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ELKHART, Ind. (AP) -- President Barack Obama went on a "myth-busting" mission Wednesday aimed at undermining Republican arguments about the economy, working to give cover to Democrats to embrace his policies ahead of the presidential election....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- For unaccompanied immigrant children seeking asylum in the U.S., where they apply seems to make a world of difference....
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Confusion and panic set in after a 3-year-old boy plunged into the Cincinnati Zoo's gorilla exhibit, according to 911 recordings released Wednesday, with the boy's mother pleading for help while repeatedly shouting at her son: "Be calm!"...
CAIRO (AP) -- A French ship searching the Mediterranean has detected black box signals from a missing EgyptAir flight in the waters between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian coast, a development that could help solve the mystery of why the aircraft crashed into the sea last month, killing all 66 on board....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- In the minutes after a fatal shooting at a UCLA engineering building, panicked students seeking a safe place to hide used belts, cords and other items to try to secure doors they said did not lock....
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A murder-suicide at a UCLA engineering building Wednesday drew hundreds of heavily armed officers who swarmed the sprawling Los Angeles campus, where students close to summer break barricaded themselves in classrooms as best they could before being evacuated with their hands up....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Grand promises. Boundless boasts. Absolute faith in the man behind it all....
Palai, India, Jun 1, 2016 / 11:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Syro-Malabar Catholic bishop from the southern Indian state of Kerala has a special way to celebrate the Year of Mercy: he is donating his kidney to save a young Hindu man battling for his life.“I have no anxiety about the surgery, and it’s only a simple sacrifice for a fellow being,” Bishop Jacob Muricken, 52, told CNA. He is an auxiliary bishop of the Sryo-Malabarese Diocese of Palai.He will donate his kidney to save 30-year-old Sooraj Sudhakaran. The young man is from Kottakkal, another city in Kerala, about 120 miles northwest of Palai.Sudhakaran is the only breadwinner of his family, and supports his wife and his mother. The low-cast Hindu man has lost his job, and sold his house to pay for the treatment costs of dialysis. He was diagnosed with kidney failure two years ago.“If I can save the life of Sudhakaran, a family would be saved,” Bishop Muricken said.The procedure is taking place June ...
Palai, India, Jun 1, 2016 / 11:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Syro-Malabar Catholic bishop from the southern Indian state of Kerala has a special way to celebrate the Year of Mercy: he is donating his kidney to save a young Hindu man battling for his life.
“I have no anxiety about the surgery, and it’s only a simple sacrifice for a fellow being,” Bishop Jacob Muricken, 52, told CNA. He is an auxiliary bishop of the Sryo-Malabarese Diocese of Palai.
He will donate his kidney to save 30-year-old Sooraj Sudhakaran. The young man is from Kottakkal, another city in Kerala, about 120 miles northwest of Palai.
Sudhakaran is the only breadwinner of his family, and supports his wife and his mother. The low-cast Hindu man has lost his job, and sold his house to pay for the treatment costs of dialysis. He was diagnosed with kidney failure two years ago.
“If I can save the life of Sudhakaran, a family would be saved,” Bishop Muricken said.
The procedure is taking place June 1 at a private hospital in Kochi, another city in Kerala. Bishop Muricken has helped to pay for lab tests as well as ancillary costs for the treatment.
For his part, Sudhakaran has thanked the bishop for offering to save his life.
Fr. Anithottathil Gervasis, secretary of the Palai diocese, reflected that “This is a great selfless act of Bishop Muricken in the spirit of the Year of Mercy. Bishop Muricken’s generosity has practically taught us a moral example in reaching out to save life.”
Fr. Gervasis said the bishop’s act is no publicity stunt, and that he is regarded as one of the simplest persons among the bishops. He added that the bishop is happy and has only asked for prayers so that he could continue to work and be a witness for Christ and to his people.
Bishop Muricken was himself inspired to kidney donation by Fr. Davis Chiramel, founder of the Kidney Federation of India. The organization has arranged for 15 priests and six religious sisters to donate their kidneys to unrelated, needy recipients.
A year ago Bishop Muricken attended a seminar on organ donation organized by Fr. Chiramel, and he took the challenge personally.
People of diverse beliefs have praised the bishop’s plan to donate his kidney.
“Donating an organ while living to save a life requires tremendous courage and is worth more than donations of money or wealth to institutions,” Anil Belurkar, a local businessman, told CNA.
“The bishop, in his own way, has set a great example especially for all types of leaders to set love in action rather than merely preaching by words,” Anil added.
He said Bishop Muricken's act would help break down taboos in India against organ donation.
Vatican City, Jun 1, 2016 / 11:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has sent a special message to support the work of prison chaplains during the Year of Mercy.“He especially wishes to assure all who are serving prison communities of his prayerful solidarity and deep gratitude for their efforts in upholding the human dignity of all those incarcerated,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said to a European meeting of chaplains June 1.The Pope also thanked prison chaplains for helping the incarcerated to celebrate the Year of Mercy. The observance includes the establishing of Holy Doors in various churches and prisons to help encourage growth in grace.The Roman Pontiff specifically reflected on how prisoners can use Holy Doors in prisons in his September 2015 letter about the Year of Mercy.“May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through t...
Vatican City, Jun 1, 2016 / 11:29 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis has sent a special message to support the work of prison chaplains during the Year of Mercy.
“He especially wishes to assure all who are serving prison communities of his prayerful solidarity and deep gratitude for their efforts in upholding the human dignity of all those incarcerated,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said to a European meeting of chaplains June 1.
The Pope also thanked prison chaplains for helping the incarcerated to celebrate the Year of Mercy. The observance includes the establishing of Holy Doors in various churches and prisons to help encourage growth in grace.
The Roman Pontiff specifically reflected on how prisoners can use Holy Doors in prisons in his September 2015 letter about the Year of Mercy.
“May the gesture of directing their thought and prayer to the Father each time they cross the threshold of their cell signify for them their passage through the Holy Door, because the mercy of God is able to transform hearts, and is also able to transform bars into an experience of freedom,” the Pope had said.
In his latest message, the Pope sent his greetings to the participants of the European meeting of prison chaplains at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, May 30-June 1. The meeting focused on a pastoral view of radicalization in prisons.
Cardinal Parolin concluded the papal message, saying: “With these sentiments, Pope Francis willingly invokes upon you and all gathered the divine blessings of peace and joy.”
The chaplain meeting organizers include the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, the International Commission of Catholic Prison Pastoral Care, and the Permanent Mission of the Holy See.
IMAGE: By Francois GloutnayMONTREAL (CNS) -- In the pastfew years, Benedictine Father Simon-Pierre Arnold has warned aging and decliningreligious congregations that it would be a mistake to try to "mend an oldfabric with new cloth" or "pour new wine into old wineskins." Hereiterated this message in a speech to heads of Canadian religious communities.Religious must "urgentlythink of new ways to be present in the world," the Belgian-born monk toldthe general assembly of the Canadian Religious Conference, which gathered 25men and 252 women religious leaders in Montreal May 26-29.Calling himself "a littlemonk-theologian who has lived in Peru for more than 40 years," Father Arnoldsaid he wanted to share his "intuitions, worries and utopias" aboutthe future of consecrated life."We must return to theGospel; we must return to our minority, marginal ... and prophetic origins,"he said. Such a mindset will force the men and women religious to "criticize,as does the pope, our own clerical exces...
IMAGE:
By Francois Gloutnay
MONTREAL (CNS) -- In the past few years, Benedictine Father Simon-Pierre Arnold has warned aging and declining religious congregations that it would be a mistake to try to "mend an old fabric with new cloth" or "pour new wine into old wineskins." He reiterated this message in a speech to heads of Canadian religious communities.
Religious must "urgently think of new ways to be present in the world," the Belgian-born monk told the general assembly of the Canadian Religious Conference, which gathered 25 men and 252 women religious leaders in Montreal May 26-29.
Calling himself "a little monk-theologian who has lived in Peru for more than 40 years," Father Arnold said he wanted to share his "intuitions, worries and utopias" about the future of consecrated life.
"We must return to the Gospel; we must return to our minority, marginal ... and prophetic origins," he said. Such a mindset will force the men and women religious to "criticize, as does the pope, our own clerical excesses. We've become so obsessed by the perpetuation of the church structures and institutions that we've stopped being attentive to the people cast in the margins."
He reminded participants that religious orders "were born on the margins of the world, in the desert. ... Jesus and the world still await us there."
Canada still has about 14,000
men and women religious; 69 percent of them live in the province of Quebec.
However, these religious institutes are facing a hasty decline of their
membership, an "irreversible process," Father Arnold said.
There are many ways to face this challenge, he added.
"Despite the alarming figures about the aging of your congregations and the lack of Canadian novices, at least in the older religious orders, you've chosen to die prophetically and to become the 'minority-that-leavens-the-dough' in your own local church and society," said Father Arnold.
He said he believed Canadian men and women religious must "explore bold new ways to remain present in the world and to be able to transform their own social and ecclesial fabric." Father Arnold said many Canadian congregations already walk along this path when they "criticize the Canadian mining companies active in the Southern Hemisphere that generally disrespect the environment, as well as the culture of the local peoples."
The Benedictine also lauded the Canadian women religious who "gave birth to a new and engaging theology, hand in hand with their sisters in the United States -- a theology that's not properly understood by some people in the upper ladders of church hierarchy." He did not elaborate, but participants applauded the remark.
During their general assembly, the members of the Canadian Religious Conference elected Sister Michelle Payette, provincial superior of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, as their new president. Payette has done missionary work in Guatemala, Peru and Hong Kong. She said she believes that her experience in the Southern Hemisphere gives a "far-reaching perspective on the level of engagement of the religious congregations in the world."
She also said she was particularly interested in the ongoing reflection about the future of the religious institutes.
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Gloutnay is on the staff of Presence info in Montreal.
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