Catholic News 2

Caritas Zambia has started implementing a 2-year project aimed at strengthening community capacity in Emergency Preparedness and Response. The project being implemented on the outskirts of the capital, Lusaka in Mumbwa and Sibuyunji districts will see 300 people benefit from this programme supported by Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). 

The idea is to build community capacity to engage in advocacy aimed at creating climate change adaptation initiatives that will assist communities acquire resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change impacts.

 “This project aims to build the capacities of communities to learn to reduce risks in their localities even before disasters occur rather than waiting to manage disasters after they have already occurred,” Caritas -Zambia Head of Programmes Eugene Kabilika has said.

One of the project’s activities is to facilitate training for communities in Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). FMNR is one of the measures for enhancing resilience in the wake of forest depletions. The objectives of the training include involving local communities in developing forests that meet their needs and motivating them to conserve forests. The training will also equip inhabitants with cultural techniques that encourage natural regeneration as this will ultimately assist in the restoration of lost forests. 

“We are training communities to prepare for any disaster be it drought or floods by giving them seeds that withstand any of the two. We are also giving information on how to grow crops using natural agricultural practices without depending on chemical fertilisers,” Kabilika said. 
He added, “Our approach is to mobilise all farmers in the catchment (area) to look at all their resources and the biodiversity that supports them as a whole. This makes it easier to understand the nature of how each part works and how to maximise growth and profit. Growth starts with soil improvement,” Kabilika outlined.
 According to Zambia Meteorological Department, Zambia is expected to experience flash floods during the 2016/2017 rainy season.

(Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, Lusaka)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) At his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis spoke about “Forgiveness on the Cross.”

Below, please find the English language summary of the Pope’s catechesis for the weekly General Audience:

Dear Brothers and Sisters:  Jesus’ words during His Passion culminate in forgiveness: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).  For the good thief, these are not mere words, for Jesus truly forgives him.  For the bad thief, however, it is inconceivable that the Messiah would remain on the Cross and not save Himself.  But it is precisely by remaining on the Cross that Jesus offers salvation to every person regardless of their situation.  This Jubilee Year is a time of grace and mercy for all, the good and the bad, those in health and those who suffer.  It is a time to remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God (cf. Rm 8:39).  To all those sick in hospital, who live within the walls of a prison, or who are trapped by war, we are called to look to Christ Crucified on the Cross, who is God with us, who remains with us on the Cross and who offers Himself as our Saviour.  The good thief helps us to understand how we should approach God: with awe and not fear, with respect for God’s power and infinite goodness.  When we approach Him in this way, we entrust ourselves to His mercy, even in the darkest of moments.  For God is always with us sinners, and He loves us even to death on the Cross.  Let us see in the good thief a model of confidence in the Lord and, like him, let us call upon Jesus’ name and ask Him to remember us in Paradise.

Greetings to pilgrims:

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly those from England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, South Africa, Australia, Canada and the United States of America.  I extend a special welcome to the seminarians of the Pontifical North American College and their families gathered here for the Ordination to the Diaconate to be celebrated tomorrow.  May God bless you all!

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has once again appealed for peace in Syria. At his General Audience on Wednesday, the Pope said, “dramatic news continues to reach me concerning the fate of the people of Aleppo, with whom, through prayer and spiritual closeness, I feel united in suffering.”

The Holy Father continued, “In expressing my deep sorrow and lively concern for what is happening in that already battered city – where children, the elderly, the sick, young and old, all are dying – I renew my appeal to everyone to commit themselves with all their strength to the protection of civilians as an imperative and urgent obligation.”

Departing from his prepared text, Pope Francis appealed directly to those responsible for the bombing, warning them that they will be “accountable to God” for their actions.

Since a ceasefire collapsed last week, rebel-held areas of Aleppo have been heavily bombarded, raising international concern over the plight of their 250,000 residents. On Wednesday morning, the Syrian military announced it was launching "concentrated air strikes" in Aleppo and nearby areas, targeting insurgent-held areas in the surrounding countryside.

Full Article

(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis greeted the faithful from the Italian dioceses of Ascoli Piceno, Otranto, and Nonantola who are on pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Mercy, at the conclusion of his Wednesday General Audience.

The Holy Father greeted Bishop Giovanni D’Ercole and the faithful of his Diocese of Ascoli Piceno, which was hard-hit by a 6.1-magnitude earthquake near the town of Pescara del Tronto.

Recovery efforts in the region continue to be hampered by aftershocks.

He also greeted the faithful from the Archdiocese of Otranto and their Archbishop Donato Negro, as well as the faithful from the Archdiocese of Modena-Nonantola.

“Dear brothers and sisters,” he said, “your pilgrimage for the Holy Year expresses a sense of communion with the universal Church and makes you witnesses of mercy in your local Churches.”

Full Article

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis offered his catechesis at the Wednesday General Audience on the topic of “The Forgiveness of the Cross.”

The Holy Father focused on the last moments of the Crucifixion, and especially on the two thieves who were crucified alongside the Lord. One of the thieves insulted the Lord, calling on Him to save Himself, and them. “They did not understand the mystery of the sacrifice of Jesus,” the Pope said. Jesus is able to save precisely because He remained on the Cross. By remaining on the Cross, Christ showed His omnipotence and forgave us.

By dying on the Cross, between two criminals, Jesus shows that “the salvation of God” is offered “for everybody, no one is excluded. It is offered for all.”

To those who suffer, to those suffering in a hospital bed, or living in a prison, those caught up in a war, Pope Francis said, “Look to the Cross: God is with you, He remains with you upon the Cross, He is offered to all as a Saviour.”

The Good Thief, on the other hand, offers to us a model of penance, beginning with a filial fear of the Lord – the fundamental attitude that opens up confidence in God, the understanding of His omnipotence and mercy.

He then openly confesses his guilt, the second necessary step of true penitence. “It’s true,” the Pope said, “he was a great thief, he stole things all his life […] but in the end, he stole heaven.”

Finally, the Good Thief appealed directly to Jesus, who is so good and so merciful. In this way, the Good Thief, a criminal condemned to death, “is a model for a man, for a Christian who entrusts himself to Jesus.”

Concluding his catechesis, Pope Francis turned once more to Christ: “In the hour of the Cross, the salvation of Christ reached its climax; and His promise to the good thief reveals the completion of His mission – that is, to save sinners.”

Full Article

Cleveland, Ohio, Sep 28, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Rhoda Wise, the mystic visionary and reputed stigmatic and miracle worker who played a key role in the life of Mother Angelica, is now the focus of a diocesan inquiry as one of the first steps towards possible canonization.

“She was instrumental in the healing of Mother Angelica when she was a teenager,” Karen Sigler, director of the Rhoda Wise Shrine, told CNA Sept. 27. “Mother Angelica wasn’t the only one. There are all kind of testimonies of healings people received after contact with Rhoda in her home.”

“And it is still happening today,” Sigler said, citing the testimonies recounted on the website of the Canton, Ohio shrine.

St. Peter Catholic Church in Canton will host the Mass opening the diocesan investigation into Rhoda Wise’s cause for beatification and canonization.

Monsignor Robert Siffrin, the vicar general of the Youngstown diocese, will celebrate the Mass on Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.

Wise was raised in West Virginia, as one of eight children in a staunchly Protestant family, with the last name Greer. She first encountered Catholicism at age 16 when she underwent an appendectomy and a nun gave her a St. Benedict Medal. She hid the medal from her parents and kept it all her life, the Canton Repository newspaper reports.

Her first husband died in 1916, six months after they married. She then married George Wise. Their first adopted daughter died from influenza and they adopted a second daughter, Anna Mae, in 1922. They lived in a Depression-era three room house that was renovated over time.

Wise suffered serious health problems. In 1932, at the age of 44, doctors removed a 39-pound tumor from her body. In December 1936 she seriously injured her ankle by stepping into a water drain. Despite several casts, her foot remained bent inward and she could not stand on it without pain. Doctors thought the injury was permanent.

In 1938 she began a series of treatments and surgeries at Mercy Hospital, Canton. Doctors discovered complications from the surgery on her tumor, and operations to repair these complications left a raw, sore open wound that refused to heal.

She was visited by a Sister of Charity of St. Augustine who introduced her to the Rosary and suggested she offer nine days of prayer to St. Therese of the Child Jesus for her healing.

Wise went on to pray the nine-day novena and drew closer to the Catholic faith, converting to Catholicism on Jan. 1, 1939. A few months later, she was discharged from the hospital with the belief her wound was incurable.

Rhoda claimed to have received a visit from Jesus on May 27, 1939.

“The room which had been dark suddenly became bright, and when I turned around in bed to see the cause of it, I beheld Jesus sitting on a chair beside my bed,” she said in her own words. “I distinctly saw the marks of His forehead where the thorns had pierced His brow. He was gloriously beautiful and was robed in a gold garment which reflected every color.”

On June 28 of that year, she said, she received a visitation from Jesus and St. Therese of Lisieux.

“I am the Little Flower. You have been tried in the fire and not found wanting. Faith cures all things,” the vision of St. Therese said to her.

Wise said she was healed of her stomach wound that night. After another vision months later, her leg healed, and she went to church at the insistence of a vision of St. Therese. She attended Mass for the first time on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, walking without crutches.

According to Wise, Jesus promised that many miraculous cures would take place at her home as well as many conversions. She said Jesus promised that her devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Little Flower would “win many souls.”

She reputedly suffered the visible stigmata for two and a half years and then suffered invisible wounds. She had several visions of Jesus and St. Therese. Her final vision took place June 28, 1948, ten days before her death.

“Tell the people not nearly enough of them are saying the daily Rosary; they must say the Rosary for the conversion of Russia,” the vision of Jesus told her.

Hundreds of people flocked to Wise’s home when she was alive. These visitors included a young Canton, Ohio native named Rita Rizzo. The teen would become Mother Angelica, the founder of EWTN Global Catholic Network.

On Jan. 8, 1943, the 19-year-old girl had been suffering for months from severe stomach pains related to a discolored abdominal lump.

Wise had Rizzo sit in the wooden chair where Jesus purportedly sat during his visitations. Wise spoke with Rizzo’s mother. Wise gave Rizzo prayers to the Little Flower to say in a novena and told her to make some kind of sacrifice and promise to spread devotion to St. Therese if she were cured.

After the novena’s nine days, Rizzo suffered severe pains, then experienced what she believed to be a miraculous healing. According to Mother Angelica biographer Raymond Arroyo, doctors dismissed the claims of a miracle. Arroyo questioned whether the doctors gave a thorough evaluation, though there are no surviving medical records.

Mother Angelica saw the healing as pivotal.

“When the Lord came in and healed me through the Little Flower, I had a whole different attitude,” she told Arroyo. “I knew there was a God; I knew that God knew me and loved me and was interested in me. I didn’t know that before. All I wanted to do after my healing was give myself to Jesus.”

The young woman would visit Wise’s home more frequently and consult her about her religious vocation.

Decades later, Wise’s house was willed to Mother Angelica and EWTN. It was in the possession of the Eternal Word Television Network from 2001 through 2014, when it was deeded to the Rhoda Wise Shrine.

Sigler, the shrine’s director, welcomed the opening of the investigation into Wise’s life.

“A lot of us have waited for it for a long time. We’re very happy,” she said.

If the diocesan investigation finds sufficient reason, the cause for Wise’s beatification would go to the Vatican for further evaluation.

The Rhoda Wise Shrine is a private association of the faithful approved by Bishop George V. Murry of Youngstown. It takes care of the house Wise lived in and its grotto. The shrine website is http://rhodawise.com.

Full Article

Vatican City, Sep 28, 2016 / 04:34 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said that Jesus’ salvific mission reaches its culmination on the Cross in his conversation with the two thieves crucified with him, showing that God’s mercy goes beyond the desperation of human suffering, responding to it with mercy and forgiveness.

When the bad thief cries out to Jesus on the Cross, telling him “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us,” this act “bears witness to the anguish of man in front of the mystery of death and the tragic awareness that only God can be the liberating answer,” the Pope said Sept. 28.

As he dies on the Cross alongside two criminals, Jesus confirms God’s salvation “can reach any man in any condition, even the most negative and painful.”

Because of this, Francis said the ongoing Jubilee of Mercy is a time of grace and of mercy “for all, good and evil, those who are healthy and those who suffer. The good and the bad...because the Church is mercy!”

“Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!” he said, and directed his words to all who are “nailed to a hospital bed, who live closed in a prison, to those who are trapped in war,” telling them: “look to the Crucifix; God is with you, he remains with you on the Cross and offers himself to all as the Savior.”

Pope Francis spoke to the thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience, giving special greetings to the American seminarians in Rome who will be ordained deacons Thursday and their families.

He continued his ongoing catechesis on mercy, telling attendees that when Jesus forgives those nailing him to the Cross, saying “Lord forgive them, for they know not what they do,” his words “culminate in forgiveness...Jesus forgives.”

When confronted with the opposite attitudes of the two thieves he is crucified with, Jesus hears the first one insult him, the Pope said, but explained that this offense was “driven by desperation” caused by suffering.

Jesus’ forgiveness, he said, bears witness to the fact that “he who has done terrible things in life has the ability to be forgiven.”

The second criminal, known as the “Good Thief,” provides a model of true repentance and “a catechesis focused on learning to ask Jesus for forgiveness,” Francis said.

In telling the second criminal “have you no fear of God?” the good thief reveals “the starting point of repentance: fear of the Lord.”

Pope Francis stressed that Fear of the Lord is “not being afraid of God, but that respect that one must give to God because he is God.”

“The good thief calls attention to the fundamental attitude which opens to trust in God: the awareness of his omnipotence and of his infinite goodness,” he said, noting that “this is the trusting respect which helps to make space for God and to entrust oneself to his mercy, even in the thickest darkness.”

Francis pointed to the “tenderness” and “humanity” of the good thief in asking Jesus to remember him, explaining that it’s necessary for the human being to know they are not abandoned, and that God is always close.

Jesus’ response that “today you will be with me in paradise,” shows that even a man condemned to death “becomes a model of Christianity who entrusts himself to Jesus.”

It is while Jesus hangs on the Cross that his salvation culminates, the Pope said, noting that his promise to the good thief “reveals the fulfillment of his mission: to save sinners.”

“On the cross, the final act confirms the final realization of his saving plan. From the beginning to the end he proved himself to be mercy, the definitive and unrepeatable love of the Father,” he said.

“Jesus is truly the face of the mercy of the Father,” Francis said, and, closing his address, noted how the good thief called Jesus by name, and led pilgrims in repeating the name of Jesus three times as a short prayer.

After his address, Francis turned his thoughts to the ongoing conflict in “the beloved and martyred Syria.”

Upon hearing of continued airstrikes in Aleppo, he voiced his “deep sorrow and lively concern” over the fact that innocent children, elderly, sick and youth continue to lose their lives in the bombings.

He assured his spiritual closeness to those suffering, and renewed his appeal for everyone to commit themselves to protecting civilians, “which is a committed and urgent obligation.”

Francis also issued an appeal “to the consciences” of those responsible for the bombings, saying “they must answer before God” for their actions.

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article

Full Article