Participants in an annual pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, for U.S. active-duty military personnel and veterans assembled 3,000 prayer kits for Ukrainian soldiers.
The “Warriors to Lourdes” pilgrimage May 10-16 drew more than 175 participants and was co-sponsored by the U.S. Arch-diocese for the Military Services and the Knights of Columbus.
U.S. military personnel visit-ed the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, which is where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. They attended daily Mass and had various opportunities for prayer, formation and fellowship. The prayer kits blessed by Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who heads the U.S. military archdiocese, and were then shipped to Ukraine for distribution to active-duty and injured Ukrainian soldiers.
Each kit included a rosary, an Our Lady of Lourdes prayer card, a vial of Lourdes holy water and a Blessed Michael McGivney prayer card.
McGivney, who was beatified Oct. 31, 2020, was a parish priest in New Haven when he founded the Knights of Columbus in 1882 to serve the needs of a largely immigrant Catholic community.
“What began as a small fraternal benefit society has since grown into one of the world’s leading international charitable organizations, with 2 million members in more than 16,000 local councils,” said a news re-lease about the pilgrimage.
The Knights also sponsored a Ukrainian delegation to be part of the Lourdes pilgrimage through the organization’s United in Charity initiative, offering them an opportunity for prayer and healing during this time of war in their nation.
German Catholics discuss church reforms, war at 102nd Katholikentag
Peace, justice, climate justice, the war in the Ukraine and its global impact and the ongoing crisis in the German Catholic Church were some of the themes Catholic laity, bishops and politicians and activists discussed during the five-day 102nd Ger-man Katholikentag.
The biannual festival and meeting for German-speaking Catholic laity took place for the first time in four years May 25-29 in Stuttgart. Participants heard from political and church leaders.
Speaking May 27, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine is directed against “the values and convictions that unite us as a society.” Putin, he said, “must not be allowed to get away with his cynical, inhuman war.”
Scholz, who had just returned from a three-day trip to Senegal, Niger and South Africa, blamed the Russian president for an impending food crisis that is expected to hit the global south the hardest.
Scholz thanked the churches for their aid to Ukraine and for receiving refugees in Germany. He admitted that the war raises questions that are both political and ethical and that need to be discussed.
“At the heart of the matter is the question of whether violence can be fought with violence,” said the chancellor, who as a young man was a conscientious objector to compulsory military service.
About 200 demonstrators were chanting “Arm Ukraine now” in front of the hall where Scholz was speaking. On placards, they criticized that the arms deliveries were not arriving fast enough.
Bishop Gebhard Fürst of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, the diocese hosting the event, said he was in favor of arms deliveries to Ukraine.
“I observe that some things are delayed there, and it is, however, urgently necessary that much that is necessary for self-defense continues to be delivered. That’s a commitment to peace when you resist the aggressor,” he told the audience.
The president of the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi Germany, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz, said in an interview with KNA, the German Catholic news agency, that he believed a reorientation and new reflection of Christian peace ethics is necessary. Situations like Russia’s current war of aggression against Ukraine are not usually foreseen in most of the peace ethics theories, books and debates, he said.
Also May 27, a rally for peace among participants found many Ukrainians joining in. A local radio station spoke to one of the participants, Father Roman Wruszczak, a parish priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. “We suffer with Ukraine, we cry every day. Personally, I do too. There are days when I find it difficult to celebrate the liturgy,” he said during the interview.
The oldest man in the world is 113 and prays the rosary twice a day
His name is Juan Vicente Pérez Mora, he’s Venezuelan, passionate about his faith, prays the rosary twice a day, and is in the Guinness World Records as the oldest man in the world.
Mora was born on May 27, 1909 and this year he turned 113 years old.
In an article published on May 17 on the Guinness World Records website, Mora said his secret to living a long life is to “work hard, rest on holidays, go to bed early, drink a glass of aguardiente (a strong liquor made from sugarcane) every day, love God, and always carry him in your heart.”
He says his family and friends are his greatest life companions and that the greatest thing he has learned in life is “the love of God, the love of family, and that we must get up early to work.”
According to the Guinness World Records, Mora was officially confirmed the oldest living man in the world on Feb. 4, 2022.
Catholics in India rejoice over first Dalit cardinal
Catholics in India seem euphoric after Pope Francis named a Dalit from the country among the 21 new cardinals.
Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals in the next consistory on Aug. 27, including five archbishops and one bishop from Asia. Sixteen of the new cardinals are under the age of 80, who are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect the successor of Pope Francis, and for five others the title is mostly honorary. Five Asian prelates are – Archbishop Felipe Nerri Ferrao of Goa and Daman (India), Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad (India), Archbishop William Goh of Singapore, Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva, SDB of Dili (East Timor), Arch-bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy (South Korea), Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, who was born in a Dalit Catholic family in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is among the two new cardinals from India. The other Indian is Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao of Goa and Daman. The Pope will create the cardinals at a consistory on Aug. 27.
Archbishop Poola’s elevation comes amid talks about an Indian Dalit Rite in the Catholic Church and protests by Dalit groups for bishops from their community.
A Dalit cardinal was also their demand for decades and they stepped it up after Pope John Paul II on October 21, 2003, made Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, the then archbishop of Ranchi, a prince of the Church. Cardinal Toppo claimed that the new title recognized India’s tribal Church.
Such recognition for the Dalits took 19 years more years, but it has made Jesuit Father Irudhaya Jothi, “extremely happy.” The grassroots activist now working in northeastern India says it is “a proud moment for the Dalit community in the world.”
Father Jothi and Ravi Kumar, a Dalit leader from Vijayawada diocese in Andhra Pradesh, say Archbishop Poola’s appoint-ment shows that Pope Francis continues to give recognition and representation to the Churches at the periphery and the marginalized communities.
Father Jothi said he prays that the Church gives “an emphatic hearing” to the standing demands of the Dalits, “the most exploited community.”
Church joins relief efforts in flood-hit Indian state
Indian Catholics have joined relief and rescue efforts organized by NGOs and government agencies as the death toll from flooding in Assam has reached 24 in the north-eastern state.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, the situation re-mains critical as nearly 720,000 people in 22 districts are reeling under the deluge, with Nagaon, Hojai, Cachar, Darrang, Morigaon and Karimganj districts badly affected.
“The flood situation in the state is very serious as several people have lost their lives. We pray for the bereaved families but in the meantime our immediate priority is to provide food, water, dry rations and medicine to affected people as the government is engaged in rescue and relocating people to safe places,” Archbishop John Moolachira of Guwahati told.
“Our social service wing along with its team are distributing food such as biscuits, bread, water and dry rations like rice, lentils, vegetables and salt as well as medicine and tarpaulins.”
Jesuit Father Ephrem Manikompe: Mentor of self-esteem
Jesuit Fr Ephrem Manikompe, a renowned school teacher, died May 22, leaving a deep grief in the hearts of hundreds. After a cardiac arrest on May 19, he had a brief hospitalization. He was 80.
The member of the Kerala Jesuit province will always be remembered for his kindness and simplicity. He served as a teacher and headmaster of St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School, Thiruvananthapuram, one of the premiere schools in Kerala, for a quarter century starting in the 1970s.
Christians resent surveillance of Church-run schools in Indian state
Christian leaders in the central Indian Madhya Pradesh have objected to the state government’s move to put Church-run schools under the microscope.
State home minister Narottam Mishra announced on May 16 that police will monitor Church-run schools to curb religious conversions.
A day earlier, police arrest-ed six people, including two pastors, after Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu organization, complained of suspected illegal conversions at the Christ Memorial School in the state capital Bhopal.
The six were booked for hurting religious sentiments under the Indian Penal Code and released the same day.
School director Manis Mathew told on May 17 that a Sunday prayer service in the school hall “was wrongly portrayed as a religious conversion activity to target our institution.”
Church leaders across denominations view the police action and the decision to monitor all Christian schools as a deliberate attempt to target and defame Christians through a false narrative.
Film on Blessed Rani Maria released on TV
A feature film on Blessed Rani Maria Vattalil was premiered May 27 on Atmadarshan TV, a popular religious channel of the diocese of Indore, central India. Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore, who addressed the function in Indore, recalled Blessed Rani Maria’s struggle to organize poor tribals against the exploitation of moneylenders. She was among the first in Madhya Pradesh to successfully implement the concept of Self Help Groups, the Divine Word prelate added.
Indian awarded for training maximum addiction professionals
Thomas Scaria, a renowned expert in addiction management, training and consultancy, has become the first Indian to receive “International Awa-rd for Excellence in Training Provision.”
Scaria, who heads the Mangaluru-based Ecolink Institu-te of Well-being, received the award May 14 at a function in Abu Dhabi.
The award is instituted by the International Society for Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) based in the United Kingdom and constituted by international organizations such as Colombo Plan, World Health Organization, the US Department of State and UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).
The award was handed over at the closing ceremony of ISSUP’s three-day annual conference attended by more than 1,000 delegates from 100 countries. Announcing the award and presenting the felicitation, ISSUP deputy director Livia Eddegger said the Indian institute was selected by the award committee for its excellence in training maximum number of addiction professionals from around the globe and creating several credentialed professionals during the year.
“Ecolink Institute headed by Dr. Thomas Scaria has trained and professionalized the highest number of addiction professionals in an excellent way,” Eddegger said.
Four other persons from various parts of the world were also awarded for their services to Drug Demand Reduction services under various heads.
Father Subhash Anand’s sudden death mourned
Father Subhash Anand, a renowned philosophy professor who challenged Catholics in India to become Christ’s authentic disciples, died of a massive heart attack May 23 in Udaipur, Rajasthan. He was 78.
Bishop Devprasad Ganawa of Udaipur has informed that the funeral begins at 10 am on May 24.
Father Anand, a priest of the diocese of Udaipur, was born Benedict Alvarez on Nov. 15, 1943. He was ordained a priest on Oct. 28, 1967.
He was a resident of St Paul’s School in Udaipur’s Bhupalpura area.
Father Anand was part of Pune’s Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth (JDV) semi-nary as a student and professor of Indian Philosophy and Religion for more than 30 years.
Father Subhash Anand “deeply loved the Church and his path took unusual twists and turns. He wouldn’t tolerate hypocrisy, be it among scholars or the Church’s officials,” says Jesuit Father Stanislaus Alla, a theology professor in Delhi’s Vidyajyoti College of Theology.
According to him, Father Anand “loved to go to the root of the Gospel that invites and challenges the faithful to be authentic disciples rather than get struck in the infantilizing traditionalism.”