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(Vatican Radio)  During the final two months of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, initiatives to promote the faith are intensifying, often drawing on the lives of holy men and women as examples of virtue and mercy.

One such initiative is the ‘Witnesses of Mercy in the Americas’ Symposium, organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the US Archdiocese of Denver in Colorado.

The Symposium held in Rome on Sept. 24 reflected on some lesser-known witnesses to the faith, including Venerable Fr. Michael McGivney, Fr. Eusebio Kino, Fr. Antonio Margil de Jesús, as well as Denver’s Julia Greeley.

Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila of Denver spoke to Vatican Radio about how these ‘normal people’ can provide an uncommon light for the world.

Listen to the full interview:

Speaking about the Symposium, Archbishop Aquila said the aim was to "recognize very normal people who had lived lives of mercy, who had responded to the call of mercy".

Missionaries of Mercy

The four 'missionaries of mercy' each served the poor of America in their own way.

Recalling Fathers Kino and Margil, Archbishop Aquila said: "Both of them were early missionaries within the [American] Church. They left everything and gave their lives for Christ."

"Fr. McGivney," he said, "worked with people, especially with families, and reaching out with them established the Knights of Colombus. [He] did works of mercy for many of the families."

Witness close to home

The fourth witness, Julia Greeley, known as 'Denver's Angel of Charity', was born into slavery in Missouri, sometime between 1833 and 1848. After being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, she earned a living as a servant, mostly in Denver, Colorado.

Archbishop Aquila said, "She was very poor, but she was a great witness to mercy in her devotion to the Sacred Heart, but also in her devotion to feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and walking the streets of Denver, carrying for poor people."

"All four missionaries of mercy represent that encounter with the mercy of Jesus Christ and what he offers for us when we respond to that call to be merciful as the Father is merciful."

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Tuesday named Msgr Robert Milner Coerver, of the clergy of the Diocese of Dallas, as Bishop of the Diocese of Lubbock, Texas, USA. Monsignor Coerver has been serving as Pastor of Saint Rita Parish in Dallas.

He succeeds Bishop Plácido Rodríguez of Lubbock, whose resignation was accepted by the Holy Father, also on Tuesday.

Biography of Bishop-elect Robert M. Coerver

Monsignor Robert Coerver is a priest of the Diocese of Dallas, raised in St Thomas Aquinas Parish.

He studied philosophy at Holy Trinity Seminary and the University of Dallas. Monsignor Coerver was sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for his theological studies, taking courses at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas and the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1981 he obtained a Licentiate in Spiritual Theology from the Gregorian University, and later (1990) a Master’s degree in Counseling and Guidance from Texas A & M University — Commerce (formerly East Texas State University).

Monsignor Coerver was ordained to the priesthood on 27 June 1980 for the Diocese of Dallas.

Following his ordination, Msgr. Coerver served as Assistant Pastor at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Dallas and at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish in Plano. For eleven years he served as Director of Spiritual Formation at Holy Trinity Seminary on the campus of the University of Dallas. He moved into full-time diocesan ministry, serving as spirituality consultant to programs of the diocese, in July 1996. In July of 1997 he was appointed Director of the Office of Sacramental Life for the Diocese, and was named Director of Priestly Life and Ministry in 2003.

In December of 2004 Pope John Paul II named him a “Chaplain to His Holiness.”

On March 16, 2005 Msgr Coerver left his chancery and diocesan positions to become Pastoral Administrator, and one year later Pastor, at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Rockwall Texas.  On July 26, 2010, the Bishop-elect assumed his current position as Pastor of St. Rita Parish in Dallas. He has served as a member and Chairperson of the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Dallas since 2008.

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(Vatican Radio) The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, on Monday celebrated a Liturgy of the Word in Cartagena to mark the signing of the Final Agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Marxist FARC rebels which aims to end decades of conflict which have left nearly 250,000 people dead, and displaced millions of others.

In his homily, the Cardinal said Pope Francis has followed “with great attention” and encouraged  “the efforts of recent years in search of harmony and reconciliation.”

“The Pope has always encouraged respect for human rights and Christian values, ??which are at the center of the Colombian culture,” Cardinal Parolin continued.

The Cardinal said he hoped the signing of the Agreement would “ease the pain of those many people who have been humiliated and oppressed by the violence [of the conflict], stop hatred, and change the course of history to build a better future with strong and just institutions.”

“The safest way to begin a better future is to reconstruct the dignity of those who suffer, and to do this you need to approach them without delay, to the point where you can identify with them,” – Cardinal Parolin continued – “In fact, the root causes of this conflict which in recent decades has torn apart this country can be found in the wounds of the heart.”

He concluded his remarks by speaking of the importance of religious institutions for the peace of the nation.

“Religions lead to listening, to understanding and to recognizing the reasons for and the value of the other,” – Cardinal Parolin said – “Faith is opposed to harming the dignity of the person which causes the tearing of the civil fabric, and is not contrary to secularism, understood as respect for the various fields of competence belonging to the civil and spiritual realities.”

The Cardinal continued by saying “secularism has need of faith as a necessary reference point for coexistence and for respect.”

“The Catholic Church, in particular, promotes peaceful social coexistence, in accordance with the spiritual tradition of the people of Colombia, without claiming that all belong to the same religious confession,” – he said – “It offers points of reference so that individuals and communities are able to find and illuminate the common good.”

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(Vatican Radio) The Vatican told the United Nations on Monday “nuclear arms offer a false sense of security, and that the uneasy peace promised by nuclear deterrence is a tragic illusion.”

“Nuclear weapons cannot create for us a stable and secure world,” said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations.

He was speaking at an event marking the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

“Peace and international stability cannot be founded on mutually assured destruction or on the threat of total annihilation,” the Vatican diplomat said.

The full statement of Archbishop Auza can be found below

Statement of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza

Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations

at the High-level plenary meeting to commemorate and promote

The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

New York, 26 September 2016

Mr. President,

The  Holy  See  fervently  hopes  that  this  annual  commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons will contribute to breaking the deadlock that has beset the United Nations’ disarmament machinery for far too long now.

In February 1943, two years and a half before the Trinity test, Pope Piu XII had already voiced deep concern regarding the violent use of atomic energy.  After Hiroshima and Nagasaki  and  given  the  totally uncontrollable and indiscriminate consequences of nuclear weapons, Pope Pius XII demanded the effective proscription and banishment of atomic warfare, calling the arms race a costly relationship of mutual terror. The Holy See has maintained this position ever since the advent of nuclear weapons.

My delegation believes that nuclear arms offer a false sense of security, and that the uneasy peace promised by nuclear deterrence is a tragic illusion. Nuclear weapons cannot create for us a stable and secure world. Peace and international stability cannot be founded on mutually assured destruction or  on the threat of total annihilation. The Holy See believes that peace cannot be solely the maintaining of a balance of power. On the contrary, as Pope Francis affirmed, “Peace must be built on justice, socio-economic development, freedom, respect for human rights, the participation of all in public affairs  and the building of trust between peoples.”

Lasting peace thus requires that all must strive for progressive and concerted nuclear disarmament.

The Holy See has been a Party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since the very beginning, in order to encourage nuclear possessing States to abolish their nuclear weapons, to dissuade non-nuclear possessing States from acquiring or developing nuclear capabilities, and to encourage international cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear material. While firmly believing that the NPT remains vital to international peace and security and regretting deeply our collective failure to move forward with a positive disarmament agenda, the Holy See will continue to argue against both the possession and the use of nuclear weapons, until the total elimination of nuclear weapons is achieved.

Indeed, the Holy See considers it a moral and humanitarian imperative to advance the efforts towards the final objective of the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Disarmament treaties are not just legal obligations; they are also moral commitments based on trust between States, rooted  in  the  trust  that  citizens place in their governments. If commitments to nuclear disarmament are not  made in good faith and consequently result in breaches of trust, the proliferation of such weapons would be the logical corollary.

For our own good and that of future generations, we have no reasonable or moral option other than the abolition of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are a global problem and they impact all  countries and all peoples, including future generations. Increasing interdependence and globalization demand that whatever response we make to the threat of nuclear weapons be collective and concerted, based on reciprocal trust, and within a framework of general and complete disarmament, as Art. VI of the NPT demands. Moreover, there is the real and present danger that nuclear weapons and other arms of mass destruction would fall into the hands of extremist terrorist groups and other violent non-state actors.

The 2030  Agenda for Sustainable Development calls upon all of us to embark on the implementation of the daunting ambition to better every life, especially those who have been and are left behind. It would be naïve and myopic if we sought to assure world peace and security through nuclear weapons rather than through the eradication of extreme poverty, increased accessibility to healthcare and education, and the promotion of peaceful institutions and societies through dialogue and solidarity.

Mr. President,

No one could ever say that a world without nuclear weapons is easily achievable. It is not; it is extremely arduous; to some, it may even appear utopian. But there is no alternative than to work unceasingly towards its achievement.

Let me conclude by reaffirming the conviction that Pope Francis expressed in his December 2014 message to  the  President  of  the  Vienna  Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons: “I am convinced that the desire for peace and fraternity planted deep in the human heart will bear fruit in concrete ways to ensure that nuclear weapons are banned once and for all, to the benefit of our common home.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said silence and prayer is the way to overcome our darkest moments, rather than resorting to pills or alcoholic drinks to escape from our woes. His comments came during his homily at the morning Mass celebrated on Tuesday at the Santa Marta residence. 

Taking his cue from the day’s first reading where Job was living through a spiritual desolation and was giving vent to his sorrows before God, the Pope’s homily focused on these dark moments of spiritual desolation that all of us experience at some point and explained how we can overcome them. He said although Job was in deep trouble and had lost everything he did not curse God and his outburst was that of “a son in front of his father.”

All of us sooner or later experience a spiritual darkness

“Spiritual desolation is something that happens to all of us: it can be stronger or weaker … but that feeling of spiritual darkness, of hopelessness, mistrust, lacking the desire to live, without seeing the end of the tunnel, with so much agitation in one’s heart and in one’s ideas…  Spiritual desolation makes us feel as though our souls are crushed, we can’t succeed, we can’t succeed and we also don’t want to live: ‘Death is better!’ This was Job’s outburst. It was better to die than live like this. We need to understand that when our soul is in this state of generalized sadness we can barely breathe: This happens to all of us… whether strong or not ….. to all of us. (We need to) understand what goes on in our hearts.”

Pope Francis went on to pose the question: “What should we do when we experience these dark moments, be it for a family tragedy, an illness, something that weighs us down?.” Noting that some people would think of taking a pill to sleep and remove them from their problems or drinking one, two, three or four glasses” he warned that these methods “do not help.” Instead, today’s liturgy shows us how to cope with this spiritual desolation, “when we are lukewarm, depressed and without hope.”

The Pope said the way out from this situation is to pray, to pray loudly, just as Job did, day and night until God listens.

“It is a prayer to knock at the door but with strength! ‘Lord, my soul is surfeited with troubles. My life draws near to Hell. I am numbered among those who go down into the pit; I am a man without strength.’ How many times have we felt like this, without strength?  And here is the prayer. Our Lord himself taught us how to pray in these dreadful moments. ‘Lord, you have plunged me into the bottom of the pit. Upon me, your wrath lies heavy. Let my prayer come before you, Lord.’ This is the prayer and this is how we should pray in our darkest, most dreadful, bleakest and most crushed moments that are really crushing us. This is genuine prayer. And it’s also giving vent just like Job did with his sons. Like a son.”

Silence, closeness and prayer is how to help those who are suffering

The importance of silence, being close and using prayer was stressed by Pope Francis who said that was the correct way for friends to behave when faced with those who are undergoing dark moments, warning words and speeches in these situations can do harm.  

“First of all, we must recognize in ourselves these moments of spiritual desolation, when we are in the dark, without hope and asking ourselves why. Secondly, we must pray to the Lord like today’s reading from Psalm 87 teaches us to pray during our dark moments. ‘Let my prayer come before you, Lord.’ Thirdly, when I draw close to a person who is suffering, whether from illness, or whatever other type of suffering and who is experiencing a sense of desolation, we must be silent: but a silence with much love, closeness and caresses.  And we must not make speeches that don’t help in the end and even can do harm.”

The Pope concluded his homily by asking the Lord to grant us these three graces: the grace to recognize spiritual desolation, the grace to pray when we are afflicted by this feeling of spiritual desolation and also the grace to know how to be close to people who are suffering terrible moments of sadness and spiritual desolation.”

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Los Angeles, Calif., Sep 27, 2016 / 03:11 am (CNA).- The needs of Father David Bedrossian’s parish are unique.

While many priests grapple with budgetary concerns and a desire to fill pews, Father Bedrossian is wondering where he’s going to find the resources to house the next Syrian refugee who shows up on the church steps.

Father Bedrossian’s parish, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Armenian Catholic Church, has a long history of sheltering displaced persons. From the Armenian refugees escaping genocide and communism through the 1900s to the present-day Christian Syrian refugees, the parish has been a sanctuary for a generation of persecuted persons.

Each month, Syrian refugees show up at the church with their last penny to meet the man everyone calls “abouna,” (Arabic for father) Father Bedrossian. He is their job coach, landlord, translator, teacher and priest. And to many Father Bedrossian is their last hope.

Seventeen years ago, Father Bedrossian had to flee Syria, leaving his home, his brothers and sisters and his parishioners. Since leaving, six of his family members were killed and his beloved church was ransacked.

“I remember our church. They destroyed everything,” Father Bedrossian said. “They got rid of the crosses, the altars and turned it into ISIS headquarters with offices.”

He now lovingly tends to the wounds of his Syrian family in Los Angeles by making Our Lady Queen of Martyrs a true refuge, an elegant respite, a church resurrected far from home.

A labor of love

There is not a corner of the church that doesn’t have Father Bedrossian’s devoted and loving hand scrawled all over it. With few resources, he has imbued the church with all the ethnic charm and sacred beauty a few dollars and calloused hands can muster. The candles and sconces he bought from Ross’ Dress for Less. The crosses in the sacristy he bought from Hobby Lobby. The pews and roof of the church were artfully refurbished and hand-painted by Father Bedrossian himself.

But the tireless devotion he shows to his physical church is just a shadow of the attention he offers to each and every person in need that crosses his path: Muslim, and Christian, citizen or non, destitute or rich, he is “abouna” to all.

“I have no idea how they find me,” Father Bedrossian said. “I don’t find them, people send them to me. They show up here looking for help and I help them.”
 

Father Bedrossian fled Syria 17 years ago. Today his parish helps house refugees each month https://t.co/cqC23f7bEZ pic.twitter.com/0WpoyCTu1v

— Angelus News (@AngelusNews) September 20, 2016
A disappearing generation

In the last 10 years, the Christian community in Syria has gone from 10 percent of the population to less than 2 percent. Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes or kidnapped and held at ransom. Those who stayed were given three options — convert to Islam, pay the minority tax or face death. Thousands of Christians have been killed, entire villages have been cleared and hundreds of churches have been damaged or destroyed.

“We will disappear in the Middle East,” Father Bedrossian explains.  “Before the war started, Christians were over 1.3 million. Now there are 200,000. You think we’ll survive there? I don’t think so.” And in spite of the terror in his home, Father Bedrossian sees little to no acknowledgment here.

“Everybody who is silent is ISIS. Everybody who is silent is killing Christians. Nobody is raising a voice.”

Father Bedrossian says the five main obstacles for refugees are language, paperwork, unemployment, housing and transportation.

“How are they supposed to get a job when they only speak Arabic? They have no papers, no social security number. Are they going to pay their last penny on a lawyer to help them with papers they don’t understand? And without welfare, food stamps, how will they eat? People come here with enough to survive for three months. After that they will be homeless. What do you want these people to do?”

One refugee at a time

The number of refugees and the needs are insurmountable, but Father Bedrossian does what he can one person at a time. Last month, he picked up a Syrian refugee from a homeless shelter and found her temporary housing and meals. He checks in on her daily and is job-hunting for her and many others.  

Vaskin Rashdouni, a friend from his hometown, came to the U.S. a few months ago after being kidnapped by ISIS and escaping. Finding work has been near impossible with the language barrier and his health issues. Ever since leaving Syria he has been suffering PTSD and type 1 diabetes. But this doesn’t stop Father Bedrossian from searching.

And Syrian soldier Yousef Hakim Hassake, one of Father Bedrossian’s former altar servers in Syria, is slowly rebuilding a life in the U.S. He has learned English and has found work in a manufacturing company. He has made enough money to take care of his mother. Any spare time he offers to Father Bedrossian and the church in gratitude, doing everything from cleaning and making meals to feeding doves in the garden.

Father Bedrossian explains, “If you choose to help these people, they will never stop repaying you. They will give you everything they have.”

Despite immeasurable obstacles for refugees, and unknown futures, there is no silencing the gnawing realization that being a refugee in the U.S. makes you one of the “lucky ones.”

Father Bedrossian continues to hear word from his family and friends in the Middle East — the escape of his sister to Greece on broken legs, his nephew killed by ISIS, his friend beheaded in a CNN video — these are the things that haunt him.

“I want to go and fight and protect them,” he says. But it seems God has other plans. There is a fight to be fought here.

#LosAngeles | "A true refuge": Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Armenian Catholic Church https://t.co/cqC23ePAgp pic.twitter.com/JR959BzSIX

— Angelus News (@AngelusNews) September 17, 2016


 

Doing what you can

The burdens Father Bedrossian bears seem insurmountable: the livelihood of a forgotten nation, the survival of the persecuted in a new nation. Each morning brings the promise of a new refugee at his office door. A new family who needs food and housing. Another man suffering PTSD. Another woman from the homeless shelter. Each morning promises more news reports tallying the lives of his former parishioners like numbers and not lives he shepherded. But it does no good to focus on that, Father Bedrossian explains,

“We must do what we can. It’s the little things that will help a lot.” And he doesn’t work alone.

Strength lies in numbers

He and his parishioners work together. There’s a rolodex of parishioner lawyers he calls upon to help with legal issues. Parishioners “adopt” families financially, or house them until they get on their feet. Collection baskets continually finance a refugee’s month of rent, or a babysitter, or a week’s groceries. Volunteers offer English classes in a tiny classroom off the rectory.

Father Bedrossian has inspired this ragtag grassroots ministry in a way only a priest who stubbornly paints his own church can.

“You teach by doing. If you work they will come to help.”

This parish is unique in their shared history of persecution. Their community has consistently grappled with questions of survival and the worth of one’s faith. Their strength lies in uniting a community of broken people, in selfless charity when it hurts, and a rigorous love for Christ that was worth leaving home for.

For Father Bedrossian, this is everything. “I am tired. Very tired. Never tired of praying, only tired of thinking. What gets me out of bed each morning is my belief in God. It’s what keeps me alive. And even if I stop believing in him, he won’t stop believing in me.”

In a church named for the thousands of Christians who lost their lives protecting the belief in Christ they held so sacredly, the gift of faith is all too known. And Father Bedrossian will continue to wake up, and fight for that gift, and protect his people. It will just be in a little adobe church off of Cesar Chavez Avenue in L.A. It will be in the “little things.”

This article originally appeared in Angelus News, publication of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

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Indianapolis, Ind., Sep 27, 2016 / 05:02 am (CNA).- The new T.V. series The Exorcist, based on the horror film series of the same name from the 19070s, debuted on FOX on Friday, sparking another wave of fascination with the supernatural.

In a recent article prior to the show’s launch, Lance Higdon, writing for pop culture website Vice, explored the world of exorcism, a phenomenon mysterious to many inside and outside the Church.
 
Higdon recalled that in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) in May, director William Friedkin, of the original “The Exorcism” film series, claimed that he had been invited to the Vatican to see - and film - an exorcism in real life.

A Vatican spokesman denied the claim to AFP, noting that the Vatican does not have an official exorcist. The spokesman said it may have been possible that Friedkin was mistaking the Vatican for another Catholic entity.

Fr. Vincent Lampert is a Vatican-trained exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
and a parish priest. He has travelled around the country speaking about the supernatural and his experiences as an exorcist.

In e-mail comments, he told CNA that it would be forbidden for any Catholic priest to allow an outside party to witness or film an exorcism.

“Filming an exorcism is not allowed because it must be performed in such a way that it manifest the faith of the church and that no one can consider it as a magical or superstitious activity,” he said.

It would also be prohibited for the protection of the possessed person, he added.

Another claim about exorcisms in the Vice article is in its headline: “Latin Is Still The Best Language for Fighting Satan.”

The article cited a comment made by exorcist Fr. Gary Thomas, as reported by the site The New Liturgical Movement. After a talk he gave in February, Fr. Thomas commented that “The Devil hates Latin, it is the universal language of the Church.”

Until very recently (2014), an English translation of the rite of exorcism had not been approved by the Church. When further questioned, Fr. Thomas said that in his experience and in talking to other exorcists, while the Vatican has approved translations of the rite in multiple languages, Latin seems to be the most effective.

However, that the exorcist is a man of God is actually far more important than the language of the rite used, Fr. Lampert noted.  

“There are many who claim that Latin is the most powerful language for exorcisms,” he said.

“It is my experience that as opposed to the language that is being used that the exorcist be a man of God.  In my opinion this is the most effective weapon.”

When asked whether or not he would recommend people watch the new exorcism series, Fr. Lampert said that there can be benefits as well as dangers to shows that deal with the demonic and the supernatural.

“If watching these types of shows helps people understand the reality of evil then there is a benefit,” he said. “The danger would be for someone to become unduly fascinated with evil.”

Recently updated rules of the Catholic rite of exorcism state that a person who believes they are possessed must first rule out mental illness before seeking an exorcism. If the rite of exorcism is still needed, they may seek out a priest who has been trained and appointed as exorcist for his diocese by his Bishop.

The International Association of Exorcists (AIE) also meets annually in Rome to discuss demonic possession from both theological and scientific perspectives.

Recently, an AIE spokesman told CNA that the rise of occult and demonic activity had become a “pastoral emergency.”

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