The sixth commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” is comprehensive and encompasses all sins against chastity, according to the Tradition of the Church. These sins include adultery, masturbation, fornication, pornography, prostitution, rape, and homosexual acts. Offenses against chastity also include the use of artificial means to control birth, such as direct sterilization or contraception, and artificial insemination and fertilization.
Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, emphasizes the urgent need for unity among Eastern Churches to safeguard the future of Christianity in the Middle East. Building bridges with Muslims is also essential, says the patriarch.
The month of March of every year is the month of St. Joseph, “father” of Jesus, husband of Mary and Patron of the Universal Church. In his letter titled, ‘Patris Corde’, Pope Francis has focused on the special fatherhood of St Joseph, and outlined seven characteristics of his unique fatherhood: beloved, tender, loving, obedient, accepting, creatively courageous, and a father in the shadows.
The Rui Cunha Foundation will host a forum on business leadership on March 14. Promoted by the Macau Ricci Institute, the initiative is a warm-up event in preparation for the ceremony of the First Deignan Award for Responsible Entrepreneurship. Nine companies from Macau have been nominated for the prize.
The Catholic communities in Laos and Cambodia are facing significant challenges in training local clergy and reaching out to young people. With only 0.5% of the population in Laos and 0.1% in Cambodia being members of the Roman Catholic Church, the bishops are focusing on creating “prospects of hope” among those who are left behind in society. The lack of local clergy and language barriers are just a few of the challenges they face.
“The light that Jesus shows the disciples is an anticipation of Easter glory, and that must be the goal of our own journey, as we follow ‘him alone’. Lent leads to Easter: the ‘retreat’ is not an end in itself, but a means of preparing us to experience the Lord’s passion and cross with faith, hope and love, and thus to arrive at the resurrection”.
Listening to the word of God is not everything. One cannot spend one’s life in the church or in the oasis of spiritual retreats. It is necessary to go out to meet and serve the brothers and sisters, to help those who suffer, to be close to anyone in need of love.
The elevation of Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão to the rank of cardinal, last August, was an uplifting moment for the Goan Catholic community, and viewed as a significant encouragement to tackle the challenges confronting the Indian Church.
Children are the fruit of the love not only of husband and wife but of the love of God who is one of the parties in the marriage. Each of the parties – husband, wife, God – has a contribution to make.
We are—all of us—sitting on a lot of unresolved rage. Thomas Aquinas defines the deadly sin of anger in his typically pithy manner as an irrational or excessive desire for revenge. Every one of us has been hurt by someone else, aggressed, unjustly harmed, insulted, perhaps to an extreme degree. And so, naturally enough, we harbor a desire to respond in kind.