Nun Who Served Seven Popes Celebrates 90 Years of Life

Currents News Staff

Sister Maria de Céu was born in Portugal 90 years ago.

She has lived in the Vatican for 70 years, serving the Church and a total of seven popes.

She is a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, and recounted how she found her vocation when she was very young.

“I was attracted to this life, maybe unconsciously, because I was still young,” she explained. “I would go to the altar of the Virgin and say, ‘Blessed Mother, make me white like this wall,’ the wall where her image was. That’s how I started to feel an attraction not to married life, although there was a boy chasing after me.”

Sr. Maria made her first vows in Rome and began a life of service for Peter’s successor.

“I thought: I’m happy to be here,” she said. “Not everyone has the opportunity to come to Rome and see the pope.”

Being close to seven popes has been a blessing for Sr. Maria, who could still remember her first time visiting St. Peter’s Basilica.

“I was completely moved, seeing all those people, already, in that time,” she said. “Seeing the pope, who was an extraordinary figure. He was so mystical, Pope Pius XII. It looked like the skies were opened.”

She helped him and other pontiffs with small but important tasks, like washing clothes, and along the way has learned great life lessons from each one.

Sr. Maria even extended an invitation to Pope Francis last year.

“I told him I am Portuguese, that I’d been in the Vatican for such a long time,” she said. “I told him, ‘Holy Father, come visit us one day. We’re two steps away.’ Then he put his hand on my head.”

Although the Holy Father didn’t go visit her, he helped her celebrate her ninetieth birthday with a Mass, marking nine decades serving her community and the Vatican.

She defines her whole life with one phrase: “A life given to others.”

“If we don’t give ourselves to others, what’s the purpose of living? The Lord always comes first,” she reminded.

This 90-year-old’s secret to happiness? Living a true vocation of service. Sr. Maria is confident her self-giving can benefit many people and inspire new generations to do so as well.

Texas Bishop Offers Care for Infant Slated for Removal From Life Support

By Christopher White, National Correspondent

NEW YORK — As a battle rages over whether a Texas hospital can remove an 11-month old from life support, one Catholic bishop is offering assistance to the family.

Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas has offered his help following a judge’s order on Jan. 2 that the hospital, which believes the infant, Tinslee Lewis, is in pain and has no chance of improving, can remove life-sustaining treatment.

Bishop Olson offered to provide “compassion and appropriate care for her in a Catholic health care facility.”

“Healthcare decisions involving the vulnerable and severely ill are best made in the patient’s interests by family and healthcare providers and not by judges, by politicians, or lobbyists,” he said in a statement.

Bishop Olson also said his offer was made to provide support in finding “the best quality of life” for both the infant and her family

According to the hospital, the 11-month old Tinslee is on a regular supply of painkillers, sedatives and paralytics in order to be kept alive.

“Even with the most extraordinary measures the medical team is taking, Tinslee continues to suffer,” said a statement from Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth.

Plans to remove the infant from life support were invoked under Texas’s “ten day rule,” which allows for doctors to remove life-sustaining treatment when a family and doctors disagree, if the ethics committee agrees with the doctors. Treatment is then withdrawn after a ten-day window if the family is unsuccessful at finding another medical care facility – hence Bishop Olson’s offer.

In a statement through Texas’s Right to Life, Tinslee’s mother said “I feel frustrated because anyone in that courtroom would want more time just like I do if Tinslee were their baby.”

In February 2018, however, the bishops of Texas cut ties with Texas’s Right to Life, noting that the organization “has implied that the bishops do not faithfully represent Church teaching.”

In a statement at the time, the Texas Catholic Conference noted that some of the disagreements were over end-of-life decision-making.

“The bishops have been compelled to publicly correct Texas Right to Life’s misstatements on end-of-life care and advance directives, in which Texas Right to Life implied that the legislation the bishops were supporting allowed euthanasia and death panels rather than the reality that the legislation reflected the long-standing Church teaching requiring a balance of patient autonomy and the physician conscience protection,” the statement said.

Following the judge’s decision on Thursday regarding baby Tinslee, Texas Alliance for Life, which continues to work with the Texas Catholic Conference, said that “we don’t see how she could have ruled any other way.”

“This case centers around the dispute resolution process within the Texas Advanced Directives Act (TADA). We don’t see how she could have ruled any other way,” said executive director Joe Pojman.

“As we have stated previously, Texas Alliance for Life supports TADA. It is good public policy, it is constitutional, and it provides a balance between the patient’s autonomy and the physician’s conscience protection rights to do no harm,” Pojman continued.

“We are praying for the family and all involved in Tinslee’s care,” he concluded.

Currents News for Monday, January 6, 2020

On the newscast: Threats of retaliation as tens of thousands mourn for an Iranian leader killed in a U.S. drone strike; People of all faiths marching across the Brooklyn Bridge in solidarity after a string of anti-Semitic attacks; Firefighters from Canarsie dedicate a special memorial today for a brother who died in the line of duty; And Governor Cuomo to the rescue – helping pull a man from a wreck on the B.Q.E..

Watch weeknights at 7:00 pm EST on NET-TV in the New York City area on Spectrum, Optimum, and Fios. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications about new content.

Earthquake Strikes Puerto Rico as Island Continues Recovery Efforts Post-Maria

By Emily Drooby

Homes knocked from their stilts, power lines pulled down almost to the road, and cars crushed under a collapsed home are all scenes of destruction in Puerto Rico caused by a magnitude 5.8 earthquake that hit the island early Jan. 6.

While several earthquakes have hit the island in the past week, Monday’s is by far the strongest.

No casualties have been reported yet, but there’s significant damage to the town of Guánica. Roads by major cities like Ponce have been also been affected.

The incident is causing fear among those living in the Brooklyn Diocese with ties to puerto rico.

“They’re just getting over Maria and they’re rebuilding the infrastructure, and an earthquake will now take away all that hard work that was put into restoring services on the island,” explained Norma Herrera, who works for St. Michael’s parish in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and still has family in the commonwealth.

“You worry,” she said. “You worry about what’s happening, what’s going to happen, how it’s going to affect the people still on the island.”

Puerto Rico is still dealing with the trauma from the category 5 hurricane that hit just over two years ago.

Jorge Domínguez, Editor- in-Chief of The Tablet and Nuestra Voz, saw the hurricane devastation firsthand.

Having another major disaster — on Three Kings Day — is especially difficult for the children of puerto rico.

“It’s a day where kids are waiting for the sun to rise waiting to find out what the Three Kings brought to them,” he explained. “Today really at sunrise they got an earthquake, so it’s especially sad,” he said.

Instead, children woke up to cracks in their walls.

Guatemalan Catholics Celebrate Faith, Culture With ‘Señor de Escuipulas’

By Jessica Easthope

Each year the Guatemalan community in Far Rockaway, Queens celebrates something unique to its culture and faith: the Black Christ of Escuipulas, a wooden crucifix that’s more than 400-years-old.

In the weeks leading up to the Black Christ’s international feast day, a celebratory Mass is held at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church.

For the first time since being given his red hat by Pope Francis last October, Cardinal Alvaro Ramazzini from Guatemala visited Queens to celebrate the Sunday Mass.

“The Señor Escuipulas in Guatemala has a very great devotion because it is a statue of Jesus Christ, but it’s in black, and many people have testified he has done a lot of miracles,” Cardinal Ramazzini said of the sacred statue.

While St. Mary has a replica of the statue, the original sits in the Cathedral Basilica of Esquipulas in northwest Guatemala. The statue is celebrated widely, not only for the miracles it has granted, but for its significance to the entire Guatemalan community at home and abroad.

“I think the significance is hope, migrants from Guatemala they face many bad situations so they need hope and to have confidence in God that he does not abandon us,” Cardinal Ramazzini said.

That sentiment is held especially close to the hearts of Guatemalan immigrants in the Brooklyn Diocese. Cardinal Ramazzini added how New York City has become a shining example of embracing many cultures through faith.

“It’s a practice of living our faith, it means this open spirit to accept the multiculturality of many people in the United States not just Guatemalans so it is a very good sign for me,” he said.

Guatemalans across the globe will celebrate the Feast Day of the Black Christ of Esquipulas on Jan. 15.

Bright Christmas Fund Helps Parishioners Celebrate Feast of the Epiphany

By Jessica Easthope

The tradition of giving gifts on Christmas didn’t start with Santa Claus, but with the three wise men who traveled from the East, following a star to baby Jesus.

On Jan. 5 there was no gold, frankincense or myrrh from the Magi, but there were toys, games, books and clothing for hundreds of children from across the Brooklyn Diocese.

Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Corona, Queens hosted its annual Bright Christmas event, a day funded by The Tablet through the generosity of its readers.

Gathering on the day before the Feast of the Epiphany, children and their families received what may be their only gifts this holiday season. In addition to every child receiving a gift, all parents were given warm winter hats.

“They supported us with the Bright Christmas fund to set up the whole program,” said Father Raymond Roden, Pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows. “So I’m grateful to the Tablet and the readers, the people who so generously support the Bright Christmas fund which includes so many parishes including Our Lady of Sorrows.”

Parishioners also put on a colorful and theatrical reenactment of the historical feast day ahead of the gift distribution.

“A lot of families don’t have the money and the resources to provide a good holiday season for their children, especially showing their children no matter what they’re going through the struggles and difficulties, this brings a little bit of joy,” explained parishioner Fanny Familia.

Fanny and her son Jeremiah picked out just one of more than 1,000 gifts that had been donated this year.

For Ileana Martinez — who came with her fiver-year-old daughter Arianna Summerlin, a student at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Academy —the day itself meant more than the gifts.

The value of the celebration could be found in the sense of the community the event creates.

“I’m very thankful for it because It shows the love for people in the community and those involved in the community and it unites us,” Fanny said.

No Hate No Fear: Thousands Show Solidarity with Jewish Community

By Tim Harfmann and Christopher White

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — An estimated 25,000 New Yorkers took to the streets in a “Solidarity March” in protest of anti-Semitism on Jan. 5, among them Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, who told the crowd “we are all brothers and sisters under the one God who made us.”

The march, which made its way from Lower Manhattan to Cadman Plaza in Downtown Brooklyn, brought together Jewish and non-Jewish residents alike from the New York area, along with a host of local leaders, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Senator Chuck Schumer, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — all marching under the banner of “No Hate, No Fear.”

The march was organized by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the interdenominational New York Board of Rabbis.

On stage at the rally in Brooklyn, Bishop DiMarzio recalled growing up in Newark, N.J., where a Jewish couple — Mr. and Mrs. Sam Rose — who had no children or grandchildren adopted him as their own grandchild.

The bishop said he was proud to be present at the rally to honor their memory. “I learned to love Jews because they loved me,” he said.

“Today I stand here in their memory to make sure we have mutual understanding of one another. We need to interact more,” he continued. “We cannot show any prejudice toward one another, but only love.

“To those people who wear religious garb and are singled out for hatred or violence, it’s a terrible thing. We cannot let that happen in this great United States of ours. We cannot stand by and not do something,” he concluded. “I pledge to stand and do all I can to change minds and hearts within our communities so that we can truly stand together against any hatred, especially any anti-Semitism and its roots.”

In his remarks to the crowd, Cardinal Dolan drew from the words of St. Pope John Paul II, who often referred to the Jews as “our elder brothers and sisters in the faith,” meaning “we are one family.”

“When there’s an attack on you, there’s an attack on all of us,” Cardinal Dolan said to applause.

“We are united as we acknowledge that this dismal, scary hatred and violence that has afflicted the community we love can ultimately be solved only be a conversion of heart.

“You think that’s naïve? You think that’s overly sugary? No. Ask the experts like Ghandi and Desmond Tuti and Rabbi Heschel and Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day and Isaiah the prophet. Jesus himself.

“The experts who got things done — their first priority was to urge a conversion of heart, from interior darkness and hate that breeds this violence and anti-Semitism to light and life and love,” Cardinal Dolan continued.

“From spitting at someone to blessing someone. From fists to embrace. From machetes to mercy. From looking at someone as a threat to looking at someone as a friend. That’s conversion of heart.”

The march and rally came on the heels of a spree of anti-Semitic attacks in New York, most recently on New Year’s Day when a 22-year-old Hassidic man was beaten and subjected to hate speech in Williamsburg — the thirteenth known attack against Jews in the New York area in less than 10 days.

The violence on Jan. 1 followed the Hanukah attack at the home of a rabbi in Monsey, N.Y., where five people were stabbed in an incident that Cuomo labeled as “domestic terrorism.”

Family members of one of the victims of that attack, Josef Neumann, released a graphic photo on Jan. 1 of the father of seven children hooked up to respirators and stitched up from the multiple stab wounds he incurred. Doctors expect Neumann to be permanently paralyzed and are unsure if he will ever regain consciousness.

In response to the heinous attack, Bishop DiMarzio said, “Hate like this has no place in a civil society.

“Today we are reminded it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Let us be that light as we pray for peace and practice tolerance today and always,” Bishop DiMarzio continued in a statement.

Bishop DiMarzio also joined more than 130 faith leaders from across the state, including Cardinal Dolan, to condemn the attack.

“Anti-Semitism, bigotry and hate of any kind are repugnant to our values and will not be tolerated in our state,” they said. “An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us. Together we will continue fighting hate and intolerance with love and inclusion.”

The attacks in New York come at a time when people of faith are facing increased violence at houses of worship across the nation.

According to the latest data from the Federal Bureau of Investigations, hate crimes in churches, synagogues, temples and mosques rose 34.8 percent between 2014 and 2018.

On Dec. 29, in Texas, a gunman fatally shot two churchgoers at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, before he was killed by a security guard on-site.

The past year proved particularly deadly for people of all faiths across the globe. Incidents included the Easter Day massacres in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people and attacks at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last March that killed 51 individuals.

In recent days, New York has ramped up security around houses of worship, and the governor has ordered increased patrolling in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods throughout the state.

At the Jan. 5 rally, Cuomo said that the gathering was a “remarkable show of love and solidarity.”

“That’s New York at its best,” he said of the crowd on hand, adding that the violence have been “attacks on every New Yorker.”

“Discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism is repugnant to every value that New Yorkers hold here, and it’s repugnant to every value that this country represents,” Cuomo said. “Racism and anti-Semitism is anti-American and we have to remember that.”

Currents News for Friday, January 3, 2020

On the newscast: Iran is vowing a harsh retaliation for an airstrike that killed Tehran’s top general; A Texas family is fighting for the life of their 11-month-old girl after a judge sided with a hospital to take her off life support; Pope Francis is planning a busy 2020. Where he plans to visit… and one place will make history; And why abbreviating the year 2020 to just “20” on any documents could be a costly mistake.

Watch weeknights at 7:00 pm EST on NET-TV in the New York City area on Spectrum, Optimum, and Fios. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive notifications about new content.

Pope Francis has a Busy Agenda set for 2020

By Michelle Powers

Come the new year, the Holy Father has his eyes set on visiting several different countries – including one that would make him the first Pope to ever touch down in the nation – Montenegro.

The Holy Father’s visit will come on the heels of the country passing a religious freedom law that has sparked protests across the Balkan Republic.

On that journey, Francis will also likely visit the Island of Cyprus which hasn’t hosted a Pope since 2010.

During several general audiences, Francis has expressed his desire to visit two other countries struggling with war: Iraq and South Sudan.

Last year, Pope Francis made headlines when he kissed the feet of two opposing South Sudanese leaders at the Vatican.

He promised he’d visit the country, so long as the new government is honoring the peace agreement.

The Holy Father was also invited to Hungary, where there’s a chance he will beatify a cardinal who was imprisoned in the 1950s for speaking against the communist regime.

There could also be trips to Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea on the horizon.

Either way 2020 is bound to be another busy year for Pope Francis.

Twain’s Holy Land Travelogue Reveals Both Appreciation, Cynicism

By Christopher White and Emily Drooby

NEW YORK — In 1867, American humorist Mark Twain traveled to the Holy Land on a memorable voyage that deepened his appreciation for the Bible, yet left him with cynical views on the sites he visited along the way.

A new exhibit at the New York Historical Society, “Mark Twain and the Holy Land,” chronicles that bit of history. It’s timed to coincide with the 150-year anniversary of Twain’s writings from the trip, “The Innocents Abroad” – which sold more copies than any of his other works during his lifetime.

Twain’s nearly half-year journey would take him – by boat, rail, horse, mule, and camel – through western Europe, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine, where he traveled with members of high society and sent letters back to a San Francisco newspaper, “Alta California,” that published his musings as travel dispatches before they were collected together for the book.

Exhibition curator Michael Ryan told The Tablet that what Twain did in that work, published two years after he returned to the United States, “was original and had not been done before.”

Ryan noted that Twain did not write as a literary historian, but used his “acerbic wit, sarcasm and, occasionally, awe,” to write not only about the sites, but also about the travelers and “how they saw things, how they interacted.”

According to Ryan, he also helped to “demythologize” the Holy Land from the “grandiose” and present it as it was then, which was “a place falling apart.”

In writing about Jerusalem, Twain describes it as “mournful, and dreary, and lifeless,” adding that “I would not desire to live here.”

In describing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where tradition holds Christ was buried, and which then as now was shared – begrudgingly – by Christians of six denominations, he wrote, “It has been proven conclusively that they cannot worship together around the grave of the Saviour of the World in peace.”

While visiting the Sea of Galilee, Twain was quick to point out that it is “no sea,” adding “the dim waters of this pool can not suggest the limpid brilliancy of Tahoe.”

“He takes away the veil and the mystique,” Ryan summarized to The Tablet.

The New York Historical Society’s exhibition showcases some of Twain’s original handwritten notes from his trip diaries, photographs, artwork, and other collectibles, including the olive wood covered Bible he purchased in Jerusalem for his mother – the woman responsible for his reverence for the scriptures, despite his lack of religiosity.

Ryan said Twain’s reverence for the Bible “goes deep” and was “a part of him,” in large part due to his devotion to his mother.

When Twain returned to New York following the trip, he originally wanted the book to be titled “The New Pilgrims’ Progress,” to capitalize off the success of John Bunyan’s bestseller. In the end, he kept it as a subtitle, turning the focus toward the innocence or naiveté of Americans making sense of a foreign land.

Beyond that, it catapulted Twain to international fame, selling 82,000 copies in the first 18 months and doubling that over the next decade, and set off a wave of high-profile visitors to the Holy Land, including President Ulysses Grant, Gen. William T. Sherman, and Theodore Roosevelt. Letters from their own voyages are also on hand for exhibition.

While much about the Holy Land has changed in the 150 years since its publication, perhaps one sign of the book’s enduring legacy is that when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Washington to meet with then newly-elected President Barack Obama in May 2009, he gifted him with a first edition copy of the book.

Visitors won’t find that copy on hand, but there are plenty of other small treasures tucked inside the exhibition – all on view until February 2, 2020.