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Catholic actor Jonathan Roumie during a visit to Unbound’s headquarters in Nov. 2023. / Danika Wolf/Unbound
CNA Staff, Mar 20, 2024 / 18:00 pm (CNA).
Jonathan Roumie, the actor who plays Jesus in the popular television series “The Chosen,” will speak at the spring 2024 commencement at the Catholic University of America (CUA), the school announced Wednesday.
“Countless numbers of people have had their lives changed for the better by Jonathan Roumie through his portrayal of Jesus Christ,” CUA president Peter Kilpatrick said in a March 20 press release.
“Jonathan’s work is a testament to how Catholics can use their God-given talents to deliver messages of hope and to bring people closer to God,” Kilpatrick continued. “I look forward to welcoming him to The Catholic University of America.”
Besides playing Jesus Christ in “The Chosen,” which is now in its fourth season, Roumie has been featured on the Hallow prayer and meditation app, and has served as a ministry leader. He was also a keynote speaker at the annual March for Life in 2023 in Washington, D.C., and has more than 1.4 million followers on Instagram.
“Speaking at The Catholic University of America’s commencement is such an honor because I will be among those who not only value a quality education but a college experience formed by the Catholic faith,” Roumie said in the press release.
“I so look forward to celebrating with these graduates and sharing some insights into how one can live an inspired, fulfilling, and faithful life using the skills, talents, and intellect given to them by God,” he continued.
Roumie will speak at commencement on May 11 and receive an honorary doctoral degree, along with four others.
Rabbi Jack Bemporad, an interfaith leader, will also receive an honorary doctorate. Having fled the fascist takeover of Italy when he was 5 years old, Bemporad has since dedicated himself to improving relations among Christians, Muslims, and Jews across the world. He has authored several books about Christian and Jewish relations and is the founding director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding.
John Finnis, professor emeritus of University of Oxford and University of Notre Dame Law School and a Catholic legal and political thinker and renowned philosopher, will be receiving an honorary doctorate, along with speaker and writer Teresa Pitt Green, advocate, speaker, and co-founder of The Healing Voices magazine.
Father Piotr Nawrot, a Roman Catholic priest of the Divine World Ministries known for rediscovering and reconstructing 13,000 pages of music held by members of the Moxo and Chiquito tribes, among others, will also receive an honorary doctorate.
The commencement ceremony will take place on the steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, with about 1,300 graduating students.
CUA, established in 1887, just announced the launch of its “Lead with Light” brand platform, which Kilpatrick said “encapsulates who we are as an institution.”
The platform, he said, highlights “our dedication to academic excellence” as well as the “warm and welcoming community” at CUA, “where Christ is at the center of everything we do.”
A drawing of the Crucifixion by imprisoned Catholic and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai is unveiled by Lai’s godfather, William McGurn, and his wife and daughter at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Feb. 22, 2024. / Credit: Patrick G. Ryan/The Catholic University of America
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 23, 2024 / 14:35 pm (CNA).
The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., has installed a drawing of the Crucifixion by imprisoned Hong Kong Catholic and pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
Father Robert Sirico, a supporter and friend of Lai’s, said during the installation ceremony on Thursday that the sketch is a testimony “not just of Jimmy’s struggle but the struggle of all people of Hong Kong” and “all of the people of China, who will, by faith, resist [oppression].”
The large drawing depicts Christ on the cross flanked by eight orange flowers. It was created by Lai in prison, where, according to Sirico, he has been kept in solitary confinement for close to 1,500 days.
The picture was blessed by university chaplain Father Aquinas Guilbeau. It is now on permanent display by the St. Michael the Archangel Chapel in Catholic University’s Busch School of Business.
A successful entrepreneur, newspaper owner, Catholic, and outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Lai has been in a Hong Kong prison since 2020 for his pro-democracy and free speech advocacy.
The activist, a convert to Catholicism, was originally arrested in August 2020 under that year’s controversial national security law, which was passed by China’s communist-controlled government. The law sharply curtailed free speech in Hong Kong in an effort to quash what the Chinese Communist Party considered subversion and sedition in the separately administered region.
The plaque below Lai’s drawing at Catholic University explains that he “cites his Catholic faith as the basis for his refusal to be silenced or flee to save himself from arrest.”
Sirico said that the Hong Kong activist willingly chose to give up his comfortable, affluent life by resisting the CCP and refusing to leave Hong Kong. Although Hong Kongers have for years enjoyed a greater degree of freedom than that found in mainland China, that is now quickly changing as Chinese officials crack down on the region.
“If I go away, I not only give up my destiny, I give up God, I give up my religion, I give up what I believe in,” Lai said in 2020. “I am what I am. I am what I believe. I cannot change it. And if I can’t change it, I have to accept my fate with praise.”
Sirico told CNA that Lai sees his imprisonment as a way of joining in Christ’s passion on the cross. He said that the drawing should serve as an inspiring reminder that the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
In prison, Sirico said that Lai has devoted himself to religious reading and prayer. He has also begun creating religious drawings, mostly pictures of the Crucifixion, like the one now on display at Catholic University.
CUA has been a vocal supporter of Lai in previous years. In 2022, the university awarded Lai an honorary degree.
Dr. Peter Kilpatrick, Catholic University’s president, told CNA that Lai “represents resistance to real oppression” and that he “represents freedom.”
Kilpatrick said that he hopes students will look at the drawing and learn about Lai and his resistance in Hong Kong and realize that “there are still people in the world who are willing to fight for the truth and who are willing to fight for freedom.”
“I see freedoms being denied all around the world,” Kilpatrick said. “In 2024, we may have to fight harder … not just in Hong Kong, but perhaps right here in the United States, for freedom to worship as we should and must, for the freedom and the dignity of the human person, which is under assault.”
Chen Guangcheng, a world-renowned Chinese human rights activist known commonly as the “barefoot lawyer,” was also at the dedication ceremony. He told CNA that he came to show his support for Lai.
“Jimmy Lai is a good person,” Guangcheng said. “He used his media to see the truth; that is why the CCP persecuted him.”
Guangcheng urged Americans to do more in support of freedom in Hong Kong and mainland China.
“I think if the Western people and government stand with them, the situation still can change,” he said.
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CNA Staff, Feb 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).
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The vandalized statue of “Mary, Protector of the Faith” on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. The vandalism was discovered around 2:30 p.m. Feb. 15, 2024. / Credit: Alex Cranstoun/… […]
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