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LONDON (AP) -- Sadiq Khan became London's first Muslim mayor Saturday, as voters rejected attempts to taint him with links to extremism and handed a decisive victory to the bus driver's son from south London....
NEW YORK (AP) -- A pregnant woman shows up at a New York City bar and wants to go in and order a drink despite health warnings against consuming alcohol while expecting. Should the tavern serve her?...
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A new legal document that claims a boy told Joe Paterno in 1976 that Jerry Sandusky had molested him has dropped like a bombshell and reignited debate about what the Penn State coach knew about his longtime assistant decades before his arrest....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- American employers signaled their caution about a sluggish economy by slowing their pace of hiring in April after months of robust job growth....
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- Donald Trump on Friday urged his Nebraska supporters to help him break the record for most votes in a Republican primary by turning out to vote Tuesday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Big-name GOP leaders piled on Friday against Donald Trump in an extraordinary show of Republican-vs.-Republican discontent over his winning the party's presidential nomination. Trump just shrugged it off, declaring they didn't really matter when compared to all the voters who turned out to vote for him in this year's primary elections....
(Vatican Radio) Commemorations for the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 2017 must be marked by a spirit of gratitude, of penitence and of hope. That was the message of Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, to a Catholic-Lutheran international seminar taking place this week at the Pontifical University of St Anselm here in Rome.The three day conference, which concluded on Friday, was entitled ‘Signs of Forgiveness, Paths of Conversion, Practice of Penance: A Reform that challenges all’. Organised in partnership with the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the meeting included an ecumenical liturgy at Rome’s Lutheran Church and Vespers with the Benedictine community of St Anselm on the Aventine hill.Sr. Susan Wood from Marquette University in Milwaukee gave the concluding lecture, entitled ‘From Conflict to Communion?’. As well as teaching and writing about theology and ecumenism, she&r...
(Vatican Radio) Commemorations for the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation in 2017 must be marked by a spirit of gratitude, of penitence and of hope. That was the message of Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, to a Catholic-Lutheran international seminar taking place this week at the Pontifical University of St Anselm here in Rome.
The three day conference, which concluded on Friday, was entitled ‘Signs of Forgiveness, Paths of Conversion, Practice of Penance: A Reform that challenges all’. Organised in partnership with the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the meeting included an ecumenical liturgy at Rome’s Lutheran Church and Vespers with the Benedictine community of St Anselm on the Aventine hill.
Sr. Susan Wood from Marquette University in Milwaukee gave the concluding lecture, entitled ‘From Conflict to Communion?’. As well as teaching and writing about theology and ecumenism, she’s a member of both the U.S. and the International Lutheran-Catholic dialogues. She talked to Philippa Hitchen about the way Catholics and Lutherans can jointly commemorate this 500th anniversary – not by telling a different history, but by telling their shared history differently…
Listen:
500 years on, Dr Wood says, we can choose to remember the Reformation as "a story of Church division or we can tell it as a story of needed reform in the Church", which at the time was very polemical. As with any story, she says, you can tell it with different perspectives and for the first time in history, this anniversary is being celebrated from the perspective of 50 years of ecumenical dialogue.
Asked how well the commemoration is being understood in this light, Dr Wood says it depends on ecumenical formation, adding that for some Catholics, ecumenism is still seen as 'lowest common denominator Catholicism'. On the contrary she says, for unity you need to "go to something higher" as the setting of the Doctrine of Justification within a Trinitarian framework made clear.
Speaking of Luther's objetives at the time of the Reformation - primacy of the Gospel, primacy of Christ, translation of Scripture into German so that people could read them - she says "many of the things he wanted to do at the Reformation were done during the Vatican Council".
Today there is a temptation to use one's ecclesial identity against others, demonstrating that we still have a long way to go in viewing the Reformation in a shared way. Dr Wood says that we "have to heal divisions at the roots", which were doctrinal so theological work for ecumenism is vital alongside the grass roots work of promoting dialogue through friendships and shared mission.
(Vatican Radio) The legacy of Irish missionary, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who saved thousands of Jewish lives during the Second World War, is being commemorated on Saturday by modern day missionaries working in more contemporary conflict zones.This weekend members of the Hugh O’Flaherty memorial society have travelled to Rome to join Irish ambassador to the Holy See Emma Madigan for the unveiling of a plaque in the Vatican’s Teutonic College, and for a seminar celebrating O’Flaherty’s ongoing legacy of charity, courage and compassion.Fr Michael Kilkenny is secretary general of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, or Spiritan fathers as they’re better known. In the 1980s and 90s, he spent almost a decade working in war torn Angola, where two former liberation movements were battling for power in the newly independent southern African nation.Fr Michael talked to Philippa Hitchen about his experience and about the way O’Flaherty’s lega...
(Vatican Radio) The legacy of Irish missionary, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who saved thousands of Jewish lives during the Second World War, is being commemorated on Saturday by modern day missionaries working in more contemporary conflict zones.
This weekend members of the Hugh O’Flaherty memorial society have travelled to Rome to join Irish ambassador to the Holy See Emma Madigan for the unveiling of a plaque in the Vatican’s Teutonic College, and for a seminar celebrating O’Flaherty’s ongoing legacy of charity, courage and compassion.
Fr Michael Kilkenny is secretary general of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, or Spiritan fathers as they’re better known. In the 1980s and 90s, he spent almost a decade working in war torn Angola, where two former liberation movements were battling for power in the newly independent southern African nation.
Fr Michael talked to Philippa Hitchen about his experience and about the way O’Flaherty’s legacy continues to inspire missionaries in conflict zones around the world today…..
Listen:
Philadelphia, Pa., May 6, 2016 / 10:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament will sell the Pennsylvania estate that hosts their motherhouse and the tomb of their founder, St. Katharine Drexel.“We know the time is right to make this decision,” the order’s president Sister Donna Breslin said May 4. She said the sisters reached the decision “after prayer, study and reflection.”“It is leaving home,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It's not easy. But we believe this is what God is asking of us.”The properties are too large for their current and future needs and for their financial resources, she said.The estate in Bensalem, 18 miles northeast of Philadelphia, hosts the National Shrine of Saint Katharine Drexel and her tomb. The national shrine will remain open for visitors through 2017.After the announcement, the local bishop praised the sisters for their service to others.“The Sisters of the Blessed...
Philadelphia, Pa., May 6, 2016 / 10:52 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament will sell the Pennsylvania estate that hosts their motherhouse and the tomb of their founder, St. Katharine Drexel.
“We know the time is right to make this decision,” the order’s president Sister Donna Breslin said May 4. She said the sisters reached the decision “after prayer, study and reflection.”
“It is leaving home,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It's not easy. But we believe this is what God is asking of us.”
The properties are too large for their current and future needs and for their financial resources, she said.
The estate in Bensalem, 18 miles northeast of Philadelphia, hosts the National Shrine of Saint Katharine Drexel and her tomb. The national shrine will remain open for visitors through 2017.
After the announcement, the local bishop praised the sisters for their service to others.
“The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament are a gift to the Church. I pray for the success of their efforts and thank them for their selfless and dedicated service to others in the name of the Lord,” Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia said May 3.
Mother Katharine Drexel came from a prominent Philadelphia family. Her congregation especially focused on ministry to African-Americans and Native Americans. Between 1891 and 1935 she led her order in the founding and maintenance of almost 60 schools and missions, including New Orleans’ Xavier University.
She died in 1955. St. John Paul II canonized her in October 2000. She was the second American-born saint to be canonized.
In 1891 St. Katharine Drexel purchased a 44-acre property in Bensalem, Pa. for her new congregation’s motherhouse, which is now up for sale.
The congregation will also sell more than 2,200 acres near Powhatan, Va. The property is the former site of two schools for black students: St. Francis de Sales for girls and St. Emma Military Academy for boys.
The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament will celebrate their 125th anniversary in July. Their numbers peaked at over 600.
At present there are only 104 sisters, more than half of whom are retired.
The estate property has ten buildings with close to 229,000 square feet of living and workspace.
According to the sisters, the decision to sell these properties will help advance the mission of St. Katharine Drexel.
Sr. Breslin said the order will rededicate its resources to “our mission serving some of the most vulnerable people in the United States, Haiti and Jamaica.”
“We also will use proceeds from the sales to challenge, in new ways, all forms of racism as well as the other deeply rooted injustices in the world,” she said.
The congregation’s administrative offices will move, and the community’s retired sisters will also benefit from the sale of the property.
The sisters have contracted with a firm to relocate the approximately 50 sisters now living at the Motherhouse, many of whom are in their 80s and 90s and in nursing care.
St. Katharine Drexel’s corpse will be moved to Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul and placed near the altar that already honors her.
The archdiocese will take control of many of the archives of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
“The sisters have gone through much careful discernment and study prior to this decision,” Archbishop Chaput said. “I applaud their careful forethought and efforts to ensure that they can carry on the mission and vision established by Saint Katharine Drexel.”
“When the time is right to do so, the remains of Saint Katharine Drexel will be transferred to the care of the Archdiocese and entombed in an appropriate location in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul,” he said. “It is both an honor and a blessing to accept this responsibility.”
Sr. Breslin said that the relocation of the saint’s remains will be like a return “to her second home.”
“The cathedral is where her family worshipped, and it's where she formed her faith,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
By Junno Arocho EstevesVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With theirleft handsclutching a standard and their right hands raised with three fingers open symbolizing theHoly Trinity, 23 new Swiss Guard recruits pledged to "faithfully, loyally and honorably"serve and protect the pope and, if necessary, sacrifice their lives for him.The pageantryof the annual May 6 ceremony did not lessen the solemnity of the occasion thatmarks the date in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards lost their lives defending PopeClement VII in the Sack of Rome.Theceremony in the Vatican'sSan Damaso Courtyard is meant to remind new guards of the seriousness oftheir commitment on the anniversary of their predecessors' death.FatherThomas Widmer, chaplain of the Swiss Guard, read to the new recruits their oathto protect the pope and the Collegeof Cardinals whenthe See of St. Peter is vacant. Followingthe proclamation, each of the new recruits swore to "diligently andfaithfully" abide by the oath through the intercession of "God and .....
By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- With their left hands clutching a standard and their right hands raised with three fingers open symbolizing the Holy Trinity, 23 new Swiss Guard recruits pledged to "faithfully, loyally and honorably" serve and protect the pope and, if necessary, sacrifice their lives for him.
The pageantry of the annual May 6 ceremony did not lessen the solemnity of the occasion that marks the date in 1527 when 147 Swiss Guards lost their lives defending Pope Clement VII in the Sack of Rome.
The ceremony in the Vatican's San Damaso Courtyard is meant to remind new guards of the seriousness of their commitment on the anniversary of their predecessors' death.
Father Thomas Widmer, chaplain of the Swiss Guard, read to the new recruits their oath to protect the pope and the College of Cardinals when the See of St. Peter is vacant.
Following the proclamation, each of the new recruits swore to "diligently and faithfully" abide by the oath through the intercession of "God and ... his saints."
Prior to the ceremony, the new recruits and their families, friends and fellow guards attended a morning Mass presided by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state.
Cardinal Parolin told them to respond to their first calling as baptized Christians: to bring "the Gospel to men and women and to give witness to the joyful message of true life."
The sacrifice of the brave 147 soldiers who perished in the Sack of Rome, he added, would not have been possible without "faith in the Lord of life, without faith in the resurrection."
"Sustained by this faith in the risen Jesus and strengthened by the joyful experience that the Lord gives life in its fullness, I invite you dear guards, to have the courage to be witnesses in today's world despite the difficulties," the cardinal said.
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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.
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