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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress ended its chaotic year on a surprising note of bipartisan unity and productivity Friday, overwhelmingly approving a massive 2016 tax and spending package and sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature....
WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015."If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, i...
WASHINGTON- The United States has a moral obligation to protect unaccompanied children and families from persecution in Central America, said Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, in testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, October 21. Bishop Seitz is an advisor to the USCCB Committee on Migration and a member of the board of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC).
The humanitarian outflow, driven by organized crime in the northern triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, continues, with nearly 40,000 unaccompanied children and an equal number of mothers with children having arrived in the United States in Fiscal Year 2015.
"If we do not respond justly and humanely to this challenge in our own backyard, then we will relinquish our moral leadership and moral influence globally," Bishop Seitz said.
Bishop Seitz pointed to the human consequences of U.S. policies which are designed to deter migration from the region, including U.S. support for Mexican interdiction efforts which are intercepting children and families in Mexico and sending them back to danger, in violation of international law.
Bishop Seitz recommended an end to these interdictions and the introduction of a regional system which would screen children and families for asylum in Mexico and other parts of the region. He also called for Congress to approve and increase a $1 billion aid package proposed by the Administration.
"If we export enforcement," Bishop Seitz said, "we also must export protection."
Bishop Seitz recalled the words of Pope Francis before Congress in September, when he invoked the golden rule in guiding our nation's actions toward those seeking safety in our land.
Quoting the Holy Father, Bishop Seitz repeated to the committee, "'The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.'"
"Mr. Chairman, I pray that time, and history, will conclude that we honored this rule in meeting this humanitarian challenge," Bishop Seitz concluded.
Bishop Seitz' testimony can be found at http://www.usccb.org//about/migration-policy/congressional-testimony/upload/seitz-ongoing-migration.pdf
Keywords: Bishop Mark J. Seitz, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Congress, Senate, Committee on Migration, migration, unaccompanied children, violence, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Friday that the Christmas crib scene reminds us that Jesus made himself small like a child to touch our hearts with his humble goodness. Saying that God doesn’t like the revolutions of the powerful, he explained that through his poverty Jesus gives a jolt to those who are scurrying to accumulate the false treasures of this world. The Pope’s words came in an address where he thanked the local authorities from the German state of Bavaria and representatives of the Italian archdiocese of Trento who this year respectively donated the Christmas tree and the crib scene and figures for St. Peter’s Square.The Pope said the nativity scene reminds us that Jesus never imposes himself by force but came into this world in simplicity, humility and meekness. The crib scene, he said, speaks to us of God’s tenderness and His divine mercy and how He wants to move our hearts. This year’s Christmas tree in St Peter’s ...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis said on Friday that the Christmas crib scene reminds us that Jesus made himself small like a child to touch our hearts with his humble goodness. Saying that God doesn’t like the revolutions of the powerful, he explained that through his poverty Jesus gives a jolt to those who are scurrying to accumulate the false treasures of this world. The Pope’s words came in an address where he thanked the local authorities from the German state of Bavaria and representatives of the Italian archdiocese of Trento who this year respectively donated the Christmas tree and the crib scene and figures for St. Peter’s Square.
The Pope said the nativity scene reminds us that Jesus never imposes himself by force but came into this world in simplicity, humility and meekness. The crib scene, he said, speaks to us of God’s tenderness and His divine mercy and how He wants to move our hearts.
This year’s Christmas tree in St Peter’s Square is a two-pointed Spruce which stands 32 metres high and it was unveiled on December 8th which was earlier than normal in order to coincide with the inauguration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
Twenty-four life sized figures carved from wood and then painted make up the nativity scene that stands at the base of the Christmas tree. The scene shows one of the male figures bending to help an old man to symbolize the theme of mercy.
The tree is adorned with particularly colourful decorations this year. The Vatican joined forces with the Lene Then Foundation, creating designs made by children suffering from cancer. The youngsters were asked to come up with designs that represent their dreams and wishes.
(Vatican Radio) Vatican Weekend for December 20, 2015 features our weekly reflection on the Sunday Gospel for this fourth Sunday of Advent presented by Jill Bevilacqua and a bird's eye view of the past week in the Vatican presented by Joan Lewis, EWTN bureau chief here in Rome.A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
(Vatican Radio) Vatican Weekend for December 20, 2015 features our weekly reflection on the Sunday Gospel for this fourth Sunday of Advent presented by Jill Bevilacqua and a bird's eye view of the past week in the Vatican presented by Joan Lewis, EWTN bureau chief here in Rome.
A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
(Vatican Radio) Vatican Weekend for December 19, 2015 features a report on the words of Pope Francis during his weekly general audience, an interview focusing around the Pope's Cathedral of Saint John Lateran and other interviews relating to the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Among these are one with British Consul, Joyce McDougall and another with Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker: Also in this programme students from the Venerable English College here in Rome tell of a Church, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, which has been designated for the English language pilgrims who come to Rome during this special year. Finally their Rector, Monsignor Philip Whitmore, brings us a musical meditation for the Fourth Sunday in Advent. A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
(Vatican Radio) Vatican Weekend for December 19, 2015 features a report on the words of Pope Francis during his weekly general audience, an interview focusing around the Pope's Cathedral of Saint John Lateran and other interviews relating to the Jubilee Year of Mercy. Among these are one with British Consul, Joyce McDougall and another with Britain’s ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker: Also in this programme students from the Venerable English College here in Rome tell of a Church, San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, which has been designated for the English language pilgrims who come to Rome during this special year. Finally their Rector, Monsignor Philip Whitmore, brings us a musical meditation for the Fourth Sunday in Advent.
A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:
A member of a Bangladeshi extremist Islamist group confessed on Thursday to having organized and personally carried out the attack on Italian missionary Fr. Piero Parolari of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, PIME, on 18 November in Dinajpur. Deputy police inspector Bazlur Rashid confirmed that Sariful Islam, a member of the Jamaat-ul-Mujiahideen, has confessed the attack, as also another assault on a Hindu temple. Sixty-four year old Fr. Parolari, is also a doctor who worked in Suihari parish. He had been in Bangladesh since 1985, where he worked at the St. Vincent hospital. The ambush was carried out by three armed men on a motorcycle, who shot him on his way to the hospital. The ambush on the PIME priest confirms a tense atmosphere in the country, where in recent weeks dozens of Catholics and Protestants have received death threats. The authorities are committed t...
A member of a Bangladeshi extremist Islamist group confessed on Thursday to having organized and personally carried out the attack on Italian missionary Fr. Piero Parolari of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, PIME, on 18 November in Dinajpur. Deputy police inspector Bazlur Rashid confirmed that Sariful Islam, a member of the Jamaat-ul-Mujiahideen, has confessed the attack, as also another assault on a Hindu temple.
Sixty-four year old Fr. Parolari, is also a doctor who worked in Suihari parish. He had been in Bangladesh since 1985, where he worked at the St. Vincent hospital. The ambush was carried out by three armed men on a motorcycle, who shot him on his way to the hospital. The ambush on the PIME priest confirms a tense atmosphere in the country, where in recent weeks dozens of Catholics and Protestants have received death threats. The authorities are committed to ensuring the safety of the Christian community during the holiday season. Catholic leaders and the various Christian denominations on Thursday met at the Metropolitan Commissioner of Dhaka for talks with top police officials. Nirmol Rozario, secretary general of Bangladesh Christian Association who attended the meeting, told AsiaNews: "We received great reassurance for Christmas celebrations".
Established in 1998, the Islamist group was banned by the local government in February, after a series of attacks carried out against some NGOs. After several months of silence, the group returned to the forefront again in August of 2015 with hundreds of attacks in more than 300 different locations around the Bangladesh. (Source: AsiaNews)
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican said on Friday that an autopsy has confirmed that its former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic died from a heart attack.A statement released by the Holy See’s Press Office said the autopsy on Jozef Wesolowski was conducted by a team of coroners named by the Vatican prosecutor, in accordance with international guidelines and protocols.The statement said the toxicology tests confirmed that the former envoy died a natural death ``excluding any other external causes.''The Polish-born former Nuncio was found dead in his Vatican apartment last August as he was awaiting trial in a Vatican court on charges of sexually abusing minors in Santo Domingo and possessing child pornographic material on his computer.
(Vatican Radio) The Vatican said on Friday that an autopsy has confirmed that its former Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic died from a heart attack.
A statement released by the Holy See’s Press Office said the autopsy on Jozef Wesolowski was conducted by a team of coroners named by the Vatican prosecutor, in accordance with international guidelines and protocols.
The statement said the toxicology tests confirmed that the former envoy died a natural death ``excluding any other external causes.''
The Polish-born former Nuncio was found dead in his Vatican apartment last August as he was awaiting trial in a Vatican court on charges of sexually abusing minors in Santo Domingo and possessing child pornographic material on his computer.
IMAGE: CNS photo/Nancy WiechecBy Carol GlatzVATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis hasapproved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, thus paving the way for her canonization.Pope Francis signed the decree for Blessed Teresa's causeand advanced three other sainthood causes Dec. 17, the Vatican announced.Although the date for the canonization ceremony will beofficially announced during the next consistory of cardinals in February, ArchbishopRino Fisichella, president of the Vatican office organizing the Holy Year ofMercy events, had said it would be Sept. 4. That date celebrates theJubilee of workers and volunteers of mercy and comes the day before the 19th anniversaryof her death, Sept. 5, 1997.The postulator for her sainthood cause, FatherBrian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity, said the second miracle thatwas approved involved the healing of a now 42-year-old mechanical engineer inSantos, Brazil.Doctors diagnosed the man with a viral brain in...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Nancy Wiechec
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis has approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, thus paving the way for her canonization.
Pope Francis signed the decree for Blessed Teresa's cause and advanced three other sainthood causes Dec. 17, the Vatican announced.
Although the date for the canonization ceremony will be officially announced during the next consistory of cardinals in February, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Vatican office organizing the Holy Year of Mercy events, had said it would be Sept. 4. That date celebrates the Jubilee of workers and volunteers of mercy and comes the day before the 19th anniversary of her death, Sept. 5, 1997.
The postulator for her sainthood cause, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity, said the second miracle that was approved involved the healing of a now 42-year-old mechanical engineer in Santos, Brazil.
Doctors diagnosed the man with a viral brain infection that resulted in multiple brain abscesses, the priest said in a statement published Dec. 18 by AsiaNews, the Rome-based missionary news agency. Treatments given were ineffective and the man went into a coma, the postulator wrote.
The then-newly married man's wife had spent months praying to Blessed Teresa and her prayers were joined by those of her relatives and friends when her dying husband was taken to the operating room Dec. 9, 2008.
When the surgeon entered the operating room, he reported that he found the patient awake, free of pain and asking, "What am I doing here?" Doctors reported the man showed no more symptoms and a Vatican medical commission voted unanimously in September 2015 that the healing was inexplicable.
St. John Paul II had made an exception to the usual canonization process in Mother Teresa's case by allowing her sainthood cause to be opened without waiting the usual five years after a candidate's death. He beatified her in 2003.
The order she started -- the Missionaries of Charity -- continues its outreach to the "poorest of the poor."
Among the other decrees approved Dec. 17, the pope recognized the heroic virtues of Comboni Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli, an Italian surgeon, priest and missionary who dedicated his life to caring for people in Uganda, where he also founded a hospital and midwifery school before his death in 1987. His father ran the highly successful Ambrosoli honey company.
The pope also recognized the heroic virtues of De La Salle Brother Leonardo Lanzuela Martinez of Spain (1894-1976) and Heinrich Hahn, a German surgeon.
Born in 1800, the lay Catholic doctor was the father of 10 children and dedicated much of his activity to providing medical care to the poor. He was also involved in public service, even serving in the German parliament. He founded the St. Francis Xavier Mission Society in Germany and the "Giuseppino" Institute for those suffering from incurable illnesses. He died in 1882.
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