In our language and conceptual development, the definitions of “we” and “they” emerge quickly. Pope Francis urges us to open our hearts and minds to all.
Guest Columnists
Filipinos Celebrate Marian Feast
The Filipinos at St. Michael’s Church, Flushing, are blessed during the month of October. We also celebrate during the first Sunday, the feast of the Most Holy Rosary-La Naval de Manila.
A Meaningful Papal Handshake
Countless people tried to touch Pope Francis during his recent visit to the United States. Many succeeded. But one inmate at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia made contact in a firm handshake that was caught in a photograph that made Page 1 of The New York Times on the Monday morning when the pope returned to Rome.
Brooklyn Nun Reaches to Society’s Untouchables
When American-born nun Sister Annie Credidio moved to Ecuador in the mid-1980s to be a teacher, she attended Mass at a local hospital and noticed that members of the congregation were missing fingers, toes, legs, and teeth. She discovered that this was a hospital for people with Hansen’s disease (also known as leprosy). The more she explored the facility and talked to patients, the more she realized how deplorable conditions were.
Don’t Believe All You Hear
IT ALL STARTED when we heard unconfirmed reports that the pope had met with Kim Davis in a private audience during his visit to Washington. Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, recently denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds. Since same-sex civil marriage is now legal in the United States and county clerks are required by law to issue licenses, her actions sparked controversy – and rumor – especially after Davis met with the pope.
A Family’s Mission
As 270 bishops engage in dialogue on the pastoral care of the person and the family during the XIV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Catholics are reflecting on the family’s vocation.
‘Woodland’ Kicks Off Football Morality Tale
High school football players battle racism on and off the field in “Woodlawn” (Pure Flix), an entertaining and inspirational film that’s based on a true story and appropriate for most age groups.
‘Church of Spies’ Ends ‘Hitler’s Pope’
The great Piazza San Pietro in Rome is a five-minute walk from where I’m living during Synod-2015. About three-quarters of the Square is bounded by the famous Bernini colonnades, which reach out from the Vatican basilica as if to embrace the world. Along the open “front” of the Piazza and along the perimeter of the colonnades, a broad white stripe is embedded in the street. The casual visitor might mistake it for a kind of “No Parking” sign.
Divinely Inspired by Diocesan Pilgrimage
A group of pilgrims attended the Passion Play in Sordevolo, Italy, with the Diocese of Brooklyn. The group’s spiritual leaders were Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto, Msgr. Steven Aguggia, pastor of St. Margaret Church, Middle Village, and Father Gerard Sauer, diocesan pilgrimage director.
Delving Beneath the Surface at the Synod
ROME. SINCE POPE Francis announced that two Synods would examine the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, and work to devise more evangelically dynamic responses to that crisis, a lot of attention has focused on issues of Catholic discipline: How does the Church determine that a marriage never existed, and thus grant a decree of nullity? What is to be done about the sacramental situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics? How does the Church best prepare its sons and daughters for marriage?