Nearly nine years after opening its doors, the Treasure of Sacred Art of Saint Joseph’s Seminary closed for good in mid-September, as requested by the Catholic Diocese of Macau. The local Church cites the need to repurpose the project’s amenities as a justification for the decision. The facilities will be used both by the newly-founded Catholic Institute of Theology in Macau and by Saint Joseph’s Diocesan School.
On the occasion of the World Missionary Jubilee, Italian Father Claudio Corti, a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in Thailand, spoke to the Fides news agency. He expressed his astonishment at the number of people who have recently converted to Catholicism and requested baptism. In this predominantly Buddhist country, where Christians are clearly in the minority, it is not uncommon to hear about Jesus Christ… Whether because one attended a Christian school, or met a Catholic coworker or friend, or because one was impressed by the imposing churches during a trip abroad, “especially in Europe.” And when one of these people approaches Father Corti – who has lived in Thailand since 1999 – asking if he can convert them to Christianity and baptize them, the prelate notes that “they take their faith very seriously.” The decision to convert to Catholicism radically changes one’s life. For example, “the experience of forgiveness, which one receives from God and offers to one’s enemy, is an extraordinary moment. And from that moment on, this person begins to live not only for themselves, but for their fellow human beings.”
At least 15 children and youth from the Portuguese-speaking Catholic community of the Sé Cathedral parish joined, earlier this week, thousands of children from around the world to pray for peace. The Catholic Diocese of Macau joined the “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” campaign, organized by the Aid to the Church in Need Pontifical Foundation, for the fourth consecutive year.
The apostles’ request—“Increase our faith!”—is one we’ve all echoed at some point, when we could not take in pains, despite our best efforts to believe, when we doubted God altogether when tragedies stuck our lives unawares and how many other ways! “Increase our faith” sounds noble, even holy.
Although the prophet Elijah did not author any biblical book, I chose to begin by presenting him as a model of prophetic ministry. Elijah is often compared to Moses, who is regarded as one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. Significantly, both Elijah and Moses appear together on Mount Tabor during Jesus’ transfiguration, symbolizing the continuity between the Law and the Prophets.
The Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus established earlier this week a new Formation House in Taipa island. The project was officially inaugurated and blessed last Monday and brought Father Carlos Luis Suárez Codorníu once again to Macau. The Superior General of the Priests of the Sacred Heart introduced the vocational center, whose fundamental purpose is to prepare postulants “so that they can better serve the Church in China”. The new Blessed Juan María de la Cruz Formation House is currently home to four young men, three from Vietnam and one from India, but the number may increase as early as next year, Father Carlos Luis Codorniú told “O Clarim”.
At the end of 2024, O Clarim published a series of columns on hope. Thereafter, another series on faith. It is now the turn of charity, the third theological virtue.
Pope Leo XIV proclaimed, earlier this month, the first two saints of his papacy, in a historic ceremony at Saint Peter’s Square, including the first saint of the millennial generation. Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati, two Italian lay young men born nearly a century apart, joined the ranks of Saint Therese of Lisieux and Saint Dominic Savio as saints of the Roman Catholic Church. The Holy Father urged young people around the world to look to the new saints’ testimony of faith as an example. In Portugal, where Saint Carlo’s spiritual legacy is touching more and more hearts, floats bearing the image of the young Italian saint took to the streets of several parishes’ hours after the teenagers’ canonization. António Machado, a deacon who wrote one of the first ever books about Carlo Acutis in the Portuguese language, explains why the Italian teenager, who died of leukemia in 2006, became a mass phenomenon among young people. Acutis, Mr. Machado told “O Clarim”, stands out as beacon of hope and a role model for contemporary Christians.
No rational person would want to go to hell. The rich man in this parable certainly did not desire hell, but his actions led him there. Most people, however, do want to be rich in this world. In fact, many people would think it irrational not to desire wealth. It is very rare to find a person who chooses to live in simplicity as a means to deeper spiritual fulfillment and as preparation for the riches of Heaven. But one clear message from our Gospel story today is that the life that Lazarus lived on earth was far better than that of the rich man. So which life do you prefer here and now? While it is true that the rich man’s riches were not the exclusive cause of his eternal damnation, it is also true that his riches imposed upon him a temptation toward selfishness and indifference to the needs of others, which ended in his eternal demise.
I begin this series to help us deepen our understanding of the Word of God, the source of the life of the Church. To open our Bible, as Catholics, means to acknowledge that an oral tradition preceded the written word and that the same tradition —the teaching of the Apostles —is treasured by the Church. Although no word can be added to it, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church is challenged to deepen its understanding of the written word and to discover how it can be applied to different contexts and various historical settings.