Tag: Christianity

Moscow, March 26, 2024

Photo: npr.by     

The Russian Orthodox Church published a document yesterday, March 25, responding to the Catholic Church’s controversial Fiducia Supplicans document, which speaks of the possibility of blessing gay couples.

The Russian Church’s document, “On the Orthodox Attitude to the New Practice of Blessing ‘Couples in Irregular Situations and Same-sex Couples’ in the Roman Catholic Church,” was developed by the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission, headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Budapest.

According to the new document, “the ideas expressed in Fiducia Supplicans declaration represent a significant deviation from Christian moral teaching and require theological analysis.”

While “proclaiming fidelity to the Christian understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage and the practice of blessings,” the Catholic document “actually postulates a sharp departure from this fidelity.”

“In the context of the processes taking place in the Christian community, this document can be perceived as a step towards the full recognition by the Roman Catholic Church of ‘same-sex unions’ as a norm, which has already happened in a number of Protestant communities,” the Synodal Commission notes.

“All believers, including those with homosexual aspirations, need pastoral care. However, this pastoral care must not be aimed at legitimizing a sinful lifestyle, but at healing the soul of the suffering,” the Russian Church document states.

It concludes:

Despite the fact that the Fiducia Supplicans declaration is an internal document of the Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox Church considers it its duty to respond to such radical innovations that reject the divinely revealed norms of Christian morality. The Church, with maternal love and condescension accepting every individual sinner asking for its blessing, cannot bless ‘same-sex couples’ in any form, since this would mean the actual consent of the Church to a union that is sinful in nature.

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When women chart their cycle through models like the Creighton Model or Fertility Education and Medical Management (FEMM), Duane said a doctor can “identify abnormalities and then make a … diagnosis and then [prescribe an] effective treatment.”

“It is designed to work with the body and restore normal reproductive function,” Duane said.

Sometimes infertility problems are caused by the results of lifestyle choices, such as obesity, or drugs or alcohol usage in either the man or the woman. In other cases, there can be conditions — such as endometriosis, fallopian tube blockage, polycystic ovarian syndrome, cesarian-section scars, or inflammation inside the uterus — that would require medical and possible surgical treatment.

Gavin Puthoff, a gynecologist and the medical director of Veritas Fertility and Surgery, told CNA that a “comprehensive, in-depth diagnostic evaluation” can often determine the cause for infertility, because infertility is a “symptom as opposed to a disease.” He said “what women and couples really want” is the reason for the infertility.

“They’ve been asking themselves the ‘why’ for months if not years,” Puthoff added.

When medication is used to assist in conception, he noted that the medication “cooperates with their cycle” rather than trying to supersede it: The treatment in this case is “supporting their own natural fertility.”

Puthoff said the NaPro technology helps ensure “a pregnancy in a state of health.” He contrasts this with IVF, which he said is “ignoring the issue and going around it” and noted that preborn children conceived through IVF have higher rates of congenital abnormalities, preterm delivery, and miscarriage.

Additionally, Puthoff added that NaPro shows “respect for each embryo — each life — from the moment of conception” and supports “the dignity of marriage.”

“This is a very pro-life and pro-woman, pro-marriage and pro-family type of treatment,” he said.

What are the results?

Although the data on NaPro success rates is sparse, a 2012 study of 108 people using the treatment in Ireland found that 66% of couples who received the treatment were able to conceive and give birth to a child within 24 months.

Puthoff said the success rate for his patients ranges between 65% and 80%, depending on what the underlying condition of the infertility is. Although the process takes more time than IVF, he argued that it is “more effective.”

The success rate for IVF treatments resulting in a live birth is about 50% for women under the age of 35, but significantly lower as women get older.

Virginia resident Katie Carter, a patient of Duane’s, told CNA that she conceived two children after receiving NaPro treatments to address her infertility. One is now 2.5 years old and the other is 3 months old.

Prior to receiving the treatments, Carter suffered three miscarriages. Her doctors referred her to IVF for treatment, but she worried she “would continue to miscarry” because the clinics were not “getting to the root problems.”

She said the doctors “kept telling me I had unexplained infertility and they never really tried to figure out why.”

When a friend referred her to Duane, Carter began charting, which she said “really hones in on how your body is responding and how your hormones are working,” allowing the doctor to diagnose the underlying conditions causing her issues.

She ultimately required surgeries to address the conditions that were causing her infertility, which she credited with helping “heal [her] body” and successfully giving birth to two children.

“I think every woman deserves this kind of care,” Carter said.

New York, March 26, 2024

    

During a prayer service outside Planned Parenthood in Manhattan in February, His Eminence Archbishop Michael of New York and New Jersey of the Orthodox Church in America said to those who gathered to pray for an end to abortion: “As we come into the Lenten season, the time of repentance, let us call on this nation and everyone to consider turning away from this option”—at these words the hierarch pointed out at the image of aborted baby—“to a more godly one. To consider adoption, life instead of death. And to add our prayers, our encouragement and our support of those women who have to make that difficult choice.”

In light of these encouraging words from Abp. Michael, Orthodox Christians Pro-Life held a moleben and educational outreach event on Wall Street. Downtown Manhattan’s busy financial district is a convenient location to reach many people with the truth of the Gospel and the truth about abortion. The service was led by Abbot Zosimas (Krampis) from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.​

Pro-life activities are especially important in New York right now, as abortion rights will be on the state ballot in November. The so-called Equal Rights Amendment would not only make an abortion ban impossible in the future, but would even prohibit cutting abortion funding from tax dollars via Medicaid and would force private insurances to cover abortions.

The amendment is also a dangerous attempt to limit freedom of speech, as pro-life education or even church sermons could be considered “discrimination” based on reproductive rights.

The Orthodox Pro-Life Society calls on everyone to use the blessed time of Great Lent to witness to the faith to those around them, helping them make right decision, and to serve God this way, doing our best to save children from death. Let us remember these words of Scripture:

If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? (Prov. 24:11-12).

Another pro-life event will also be held this coming weekend outside the ParkMed abortuary in Manhattan. The moleben for an end to abortion will be served by Fr. William Bennett of the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese.

To participate, please contact Orthodox Christians Pro-Life in advance at 917-428-3560 or info@orthodoxchristiansprolife.org. The event will be held at 800 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10017 at 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 30.

Watch the video of Abp. Michael’s sermon from the previous moleben. “We are here to protect the rights of the unborn,” Vladyka stressed out, recalling that the U.S. was founded with the Declaration of Independence, in which the right to life was proclaimed first, before all other rights.

***

The New York -based St. John the Forerunner Orthodox Pro-Life Society calls on people outside New York to create their local pro-life societies, start movement in their cities and to form national Orthodox Christians Pro-Life movements. There is work to be done in every state: After Roe v. Wade was overturned, a few states voted in favor of abortion rights, but it’s not impossible task to overturn that and to make those states pro-life again; some other states accepted pro-life laws, but even there you can work to make abortion unthinkable.

Besides New York abortion rights will be on the ballot in Maryland in 2024 and possibly in some other states. Fill out this form to start your activities.

In some states, CVS and Walgreens sell the abortion pill mifepristone. If you are in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, Rhode Island, New York, or Illinois you can consider starting your witness outside your local pharmacy. It’s important to let pregnant women and fathers know that abortion pill reversal is possible after taking the first pill. You can use our sign or create your own.

***

For about a year now, the Pro-Life Society has been helping K., a single mother of four from Arizona. The society has helped her cover rent, pay cellphone bills, and purchase a bottle warmer, chair, and pillow that she needed to feed her twin boys. The Society spent about $2,200 for these purposes, and this family still needs help.

Please visit their baby registry to purchase diapers for all four children and other items. Orthodox Christians Pro-Life is grateful to St. Barbara’s Philoptochos of Daytona Beach, FL, a family of ROCOR parishioners from Michigan, St. Nicholas of Myra ACROD Church of New York, and all who have helped mom K. see that she is not alone in her struggles! Since she and her children are still in need, please consider supporting our work so we can do more.

To support the work of Orthodox Christians Pro-Life (a non-profit organization), please mail checks to:
33 Hewitt Avenue, Bronxville, NY 10708.

You can also donate online at GiveSendGo or directly via PayPal.
Venmo and Cash App: OCProLife.

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Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., signed into law legislation proponents call a medical education bill that directs South Dakota’s Department of Health to create a video explaining the state’s abortion regulations for health care professionals and the general public.

Proponents of House Bill 1224 say it clarifies exceptions to the state’s abortion ban and when doctors are permitted to intervene to save a pregnant woman’s life; opponents argue the bill isn’t sufficient to address confusion surrounding the ban.

Noem’s office said March 18 that she signed into law that day HB 1224 among 10 bills intended to “take care of people.”

“This year, we did a fantastic job of keeping our focus on people, not government programs. The primary role of state government should always be to care for the people,” Noem said in a statement. “These bills ensure the people of South Dakota are safe, healthy, and secure.”

South Dakota’s Senate previously approved the legislation in a 31-3 vote, after the state’s House passed it in a 63-6 vote.

South Dakota bans all abortions except to save the life of the mother under a law that took effect in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned its previous abortion precedent with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

Advocates of abortion restrictions enacted by states in the wake of the Dobbs decision say those laws contain exceptions for circumstances where a woman’s life is in danger; while opponents argue those exceptions are often unclear and medical providers’ delayed treatment can endanger women’s lives. Some women in states with new abortion bans have reported they were denied treatment for life-threatening ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage, even though their states’ laws had exceptions covering those situations.

OSV News reached out to the South Dakota Catholic Conference for comment on the new law, but did not receive an immediate response.

“We thank Gov. Noem for making South Dakota the first state to protect women’s lives with a Med Ed law,” Kelsey Pritchard, state public affairs director for SBA Pro-Life America, said in a statement March 25.

“Regardless of political affiliation or whether someone is pro-life or pro-choice, South Dakotans of all philosophies can celebrate that moms will be better protected through direct education to our doctors on their ability to exercise reasonable medical judgment in all situations,” Pritchard said.

When state legislators approved the bill earlier in March, Samantha Chapman, advocacy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota, said in a statement, “A video is not and should never be a substitute for a doctor’s medical education, experience and relationship with their patient.” Chapman argued the law “gives anti-abortion activists a guise to appear to care about pregnant patients while actually passing legislation that further enshrines anti-abortion cruelty.”

But Pritchard added in her statement, “Though every state with a pro-life law allows pregnant women to receive emergency care, the abortion industry has sown confusion on this fact to justify their position of abortion without limits. With many in the media refusing to fact-check this obvious lie, other states should look to South Dakota in combatting dangerous abortion misinformation.”

Revelation: Removing the VeilThis revelation was given by God to the Apostle John because we needed to know it.

“>Part 1
If Christ Is With Us, Death Is DefeatedThe book of Revelation teaches us a lot, especially when we begin to carefully delve into its words, when we see how Christ holds the world in His hands and acts with wisdom in all things.”>Part 2
Why Did the Lord Leave Man the Book of Revelation?Only the people of God, the saints, can receive revelations from God, and only they can interpret them, because a revelation, words from God, is given from God, from the Holy Spirit.”>Part 3
For the Time Is at Hand…We have to understand that God acts outside of time, and the events of Revelation don’t relate only to the end times.”>Part 4

Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy

We stopped on the fourth verse of the first chapter. Last time, we talked about it as the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass (Rev. 1:1). I repeat that it was written because it will happen this way—it’s not that it will happen this way because it was foretold. All of this is going to happen, thus a prophecy about it was recorded. If we say the opposite, it will seem that God is to blame for all this evil. It was revealed that all these terrible events will come to pass, arranged by people themselves, and they will be responsible for what happens. God knows about it, thus a prophecy was recorded.

Matthias Gerung, St. John’s Vision of the Seven Lampstands 15th c.     

Christ sent the revelation through an angel to His servant the Apostle and Evangelist John, who conveyed the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ about what he saw and heard.  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand (Rev. 1:3). We spoke about how the time is at hand—it’s not in our time dimension, because God is beyond the bounds of our human time and moves in His Divine dimension.

Let’s move on to the fourth verse, where, after the introduction, the Apostle John begins to speak. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne (Rev. 1:4). These are the churches that were located in Asia Minor. There were other churches then, located in various places. These seven churches, seven spirits, seven eyes—we’ll constantly see this number seven—have a symbolic meaning, which isfullness, like the seven days of creation. This means the words of this prophecy are addressed to the entire Church in all ages. The Apostle John says that he prays that God will grant His grace and peace; God Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come.

And then you’ll notice, especially philologists, that he changes the order of words. Instead of saying, “who was, who is, and who is coming,” the Apostle changes the order, although he knew Greek very well, and says: Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come, referring to God. The Apostle prays that grace and peace from God might descend upon Christians. On God’s Grace and Free WillThus, Christ is the Prince of life, the Source of Life, the Captain of life, the Guide, the Leader of salvation.

“>Grace is the deliverance that God gave the world. When we in the Church say “grace,” we understand this word to mean energy, the uncreated energy of God, which is poured out on man and saves him. Man is delivered by the grace of God—we can interpret it this way. Man is liberated for free. Our salvation was given to us for free; we didn’t offer anything. Christ saved us gratuitously. And may this grace of our deliverance, and the energy of the Holy Spirit, and the peace of God be with us all.

Peace is a consequence of the coming of grace. When grace abides in a man, that man becomes peaceful. There’s no peace without grace. Wherever you see confusion, irritation, shouting, screaming, nerves, disorder, there’s no grace there. Grace can’t abide where there’s no peace. God makes His abode in a peaceful man. God doesn’t dwell in an anxious, restless, angry, nervous, gloomy, and confused man. God is the God of peace and He dwells in peace. God reveals Himself in peace and through people who have peace within themselves. When grace comes, its first manifestation is peace, and therefore Christ constantly says: Peace be unto you. When His Disciples met Him, He said: Peace be unto you. When God is present, we feel peace first. When God is absent and the energy of satan is at work, then we feel inner turmoil. The soul is in turmoil, there’s no peace in it, and we can’t be comforted by anything. Where there is confusion and dismay, there is no God. I won’t dwell on this any longer, but I’ll try to go further through the text, because it’s rather long. I think it’ll be interesting for you to see what’s described next.

Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come (Rev. 1:4), says the Apostle. He Who exists, Who existed, and Who is coming. This is a reminder of the Triunity of God. “Which is”—this reminds us of God in the Old Testament. In Exodus 3:14, God speaks with Moses. After He sent him to lead the people out of Egypt, Moses asked God about how he should answer the sons of Israel if they ask about His name. I shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them? (Ex. 3:13). God answered Moses: I AM THAT I AM [He Who Is/The Existing One] (3:14).

In Hebrew, this name is written with the four characters אֶהְיֶה‎. The Jews never pronounced this name, so we don’t know how exactly the name of God was pronounced—probably “Yahweh.” Today there are the Jehovah’s Witnesses—chiliasts, heretics, who constantly pronounce this name, which is just one of the names of God. In the Old Testament, God was called by various names: Adonai, Elohim, Sabaoth. Yahweh is one of these names. However, when the Jews, saw this name in the Old Testament, they never read it aloud, because they revered and feared pronouncing the name of God. When they saw these letters, they would instead say Sabaoth, Elohim—one of the other names. When this name was translated into Greek (seventy wise Jewish translators of the Old Testament translated it from Hebrew 200 years before the coming of Christ; it wasn’t us Christians who translated the Old Testament), they translated these four characters (tetragrammaton) as “ο Ων, ο Υπάρχων” [the Being, He Who Is]. Here, the Apostle and Evangelist John, using this translation of the seventy, imprinted the name of God, reminding us that this is the same God of the Old Testament, the Existing One.

The Only-Begotten Son, sketch of Viktor Vasnetsov for St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev     

Further: Him Which is. The same verb is used here as in the New Testament when it says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Jn. 1:1, in Greek, the same verb ήν—was). And Which is to come refers to the Holy Spirit. We can say that all of this refers to the Triunity of God. But we can also say that all of this—“is and was and is coming”—refers to God as a whole, because the Trinitarian properties are common to all Persons.

So, Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him Which is, and Which was, and Which is to come (from the Father); and from the seven Spirits Which are before His throne (from the Holy Spirit). Before, we were talking about seven Churches, and here we’re talking about seven spirits. This is the grace of the Holy Spirit. It’s not seven holy spirits, but the properties of the Holy Spirit. The Prophet Isaiah mentions the seven properties of the Holy Spirit—the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of reason, the spirit of strength, and all the rest. He mentions the seven properties of the Holy Spirit in order to show the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, found before His throne; that is, we have grace and peace from the Holy Spirit. And then he says: And from Jesus Christ. You see, we have a clear reference to the Holy Trinity: God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ. Jehovah’s WitnessesAnyone who has had more than a passing encounter with Jehovah’s Witnesses would find it hard to disagree. Their arguments appear so tightly constructed as to be virtually unassailable. Even if one is left unconquered, the experience is frustrating. Is this a no-win situation?

“>Jehovah’s false Witnesses, the chiliasts, say the Holy Trinity is never mentioned in Scripture, but we see many places where the Holy Trinity is clearly spoken of, to the assurance of the Church.

Verse five says: And from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own Blood (Rev. 1:5). Christ is a faithful witness; He testified to the truth before us. He revealed the truth about God to us, the truth about the Holy Trinity, the truth about the salvation of man through Himself. Christ is a faithful witness and the firstborn of the dead—He Who first rose from the dead and through Whom all the other dead will rise. This reveals the faith of the Church that all the dead will rise; there will not be a single man who won’t rise. When Christ comes in the Second Coming, we’ll all be resurrected. Everyone. No matter who we are, no matter where we live, no matter how we die—we’ll all resurrect, without exception. It’s not our soul that will be resurrected, because souls don’t die—our bodies will be resurrected. The body that we have now will be resurrected. Of course, it won’t resurrect as in old age or as a baby, sick or with disabilities. It will be perfect, unharmed, without disease or injury. As Christ resurrected whole and unharmed, so we will all rise in Christ Jesus, in the firstborn from the dead. Therefore, we Christians don’t believe in the transmigration of souls.

If we believed in the Reincarnated “Christians”I recalled today these two holy prophets, Moses and Elias, who appeared and conversed with Christ during His Transfiguration, in order to clarify the Orthodox Church’s point of view on the Hindu theory of the transmigration of souls, otherwise known as reincarnation.

“>transmigration of souls, then how could the dead be resurrected? If I’m resurrected, then in what body? In the one I have now, or in the one I lived in fifty, 100, or 200 years ago? Then the uniqueness of the human personality would be lost. Man isn’t repeated, we don’t come into this world twice, and we didn’t exist earlier (we didn’t “pre-exist”). We appeared at the moment of our conception. When we were conceived within the womb of our mother, that’s when our soul was created. Our soul didn’t exist before, and it won’t live in some other body later. All these teachings are heretical; the Church rejected them because we believe in the resurrection from the dead through Jesus Christ, Who is the Prince of the kings of the earth. Christ is over everyone. There’s no one higher than Christ. There’s nothing that brings Christ down. Christ is above everyone and everything.

And those who are with Christ are also found to be above everyone and everything. Then it says that Christ is the Lord of the kings of the earth, Who loves us and Who washed us from our sins by His Blood. Just as we wash a dirty, stained child covered in filth, so Christ washed and cleansed us from our sins. How? By His Blood. Therefore, my brothers, when we go to the Divine Liturgy, we go mainly to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ unto the remission of sins and life eternal. Of course, having prepared appropriately, we approach the chalice to become partakers of this great event—our purification. Christ was crucified and saved the entire world; He saved all of mankind by His All-Holy Blood. And every one of us participates in our personal salvation, which Christ brought to earth and gave us by His Cross; participating in the Sacrament and communing with Christ, Who cleansed us from our sins.

To be continued…

Losing a young child. Struggling in a troubled marriage with an alcoholic husband. Separating, starting a nursing career in midlife, downsizing to a rental apartment, and becoming a widow.

And now, moving one step closer to sainthood.

On March 14, Pope Francis authorized the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to decree as “venerable” Mother Mary Alphonsa Hawthorne — also known as Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of an American literary icon and founder of the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of St. Rose of Lima.

Her extraordinary journey from 19th-century U.S. and European literary circles to religious life and caring for the critically ill poor is “very relevant” to the faithful today, Mother Marie Edward Deutsch, superior general of the Hawthorne Dominicans, told OSV News.

Born in 1851 in Massachusetts as the third child of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia Peabody, Rose Hawthorne enjoyed a comfortable life as her father gained literary acclaim. She grew up in England, where her father had been appointed U.S. consul in 1853, and during their travels through Europe, the Protestant Hawthorne family encountered Catholicism.

The Hawthornes returned to the U.S. in 1860, but four years after Nathaniel’s death in 1864, Sophia moved the family to Germany to conserve finances amid New England’s high cost of living. In Dresden, Rose met fellow American expat, George Parsons Lathrop, an aspiring writer from a prominent family. 

The Hawthornes returned to England, followed by Lathrop. Shortly after her mother’s death in 1871, Rose — over the objections of her family — married Lathrop in the Anglican Church.

The couple struggled with financial difficulties and with the loss of their 5-year-old son Francis (“Francie”) to diphtheria in 1881. 

Over the subsequent decade, Rose and George pursued their literary careers, but the latter’s depression and alcoholism began to strain their union.

Returning to the U.S., the Lathrops settled in Connecticut and, to the shock of many friends, converted to Catholicism. 

The husband and wife founded the Catholic Summer School Movement in Connecticut and New York, and co-wrote a history of the Georgetown Visitation convent.

However, the Lathrops’ marriage foundered due to George’s alcoholism, and Rose sought Church permission for a permanent separation in 1895. 

She then focused on a life of charity and service, training as a nurse at age 45 to serve the poor, especially those with cancer — and she was at the bedside of her former husband when he died of kidney and heart disease in 1898.

Following George’s death, she established St. Rose’s Free Home for Incurable Cancer, dedicated to St. Rose of Lima, in New York. In 1900, she received official Church approval to found her order, now known as the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Congregation of St. Rose of Lima.

Hawthorne died in 1926, and her cause for canonization was opened in 2003 by the late Cardinal Edward M. Egan of New York, and submitted to the Vatican in 2013.

Today, the order has 47 sisters and cares for “around 45 to 50” incurably ill patients between its two facilities in Hawthorne, New York, and Atlanta, Mother Marie Edward said, adding that the charism of their foundress continues to infuse the sisters’ day-to-day ministry.

“We’ve always known her to be a saint,” Marie Edward said. “She could not have done what she did without having heroic virtue.”

Marie Edward said once Hawthorne accepted the Catholic faith, “she just kind of ran with it.”

“Her growth in sanctity was astounding at certain parts of her life, because I think she was hungering so much for God,” Marie Edward said. She noted that the Catholic faith enabled Hawthorne to navigate “the loss of her child when he was so young and [her] marriage [which was] a tremendous frustration.”

“I think that the fulfillment came as soon as she received the grace of baptism and the knowledge of the richness of the Catholic Church,” said Marie Edward, who announced the news to her fellow sisters over the Hawthorne community’s public address system and alerted their sisters in Atlanta.

Marie Edward said the beauty of Hawthorne’s charism was “her dependence upon the providence of God.”

“[That] has carried over to this day where we still do not take any payment — Medicare, Medicaid, insurance, anything — for the patient’s care in the order’s homes,” she said. “It’s all [funded] by the benefactors that have been so generous to us over these … 123 years.”

Following the pope’s announcement, the community is mulling a request to Hawthorne’s postulator in Rome for the transfer of their foundress’ remains to their chapel in Hawthorne, New York, Marie Edward added.

Marie Edward said she could not speak regarding any possible canonization miracles that may have been effected through Hawthorne’s intercession — but noted that she and her fellow sisters have an “intuition” any such miracle might be “related to a child,” since Francie’s death at age 5 “broke her heart.”

She said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who extended congratulations to the order, told her, “If it weren’t Lent, I would say ‘Alleluia.’ ”

Marie Edward’s response was even more succinct.

“Our dear mother,” she said.

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all your things be done with charity

(1 Corinthians 16:13, 14)

Abbess Maria (Miros) heads the Orthodox convent of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which belongs to ROCOR. The convent is situated in Kentlyn, a southern suburb of the city of Sydney. Mother Maria was born in Australia and obtained a degree in medicine. But feeling a special call from God, she became a nun. We talked about the convent, choosing the monastic path, and repentance.

Abbess Maria (Miros)     

—Mother Maria, your blessing. Please tell us about your convent. How did it come about? How did you become its abbess?

—Our convent is the oldest of all Orthodox monastic communities in Australia. Archbishop Savva (Raevsky; 1892–1976) of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand wanted to establish a monastery for many years. In the early 1950s, Protodeacon Peter Grishaev donated land to the diocese precisely for this purpose. He had himself received this land after fighting in World War II. At first, Vladyka organized a community of monks here. The first Liturgy was celebrated in 1956.

The first years were tough. There is almost no fertile soil here, only stones and clay. Vladyka gradually built a monastery. Trees were planted, but it was hard to dig in such soil. There was no running water, so water had to be brought in barrels from the nearest town. There was no hot water either. Unfortunately, the community of monks was short-lived. At that time, some nuns were evicted from Harbin and Shanghai. Some moved to South and North America, others came to Australia. And when there was a community of monks here, the sisters helped the monks with practical things. But the community of monks split up, and from late 1958 on the sisters remained in the monastery that was under construction.

Abbess Elena (Ustinova), the actor Peter Ustinov’s sister, was appointed abbess of the community for nuns by the Synodal Decree of 1959. Gradually, our convent began to develop. The sisters ran a large farm (there were chickens and cows) and baked prosphora for all the parishes in Sydney.

​The convent’s old church     

I entered here under the second abbess, Mother Eupraxia (Pustovalova). She was a spiritual child of Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky) of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of ROCOR. She wanted to become a nun back in Harbin, but the conditions were difficult at the time. She moved to Australia with her elderly mother. The future abbess was a novice for ten years and then became a nun. Mother Eupraxia was appointed abbess in 1984 on the feast of the Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women. I entered the convent during her abbacy and was her cell attendant. I also labored as a physician, and performed probably all the obediences that we have at the convent: in the kitchen, in the prosphora bakery, in the choir, and in the church. Under Mother Eupraxia ten more sisters joined the community. But unfortunately, the younger sisters left, because they did not want to obey. Monasticism is a serious way of life, where you must cut off your will and show total obedience. This is the most important thing in monastic life.

Mother Eupraxia reposed in 2006. On the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord in the same year I was appointed mother-superior of the convent, and on the feast of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, in November 2006, I became abbess.

Our sisters are used to hard work. Over the years of my abbacy we have had novices, among whom was a girl from Taiwan, one Serbian, another from Russia. A couple of years ago, two of our novices took monastic vows. Now we have four stavrophore nuns. We serve according to the full Church Typicon whenever possible. Services are celebrated without any abridgements. Now we bake fewer prosphora—we can no longer bake many of them. We send prosphora to two parishes in Sydney. I started a candle factory here, and over many years I myself have made thousands of candles by hand.

We have a farm where we keep several dozen chickens, and a small vegetable garden where we grow tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, corn and strawberries. There are apple trees, pear trees, walnut trees, and even quinces. We also keep bees. Our priests usually look after them.

    

Five Liturgies a week are celebrated at our convent, and two priests serve by turns. One of them is a married priest, the mitered Archpriest Nikita Chemodakov, who has his own parish in Sydney. The other is Hieromonk Dorofei (Urusov)—His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia blessed him to stay with us in Australia.

I still practice as a physician, receiving sisters, parishioners, and others. It was a busy time during the pandemic, because nearly none of the Australian doctors saw patients. Many people turned to me for help—Greeks, Serbs, and many clergy.

The construction of our main Church of the Kazan Icon commenced under Mother Eupraxia in 1984, and it was consecrated in 1990 by Metropolitan Vitaly (Ustinov). Our convent is called “New Shamordino”, since we have a close link with Shamordino Convent in Russia. One of our sisters, Nun Paraskeva (Kudinova), was the last nun tonsured by Optina Monastery. She was tonsured by Elder Hieroschemamonk Anatoly the Younger (Potapov) of Optina just before the monastery was closed.

The new church of the convent     

—Mother, how did you realize in your youth that monasticism was your vocation? How can a person understand that God is calling him to monastic path?

—Now I see clearly that already in childhood I had a desire to become a nun, but then I did not realize it. From the age of twelve I wanted to be a doctor and work somewhere in Africa or India, helping the poor. From the age of seventeen I attended church regularly, I and began to sing and read in the choir. My father-confessor began to furnish me with spiritual literature, noticing my desire. But I had never told anyone about my secret dream of becoming a nun. For ten years I prayed to the Lord to arrange everything in my life according to His will.

When the first pilgrimage trip to the Holy Land was organized in 1986, I joined it. There we met with spiritually experienced, clairvoyant people, and visited Mt. Sinai. During that trip I realized that the Lord was giving me the green light to enter the convent. My spiritual father took this seriously and stopped me for a while until it became completely clear that the Lord was calling me for this. Then he gave me permission; he gave me his blessing to enter the convent.

Maybe it isn’t so obvious with everyone. One of our nuns came to visit her cousin who was at the convent and she also felt this vocation, then entered the convent. Another sister was widowed, and her spiritual father advised her to enter the convent to atone for the sins of her family. Another sister did not want to get married—she came to us, liked it here, and stayed forever. We have a nun who felt that she had lived a very sinful life and came to repent. A priest noticed in another of our sisters that deep spiritual feelings were maturing in her, and he sent her to the convent. That is, everyone has their own path.

    

We had nuns who asked permission to join the convent at the age of eighty. The most illustrative example is Nun Neonilla. She lived in a village near our convent, helped the sisters, asked permission to join, and was admitted. She lived very humbly and tended the convent’s garden. But then her daughter, a Catholic nun, took her away and placed her in a nursing home. She took off from her the monastic habit, forced her to eat meat, and her mother humbly endured everything. She died on the first day of Pascha, when, as we believe, the soul passes through all the aerial toll-houses successfully. We had other elderly novices who realized that they would not be able to carry out the labor of obedience and would not remain at the convent. So, things turned out differently for different people.

—Please tell us about Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral) of Eastern America and New York. What do you remember most about him?

—He was our ruling hierarch. I confessed to him when I came to Jordanville Monastery in America. He had a very pure and holy soul. He was very, very humble, and loving. He never upset anyone, but always stuck to his line. He was very well versed in all areas. Our monastic services seemed long to him. He served humbly, as a priest, when he visited us.

Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral)     

—We cannot perform the full cycle of services every day. That is, we have Vigils only on Saturday evenings and before the major feasts. But during Lent we hold the full cycle of services. On weekdays during the year we have only the Ninth Hour, Compline and the evening rule. We read the morning rule and the Midnight Service privately in our cells, because not everyone is able to get up at four in the morning and go to perform the rule. Vladyka advised us to wait until we have more sisters.

—Please tell us, are you Orthodox nuns persecuted in Australian society?

—This society is becoming almost satanic. People are all tattooed from head to toe. Christianity is dying out. Many Catholic churches and monasteries are being closed. Previously, seeing us on the street, young people called us “witches”. Now it has become even more difficult due to the geopolitical situation in the world. Because we are Russians and members of the Russian Orthodox Church, we are not always treated well. Sometimes we are ignored, denied service or kept waiting for a long time. We have been struggling with the local authorities for a whole year to have several huge dying trees cut down near our convent. They are aware of the great risk that we can burn in the summer—a very hot summer is predicted [it’s summer in Australia now. This season is characterized by frequent forest fires in Australia.—A. K.]. But the Lord is merciful. Yesterday it was plus forty-one degrees Celsius. But they don’t allow us to do anything and do nothing themselves.

—Are there many lay parishioners in your convent now?

—This is another problem of ours. Young families have now taken up residence in the village next to us, where the elderly people who attended our parish used to live. Most of these young families are English–speaking, so they go to English-speaking parishes. We serve in Church Slavonic.

    

We experienced frequent changes of clergy—there was no stability. A priest who served with us was against the rapprochement between the ROCOR and the ROC and took several dozen people with him. After that, the parish had to grow anew. The next priest was with almost the same mindset, and he was against the Church hierarchy to boot, and then he left too. The parish followed him, and we had to attract parishioners again.

Then the COVID-19 epidemic broke out. It was a tough time. Because of the restrictions, we were only allowed to stay within a three-mile radius of our homes. Some cities were completely “under lock and key”. People are used to watching church services online. Older people are still afraid of getting infected. That is, the parish has suffered much in recent years.

But last year, people started attending our convent again. Our parishioners come from various ethnic groups: Serbs, Macedonians, Greeks, local Australians, Russians and Arabs. These people came from all over the world. In general, our Churches in Australia are increasingly switching to English—not all clergy understand Russian. It’s sad, but this is a period of evolution. There are probably more Russian parishioners from Russia in Canada! And here we have few church-goers among the newcomers. There are many mixed marriages here, the consequences of which affect parish life. For example, my brother’s children do not speak Russian [Mother Maria was born into a Russian–speaking family.—A. K.]. That is, they do not understand anything in churches where services are in Church Slavonic. It does not have a salutary effect on parish life either. But, thank God, we work hard and do not give up.

—Mother, here is another question: What would you advise Christians living in Russia to do in order to keep faith in their hearts? How can they avoid succumbing to the temptations of the modern world, of which are more than enough in our country?

—First, they need to understand and recognize the role of Russia in the past and study the history of the country—how it fought and preserved its faith. I would like to advise people to realize the need to live their lives according to Christian teachings. There is a famous phrase: “Hasten to do good.” That is, people should take care of each other and help one another. And they should understand that the West is declining steadily. What comes from there seems tempting, but does not bring any good—on the contrary, it has a very detrimental effect on the human soul. Of course, people should read the Patristic writings and works of modern saints. They should visit holy sites and ask the saints to strengthen their faith, because we cannot strengthen our faith ourselves—this is a gift from God. It will be great if parish priests organize pilgrimages to monasteries. It is extremely important. Now there should be a call to the whole nation for repentance.

The altar of the new church     

For example, my parents lived in Harbin. When they were under Japanese occupation, Soviet pilots tried three times to raid Harbin and bomb it. Then the people, from the Church hierarchy to laity, began to fast and celebrate prayer services continuously throughout the city. And when airplanes arrived, the city would be hidden in heavy fog, so the airplane radar could not see through it and identify their targets. So, people should understand that we are in a time of wars, and it is necessary for them to deepen their repentance and attend church more often. But it should not be done superficially. It’s not just a ritual—to buy and light a candle. They need to study church services closely—what is said and what is read there.

—We are living in a rather tough time.

—Yes, but the Lord sobers up our souls through such moments. If everything is quiet, the soul forgets about God. And most importantly, common sins should be dealt with. Firstly, the sin of judging—from judging the Church hierarchy to judging each other. Secondly, the sin of ingratitude—ingratitude towards God. We must thank God not only for good moments of life, but also for hard ones. People should be taught this somehow. The Lord sends us all the most useful and saving things.

—Mother, thank you for your answers and edifying words.

St. Margaret of Clitherow was born in Middleton, England, around the year 1555. Her family was Protestant, and Margaret was known for her wit and her good looks. In 1571, she married John Clitherow, and had two children. 

Several years into her marriage, Margaret encountered the Catholic faith and converted. She became an enthusiastic Catholic, defending the faith and hiding fugitive priests in her home. Eventually, someone turned her in, and she was put on trial for harboring priests. 

Although many people tried to get Margaret to deny her faith throughout her trial, she refused. She was condemned to be pressed to death upon sharp rocks, and was executed on March 25, 1586. 

Pope Paul VI canonized St. Margaret in 1970.

At the beginning of Lent, we offer readers a talk with a cleric of St. Catherine’s Cathedral in the town of Slobodskoy (the Kirov region), Priest Alexei Bordzelovsky.

“I came to love church and church services”

Priest Alexei Bordzelovsky —Father Alexei, tell us about your journey to faith. How did you integrate into Church life?

—Like many people in our country, I was baptized in the 1990s. My grandmother said that we should all go and get baptized—my parents and I. There was no church in the town (I spent my childhood in Aldan, the Sakha Republic, or Yakutia, in Siberia), and baptisms were performed in a roofed stadium. The bishop himself baptized people. Although I went with my parents, I did not want to get baptized. I went outside and sat down on a bench next to my grandfather. A year later, before school I asked my parents, “When will you have me baptized?” I still remember how I was chrismated. A chapel had already been built, with a baptismal font for full immersion, and after Baptism the priest led me into the sanctuary…

How did I integrate into Church life? Like most people, I was baptized, but did not go to church. Thank God, later I came to realize that I must go to church and live according to the commandments. The whole family began to attend services and my sister and I started going to Sunday school. That’s how my path to God began.

—Why did you decide to become a priest?

—In 2001, I began to help a priest in the altar during services, and over time, I developed the desire to become a priest because I had grown to love the church and its services. And by the time I graduated from school, my father-confessor blessed me to enter a theological school. I graduated from the Yakutsk Theological School, then studied at the Khabarovsk Seminary for three years and completed my education at the Nizhny Novgorod Seminary, since by that time I had moved to Vyatka [another name for the Kirov region, which borders on the Nizhny Novgorod region.—Trans.].

—You became a priest at a very young age. How much did your way of life and worldview change after that?

—By that time my worldview was already religious. As for my way of life, I was married, then I was ordained a priest. Theological schools train future pastors. You participate in church services, get up early, have trips to a monastery for a week to labor, and other activities for spiritual growth that bear fruit. In different dioceses, I saw how priests serve and perform obediences. That is how I gained experience, which I now use in my life.

—Tell us about a typical day in a priest’s life, especially during Lent.

—My day begins with prayer at home. Then I drive to church for a service or on parish matters: it may be the celebration of services of need or solving issues related to parish life. There are more services during Lent. For instance, in the first week of Lent, the Penitential Canon of St. Andrew of Crete is read in churches in the evenings. I spend my free time at home with my family. My day ends the same way—with prayer.

On Orthodoxy in Yakutia

—You hail from Marina Yurchenko. Nativity and Theophany in Yakutia.The main religion in Yakutia is Orthodox Christianity, and the feasts of Christmas—the Nativity of Christ, and Theophany, when the Lord’s Baptism is celebrated, are very special in this land that boasts some of the coldest waters in the world. Photographer Marina Yurchenko captured the special mood of Orthodox Yakutia’s winter feasts in 2010.

“>Yakutia. Can you give us some specifics of preaching Orthodoxy in Yakutia?

—The distinctive feature of preaching Orthodoxy in Yakutia is that you need to preach in the local population’s native language—that is, in Yakut. From the time of the Holy Hierarch Innocent (Veniaminov) of Moscow (1797–1879), translations of the Holy Scriptures and other Church texts into the Yakut language began. To this day, when priests go on missionary trips to remote areas, they try to read some texts in Yakut whenever possible.

When I studied at the Theological School in Yakutsk (the administrative center of Yakutia), the Yakut language was taught there. At services, they also try to perform some hymns in the native language of the local population. Orthodox churches in Yakutia, as in every other part of Russia, suffered immensely during the Soviet era. Only four churches have survived in Yakutsk—the Churches of St. Nicholas, the Holy Transfiguration, the Nativity of the Theotokos (where the Yakutsk Theological Seminary is now located), and the Holy Trinity. All of them have been handed over to the Russian Church. Now the restoration of the Holy Trinity Cathedral is underway. However, very few ancient churches have survived, and most of the churches are young—built in the 1990s and 2000s. Unfortunately, some remnants of paganism still exist there, such as shamans, fire feeding, and the Yssyakh festival.

To the native region

—How did you end up in Vyatka? Also, tell us about how the land of Vyatka became so close to you.

—As a student in Khabarovsk, I was the subdeacon of Vladyka Mark.¹ And in 2011, when Vladyka was to be transferred to Vyatka, I decided to follow him. His Eminence agreed and blessed me. So I moved to the land of Vyatka.

The land of Vyatka became dear to me when I got married (my wife is a native of this region), and our children were born here. In fact, I myself have roots in the lands of Vyatka—some of my maternal relatives live in Vakhrushi (an urban-type settlement), and my grandfather came from the Shabalin district.

—Are you a strict father?

—Yes, I am, but to a point. I believe that sons should be brought up with strictness to prevent them from developing a capricious character.

—Do you have any time for rest and hobbies?

—During my school years I went in for sports. Now I spend my free time with the children: we play and draw together. Sometimes I manage to read some literature. The last book I read was Fatherlessness by Viktor Nikolaev. It is about difficult teenagers. The author is an Orthodox Christian. A former officer who served in the Afghan War, he has books on serious subjects.

In church     

—Why is it important to attend church services?

—A church is a place where God dwells, and What is Prayer?A great prayerful power is at work in the prayers of the Holy Fathers, and whoever enters into them with all his attention and zeal will certainly taste of this prayerful power to the extent that his state of mind converges with the content of the prayer.

“>prayer is communion, dialogue with God. There is no salvation outside the Church, so it is important to participate in Church life—not just to attend church, but to confess and receive Communion.

The Lord gave the commandment: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God (Exod. 20:10). But people justify their laziness by saying that they need rest, do household chores, or do not understand anything in church.

We are all like babies: first a baby crawls, and only then begins to walk independently. This is also the case in spiritual life—first you come to the church and you don’t know much, and only with time does understanding come. We hear in the prayer before Communion: “May the Communion of Thy Holy Mysteries be neither to my judgment, nor to my condemnation, O Lord, but to the healing of soul and body.” So where do we get our strength if we don’t live by the sacraments of the Church? All hope and consolation are in God, and this is understood by those who turn to Him, pray sincerely and live the Church life. And the Lord Himself exhorted: For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Mt. 18:20).

“We have a soul that needs to be nourished”

—In your opinion, does it make sense for a layperson to observe fasts outside the Church, without participating in liturgical life? Will God accept it?

—That would be no more than a diet. You can lose weight at any time and don’t have to do it before Pascha. We have a soul that needs to be nourished. If we put the body in order, why don’t we take care of the soul? It needs to be nourished, too—by good works, and by mercy. Life was given to us so that we would take care of the soul and prepare it for eternal life.

People begin to chase after worldly blessings and get satiated with them in order to satisfy their spiritual hunger. Three, five rooms are not enough for them; they buy expensive cars and yachts, constantly go shopping in order to purchase more and more new clothes that they will probably wear only once or twice. And they don’t care that others near them need help. Blessed Augustine: “Thou Wast in Me Deeper Than My Depths and Higher Than My Heights”Borne out of the heart’s innermost recesses, this recognition is filled with amazing power and concerns the life of every Christian.

“>Blessed Augustine wrote:

“All human troubles come from the fact that we enjoy what we should use and use what we should enjoy.”

He hit the nail on the head! And this is what happens in our lives. Instead of using an apartment or a car we enjoy it, and when we come to church, we use it as a “rescue service”. “When I need something, I will come, ask for help, get it, and then forget.”

The Apostle Paul says: your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Cor. 6:19). And if our body is a temple, then we must take care of it so that our soul can be rich. But man has “chained” his soul to his body and he does not care about it. If our body is a temple, then why are we lazy? Why do we drink, smoke, swear and infect the soul with all sorts of garbage? If the body is a temple, it must be clean and beautiful, like a church. It depends on us whether we will be rich in God (cf. Lk. 12:21) and provide ourselves a treasure in the heavens that faileth not (cf. Lk. 12:33), or will, to the contrary, be preoccupied with earthly things.

St. Catherine’s Cathedral of the town of Slobodskoy     

—What should be the motivation of young people to get up early on Sunday morning and go to church to pray?

No one forces you to go to church at seven. If you want to sleep, come at nine. As St. John Chrysostom

“>St. John Chrysostom says:

“A week has 168 hours; God appointed only one of them for Himself—and you spend it on worldly pursuits. You neglect this occasion to attract the grace of your God.”

It is difficult to pray attentively at services because we are distracted and unable to pray The devil is always plotting something against us, and therefore we are overcome by various thoughts during prayer. As for motivation, you should ask yourself the question: “Do I want to be with God or not?” They keep telling us on TV: “Take everything from life.” So young people do. There is a saying: To get rich in God means to gather and multiply good works. Jesus Christ tells us to lay up treasures for ourselves in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal (cf. Mt. 6:20). The place where we can gather these treasures is our heart. Some will live for thirty, fifty years before they go to confession for the first time, while others only remember God on their deathbed and regret not having come to church earlier. This life was given to us in order to prepare for eternal life. But we say, “You go and don’t wait for me.” As a result, the ship sails out, and the chance to come to God diminishes.

“So that there may be no spiritual sleep”

—The time of fasting is also a period of uprooting sinful passions. Where is it best to start?

Everyone knows for themselves where to start, which bad habit or character trait to fight. Every year during Lent we hear the hymn: “My soul, my soul, arise! Why art thou sleeping?” And we must always remember these words so that there may be no spiritual sleep, so that we can take care of our soul, nourishing it through good works and thus acquiring spiritual riches. And it depends only on us whether we will stand on the left or on the right side of the Judge of mankind, because the Lord will not save you without you.

—What virtues should an Orthodox convert begin to cultivate first?

There is a moral principle known as the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.”. The most important thing is not to judge: Judge not, that ye be not judged (Mt. 7:1). One of the important virtues is abstinence—in feelings, sight, and thoughts. And, of course, mercy. The Lord tells us: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy (Mt. 5:7). But if a person does not help others and is not merciful to others, he cares only for himself, which means that pride lives in him. If you sort through the chain, then we can trace one by one the sins that live within him. Therefore, it is important to try to help people around us and not to judge them. If there is abstinence in thoughts, then there will be no sin in action, and we will cut off sinful thoughts while they are still in our mind. Lent is an important time to exercise the virtues.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace called upon the faithful to renew prayers during Holy Week for an end to the Israel-Hamas war.

“As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope. It is that hope that spurs us to call on Catholics here in the United States and all those of good will to renew their prayers for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war,” wrote Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, USCCB president, and Bishop A. Elias Zaidan of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon, International Justice and Peace committee chairman, in a March 23 statement.

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 32,000 people, including more than 13,000 children, with an additional estimated 75,000 injured, in Israel’s retaliation on the Palestinian territory following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on communities along Israel’s southern border. Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups have killed more than 1,100 people and injured more than 8,700, taking more than 240 hostages. A reported 130 hostages remain in Gaza, including at least 33 dead. With Israel restricting Gaza from access to resources, including food, many Gaza residents are facing catastrophic levels of hunger and imminent “famine.”

“Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering,” the bishops said in their statement. “This must stop.

As the Holy Father recently said, ‘One cannot move forward in war. We must make every effort to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war.’ To move forward, a cease fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary. To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.”

Israel and Hamas have been engaged in mediated talks about a ceasefire and the release of prisoners and captives, with Hamas recently presenting a proposal for a truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal was based on “unrealistic demands” and he plans for Israeli forces to invade another area of the Gaza Strip to defeat Hamas, according to media reports.

“As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land,” the Catholic bishops wrote.

Holy Week began March 24 with Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.