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DALLAS (AP) -- A manhunt is underway for a Texas teenager sentenced to probation in 2013 for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck after his defense lawyers claimed he suffered from "affluenza." Authorities say he missed an appointment last week with his probation officer and the juvenile equivalent of an arrest warrant was issued for him. He's believed to have fled with his mother, with whom he'd been living. Here are a few questions surrounding the case...
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Mother Teresa, the tiny, stooped nun who cared for the poorest of the poor in the slums of India and beyond, will be declared a saint next year after Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to her intercession....
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The allegations read like a movie plot: a lottery industry insider installs an undetectable software program in the computers that pick winning numbers so he can know them in advance. He enlists accomplices to play those numbers and collect the jackpots. And they enrich themselves for years until a misstep unravels their high-tech scheme....
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Some 20 foreign ministers on Friday were tackling the most difficult issues for a possible end to Syria's civil war, including sorting out which Syrian groups will represent the opposition in peace talks in the new year and which will be considered terrorist organizations instead....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bipartisan but deficit draining year-end budget package that boosts federal agency spending and awards tax cuts to both families and a sweeping array of business interests....
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) The Church in Poland has submitted a Mobile App to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization to help people live out the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The App – called Misericors – was given to the Council on Thursday, as a “birthday gift” for Pope Francis.The Misericors App is interactive, and helps the users to practice mercy in their daily lives, as well as spurring them to personal and community prayer.“Misericors is an interactive application for our smartphone – in the Polish language, but also in 8 other languages…English, German, French and son” said Father Józef Kloch.Listen to Father Józef Kloch discuss the Misericors App:“It is our answer to what I should do as a…simple person, what I can do for other people,” he told Vatican Radio.“What is very interesting about this application is interaction,” Father Kloch continued. “It means I can write what I w...
(Vatican Radio) The Church in Poland has submitted a Mobile App to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization to help people live out the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The App – called Misericors – was given to the Council on Thursday, as a “birthday gift” for Pope Francis.
The Misericors App is interactive, and helps the users to practice mercy in their daily lives, as well as spurring them to personal and community prayer.
“Misericors is an interactive application for our smartphone – in the Polish language, but also in 8 other languages…English, German, French and son” said Father Józef Kloch.
Listen to Father Józef Kloch discuss the Misericors App:
“It is our answer to what I should do as a…simple person, what I can do for other people,” he told Vatican Radio.
“What is very interesting about this application is interaction,” Father Kloch continued. “It means I can write what I will do in this week, how I can be 'misericors': How I can be good for other people.”
The App has a special focus on the Divine Mercy devotion, helping people to pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, and providing excerpts of the Diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska – the “Servant Saint of the Divine Mercy” – each day.
The President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, said the Misericors App will be an extraordinary tool to help prepare for the 2016 World Youth Day in Krakow.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.To find out more about this Saint to be Veronica Scarisbrick brings you an interview with someone who personally knew her. He's Monsignor Leo Maasburg who spent many years with her as spiritual advisor, later writing a book drawn from his personal experience of the time. The title of the book is: 'Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Personal Portrait: 50 inspiring stories never told before" and is published by Ignatius Press.Listen to Monsignor Leo Maasburg in an interview with Veronica Scarisbrick: The stories Monsignor Maasburg recounts, shed light on some of the lesser known aspects of Mother Teresa: "...for Mother Teresa the poorest of the poor were not only the people in Calcutta..find them in your own family, love them and put your lo...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate a decree regarding a miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
To find out more about this Saint to be Veronica Scarisbrick brings you an interview with someone who personally knew her. He's Monsignor Leo Maasburg who spent many years with her as spiritual advisor, later writing a book drawn from his personal experience of the time. The title of the book is: 'Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Personal Portrait: 50 inspiring stories never told before" and is published by Ignatius Press.
Listen to Monsignor Leo Maasburg in an interview with Veronica Scarisbrick:
The stories Monsignor Maasburg recounts, shed light on some of the lesser known aspects of Mother Teresa: "...for Mother Teresa the poorest of the poor were not only the people in Calcutta..find them in your own family, love them and put your love for God into a living action for them.... I believe she has told us a lot about what Christ meant when he said: 'love one another as I have loved you'..."
(Vatican Radio) The official ceremony opening the Holy Door at the chapel of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Palidoro was celebrated on Thursday by the Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina, Gino Reali.The hospital – part of the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù network – was started in the seaside town outside of Rome by Pope Paul VI in 1978.Bishop Reali celebrated Mass to mark the opening of the Holy Door – one of the four official Holy Doors of the diocese – and baptized a young patient during the ceremony."The hospital chapel at the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Palidoro will this year by a house of mercy for everyone, a place of hope and comfort for all the families who alongside their children spend even extended period of times here,” Bishop Reali said.The Bishop said the hospital has “always spoken the language of mercy of which Pope Francis invites us to pronounce the words and wo...
(Vatican Radio) The official ceremony opening the Holy Door at the chapel of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Palidoro was celebrated on Thursday by the Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina, Gino Reali.
The hospital – part of the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù network – was started in the seaside town outside of Rome by Pope Paul VI in 1978.
Bishop Reali celebrated Mass to mark the opening of the Holy Door – one of the four official Holy Doors of the diocese – and baptized a young patient during the ceremony.
"The hospital chapel at the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Palidoro will this year by a house of mercy for everyone, a place of hope and comfort for all the families who alongside their children spend even extended period of times here,” Bishop Reali said.
The Bishop said the hospital has “always spoken the language of mercy of which Pope Francis invites us to pronounce the words and works,” and called it “a sign of tenderness.”
The patients of the hospital prepared three large canvasses to be blessed by Bishop Reali, each depicting a parable of Jesus expressing Mercy: The Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep, and the Good Samaritan.
Pope Paul VI founded the hospital to specialize in the care of children afflicted with polio.
(Vatican Radio) The Church in Kolkata is celebrating the news that the final miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa has been approved.“It is a real Christmas gift that the Holy Father has given, especially the Church in Kolkata,” said Archbishop Thomas D’Souza, the Archbishop of Calcutta [Kolkata].Listen to the interview with Archbishop Thomas D’Souza:“We were waiting for this moment, since many years really, and now that it has come we are very happy, overjoyed,” he told Vatican Radio.Archbishop D’Souza said it is significant the announcement has been made during the Jubilee of Mercy.“Her entire life was spent doing works of mercy,” he said. “Her entire life was spent in service to the poor…she was reflecting God’s love here among the poorest of the poor, and so it comes as a very significant event in this Year of Mercy that the Holy Father has given to the Church.”
(Vatican Radio) The Church in Kolkata is celebrating the news that the final miracle needed for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa has been approved.
“It is a real Christmas gift that the Holy Father has given, especially the Church in Kolkata,” said Archbishop Thomas D’Souza, the Archbishop of Calcutta [Kolkata].
Listen to the interview with Archbishop Thomas D’Souza:
“We were waiting for this moment, since many years really, and now that it has come we are very happy, overjoyed,” he told Vatican Radio.
Archbishop D’Souza said it is significant the announcement has been made during the Jubilee of Mercy.
“Her entire life was spent doing works of mercy,” he said. “Her entire life was spent in service to the poor…she was reflecting God’s love here among the poorest of the poor, and so it comes as a very significant event in this Year of Mercy that the Holy Father has given to the Church.”
