Slaughter of 28 Coptic pilgrims brings fear and anger
Father Rafic Greiche told Catholic News Service that Christians in Egypt are "getting this idea that we could be a martyr at any moment."
This after an attack on Christian pilgrims on a bus May 26. At least 28 died and another 25 were injured. Coptic Catholic Abouna Beshoi Yasa Annis said his parish has cancelled one trip and the plans for many other summer trips and pilgrimages are now up in the air. "They are in despair," he said. More from The Catholic Register here.
Female immigrants from India are having more sons than daughters, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Canada.
"It's counterintuitive," said Marcelo Urquia, a research scientist at the University of Manitoba's Centre for Health Policy and lead author of the study. "We know that the longer immigrants are in Canada, the more likely they are to align to the host country."
But Indian women in Ontario who already have two daughters are giving birth to 192 baby boys for every 100 girls. The ratio is so distorted, only sex-selective abortion can explain it. Read the rest of the article from the Globe and Mailhere.
When B.C. Catholic reporter Agnieszka Krawczynski was studying theology, The Case for Christ was required reading.
Now, the book by atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel has become a feature film about a journalist with a great mustache trying to find evidence for or against the existence of Jesus. Interested? Watch the trailer here!
Sister Jean Schmidt is the newest member of Loyola University's sports hall of fame in Chicago. She's also been the men's basketball team chaplain since 1994.
Sr. Jean has become a fixture on the Chicago campus, even getting her own bobblehead day before a game in appreciation for her service. She keeps an office in the Student Center where her door is always open, and she lives in a dorm with 400 undergraduate students, where she also serves as their chaplain.
In his prayer video for March, Pope Francis prays for persecuted
Christians, asking for the prayers and aid of the whole Church toward
those mistreated because of their beliefs.
“How many people are being persecuted because of their faith, forced to
abandon their homes, their places of worship, their lands, their loved
ones!”
The video was released March 2. Read more about the video here.
Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe behind the landmark pro-abortion case in the U.S., died Feb. 18. So why are pro-lifers mourning her death?
Opinion writer Melissa Clement explains:
"As I
sat listening to Miss Norma, I was overwhelmed with the burden she
carried.
She told her story of meeting with Sarah Weddington and the
other attorneys, the Roe v Wade decision, her coming out as
Roe, her strident advocacy for the legalization and normalization of
abortion, her conversion to seeing the humanity of the unborn caused by
the patient and loving efforts of young pro-lifers, her acceptance of
Christ and her lifetime efforts to reverse a Supreme Court decision that
she felt she caused."
Iraq prelate supports a preference for minorities fleeing genocide
Archbishop Bashar Warda of the Chaldean Archeparchy of Erbil, Iraq. (Credit)
Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil says the U.S. president's executive order, which some have criticized as a travel ban or discrimination against Muslims, actually brings "renewed hope" to persecuted minorities.
"Most Americans have no concept of what it was like to live as a
Yazidi or Christian or other minority as ISIS invaded. Our people had
the option to flee, to convert, or to be killed, and many were killed in
the most brutal ways imaginable."
The executive order gives priority to minority refugees fleeing religious persecution. He said that is good news for persecuted Iraqis who have been hoping for help from America.
"I am happy an American president finally realizes there are Christians - and other religious minority groups - here who need help. This is an important step forward, and it means a good deal to the displaced people here. We have felt like we were forgotten by the United States until now."
While he agrees the executive order should have been clearly explained to the public, he wonders why protests against it became so heated.
"I wonder why all of these protesters were not protesting in the streets when ISIS came to kill Christians and Yazidis and other minority groups. They were not protesting when the tens of thousands of displaced Christians my archdiocese has cared for since 2014 received no financial assistance from the U.S. government or the U.N."
Calling the order a "Muslim ban" actually hurts Christians, he said. Continue reading here.
Palmer residents host their own March for Life for first time
While massive crowds took to the streets in Washington, D.C., during the March for Life in January, a small community in Alaska decided to participate from afar for the first time.
"Each year, since Roe vs. Wade was decided, hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans have made their way to Washington, D.C., to demand an end to abortion," a statement from the group said.
"D.C. is a long way for we Alaskans to travel, so why not stay closer to home and still share the same message: abortion is a travesty of epic proportions and it must be stopped!"
More than 300 people came out to protest abortion. More on their snowy protest here.
The Pope who has become famous for his words "who am I to judge?" is not judging the new president of the United States just yet.
"I think that we must wait and see. I don’t like to get ahead of myself, nor to judge people prematurely. We will see how he acts, what he does, and then I will form an opinion."
Pope Francis sat down for an interview with Spanish daily El Pais on Jan. 20, the day Donald Trump was sworn into office.
"Being afraid or rejoicing beforehand because of something that might
happen is, in my view, quite unwise. It would be like prophets
predicting calamities or windfalls that will not come to pass. We will
see what he does and will judge accordingly."
Reporters asked him about a variety of other topics, too, including the refugee crisis, Vatican relations with China, and a promise Pope Francis made 25 years ago to stop watching television. Read it all here.
Frater Charles Brandt honoured during the 50th anniversary of his ordination
It was standing room only for 93-year-old Frater Charles Brandt from Oyster River, B.C.
"Brandt, soon to turn 94, is much revered by almost everyone for his tireless work on behalf of the natural world, a world he sees as infused with divine purpose...
He’s a hermit who took a science degree, ornithology, and uses social media to distribute his stunning photographs of wild creatures — a cougar visiting his hermitage, wild swans in flight, a red-winged blackbird."
Bishop Joseph Nguyen of Kamloops, who was ordained this summer, traveled to Rome for what some have affectionately called "bishop school."
There, he met Pope Francis.
Bishop Nguyen is a former refugee from Vietnam. He was ordained a priest in Vancouver, where he served the church for many years before Pope Francis called him to the episcopacy. Read more about him here.
Father David Miloscia in St. Louis shows young people the game of Pokemon Go on his phone. (Photo: Lisa Johnston, St. Louis Review / CNS)
Pokemon Go, part scavenger hunt and part virtual reality game, has become wildly popular since its release July 6. Within a week, 21 million people were collecting Pokemon, competing, and leveling up thanks to a new app on their phones.
Now, the Diocese of Green Bay in Wisconsin has released a primer suggesting how to engage Pokemon Go players on church doorsteps. Find out what they mean about "Pokevangelism" here!
That's according to a new study in the U.S. that tracked 89,708 women between 1996 and 2010.
"Attendance at religious services once per week or more was associated with an approximately five-fold lower rate of suicide compared with never attending religious services."
The women in the study were between the ages of 30 and 55 and most were Christian. They reported to researchers how often they went to church: 17,028 went more than once a week, 36,488 went once a week, 14,548 went less than once a week, and 21,644 never did.
The study also found that Catholic women were less likely to commit suicide than their other Christian sisters. Read the report here.
Four bishops have signed a joint statement against legalizing recreational marijuana in Arizona.
It "sends a message to children and young people that drug use is socially and morally acceptable," they wrote June 30. "It is anticipated that legalizing the recreational use of marijuana in Arizona will lead to more abuse by teens, more emergency room visits, more traffic deaths, and more societal costs."
Other U.S. bishops have spoken out against legalizing pot, and still others have spoken in favour of it for medical use. This comes after nearly 260,000 people signed petitions to put the question to Arizona voters. Read the full article here.
Prelate worries proponents seek to expand assisted suicide as it 'claims its first victims'
Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver.
The spiritual head of Catholics in Vancouver is speaking out in alarm
about the effects of assisted suicide weeks after Canada made it legal.
"How can it be that, in a society that is finally beginning to recognize
the equal dignity of vulnerable and disabled persons, we are
introducing laws that seem to target them for assisted suicide?"
He worried recent attempts to expand assisted suicide show society's attitude toward people who are suffering is getting worse.
"Can anyone doubt that, before long, what few protections exist will be
history, just as Canada's previous law against assisted suicide is
history?"
An Iraqi woman grieves at the scene of the blast July 3.
It's been called the the single deadliest attack since 2003. A suicide truck bomb ignited outside a busy shopping mall in Baghdad,
sending out a wall of fire and killing at least 215 people. Another 175 were injured. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
"We ask everyone to come together with their candles and flowers to support one another and to commemorate the innocent lives lost to the horrendous attack in Iraq as well as throughout the globe."
The event will begin outside the Vancouver Public Library at 7:30 p.m.
Predominantly Christian town attacked twice in one day
Lebanese women hold guns in front of journalists June 28 in the village of Qaa, where the attacks took place. (Reuters)
People in the Lebanese village of Qaa are grieving after two separate suicide bomb attacks hit on the same day. Catholic News Service reached Melkite Catholic Archbishop Elias Rahal over the phone:
"We pray, we pray, we pray for the dead, for the injured... We are here for the families and for their children."
The first attack on June 27 killed five people, not including the bombers. The second attack hit near St. Elias Melkite Catholic Church as people were preparing for funerals for those killed in the first attack. About 30 people were injured in both incidents.
When she was in her twenties, singer and pianist Eve Duke toured with legendary musician Duke Ellington.
He "was a big name in those days. He had one of the most famous orchestras."
Duke recorded three tracks with Ellington in 1950, including Mood Indigo, Sophisticated Lady, and Love You Madly. She says the lifestyle of a musician touring with one of the world's top bands was exciting.
Now Duke entertains residents at St. Vincent's: Langara and says she never retired. Find out more about her musical career here.
Christian post-secondary institution continues struggle to open a law school
Trinity Western University.
Trinity Western University was in the B.C. Court of Appeal last week and is in Ontario appeal courts this week. President Bob Kuhn wrote a statement to friends and supporters:
"This is a vital time for the future of Trinity Western University, and for the future of our freedom. Within the next 10 days, Courts of Appeal in both B.C. and Ontario will be hearing the case for TWU's proposed School of Law."
The university has been criticized for asking students to abide by a Community Covenant during their studies, which, among other things, requires students to abstain from sex outside marriage between a man and a woman.
"This journey and these challenges are about more than a law school - they're about freedom. We're profoundly privileged to live in a country where our freedom to believe in Jesus Christ, to express that belief, and to form a community defined by biblical principles, is protected by the Charter. We pray that the courts will honour and protect this freedom."
Parishioners worry about location of a proposed SkyTrain station
Holy Name of Jesus Church. (Photo by Graham Osborne)
Members of Holy Name of Jesus Parish are about To meet Vancouver city planners to discuss the future of the neighbourhood.
On the agenda is Phase 3 of the city’s Cambie Corridor project. That plan includes various housing, transit, and other development projects along a 19-kilometre stretch of Cambie Street.
“We have to be responsible stewards of the property that was purchased for the use of the parish for its mission,” said Father Stanley Galvon.
More than 300 parishioners have signed a petition outlining their concerns about Phase 3. Those concerns include a proposed SkyTrain station at 33rd Avenue, the intersection where their church stands. Find out more here.
Posts and comments to The Busy Catholic must be marked by Christian charity and respect for the truth. They should be on topic and presume the good will of other contributors.
Discussion should take place primarily from a faith perspective. We reserve the right to end discussion on any topic any time we feel the discussion is no longer productive.
