Northern Ireland Catholic chapel wins 'church of the year' award

 

A Catholic church in Northern Ireland has won the first “Church of the Year” award, presented by the National Churches Trust, the conservation charity.

St Macartan’s Church in Augher, County Tyrone, known as the Forth Chapel, won an award for maintenance as well as the overall prize at the inaugural awards ceremony, held in Mercers’ Hall in London on 24 October.

The judges particularly praised the church for “the combined strength of its approach to looking after the building, the involvement of local people as volunteers and the way that St Macartan’s is promoted as part of the heritage of County Tyrone”.

Built between 1838 and 1846, the grade B+ listed church sits in the Clogher Valley on the site of an early Irish ring fort, giving its cemetery an unusual circular boundary.  The site was used for open-air Masses during penal times, and the church was once the cathedral for the diocese of Clogher.

It has four stained-glass windows from the Clarke Studio, installed in 1922.  Harry Clarke is Ireland’s most celebrated stained-glass artist and was a key figure in the country’s arts and crafts movement.

The windows were recently restored as part of a wider heritage project funded by the National Churches Trust “Treasure Ireland” scheme.  he charity said this “proved to be a catalyst for the church, creating a real sense of vibrancy with lots of people becoming involved in many aspects of church life”.

Nina McNeary, the charity’s church support officer for Northern Ireland, said that it was “a pleasure to witness the journey they have been on”. “The windows are the hook,” she told The Tablet, but she said these introduced parishioners and visitors to the church’s deeper history.

The awards judges said: “There’s a sense of bringing everyone together to share in the activity.  It’s wonderful to see an ecumenical project which demonstrates that leadership is a real linchpin to success. So often the clergy think that the gutters have nothing to do with their vocation but it’s great to see their involvement here.”

For the past 12 years a committee of parishioners and the parish priest have organised maintenance work for the church, consulting with a conservation architect on any major problems.

Elsewhere, two Catholic churches have reached the shortlist for the heritage awards run by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.  St Aloysius’s Church in Glasgow and the Honan Chapel in University College, Cork (which also houses significant Clarke Studio glass) are listed for the John Betjeman Award for repair to places of worship.

Peace is never achieved with arms, Pope Francis says

 

On All Saints Day, Pope Francis offered a reflection on peace, which he said is never achieved by wielding power or weapons but is built day by day with patience and closeness to God.

Speaking to faithful present in St. Peter’s Square during a Nov. 1 Angelus address, the pope said people are often led to believe “that peace comes by force and power,” but insisted that for Jesus, “it is the opposite.”

“His life and that of the saints tell us that the seed of peace, in order to grow and bear fruit, must first die,” he said, adding, “Peace is not achieved by conquering or defeating someone; it is never violent, it is never armed.”

Francis said the feast of All Saints is not a celebration of those who lived a “starched” and “picture-perfect holiness,” and that Jesus’ sermon on the Beatitudes in the day’s Gospel “belies this stereotypical view.”

He focused his reflection on the Beatitudes, saying they indicate the opposite of perfection, but rather point to a life “that is countercultural and revolutionary.”

Specifically, the pope focused on Jesus’ declaration of “Blessed are the peacemakers,” which he said is a timely reflection and also proof that the peace Jesus offers “is very different from that we imagine.”

“We all long for peace, but often what we want is to be at peace, to be left in peace, to have no problems, just tranquility,” whereas Jesus, he said, “does not call blessed those who are in peace, but those who make peace, the constructors, the peacemakers.”

Like any construction project, Pope Francis said peace “requires effort, collaboration, patience.”

While many would like peace “to rain down from above,” the Bible, he said, instructs believers to sow peace, “because it germinates from the soil of life, from the seed of our heart; it grows in silence, day after day, through works of justice and mercy, as the luminous witnesses we are celebrating today show us.”

Insisting that peace can never come as a result of force or violence, Francis said that just as the world must lay down arms, each person must do so at an individual level.

To become a peacemaker, “one must disarm the heart,” he said, adding, “we are all equipped with aggressive thoughts and sharp words, and we think to defend ourselves with the barbed wire of complaint and the concrete walls of indifference.”

True peace “calls for the demilitarization of the field of the heart,” he said, saying this is accomplished by opening oneself to Jesus, going to confession, and reflecting on the cross, “which is the cathedra of peace.”

“This is where we begin, because being peacemakers, being saints, is not our ability, it is his gift, it is grace,” he said, and urged believers to question themselves on their own peacemaking efforts in the various areas of their lives, whether it be work, study, or at home.

“Do we bring tension, words that hurt, gossip that poisons, controversy? Or do we open up the way to peace: Do we forgive those who have offended us, do we care for those who are at the margins, do we redress some injustice by helping those who have less?” he said, adding, “This is building peace.”

Francis said another question worth asking is whether it is worth it to strive to live this way, as it might appear to some that they are “losing out.”

While peacemakers might seem “out of place” in the world since they lack the logic of power and influence, these people “will be the closest to God,” he said, insisting that “even here those who prevail remain empty-handed, while those who love everyone and hurt no one win.”

After leading faithful in praying the traditional Angelus prayer, Pope Francis asked for prayers for his upcoming Nov. 3-6 visit to Bahrain, and urged prayers for peace in “martyred Ukraine,” saying, “Let us pray, let us pray that there be peace in Ukraine.”

Bahraini activist, son urge pope to speak out during visit

 

Bahraini activist Ali Mashaima and his father Hassan, who has been behind bars since 2011, have urged Pope Francis to publicly condemn what they say are human rights violations and poor treatment of prisoners during his upcoming visit to Bahrain.

Speaking to Crux, Mashaima said he does not think the pope should go to Bahrain, but that if he does, “I want him to tell the king very clear, I don’t agree with you arresting scholars and human rights’ defenders and revoking the nationality of Bahraini citizens. You will not make a strong case for dialogue if you attack your own people.”

If the pope visits Bahrain and does not speak out against what Mashaima and many other activists say are negligent treatment of inmates, torture, religious discrimination, and political arrests, “he will indirectly give a blessing to the king to continue human rights violations,” Mashaima said.

Mashaima has become an internationally recognized figure due to his advocacy on behalf of his father, Hassan Mashaima, 73, who is one of the so-called “Bahrain Thirteen,” which refers to 13 Bahraini opposition leaders, activists, bloggers, and Shia clerics who were arrested between March 17 and April 9, 2011, in connection with their role in the national pro-democracy protests that year led by the country’s Shia majority at the height of the region’s “Arab Spring” uprisings.

Despite his advanced age, Hassan Mashaima was given a life sentence for his role in the anti-government protests, which were crushed by the ruling Sunni Al Khalifa family, which in the years since has managed to keep a lid on unrest and has closed many Shia-led opposition groups and jailed numerous activists.

In one of their most contested moves, Bahraini rulers have refused to make power-sharing concessions to the Shia majority, and national authorities have convicted hundreds on terrorism charges in mass trials.

While Bahraini leaders have accused the opposition of undermining national security, pro-democracy advocates have referred to the Al Khalifa family rule as a dictatorship where basic rights such as freedom of speech and assembly are nonexistent, and where any form of dissent is met with fierce resistance.

Ali Mashaima lives in London, after Bahrain charged him in absentia to 45 years in prison and revoked his citizenship in November 2012 due to his public opposition to the Bahraini government and leadership.

Mashaima told Crux his first taste of the force used by the Bahrain regime was when he was arrested at 15 for joining a protest, and stayed behind bars for 18 months.

“At that time, I was not that man who understood the situation deeply, the political situation or human rights in general. But because I just joined a protest at that time, me and many young people were arrested,” he said.

In a written testimony after his arrest in 2011, Hassan Mashaima recounted his own arrest in 2011, saying police came to his home at two o’ clock in the morning, blindfolded him, and put him into a van, where, he said, he received “beating, humiliation, insults and verbal abuse.”

Hassan, in his testimony, said that when they reached the prison, “I received another reception party of beating and punching all over my body and especially on my head and ears. They spat on me and pushed me until I fell and was injured.”

That first night, Hassan said he was consistently beaten and insulted, and was made to stand in the cold until he felt sick, while prison guards poured cold water over his body. He said masked men came to his cell at midnight, turned the air conditioning on, and poured cold water over his body.

“I stayed shaking from the cold and unable to sleep although I was very exhausted,” he said, saying the next night guards came at night and hit the metal grid of his cell with hard objects to make loud “disturbing” sounds, and he was later mocked and beaten.

Hassan said that “this degrading treatment continued, and the series of intimidation and torture continued on a daily basis,” making it hard for him to sleep, and he was denied showers for days at a time and forced to stand for hours against a wall without moving, even after water was poured on his body.

According to the testimony, Hassan’s trial took place at dawn over a period of days, while masked men insulted him and threatened his family. After being drug out of his room at three o’ clock in the morning and being asked by a Royal Court official to make a televised apology, Hassan said his refusal was met with more threats, sexual harassment, and beatings.

Mashaima said his father has also been denied medical treatment, such as routine screenings to see if a cancer he was cured from has returned, treatment for high blood pressure, and dental visits for toothaches and lost teeth.

“For me, this is slowly killing, when you stop giving medicine or you stop giving medical treatment at this age, it’s like you are killing me, indirectly,” Mashaima said. “That’s why I am still fighting for my dad and for my country as well.”

In comments to Crux, a spokesperson for the Bahraini government said that its criminal justice system operates “in full compliance with international law and in line with U.N. human rights principles.”

“Inmates have their legal rights guaranteed throughout the trial process and sentence, including full rights of appeal,” the spokesperson said, insisting that the government of Bahrain “has a zero-tolerance policy towards mistreatment of any kind.”

To this end, they said the government has put into place “internationally recognized human rights safeguards, including the establishment of independent bodies to conduct investigations and undertake periodic inspections of prison conditions and inmates’ welfare.”

Inmates, including Hassan Mashaima, have “full access to healthcare,” including specialist visits when necessary, the spokesperson said, saying any allegations of mistreatment “are fully investigated, and public reports are issued with recommendations based on the findings.”

Yet Mashaima insists otherwise, and to plead his father’s case, he has advocated on social media and has spoken to the international press. In 2018, he conducted a hunger strike for 46 days, sleeping in the street outside the Bahraini Embassy in London for 63 days. He did another, 23-day hunger strike in December 2021.

Thanks in large part to Mashaima’s advocacy, his father’s case has been reported on by international media and has been mentioned by rights organizations such as Amnesty International, as well as the European Parliament and the UK Parliament in discussions on human rights in Bahrain and the treatment of political prisoners.

Mashaima said he has also written a letter to Pope Francis asking him to intervene, and that his father has also sent a message to the pope from prison, asking him to stand with the oppressed in the face of “repressive tyrants.”

“There is no doubt that the ruler in Bahrain benefits from your visit and is proud of his pretense of promoting a culture of dialogue, coexistence, tolerance and support for brotherhood and humanity, which the Bahraini people lack and see only on the pages of newspapers and state media, which are entirely subject to the authority’s agenda and directives,” Hassan said in his appeal.

He said the king’s claims of pluralism, diversity of opinions, tolerance, and love are “disproven by evidence and events which have played out over the years.”

“I am one of the opposition figures who was sentenced in the military court after being subjected to torture even though we are not soldiers, because of our demand for freedom and justice. In short, the system is a totalitarian dictatorship,” Hassan said, asking the pope, “What is your position that history will record?”

While their advocacy is not based on their Shia faith, Mashaima said this is also an element of religious persecution in Bahrain that must be addressed.

Noting that the pope’s Nov. 3-6 visit will coincide with the 10th anniversary of the revoking of his citizenship, Mashaima told Crux that on the same day, the citizenship of two prominent Shia ayatollahs was also revoked.

Some months later, Bahrain’s only remaining Shia ayatollah – the most prestigious title a Shia cleric and scholar can attain – was also exiled, meaning there are no more left in the country.

“When the pope visited Iraq, he visited Ayatollah Sistani, and if he goes anywhere, he will meet with the religious people from that place, but in Bahrain he will not meet with the Bahrain ayatollah because they are not in Bahrain, they cannot go back,” Mashaima said.

He said the Bahraini army, at the order of the ruling Al Khalifa family, also destroyed 36 Shia mosques in 2012, in the wake of the 2011 uprising.

“Now how can they talk about tolerance and dialogue between the east and west, when he cannot do that with his own people?” Mashaima asked, voicing his belief that if the pope visits Bahrain, “he indirectly gives the King legitimacy to continue his human rights violations against his people.”

“Unless he will go demand publicly for the release of all clerics, and to give people their basic rights in the country,” it will send the wrong message, he said.

“So, I want to ask him to visit my dad, I want him to tell the king very clear, I don’t agree with you arresting scholars and human rights defenders and revoking the nationality of Bahraini citizens. You will not make a strong case for dialogue if you attack your own people,” Mashaima said.

He voiced his belief that “this is the least the pope can do, and I think if he mentions these cases clearly to the king, maybe something will change.”

Church hopes for reconciliation of Brazilians after Lula’s election

 

After the fiercest presidential campaign in Brazil’s history, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva managed to beat his rival Jair Bolsonaro on October 30 with a narrow margin of only two million votes.

As soon as the South American country’s electoral authority proclaimed Lula’s victory, several world leaders called him or congratulated him on social media, including President Joe Biden.

But more than one day after the election, Bolsonaro had not yet publicly acknowledged his defeat. All over the nation, groups of his supporters have been blocking roads and asking for a military coup to correct what they saw as “a voting fraud”– although there is no evidence of voting irregularities.

The protests are a signal that the political polarization in the country – intensified since the 2018 presidential campaign, when Bolsonaro was elected – may not end with the conclusion of the electoral process. Although the church is aware of the great obstacles ahead, it has been calling for Brazilians to leave their differences aside and work together from now on.

On Oct. 31, the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB) issued a statement in which it called the people to reconcile and seek “the common good.”

“The conclusion of the 2022 elections summons us, even more, to reconciliation, essential to the new cycle that is opening. Now, everyone, without distinction, needs to accompany, demand and supervise those who have achieved success at the polls. The exercise of citizenship does not end with the end of the electoral process,” the declaration said.

The letter congratulates the elected politicians and the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) for its “zeal during the whole democratic process.”

Headed by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who has been playing a fundamental role over the past few years in restraining Bolsonaro’s perceived attacks on Brazilian institutions, the TSE expended great effort to secure that the election would not be disturbed by the politically charged atmosphere.

Since the 2018 campaign, Bolsonaro has alleged that there are security flaws in the voting machines used in Brazil since the 1990s. Over the past months, he has claimed several times that he enjoyed great popular support and that he would only accept an electoral outcome that benefitted him, saying his defeat would be a clear sign of fraud.

Those ideas have become popular among his most adamant supporters, who saw a conspiracy from world leaders, a section of the business leadership in Brazil, the media, and the judiciary to elect Lula.

Shortly before the second round of the presidential vote, Bolsonaro’s campaign tried to put in doubt the legitimacy of the process.

One of the arguments presented by his supporters was that radio stations all over the country – but especially in the Northeast, where Lula was born and where he has a great political hegemony – refused to play Bolsonaro’s campaign ads.

His campaign failed to provide any evidence of fraud and Moraes closed the case, enraging many of Bolsonaro’s voters.

On election day, reports coming from different locations in the Northeast said federal highway police officers were stopping cars and buses taking electors to vote in order to inspect them. Such inspections were causing delays and risked keeping the voters from the polls before they closed.

Videos showing policemen keeping people waiting on the road apparently for no reason flooded social media and many of Lula’s supporters began to ask for an extension of voting hours. In the afternoon, Moraes told reporters that he had met with the federal police director and ordered that all such inspections should immediately cease.

Now, among Lula’s voters, there is an atmosphere of insecurity, as many of them fear that Bolsonaro can still impede the president-elect to take office in January.

Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino of the Prelature of São Félix, in Mato Grosso State, said the way for pacification is open, despite so much animosity.

“I think that most of Bolsonaro’s electors are not fanatic and after the dust settles a dialogue will be possible,” he told Crux.

Vasino’s prelature is a region where Brazil’s political divide is plainly seen.

Located in the Amazon, it has been economically dominated by agribusiness – which heavily supports Bolsonaro – for decades.

At the same time, there is a great number of poor peasants and Indigenous peoples in the area who support Lula.

The prelate said that even the church has suffered violence during the campaign, with people insulting a pro-Lula priest on social media.

“Despite all that, Catholics need now to establish dialogues with both sides of the political spectrum – dialogues that are calm and gentle and are not a contraposition of party slogans,” he said.

Archbishop Roque Paloschi of Porto Velho, in Rondônia State, said that many families have been divided over politics – and now it is about time to reconcile.

“But it depends on the good disposition of everyone, including the president. We have to avoid unnecessary arguments and work for solidarity and peace,” he told Crux.

Paloschi said that several roads have been blocked by pro-Bolsonaro demonstrators in Rondônia. Truck drivers have been leading such protests in almost every state of the country. Videos on social media show that local and federal policemen have often been showing support to the protesters.

“But I believe that the order will prevail, and that people will be calmer and accept the election’s outcome. Catholics have to be wise and careful, avoiding aggressiveness and revenge,” he said.

The archbishop said Brazilians should seek “humility” and remember the prayer attributed to Saint Francis: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.”

“Even if we are attacked, we should not show the same attitude of our aggressor. Jesus never responded to his critics. The only reaction he had was to ask his attacker why he attacked him,” he said.

U.S. bishops offer pro-family policy recommendations ahead of midterms

 

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in an Oct. 26 letter offered more than a dozen policy recommendations related to the health and well-being of women, children, and families, calling for a “radical solidarity” with mothers in need and the building of a society where families flourish without a supposed need for abortion. 

The bishops’ letter comes shortly before the Nov. 8 midterm elections in the United States, during which 34 of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be contested. The bishops called the midterms, the first U.S. elections following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a “historic opportunity to redouble efforts toward a culture of life that respects and supports the dignity of every person at every stage.”

“[W]e hope for the day when abortion is unthinkable because society has successfully reckoned with the challenges of raising children in the modern world and has decided to make the full flourishing of children and their families the highest goal, without anyone being excluded,” the bishops wrote. 

“What would such a society and workplace really look like? Every sector of society would enjoy more stability and thrive if young people could more authentically value themselves and one another, form healthy, committed relationships, marry, and have children with confidence that their communities and society would really support them, no matter what obstacles they face.”

“We continue to exhort our nation to prioritize the well-being of women, children, and families with both material resources and personal accompaniment so that no woman ever feels forced to choose between her future and the life of her child,” the bishops wrote. 

Several of the bishops’ policy recommendations related to policies to support pregnant women, mothers, and children, and made mention of low-income and immigrant families, who often face many difficulties. 

“We stand ready to work with you [lawmakers] to bring forward solutions in light of these aspirations and encourage long-term and ongoing dialogue on how the policies and laws of our country can be improved to support all children and families,” the bishops wrote.

Among the many policy recommendations, the bishops expressed support for a requirement that employers provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers through the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, as well as accommodations for breastfeeding mothers through the PUMP for Nursing Mothers Act. 

Quoting St. John Paul II, the bishops noted that “the true advancement of women requires that labor should be structured in such a way that women do not have to pay for their advancement by abandoning what is specific to them and at the expense of the family, in which women as mothers have an irreplaceable role.”

The bishops also expressed support for a child tax credit with no minimum income threshold, as well as tax credits and other assistance for pregnancy resource centers, initiatives to support federal paid family leave, support for child care and pre-kindergarten programs, and affordable housing initiatives. 

They also advocated the strengthening of maternal and child health care by, for example, extending Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months, the strengthening of adoption support, and the regulation of toxic chemicals such as PFAS and methane, which can hurt children both born and unborn.

The bishops mentioned as a priority the inclusion of immigrant and mixed-status families in society and in the workforce through initiatives such as the Farm Workforce Modernization Act.

“In a country fundamentally shaped by the contributions of immigrants, both culturally and economically, we cannot accept policies that unjustly exclude newcomers, especially when we continue to rely on — and collectively benefit from — their labors,” the bishops wrote.

“With a strong scriptural foundation, the social doctrine of the Church clearly affirms that the ‘families of migrants have the right to the same protection as that accorded other families,’ including ‘the right to respect for their own culture and to receive support and assistance towards their integration into the community to which they contribute.’ Immigrant workers in particular, whether seasonal, undocumented, or otherwise, must be treated ’not as mere tools of production but as persons.’”

Will war chaplain Willie Doyle be Ireland’s next saint?

 

Ireland’s Father William Doyle, SJ, is one step closer to sainthood. Bishop Thomas Deenihan of the Diocese of Meath announced his intention Oct. 27 to open the Jesuit’s cause for beatification and canonization.

Doyle was an Irish military chaplain for the British Army who served heroically on the battlefields of World War I and died trying to rescue two Protestant soldiers.

“We’re obviously very delighted, but also very grateful,” Patrick Kenny, president of the Father Willie Doyle Association, told CNA Oct. 31. “We’re very grateful to the bishop, very grateful to the Irish Jesuit province that has supported us, and very grateful for God’s providence that this is the moment when Father Doyle’s cause is being introduced.”

The association seeks to raise awareness about Doyle and promote his cause for sainthood.

“One of the standard characteristics of Father Willie’s personality was his joy,” Kenny said. “What’s interesting is, while he himself lived a very austere and very mortified life, very few people knew about that. On the surface, as far as everyone knew, he was a very, very joyful man and he was actually renowned for his practical jokes.”

Doyle’s admirers have noted the special role of prayer and penance in his life: the priest’s diaries show he offered his mortifications and sufferings to God in reparation for the sins of priests.

Bishop Deenihan’s decree said Doyle’s sainthood cause has the “unanimous consent” of the Irish bishops’ conference and approval from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. The request to open the cause came from Father John Hogan, who has been named postulator of the cause.

“His example is one of hope for many,” Hogan said in an Oct. 27 statement from the Doyle association. “I am privileged to act as postulator for Fr. Willie’s cause and look forward to helping to make him a new saint for the Jesuits and a new saint for Ireland.”

Doyle was born March 3, 1873, in Dalkey, a southeastern suburb of Dublin. He was the youngest of seven children in a devout family that made sure to care for their less fortunate neighbors. As a young boy, he would often bring food and money to poor neighbors and clean and paint their houses, according to his biography on the Doyle association website.

In 1891 he entered the Society of Jesus in County Meath. After ordination to the priesthood in 1907, he had various assignments around Ireland in which he focused on outreach to workers and their families.

With the outbreak of World War I, he volunteered as a military chaplain for the 8th Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers of the 16th Irish Division of the British Army. He served from late 1915 until his death in 1917.

He became known for his efforts to minister to the dead and dying while suffering with the soldiers in the trenches. On one occasion, when a medical doctor had fallen ill and had no warm or dry spot to sleep in, Doyle laid facedown in the dugout they shared so the doctor could sleep on his back.

Doyle died on Aug. 16, 1917, during the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium while trying to rescue two Anglican soldiers from Ulster, in the north of Ireland.

He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at the Battle of the Somme and a divisional merit award for bravery during a poison gas attack. He was nominated for both the Distinguished Service Order and the Victoria Cross, the latter being the most prestigious military honor in the British armed forces.

Kenny noted that the priest who went on to be known for courage and heroism had “a complete nervous breakdown” at the age of 20 when his novitiate caught on fire.

“It had a big effect upon him. And he was healed from that,” Kenny said. “We see him 20 years later as this hero in the war that people flocked to. He was so courageous, but he was also so serene in the midst of the dangers of war. This, I think, is a very attractive part of his personality for us today. He shows us that this kind of healing and transformation is possible.”

The cause for Doyle’s beatification and canonization will be formally opened with a Nov. 20 Mass at Christ the King Cathedral in Mullingar, County Westmeath, the seat of the Diocese of Meath.

Colombia celebrates beatification of María Berenice Duque, foundress of three congregations

 

Mother María Berenice Duque Hencker, a Colombian nun who founded religious congregations, including the Congregation of the Sisters of the Annunciation, was beatified in Medellín on Oct. 29.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Dicastery for the Cause of Saints, presided over the ceremony held in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Medellín. The archbishop of Medellín, Ricardo Tobón Restrepo, concelebrated.

The Medellín archdiocese reported that the beatification was attended by thousands.

During his homily, Semeraro highlighted the “humility” that characterized Mother María Berenice and recalled that the consulting theologians recognized this virtue on multiple occasions “during the beatification process.”

“In this, Mother María Berenice, beatified today, always had as a model the Virgin Mary of the Annunciation, to whom she dedicated the first of the three religious foundations: the Sisters of the Annunciation. She herself lived her everyday life in essentiality, considering herself a ‘little worm’ ‘trash,’ ‘nothing,’” the cardinal said.

Mother Maria Berenice searched “day after day, with difficulty, with suffering, overcoming many trials” how to respond to God, in the midst of contrasts and misunderstandings. But she had the “good example” of Mary, the cardinal remarked.

He also noted that the new blessed imitated the Virgin in charity toward the poor, who “were at the center of her existence and also, so that the poor could be ‘evangelized,’ she founded a religious family.”

“She had, in particular, a love for the poorest children, whom she considered the favorites of the Lord,” he recalled.

During the Mass, Semeraro read the apostolic letter in which Pope Francis declares the beatification.

The Archdiocese of Medellín said that afterward her relics were taken to the altar and placed there as a sign of veneration.

Brief biography of Maria Berenice Duke Hencker

Mother María Berenice was born in the department of Caldas, Colombia, on Aug. 14, 1898.

From a young age she felt the call to the consecrated life, and in 1917, at age 19, she entered the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation.

Her intense love for God, which never ceased to grow throughout her religious life, inspired her with an ardent apostolic zeal at the service of evangelization.

In 1943 she founded the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Annunciation, which was dedicated especially to children, youths, and the family. In 1957 she created the foundation of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Jesus and Mary, who are dedicated to pastoral work in mission places.

Finally, in 1964 Mother Berenice founded the Missionary Brothers of the Annunciation, the men’s branch that works with the vulnerable in society, such as homeless children, prisoners, and the marginalized.

After a long illness, she died on July 25, 1993.

Why Pope Francis’ November prayer intention is for children who suffer

 

Pope Francis’ prayer intention for the month of November is for children who suffer, including war victims and orphans. 

“There are still millions of boys and girls who suffer and live in conditions very similar to slavery,” the pontiff said in a video appeal issued Monday.

“They aren’t numbers,” he said, “they are human beings with names, with a face of their own, with an identity that God has given them.”

“Let us pray for children who are suffering, especially for those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of war,” the pope said in a video message published Oct. 31.

“Each marginalized child, abandoned by his or her family, without schooling, without health care, is a cry! A cry that rises up to God and shames the system that we adults have built,” the pope said, adding: “An abandoned child is our fault.”

Pope Francis’ prayer video is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.

To Prosper, Nigeria Needs Change from “selfishness to selflessness”: Catholic Archbishop

 

Nigeria will record progress when there is change from the tendency to amass wealth for personal gain to the practice of sharing, and from “selfishness to selflessness”, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Archdiocese  has said.

In his Sunday, October 30 homily at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral of Abuja, Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama reflected on the Gospel Reading of the day about the conversion of Zacchaeus, from greed to generosity, and challenged Nigerian leaders to do likewise.

“Our nation will experience greater successes when greed changes to generosity and selfishness to selflessness,” Archbishop Kaigama said.

He added, “Zacchaeus was willing to take up his social responsibility towards his neighbors and so proves for us a model of a new political culture, giving up kleptocratic tendencies for equity and fairness to hold sway.”

The conversion of Zacchaeus, Archbishop Kaigama said, should “be a guide for ready reference for our leaders who have for long deprived the poor so much.”

He added that the conversion of the tax collector is “a call to mindfulness in our nation, where large sums of money meant for the public good are stolen, misappropriated and diverted by those in political offices and public service.”

Archbishop Kaigama who wished for an end to financial crimes and other criminal activities in Africa's populous nation said that the true change of heart should not only involve repentance of past sins but also the returning of embezzled property to rightful owners.

“We continue to hope that the financial crimes and nation crippling activities will be curbed by the relevant financial crime agencies and the recovered national assets will be put into judicious use such as building first class, well equipped and properly managed hospitals in every geopolitical zone with citizens having easy access to them,” he said.

The Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in April 1995 as Bishop of Jalingo Diocese in Nigeria and has been at the helm of Abuja Archdiocese since November 2019 urged political aspirants to be prudent during the country’s electioneering period ahead of the February 2023 polls.

Any form of political coercion that involves the use of inhuman or immoral means to convince people amounts to “immature politics or politics without principles or decorum,” he said. 

“Some people want to fight their way to power. Some apply the allure of money; some by gentle persuasion, but some, by hook or by crook. Some are so bitter that they neither forgive nor forget political wrongs even if they profess belief in God,” Archbishop Kaigama said October 30.

He added that some politicians “exclude dialogue and friendly encounters and if you dare to say a good word, a positive word, about an opposition partner, or be seen in his/her company you become their instant enemy.”

The Nigerian Catholic Church leaders cautioned political leaders in the West African country against “morbid fear and paranoid political tendencies and hypersensitivity.”