As part of a week-long veneration in honor of the Virgin of Cisne, Ecuadorians from St. Leo’s parish, Corona, organized a series of novenas and a cultural celebration from Sept. 16 to 25. Members of the parish gathered each night to pray before the image of the Virgin, which was brought from the basilica in El Cisne in the southern province of Loja, Ecuador.
St. Leo’s Church in Corona is hosting a novena in honor of the Virgin of Cisne (Ecuador), Sept. 16-24, and a solemn diocesan Mass with the image of the Virgin from the city of Loja will be celebrated Sunday, Sept. 25.
“If we pray, God hears us. God has mercy and during this Year of Mercy, God will have mercy on Ecuador.” – Mass paritipant
There was no answer, just a cruel silence. I marked other numbers from other family members and all I heard was more silence.
It’s been almost two weeks since a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked northern Ecuador, but the country remains in a state of emergency. Ecuadorians living here in Brooklyn and Queens have been responding in the best ways they know.
Catholic agencies are beginning to build temporary shelters for thousands of families in Ecuador made homeless by the recent earthquake there.
Pope Francis did not call for an end to capitalism, but for an end to selfishness, exclusion and an attitude that sees the “unproductive” – whether they are unemployed, elderly or the unborn – as disposable.
Pope Francis is expected to arrive July 6 in Ecuador, starting a three-country tour of his home continent, the Associated Press reported from Quito.
