Catholic News 2
VIENNA (AP) -- Maria Sharapova's racket supplier became the first main sponsor to publicly back the five-time Grand Slam champion after she admitted to failing a doping test....
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- Roy Dillard drove more than 100 miles with two of his daughters and his 3-year-old great-granddaughter to pay their respects to Nancy Reagan and honor the legacy of what he called "the greatest president of my lifetime."...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are promising to make it easier for their respective countries to trade and invest in one another, share more information to prevent the flow of foreign fighters and promote clean energy as a central focus of economic growth....
AMBON, Indonesia (AP) -- Five Thai fishing boat captains and three Indonesians were sentenced Thursday to three years in jail for human trafficking in connection with slavery in the seafood industry....
WILKINSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Police searched Thursday for at least two gunmen who opened fire during a backyard party in suburban Pittsburgh, killing five people and wounding three others as they rushed toward the house to find cover....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate paused Thursday from its nasty partisan clash over the Supreme Court vacancy and easily approved election-year legislation reinforcing government efforts against heroin and the abuse of opioid painkillers....
After launching Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato sì in Lilongwe, Malawi’s Social Directorate of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi has taken the dessermination of Pope Francis’ enyclical, “Laudato Si” to schools of higher learning.So far workshops on Laudato sì have taken place at Luanar, Bunda College; the Catholic University of Malawi and recently at the Inter-Congregation Seminary (ICI) in Balaka. Another seminar is planned for St. Peter’s Major Seminary in Zomba.The presenters at the workshops usually are Prof. David Mkwambisi, the Associate Professor for Environmental Sustainability at Luanar, Bunda Campus, Fr. Dr. Kadzingatchile of the Catholic University of Malawi, Dr. Fr. Andrew Kaufa, part-time lecturer at the ICI, Carsterns Mulume, the Director of Social Development at the Episcopal Conference together with Yusuf Mkungula, National Programmes Coordinator for the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM).(...
After launching Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato sì in Lilongwe, Malawi’s Social Directorate of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi has taken the dessermination of Pope Francis’ enyclical, “Laudato Si” to schools of higher learning.
So far workshops on Laudato sì have taken place at Luanar, Bunda College; the Catholic University of Malawi and recently at the Inter-Congregation Seminary (ICI) in Balaka. Another seminar is planned for St. Peter’s Major Seminary in Zomba.
The presenters at the workshops usually are Prof. David Mkwambisi, the Associate Professor for Environmental Sustainability at Luanar, Bunda Campus, Fr. Dr. Kadzingatchile of the Catholic University of Malawi, Dr. Fr. Andrew Kaufa, part-time lecturer at the ICI, Carsterns Mulume, the Director of Social Development at the Episcopal Conference together with Yusuf Mkungula, National Programmes Coordinator for the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM).
(Episcopal Conference of Malawi)
Email:engafrica@vatiradio.va
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, presided over the blessing of the new “Lord of Mercy House of the Needy” – La casa del necessitado ‘El Senor del la Misericordia’ – in the Mexican diocese of Orizaba on Tuesday, March 8.The new facility seeks to serve the most vulnerable, by providing emergency housing, meals and food assistance, as well as legal and psychological counseling. The House of the Needy will also include a dedicated family ministry, doctor's office, and crime victims’ outreach service.The work to prepare the physical space that will house the new facility was paid for through donations made by parishioners in special collections made in parishes of the diocese throughout the course of an entire year..In a press conference at the ceremony, The Apostolic Nuncio said the new facility is one of many initiatives of the Mexican Church for the upbuilding of society. “Pope Fran...
(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, presided over the blessing of the new “Lord of Mercy House of the Needy” – La casa del necessitado ‘El Senor del la Misericordia’ – in the Mexican diocese of Orizaba on Tuesday, March 8.
The new facility seeks to serve the most vulnerable, by providing emergency housing, meals and food assistance, as well as legal and psychological counseling. The House of the Needy will also include a dedicated family ministry, doctor's office, and crime victims’ outreach service.
The work to prepare the physical space that will house the new facility was paid for through donations made by parishioners in special collections made in parishes of the diocese throughout the course of an entire year..
In a press conference at the ceremony, The Apostolic Nuncio said the new facility is one of many initiatives of the Mexican Church for the upbuilding of society. “Pope Francis,” said Archbishop Pierre, “stressed [in recent remarks to the Bishops during his Apostolic visit] that there are many beautiful things in the country that serve to build, restore, help produce a better society,” and that there is much still to be done together with the government and civil society to complete the work of making Mexican society a true exemplar of solidarity.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given provisional approval to a new series of norms governing the establishment and management of funds for the advancement of investigations into the lives of people proposed for sainthood. Given by Papal rescript, the approval ad experimentum for a period of three years governs the way funds for the Causes of Saints are established and managed, especially at the so-called “Roman phase” of the process, which follows initial evidence collection at the diocesan level and the preparation of a position paper – often thousands of pages long and containing painstakingly assembled intimate details of the proposed saint’s earthly life and career – to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, which forms the basis of the Roman phase proper.All of this can prove extremely costly and time-consuming.The new norms seek to increase transparency in the process and assist in cost containment by requiring regular and detailed...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has given provisional approval to a new series of norms governing the establishment and management of funds for the advancement of investigations into the lives of people proposed for sainthood. Given by Papal rescript, the approval ad experimentum for a period of three years governs the way funds for the Causes of Saints are established and managed, especially at the so-called “Roman phase” of the process, which follows initial evidence collection at the diocesan level and the preparation of a position paper – often thousands of pages long and containing painstakingly assembled intimate details of the proposed saint’s earthly life and career – to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, which forms the basis of the Roman phase proper.
All of this can prove extremely costly and time-consuming.
The new norms seek to increase transparency in the process and assist in cost containment by requiring regular and detailed accounting, creating disciplinary procedures in case of misuse, and providing for the liquidation of funds established for causes, once the process reaches its conclusion.
In addition, the new norms provide for the creation of a “solidarity fund” that is supplied by freely given donations from the promoters of causes or any other source. In the case of real and genuinely documented need, appeals for assistance from the Solidarity Fund are to be made by the promoters of causes, through the local bishop. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints will evaluate case by case.
(Vatican Radio) This week, the Pontifical Scots College marks the 400th anniversary since it became a seminary for the formation of priests for Scotland.The Scots College in Rome, founded by Pope Clement VIII in 1600 as a place for Catholic education at a time when it was illegal to provide it at home, was the home of sixteen students in 1616. One year previously, on 10th March, the Scottish Jesuit John Ogilvie was hanged and drawn at Glasgow Cross.One year after his execution, the students at the Scots College were presented with a biography of the Jesuit. On hearing it, they agreed to take the Mission Oath, vowing to return to Scotland as priests. It was on 10th March 1616 that the Pontifical Scots College became a seminary.Scotland’s MartyrOgilvie was born in 1579, the son of a respected Calvinist. He was sent to the continent for an education, and in the midst of the troubles in the Europe of his time, he decided to become a Catholic in 1596. He joined the Society of Jes...
(Vatican Radio) This week, the Pontifical Scots College marks the 400th anniversary since it became a seminary for the formation of priests for Scotland.
The Scots College in Rome, founded by Pope Clement VIII in 1600 as a place for Catholic education at a time when it was illegal to provide it at home, was the home of sixteen students in 1616. One year previously, on 10th March, the Scottish Jesuit John Ogilvie was hanged and drawn at Glasgow Cross.
One year after his execution, the students at the Scots College were presented with a biography of the Jesuit. On hearing it, they agreed to take the Mission Oath, vowing to return to Scotland as priests. It was on 10th March 1616 that the Pontifical Scots College became a seminary.
Scotland’s Martyr
Ogilvie was born in 1579, the son of a respected Calvinist. He was sent to the continent for an education, and in the midst of the troubles in the Europe of his time, he decided to become a Catholic in 1596. He joined the Society of Jesus e years later, and in 1610 he was ordained as a priest in Paris.
He pleaded with his superiors to be allowed to return to his own country, where the number of Catholics was decreasing all of the time. In November 1613, he returned to Scotland. His ministry lasted less than a year, though. He was discovered in October 1614 and was arrested for celebrating clandestine Masses in the homes of the few Catholics left in the area.
In the end, he refused to pledge allegiance to King James VI (James I of England) and for this he was tried. At the trial, he claimed that he would not acknowledge the King anymore than an ‘old hat’ and accused him of deserting God.
In his final moments, he entrusted his soul to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints. His final words were, “If there be here any hidden Catholics, let them pray for me, but the prayers of heretics I will not have.” As he was pushed from the steps with a noose around his neck, he threw the rosary beads he had been hiding in his hand into the crowd. Legend has it that one of his enemies caught the beads and soon after, became a devout Catholic. John Ogilvie was martyred at the age of thirty six.
Pope Pius XI beatified him in 1929, recognising him as a martyr. However, it was not until 1976 when a man was miraculously cured of cancer that Saint John was canonised, by Pope Paul VI. He is the only Scottish martyr from the time of the Reformation.
The Mission Oath
From 1616, all students who entered the Pontifical Scots College in Rome would take the Mission Oath, offering themselves to God as priests who would return to the Scottish mission. An extract from the Oath reads: “I swear and promise that I will accept the clerical state with the approval of my superiors, and advance to the holy orders, including priesthood, whenever it shall seem best to those in charge.”
The last Mission Oath was taken in 1939. After the Second World War, it was felt that it was no longer necessary for every student to commit in such a formal way. However, as the Oath required that the individual pledge commitment to his superiors, and to return to his diocese as a priest whenever the superiors felt was right time, the ideals are the same today as they were in 1616.
