It is day 2 of the bishop’s public meetings in Baltimore. The hot topic of the agenda today: the Eucharistic Revival campaign happening around the country.
We are getting some reaction after former President Donald Trump made an announcement last night that he’s running.
A mother compiled the letters she sent her son during the 23 days before he died.
BALTIMORE — In his first remarks as the newly elected U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio said he would welcome the opportunity to meet with President Joe Biden and denied that his election is a sign of “dissonance” between Pope Francis and U.S. bishops.
Archbishop Broglio, head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, led each round of voting but didn’t break the majority threshold of 119 votes until the third round, when he garnered 138 votes. Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore — who was elected conference vice president soon after — was second in the presidential vote with 99.
After the Nov. 15 public session, Archbishop Broglio fielded questions from the media, including how he’ll operate in the political arena. The archbishop said he looks forward to possible conversations with U.S. political leaders and that he wouldn’t miss “any chance to insert the gospel into all aspects of life in our country.”
That would include a conversation with Biden, a Catholic whose pro-abortion stance has made for a turbulent relationship between the Oval Office and USCCB in recent years. Archbishop Broglio highlighted, however, that outgoing USCCB president Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles wasn’t afforded the opportunity.
“I know that there has been a great desire on the part of [Archbishop Gomez] to meet with the president, and that hasn’t been possible,” Archbishop Broglio said. “If it’s possible in the future, I’ll certainly take advantage of that. If he wants to meet with me, I’d be happy to meet with him.”
Archbishop Broglio was also asked about his time as Cardinal Angelo Sodano’s secretary from 1990-2001 and how that experience forms the way he views issues of clerical sexual abuse in the Church. Cardinal Sodano, who died earlier this year, was the Vatican Secretary of State under Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, who repeatedly defended and covered for then-Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion of Christ who a Vatican investigation found committed a wide range of sexual abuse and other forms of misconduct.
Archbishop Broglio answered that “hindsight is always 20/20,” noting that he had left working in Cardinal Sodano’s office by the time the accusations against Father Maciel came out. He said those circumstances are always “a good reminder that we have to be attentive and that we have to be proactive.”
This year is the 20th anniversary of the Dallas Charter, and the body of bishops ended the first day of their week-long general assembly with a prayer and reflection on the document.
In other comments, Archbishop Broglio said he’s “not aware” that his election indicates “dissonance” with Pope Francis as some people have suggested, saying that he’s “certainly in communion with Pope Francis as part of the universal church” and that the two are “brother bishops.”
As for his approach to the USCCB presidency, Archbishop Broglio said he intends to continue the work of Archbishop Gomez, which includes fostering unity among the U.S. bishops after a challenging few years.
In a conversation with The Tablet after the public session, Archbishop Lori, the soon-to-be USCCB vice president, said unity among the bishops is paramount to the success of the church.
“[Unity] has always been critical, but the importance of it is highlighted in a very polarized culture and in a culture that challenges the unity of the church itself,” Archbishop Lori said. “I don’t think that coming together in unity can be overemphasized. We can never stop finding our unity in the Holy Spirit, who enables us to encounter the person of Christ and to be rooted in his love.”
Unity among the U.S. bishops was a focus of Archbishop Gomez’ final address as USCCB president.
Archbishop Gomez said that it’s not inevitable that the U.S. falls into secularism but added that the church needs “a bold pastoral strategy to communicate the Gospel, to use every media platform to turn hearts and minds toward Christ, to call our people to be great saints.”
The archbishop said the Synod is an opportunity to do just that because it “reminds us that the Church is all of us together — bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians; religious and consecrated; lay people in every profession.”
“[This moment] is about remembering that we’re in this together, that we belong to God, and that we’re all called to be saints,” he said. “It’s about each one of us doing what God is calling us to do to build his kingdom.”
Archbishop Broglio will take over the USCCB presidency from Archbishop Gomez, and Archbishop Lori the conference vice presidency from Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit at the conclusion of this week’s fall general assembly. At the time of the election, Archbishops Broglio and Lori each held leadership roles within the USCCB, secretary and pro-life chair, respectively. Bishops will be elected to take over those roles today.
In what turned out to be Archbishop Lori’s final address as the USCCB pro-life chair, he spoke on the need to build a culture of life through engaging the mind, heart, and soul. He acknowledged that the recent votes in five states to protect abortion rights didn’t turn out how the conference had hoped, and that the “job of educating, catechizing, evangelizing, is perhaps more massive than we thought.”
Archbishop Lori told The Tablet that the Dobbs decision this past summer has changed the work of the committee. With abortion laws now in the hands of the states, he said the committee’s work shifted to working with individual bishops and state conferences on their advocacy efforts.
He added that the committee is producing documents that give diocesan leaders a “user-friendly” and “practical” way to approach advocacy, and convening state conference directors to share best practices, while still presenting a unified message for the U.S. Catholic Church as a whole.
His advice for whoever takes over the role today is to focus on changing hearts and minds.
“The advice I would offer anyone stepping into this is to continue the work of helping brother bishops, priests, deacons, and our lay coworkers to speak and bear witness convincingly to the invaluable dignity of human life and to concentrate first and foremost on winning the hearts and minds of fellow Catholics who might be on the fence,” Archbishop Lori said.
The Catholic church on UVA’s campus, St Thomas Aquinas, opened their doors immediately after the lockdown was lifted.
Father Joseph-Anthony Kress, the chaplain there, said students in this generation prepare for these situations but living through them and then living with the grief is entirely different.
Father Kress said around 400 students attended a vigil that was held. Parish staff will continue to be available for anyone who needs to grieve.
Those who are getting food and clothing at churches like St. Michael – St. Malachy in East New York have never had to ask for a warm meal or a coat or blanket. Volunteers say they’re helping them find their faith again, and doing it with as much dignity as possible.
The Diocese of Brooklyn is preparing to deck the halls. More than 3 dozen churches across Brooklyn and Queens are now ready to kick off the Christmas season, thanks to Mainmonides Medical Center in Borough Park.
Every year Maimonides donates money to help spread Christmas cheer, giving parishes the opportunity to purchase Christmas decorations – like lights and trees- as part of their “Celebration of Light.”
The initiative started back in 1995 and has been burning bright ever since.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CNS) — The Catholic bishop of Richmond decried the Nov. 13 fatal shooting of three football players at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, urging everyone to pray for the victims, their families and the entire university community.
Once again, the country is mourning “the loss of human lives due to an act of violence,” Bishop Barry C. Knestout said in a Nov. 14 statement.
The university is in the territory covered by the Richmond Diocese.
“Like you, I grieve for the loss of life and my heart breaks for the suffering caused by this troubling act,” he said.
Police said three of the university’s football players, identified as Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, were fatally shot late in the evening on a bus described as being “full of students” that had just returned from a student trip to Washington.
CBS reported that the bus was near a campus parking lot when the shooting occurred and that at about 10:30 p.m. (EST), police responded to a call about shots being fired. Besides the three students who were killed, two others were wounded and received treatment.
A suspect whom police identified as Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., a fellow student, was later taken into custody.
“While we await more details from school and law enforcement officials, let us reflect on how violence permeates the culture in which we live, and our efforts to promote peace within our society,” Bishop Knestout said. “May our Blessed Mother, Queen of Peace, intercede for us.”
Archbishop Timothy Broglio from the Archdiocese for the Military Services takes over as president of the USCCB at the end of this week.
We’re visiting the parish of St Michael – St Malachy in Brooklyn where parishioners gather every Tuesday and Thursday to feed migrants and host a clothing drive for them.
Faith, friends, and fun: three reasons families race to Jackson Heights every year for summer camp.
And there’s one woman to thank for that.
A religion teacher at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Academy doesn’t stop working when school lets out in June.
She continues to put her faith into action by organizing the church’s day camp. This is her story in our new Currents News series, Pulse of the Parish.
This is the official song of the film, “El cielo no puede esperar,” which means “Heaven can’t wait.” It is a film directed by José María Zavala about the life of Blessed Carlo Acutis.
The young composer and singer, Luis Mas, wrote the song. The music video was filmed in the studio and parish of the Diocese of Getafe, Spain. It features both content from the film and real images from Acutis’ childhood. For Mas, the project meant bringing together his professional career and personal life.
“From the start, I liked the idea of the song and thought that it was something the audience could take home with them. They don’t just see the movie and then it’s over. They also have the song at the end. I’ve listened to it many times now, and there are moments where it really becomes personal,” said Mas.
The uplifting song brings music to the biographical film about Acutis, the young Italian boy who died at the age of 15, only three days after being diagnosed with leukemia. Since then, his peaceful way of facing death has become an example to many around the world.
“We worked to make this song very sincere, honest and simple. In the end, those are the values that Carlo Acutis showed throughout his life,” he said.
Known as “the influencer of the Eucharist,” Carlo Acutis used social media to do good. He dedicated himself to spreading the Gospel on digital platforms, hoping to reach a younger audience. Many have already begun to consider him “the patron saint of the internet.”
“I think he’s a person who knew how to value the good things in life. Many times we choose to focus on the bad and end up complaining all day long. But if you emphasize the good, in the end you say, ‘he’s doing the same thing as the other guy, but he is living it to the fullest,’” he added.
The film is now in its final stages of editing and is expected to be released in 2023.
Monsignor Sean G. Ogle’s Homily from Tuesday’s Mass on 11/15/22