Month: September 2017

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What’s the secret to 70 years of religious life? The Virgin Mary, this nun says

September 21, 2017 CNA Daily News 3

Mexico City, Mexico, Sep 21, 2017 / 06:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sister Crucita has been a member of the Josephine Sisters in Mexico for 70 years. At nearly 100 years old, she says she is happy with her vocation and would not change her decision to give her life to God.

In an interview with CNA, Sister Crucita – whose full religious name is Sister Maria of the Royal Cross – said that the secret of her perseverance has always been her trust in the mercy of God and the support of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

“I say to the Blessed Virgin Mary, ‘Take care of me, you already know I’m yours. Deliver me from the snares of the devil.’ The Blessed Virgin has taken great care of me,” she said.

Through the Holy Rosary she was able to persevere in face of the temptation to abandon the religious life on many occasions, she said.

“One of the strongest temptations was to want to leave the religious life, because there were a lot of difficulties at the hospital where I was. The doctors encouraged me to leave, but I trusted in God and the Blessed Virgin. And here I am, thanks to them,” she said.

Sister Crucita was born Nov. 23, 1917 in the El Oro municipality in Mexico State. From a very young age, she had a love for Christ and the Church, thanks to the devotion of her parents who took her to Mass.

“I always liked going to Mass. I had an uncle who was a sacristan and I liked to spend time with him. So I was always drawn to the things of the Lord,” she said.

She began thinking about a religious vocation after a group of religious sisters came to her home town. She even discerned with a cloistered convent, but was forced to return home after two years, due to an illness.  

Sister Crucita was introduced to the Josephine Sisters by a priest. She worked alongside the sisters at a local hospital for a few months, and then entered the novitiate.

On Aug. 15, 1947, Sister Crucita made her final vows as a Josephine sister, at 30 years of age. Currently she goes to confession about every two weeks, prays the Holy Rosary three or four times a day, and attends Mass daily.

She said her religious vocation was always tied to her profession as a nurse.

At the start of the 1950s, Sister Crucita was sent to her congregation’s hospital in Cuba. Later, in 1952, she arrived in Guadalajara and was assigned as a nurse to the Civil Hospital. For many years she was the supervisor of the pediatrics department.

“I see how the sick suffer and there are many who offer everything to God, they don’t complain or anything. So then I think, if they who are sick and are always thinking about God, then what can I complain about. Anything on my part is something passing and I offer it to the Lord,” she emphasized.

Sister María de la Cruz said that one of her secrets to keep on going has always been to feel welcomed by the mercy of God: “I know that He loves me much more than I love him. I have always thought that He seeks me, he calls me, that he is always with me. If something happens to me, He watches over me.”

She encouraged young people to trust “completely in God, in the love that He has for us” because “He helps us and gives us peace.”

On Nov. 23, at Our Lady of Bethlehem and Saint Michael the Archangel church, a Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated for Sister Crucita’s 100th birthday.

Sister Beatriz Escamilla, a 44-year-old Josephine sister, said that at nearly 100 years old, Sister Crucita is still very independent.

“She begins her routine at 5:00 am, because she moves at a slower pace, and then she comes to the chapel at 7:00 am. She is one of the most punctual sisters, and sometimes she beats us all there. Sometimes she’s the one who opens up the chapel,” Sister Beatriz said.  

She also highlighted Sister Crucita’s fervent prayer for “vocations and for those of us still working in the apostolate.”

“She has an hour dedicated to prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament to especially ask for these needs,” she said.

Whenever things at the hospital get difficult, Sister Beatriz said, she can always count on Sister Crucita for encouragement.

“She’s a person you’re drawn to, through the peace she conveys. She offers a lesson in joy, perseverance, dedication and sacrifice,” she concluded.

 

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Vatican official laments lack of fair trade label for commercial fishing

September 20, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Sep 21, 2017 / 12:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- An upcoming world congress by the Catholic organization Apostleship of the Sea will focus on the plight of fishermen, who frequently face exploitation in carrying out their work, according to one Vatican official.

He lamented that no ‘Fair Trade’ certification exists for their product.

“We have to be educated,” Fr. Bruno Ciceri told CNA Sept. 20. “Frozen food here is cheap, but it’s because people are exploited, because there is forced labor, because there are trafficked people that work aboard these fishing vessels.”

Referring to the label given to products from developing countries that adhere to ethical standards of trading, he said, “We talk a lot about ‘Fair Trade.’ I don’t know the day when we will have ‘fair trade’ also in fishing. That will make a difference.”

Fr. Ciceri is a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He is also the Vatican delegate for the Apostleship of the Sea, which provides pastoral care for seafarers and their families.

He also worked for the Apostleship of the Sea in Taiwan for 13 years.

Their next World Congress, which is held every five years, will take place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Oct. 1-7. Notable attendees will include Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, and Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Taiwan was chosen for the 25th congress largely because the majority of the world’s fishing fleets are concentrated in the island nation; about 36 percent of tuna fishing fleets in the world are Taiwanese.

When it comes to the fishing industry Taiwan faces several grave challenges, Fr. Ciceri said. For one, because Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations it is not obliged to follow UN conventions on the fishing trade.

In general though, the challenges are the same affecting the whole of the industry, he pointed out, including poor working conditions and wage and labor exploitation, such as what happens between fishermen and brokers.

For example, Fr. Ciceri said one situation that is common is when a broker will contract fishermen with a promise of a certain salary. Of this, maybe only 20 percent is given directly to the fisherman and 80 percent will be held by the broker, only to be given over after the fisherman has completed a three year contract. If he leaves before this, he loses everything.

So the fishing industry needs to “clean up their act,” he said, but so does the buyer – the big companies that buy the fish to import.

One thing the Apostleship of the Sea tries to do, he said, is ensure that big companies are checking their supply lines and guaranteeing that they are not profiting from forced labor or other violations.

“Often these companies just make sure that there are all of the hygienic things… but they don’t consider the people,” Fr. Ciceri said. “While for us as the Church, people are important. Fish are important, but people are more important.”

Sometimes you will read on cans of tuna that it has been caught without “hurting any turtles or without killing any dolphins,” he said. “Thanks very much, but what about the fishermen?”

“But that is not considered. I think there should be a sort of balance on these things. It’s true that we have to worry about the fish and other things, but we have to worry also about the people.”

For the average person who wants to do something, he continued, even the awareness of these practices, and why the products may be so cheap, is a good first step.

“It’s true that we would always like to save money,” but maybe sometimes we could consider buying the more expensive product that we know pays people justly.

Cardinal Turkson sent a message July 9 for “Sea Sunday,” reflecting on these issues, saying that at the congress in October “we will strengthen our network with the objective to increase cooperation between the Apostleship of the Sea of the different nations; we will share resources and best practices to develop specific skills, particularly in the fishing sector.”

“Let us ask Mary, Star of the Sea, to sustain our service and dedication to seafarers, fishermen and their families and to protect all the people of the sea until they reach the ‘safe port’ of heaven.”

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For the first time in 30 years, Sistine Choir to perform in US

September 20, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Washington D.C., Sep 20, 2017 / 12:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Sistine Chapel Choir will perform the U.S. for the first time in three decades, and will sing compositions that one expert says are an important heritage of the American church.

Italian priest Father Massimo Palombella directs the Sistine choir, which will be singing works by Renaissance composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Antonio Allegri and Tomás Luis de Victoria.

“As in Rome, this style of Renaissance polyphony would be adopted by the Churches of the New World as the standard style of music, especially for the Mass,” Dr. Grayson Wagstaff, dean of the Latin American Music Center at the Catholic University of America, explained to CNA.

On Sept. 20, a free concert will be hosted at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. next to Catholic University of America.

After attending Italy’s prestigious conservatory and spending years as a theology and music teacher, Fr. Palombella became the director at the Pontifical Music Chapel, and began conducting the choir in 2010.

Dr. Wagstaff applauded the Salesian priest’s efforts to use the Vatican’s historic repertory and rejuvenate this style of music into the daily life of the Papal Chapels.

Fr. Palombella will be performing sounds iconic of the Mexico City Cathedral and the many works of the Spanish composers which had made their way to the “new world.”

“These works by Spanish composers would be the core of music transmitted, taught and copied in manuscripts in Mexico,” Dr. Wagstaff said. “Young boys from Mexico (then ‘New Spain’) would be selected to receive training in music and become boy choristers for the cathedrals.”

He added that this music is very significant to the “Church’s artistic patrimony,” and now has the ability inspire “parishes to focus on quality music and learning about the Church’s legacy of art,” especially from Latin America.

Fr. Palombella studied philosophy and theology at the Salesian Pontifical Unversity, and trained under organ players Luigi Molfino and Bishop Valentino Miserachs Grau. He also attended the Conservatory of Turin.

Ordained a priest to the Salesian order in 1995, he began teaching dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Salesian University and the Language of Music at Sapienza University of Rome. He then succeeded Father Giuseppe Liberto as director of the Sistine Chapel Choir.

In his remarks to CNA, Dr. Wagstaff noted the importance that the upcoming concert has to the university.

“For us, this is a celebration of CUA’s role as one of the great centers in the world for teaching and preserving this musical legacy of Catholic tradition as well as our wonderful tradition of musicology and research on the history of music in Rome.”

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Mexican bishops join in prayer, grief after second deadly earthquake

September 20, 2017 CNA Daily News 1

Puebla, Mexico, Sep 20, 2017 / 11:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Following Mexico’s second major earthquake in two weeks, bishops in the country called for prayers and solidarity, asking Our Lady of Guadalupe to intercede and comfort the suffering people.

“We join in grieving the victims of the earthquake, which occurred today, Sept. 19, 2017, in different parts of our country,” said Archbishop José Francisco Robles Ortega of Guadalajara and Auxiliary Bishop Alfonso G. Miranda Guardiola of Monterrey, president and secretary general, respectively, of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference.

“Once again, we are witnessing the solidarity of the Mexican people, who see the suffering of their brother,” they said, praising the lifesaving efforts to rescue and feed those affected by the quake.

“Today more than ever, we invite the People of God to unite in solidarity for our brothers who are suffering the different calamities that have plagued our country,” the bishops urged. “We ask for the comfort of our Mother Mary of Guadalupe, so that through her intercession she may help us and strengthen us, in the reconstruction of our country.”

On Tuesday afternoon, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake tore through Mexico. The epicenter of the tremor was some 80 miles southeast of Mexico City, in the state of Puebla.

According to government officials, the earthquake has killed at least 217 people. As rescue operations continue, the death toll is expected to rise.

At least 25 people – mostly children – were killed when a school in Mexico City partially collapsed, and at least 15 daily Mass attendees died as a church collapsed near Puebla.

Throughout the region, volunteers and rescue workers dug through the night to try to reach survivors.

The deadly quake struck exactly 32 years after the disastrous Sept. 19, 1985 earthquake of Mexico City, which killed thousands. It also comes only 12 days after a massive 8.1-magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico on Sept. 7, killing at least 96.

In their statement, the leaders of the Mexican Bishops’ Conference promised that Church organizations will work to collect information and help coordinate a response.

In the past two weeks, the bishops have already been working on recovery operations from the Sept. 7 earthquake. The Catholic humanitarian organization Caritas has begun its relief efforts and echoed the bishops’ statement that a full response will come in coordination with other Church agencies.

In the Diocese of Puebla, local Caritas groups and the diocesan pastoral committee announced that they will distribute food, personal hygiene items and diapers to local shelters.

Pope Francis also expressed his concern and offered prayers for all those affected by the earthquake during his Wednesday general audience address.

“In this moment of sorrow I want to express my closeness and prayer to all the beloved Mexican population. Let us all raise our prayers together to God so that he may welcome into his bosom those who have lost their lives, comfort the wounded, their families and all those affected,” the Pope said, praying that the Virgin of Guadalupe would be “close to the beloved Mexican nation.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops also expressed their condolences in the wake of the disaster.

“Once again, our hearts go out to our brothers and sisters in Mexico, who yesterday suffered yet another catastrophic earthquake,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference.

“We join them in prayer and solidarity, and together invoke the maternal protection of our Lady of Guadalupe, Comforter of the Afflicted and Mother Most Merciful.”

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Pope Francis prays for Mexico during this ‘moment of sorrow’

September 20, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Sep 20, 2017 / 09:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday, Pope Francis expressed his closeness to the people of Mexico after they suffered a devastating earthquake Sept. 19, asking for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe for all those who have died or lost loved ones.

“Yesterday a terrible earthquake has devastated Mexico. I saw that there are many Mexicans here today among you. It caused numerous victims and material damages,” the Pope said in Spanish after the General Audience Sept. 20.

“In this moment of sorrow I want to express my closeness and prayer to all the beloved Mexican population. Let us all raise our prayers together to God so that he may welcome into his bosom those who have lost their lives, comfort the wounded, their families and all those affected.”

He also asked for prayers for all military personnel and others who are helping those affected, and prayed for “our mother,” Our Lady of Guadalupe, to be “close to the beloved Mexican nation.”

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico City Tuesday destroying dozens of buildings and killing at least 217 people, according to the head of Mexico’s civil protection agency, Luis Felipe Puente.

Citizens and rescuers worked through the night to dig people out of the rubble. The death toll is expected to rise as the rescue continues.

The powerful quake hit Puebla state just 76 miles south-east of Mexico City, and follows less than two weeks after a magnitude 8.1 quake, the strongest the country has experienced in a century, struck off of the southern coast of Mexico Sept. 8, killing at least 61 people.

The Sept. 19 earthquake, with more than 11 aftershocks, hit Mexico City exactly 22 years to the day after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake which killed thousands struck the city in 1985.

In his weekly General Audience address, Pope Francis gave an encouraging reflection on hope, saying that this week he intended to address those gathered in St. Peter’s Square as an educator or as a father speaking to a child.

He encouraged those present to not give up, or let themselves become bitter, but to trust in God the Creator, who in the Holy Spirit moves all things for good in the end. “Believe it, he is waiting for you,” he emphasized. “Think, where God has sown you, he hopes! He always hopes.”

“Do not,” he said, “ever think that the fight you lead down here is completely useless.” All will not end in shipwreck. “God does not disappoint: if he has placed hope in our hearts, he does not want to wear it out with continued frustration.”

Everything has been created to eventually bloom in an eternal spring, he continued, even we have been created by God to bloom.

But, Francis urged, we cannot sit around waiting, we must act. “If you’re on the ground, get up!” he said. “If boredom paralyzes you, drive it away with good works! If you feel empty or demoralized, ask the Holy Spirit to again fill your nothingness.”

“And above all,” he said, “dream! Do not be afraid to dream.” Throughout history, those who have had hope in dreams are the ones who have won great victories, like the end to slavery, or better living conditions, the Pope said, and we should look to these people as examples.

We must be responsible for the world and for the life of every person, he said, because injustice done to any man is “an open wound” which dampens even our own dignity.

And in this responsibility, Francis continued, we must have “the courage of truth,” even while we remember that we are superior to no one. “If you were the last to believe in the truth, do not shy away from the company of men,” he said.

“Even if you live in the silence of a hermitage, bring into your hearts the suffering of every creature. You are a Christian; and in prayer give all back to God.”

He also advised against listening to the voices of those who spread hate and division, saying that human beings were created for community, and to live together in peace.

Even though living the truth and cultivating ideals takes courage, never stop, be loyal, Francis urged, even if you have to pay “a salty bill.” Your life, from your Baptism, has already been steeped in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, he said. You belong to Jesus, so do not be afraid.

“And if one day you get scared, or you think that evil is too big to be challenged, simply think that Jesus lives in you. And it is He who, through you, with his mildness wants to subdue all the enemies of man: sin, hatred, crime, violence; all our enemies,” he said.

The Pope continued his counsel, saying that when you make a mistake, as humans do, it’s important not to let it imprison you, but to turn it over to God, remembering that he came to save sinners.

And when you make a mistake again, “do not be afraid,” he said. “Get up! Do you know why? Because God is your friend.”

“If you are bitter, believe firmly in all the people who still work for good: in their humility there is the seed of a new world. Spend time with people who have kept their heart like that of a child. Learn from wonder, cultivate amazement,” he concluded.

“Live, love, dream, believe. And with God’s grace, never despair.”

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