in the region to strengthen family life since it was in the family where the first contact with God happens. The family was the first Church, he emphasised.
“Let's encourage good family-life amongst ourselves with proper marriages- blessed in Church by our Catholic clergy. (Let us) promote the family and marriage life,” Kope said.
(Source: Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference)
(Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va)
Vatican City, Jan 30, 2017 / 10:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Monday the strength of the Church does not reside primarily in grand gestures, but in the quiet faith of Christians in minority areas, who continue to practice even in the face of persecution and martyrdom.“We are pleased when we see a great ecclesial act, which has been a great success, the Christians revealing themselves,” he said in his homily during Mass at the chapel of the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta Jan. 30. “And this is beautiful! Is this strength? Yes, it is strength.”“But the greatest strength of the Church today is in the small Churches, tiny, with few people, persecuted, with their bishops in prison,” he continued. “This is our glory now, this is our glory and our strength today.”In his homily, Francis called out those who do not experience this kind of persecution, yet complain about small grievances: “This is the glory of the Church and our...
Vatican City, Jan 30, 2017 / 10:37 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis said Monday the strength of the Church does not reside primarily in grand gestures, but in the quiet faith of Christians in minority areas, who continue to practice even in the face of persecution and martyrdom.
“We are pleased when we see a great ecclesial act, which has been a great success, the Christians revealing themselves,” he said in his homily during Mass at the chapel of the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta Jan. 30. “And this is beautiful! Is this strength? Yes, it is strength.”
“But the greatest strength of the Church today is in the small Churches, tiny, with few people, persecuted, with their bishops in prison,” he continued. “This is our glory now, this is our glory and our strength today.”
In his homily, Francis called out those who do not experience this kind of persecution, yet complain about small grievances: “This is the glory of the Church and our support,” he said, “and also our humiliation.”
“We who have everything, everything seems easy for us and if we are missing something we complain … But we think of these brothers and sisters who today, greater in number than those of the first centuries, are suffering martyrdom!”
Reflecting on a passage from Hebrews 11, which calls to mind the history of the Lord’s people, the Pope said that “without memory there is no hope.”
Dividing the history into three categories, he said the first is the “memory of docility,” the memory of those people who were quietly obedient to the Lord’s will, like Abraham, who bravely left his home without knowing where he was going.
The second, he said, is the memory of mighty deeds, as performed by great men from the Old Testament, such as David, Samuel, and the prophets, “so many people, who have made great achievements in the history of Israel.”
And the third is the “memory of martyrs,” the people in the first centuries of the Church who suffered “and gave their lives like Jesus,” who “were stoned” and “killed by the sword,” the Pope said.
This is the Church, Francis said. The “people of God,” who though they are sinners, obey his will, “do great things” and give “testimony of Jesus Christ even unto martyrdom.”
“The martyrs are those who carry out the Church, they are the ones who support the Church, who have supported and support today,” he said.
“A Church without martyrs … is a Church without Jesus,” he said, explaining that there are even more martyrs today, but the media don’t report on it “because it is not news.”
“But many Christians in the world today are blessed because they are persecuted, insulted, imprisoned. There are so many in prison, only to bring a cross or to confess Jesus Christ!”
“They with their martyrdom, with their testimony, with their suffering, even giving their lives, offering life, they sow Christians for the future and in other churches,” he said.
“We offer this Mass for our martyrs, for those who now suffer, for the Churches that are suffering, who do not have freedom. And we thank the Lord we are present with the fortitude of His Spirit in our brothers and sisters who today give testimony of Him.”
