(CNS) Fares Melki’s first introduction to his great-uncle was when he asked his grandfather about the picture framed above his grandfather’s bed. About 10 years later, Melki bought a book about the Armenian genocide and discovered that it included passages from the diary of Father Leonard Melki.
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POPE OFFICIALLY EXPANDS WOMEN’S ROLES IN CATHOLIC LITURGY – “We need to assume our mission with greater responsibility”
/ January 15, 2021Marco Carvalho A great honor, but also a great responsibility. This is how Maria Lúcia Fonseca, a missionary of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, received the papal decree authorizing women to distribute communion, to serve as acolytes and to read the Word of God during the Eucharist.
A ROMAN PRIEST
/ January 15, 2021Aurelio Porfiri On the morning of Saturday, January 9, Don Ennio Innocenti, a Roman priest, as he liked to call himself, passed away. He was born in 1932, in Pistoia and lived through the pains of war, culminating in the killing of his father in 1944. The young Ennio began to show signs of a vocation to the priesthood, encouraged…
SOCCER AS A METAPHOR OF FAITH
/ January 15, 2021Aurelio Porfiri Giuseppe Meazza was born in Milan on August 23, 1910. He was considered by some to be the greatest Italian soccer player of all time. Inter Milan’s player and best scorer of all time with this team, he became the world champion twice with the Italian national team, in 1934 and 1938. He died in 1979 and the…
A READER WRITES – First of January is a “3-in-1”
/ January 15, 2021Ross Belle Santos-Balatbat The FIRST DAY of January was a “3-in-1” – we celebrated three events in one day. As the whole world welcomed the 1st of January as the year’s opening date, the Catholic Church also celebrated the 54th World Day of Prayer for Peace and the Solemnity of Motherhood of Mary, a Holy Day of Obligation. This latter…
Good news from home?
/ January 15, 2021Carlos M. Frota Unity! Unity! Disunion is a scandal ! It’s a sin! I heard the appeal from within, inscribed in my personal history as a Christian and as a Catholic. And my thoughts lead me towards old times during my adolescence, when I first became aware of the contingencies of history that provoked irreparable (so far!) wounds of misunderstanding…
BITE-SIZE THEOLOGY (111) – Can we just pray anywhere? Why do we need churches?
/ January 8, 2021Rev José Mario O Mandíajmom.honlam.org Why do we need special places for praying? Can we not just prayer anywhere? Yes, one not only can but must pray wherever he finds himself. The CCCC (no 244) explains: “The worship ‘in spirit and truth’ (John 4:24) of the New Covenant is not tied exclusively to any place because Christ is the true…
“WITH A FATHER’S HEART” – St Joseph, the Saint we need for 2021
/ January 8, 2021Fr Leonard Dollentas In a new Apostolic Letter entitled Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), Pope Francis recalls the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To highlight this occasion, the Holy Father has proclaimed a “Year of Saint Joseph” from December 8, 2020 and extending to the same feast in 2021.
FRATELLI TUTTI – The Social Encyclical on Fraternity
/ January 8, 2021Fausto Gomez OP Fratelli Tutti (FT) is the title of the new encyclical of Pope Francis. The title is a quote from a talk of St Francis of Assisi with his Franciscan brothers: all brothers. Thesubtitle is “on Fraternity and Social Friendship.” In this encyclical, Pope Francis speaks as a human being, a brother, a believer in God the Creator…
FROM NAZARETH TO TRSAT TO LORETO – “Here, I conceived the Creator of all things”
/ January 8, 2021Miguel Augusto On the morning of May 10, 1291, during a time of great Islamic expansion and before the arrival of the Muslims in Nazareth, the Holy Family House inexplicably disappeared. And, just as inexplicably, it appeared on the hill in the village of Tersatto (Trsat, Rijeka, Croatia); the people were astonished to discover a little building where none had…