Catholic News 2
DELTONA, Fla. (AP) -- A 75-year-old man fatally shot himself while deputies were visiting his house to conduct a welfare check on his wife, and he left behind a hand-written suicide note saying he had buried her in the backyard, authorities in Florida said Wednesday....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal government ran the second highest monthly surplus on record this April as tax revenues were pushed higher by a change in the deadline for corporate tax payments....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Turkey slammed the Trump administration's decision to supply Syrian Kurdish fighters with weapons against the Islamic State group and demanded Wednesday that it be reversed, heightening tensions between the NATO allies days before the Turkish leader heads to Washington for a meeting with President Donald Trump....
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) -- The collapse of a tunnel containing radioactive waste at the Hanford nuclear weapons complex underscored what critics have long been saying: that the toxic remnants of the Cold War are being stored in haphazard and unsafe conditions, and time is running out to deal with the problem....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- All but ignoring the unfurling drama over Russia and the U.S. election, President Donald Trump on Wednesday sought to advance prospects for cooperation between the former Cold War foes in Syria and elsewhere in a rare Oval Office meeting with Vladimir Putin's top diplomat....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Things to know about President Donald Trump's firing of James Comey as FBI director:...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the days before his firing by President Donald Trump, FBI Director James Comey told U.S. lawmakers he had asked the Justice Department for more resources to pursue the bureau's investigation into Russia's interference in last year's presidential election, three U.S. officials said Wednesday....
(Vatican Radio) The XXXVI General Assembly of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano, known as CELAM) is taking place this week from 9-12 May.The Assembly gathers together the leadership of CELAM, along with heads of departments, as well as the presidents and delegates of the Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean.The theme for this year’s Assembly is “A poor Church for the poor.” The meeting is taking place on the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and is being held in San Salvador, the city of the martyred Archbishop’s birth.In his presentation at the beginning of the Assembly, Bishop Juan Espinoza, the auxiliary Bishop of Morelia, Mexico, and Secretary General of CELAM, explained that the meetings will follow two general lines: a discussion on the work of the various departments and of the Episcopal conferences; and a reflection on the pastoral objectives of CELAM, foll...
(Vatican Radio) The XXXVI General Assembly of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano, known as CELAM) is taking place this week from 9-12 May.
The Assembly gathers together the leadership of CELAM, along with heads of departments, as well as the presidents and delegates of the Episcopal Conferences of Latin America and the Caribbean.
The theme for this year’s Assembly is “A poor Church for the poor.” The meeting is taking place on the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and is being held in San Salvador, the city of the martyred Archbishop’s birth.
In his presentation at the beginning of the Assembly, Bishop Juan Espinoza, the auxiliary Bishop of Morelia, Mexico, and Secretary General of CELAM, explained that the meetings will follow two general lines: a discussion on the work of the various departments and of the Episcopal conferences; and a reflection on the pastoral objectives of CELAM, following the proposals of the Aparecida Conference, which envision a missionary Church that is always “going forth.”
In addition to the 22 nations which comprise CELAM, the Episcopal Conferences of Canada and the United States are also sending representatives to the Assembly.
(Vatican Radio) Sri Lanka’s Catholic Bishops have sent special greetings to their Buddhist countrymen on the occasion of Vesak, Wednesday, May 10 this year. It is the most solemn festival of Buddhists which the United Nations adopted in 1999 and is celebrating for the first time in Sri Lanka this year. "Vesak", sometimes informally called "Buddha's Birthday", occurs on the full moon in the month of May, and commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, who lived sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries. "It is fitting for the U.N. Day of Vesak to be held in Sri Lanka which is the predominant Theravada Buddhist country in the world and where four world religions are present," read a statement released on May 7 by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL). "Vesak is a festival of peace and light; may this Vesak b...
(Vatican Radio) Sri Lanka’s Catholic Bishops have sent special greetings to their Buddhist countrymen on the occasion of Vesak, Wednesday, May 10 this year. It is the most solemn festival of Buddhists which the United Nations adopted in 1999 and is celebrating for the first time in Sri Lanka this year. "Vesak", sometimes informally called "Buddha's Birthday", occurs on the full moon in the month of May, and commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha or Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, who lived sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries.
"It is fitting for the U.N. Day of Vesak to be held in Sri Lanka which is the predominant Theravada Buddhist country in the world and where four world religions are present," read a statement released on May 7 by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL). "Vesak is a festival of peace and light; may this Vesak bring peace to all people. We wish all our Buddhist brethren the fullest blessings," said the statement signed by CBCSL president, Bishop Winston Fernando of Badulla and conference secretary-general Bishop Valence Mendis of Chilaw.
The United Nations chief has also greeted the world’s Buddhists on Vesak, inviting all to “celebrate the wisdom of Lord Buddha by taking action for others with a strong spirit of solidarity." “Born a sheltered prince, Shakyamuni went out into the world to confront and overcome human suffering,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a message for Vesak Day observed at the UN on May 10, Wednesday.
Stressing that Buddha’s “message of compassion is timeless” Gutteres noted that “in our interconnected world, there can be no peace as long as others are in peril; no security as long as others suffer deprivation; no sustainable future until all members of our human family enjoy their human rights.” “On this Day of Vesak, let us celebrate the wisdom of Lord Buddha by taking action for others with a strong spirit of solidarity,” Gutteres urged.
For the first time, the UN’s International Day of Vesak is being hosted in Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist country. The UN International Day of Vesak has been held 11 times in Thailand and twice in Vietnam. The 14th edition is being held in Sri Lanka. Over 400 delegates from 100 countries are expected to participate in the May 12-14 UN International Vesak Festival in Sri Lanka whose theme is “Buddhist Teachings for Social Justice and Sustainable World Peace. Celebrations include an International Buddhist Symposium in Colombo, that is discussing important themes such as interreligious understanding, Buddhist teachings for social justice and sustainable world peace. Indian and Nepalese leaders are chief guests at the inaugural and closing ceremonies.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue also issued a message for Vesak on 22 April, inviting Buddhists and Christians to build peace by walking together in the path of non-violence. "Jesus Christ and the Buddha,” the message said “were promotors of nonviolence as well as peacemakers," said the Vatican’s letter.
"In spite of these noble teachings, many of our societies grapple with the impact of past and present wounds caused by violence and conflicts. This phenomenon includes domestic violence, as well as economic, social, cultural and psychological violence, and violence against the environment, our common home," it said.
Sri Lanka's 20.5 million people are approximately 70 percent Buddhist, 15 percent Hindu, 8 percent Christian and 7 percent Muslim.
(Vatican Radio) Corruption is “like a cancer” that consumes the daily life of people across Latin America, Pope Francis has told bishops.In a letter to the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) at the start of their general assembly, the Pope decried corruption as “one of the most serious sins that plagues our continent today”.The Pope reiterated his call to the bishops gathering in El Salvador to walk more closely with people, especially those on the peripheries, and to renew their hope.Pope Francis wrote: “Corruption devastates lives by submerging them in the most extreme poverty. It’s a corruption which destroys entire populations by subjecting them to precariousness. It’s a corruption that, like a cancer, consumes the daily life of our people.”The Pope used the story of Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil, as the basis of his message of hope. The statue was found 300 years ago by three poor fisherman who caught a...
(Vatican Radio) Corruption is “like a cancer” that consumes the daily life of people across Latin America, Pope Francis has told bishops.
In a letter to the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) at the start of their general assembly, the Pope decried corruption as “one of the most serious sins that plagues our continent today”.
The Pope reiterated his call to the bishops gathering in El Salvador to walk more closely with people, especially those on the peripheries, and to renew their hope.
Pope Francis wrote: “Corruption devastates lives by submerging them in the most extreme poverty. It’s a corruption which destroys entire populations by subjecting them to precariousness. It’s a corruption that, like a cancer, consumes the daily life of our people.”
The Pope used the story of Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil, as the basis of his message of hope. The statue was found 300 years ago by three poor fisherman who caught a miraculous amount of fish and grew in faith after asking for Mary’s intercession.
In his letter, Pope Francis said the story shows the accompaniment that Mary, an attentive mother, gives to her children. “In the story of Aparecida we meet her in the river covered in mud,” he said. “There she is waiting for her children, there she is with her children in the midst of their struggles and searches.”
The Pope further reflected that in their encounter with Mary, the fisherman’s nets filled up with a presence that filled their lives and gave them certainty that in their struggles they were not alone. Similarly, added the Pope, the community of believers “aware of their nets, their lives, are full of a presence that encourages them not to loose hope.”
Pope Francis added: “Aparecida does not bring us remedies but keys, criteria, a few big certainties to illumine us, above all, to spark the desire to get rid of all the superfluous things and return to the roots, to the essential, to the attitude that planted the faith in the primitive Church and then made our continent the land of hope. Aparecida asks to renew our hope in the midst of so many severities.”
The conference, entitled “A poor Church for the poor”, which runs until May 13, brings together representatives from 21 Latin American and Caribbean countries as well as the United States and Canada.
(Richard Paul Marsden)
