Tag: Christianity

Blessed Thomas Fusco was born to a noble family in Pagani, Italy, in 1831. He was the seventh of eight children. When he was only six, his mother died. His father died a few years later, and his uncle, a primary school teacher, took charge of Thomas’ education. 

When St. Alphonsus Liguori was canonized in 1839, Thomas was inspired to join the priesthood. In 1847, he entered the seminary, and was ordained in 1855. 

Immediately after his ordination, Thomas opened a morning school for the formation of young boys, and organized evening prayers for young adults. He was deeply devoted to the crucified Christ and to his Blessed Sorrowful Mother, because of the deaths of his uncle and his younger brother. 

In 1862, Thomas opened a school of moral theology in his home, training priests for the ministry of confession. He also founded the priestly Society of the Catholic Apostolate for missions among the faithful. 

Moved by the plight of an orphaned girl living on the streets, Thomas founded the Congregation of the “Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood” in 1873. He spent the rest of his life dedicated to these ministries, preaching spiritual retreats and missions, teaching catechism, and organizing prayer for young people and adults at his parish. He brought many to the devotion to the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. 

In 1891, Thomas died of liver disease at the age of 59. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001, who called him “an example and a guide to holiness for priests, for the people of God, and for his spiritual daughters, the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood.” 

With Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine entering its third year, seven U.S. cardinals have become patrons of a new effort to heal the suffering of Ukraine’s people due to Russian aggression.

On Feb. 20, the Ukrainian Catholic bishops of the U.S. announced that their Metropolia Humanitarian Aid Fund has been restructured as the “Healing of Wounds of the War in Ukraine Fund.”

The fund is aimed at “healing physical, emotional, and spiritual wounds inflicted by the criminal Russian invasion,” said the four bishops, Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Archeparchy of Philadelphia; Bishop Paul P. Chomnycky of the Eparchy of Stamford, Connecticut; Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk of the Eparchy of St. Nicholas in Chicago; and Bishop Bohdan J. Danylo of the Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio — in a report accompanying the announcement.

In the report, the U.S. Ukrainian bishops said they were “especially … grateful to the seven Cardinals of the Catholic Church in the US — Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, and Cardinal Joseph William Tobin of Newark — who have graciously agreed to serve as patrons” of the new fund.

The Metropolia fund, representing the four eparchies of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the U.S., was established in January 2022 as Russia’s troop buildup on Ukraine’s borders signaled an invasion.

All contributions to the fund — which totaled more than $7.5 million from some 6,400 donors, with $7.2 million so far distributed — were dedicated to humanitarian projects operated by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church or by trusted nonprofits partnering with the UGCC.

Donations were applied to five focus areas of support: internally displaced persons and refugees (now totaling 3.7 million and 6.5 million, respectively, according to the United Nation’s Displacement Tracking Matrix and the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees); medication and first aid; church ministry; emergency food assistance; and supply chain and logistics.

The aid provided by the fund included over 13,000 hemostatic bandages and gauze, 11,000 tourniquets, 200 traumatic head injury kits, three anesthesia machines, and the creation of a fully stocked operating room, as well as more than 27,000 food kits and the feeding of more than 100,000 individuals.

The fund had no administrative costs, as Archeparchy of Philadelphia staff and volunteers donated their time to processing contributions.

“The donations, whether from individuals or families, students in Catholic and public schools, parishes or dioceses across the nation, fraternal organizations and companies, have been transformative,” the bishops wrote in their report. “Dear friends, you have walked alongside priests ministering near the frontlines and supported the network of parishes of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. … You brought comfort, compassion, and restored hope.”

The new fund has already been seeded by major contributions from the Archdiocese of Boston and the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which had donated $500,000 and $529,056, respectively, to a Long Term Aid Fund that was subordinate to the Metropolia Fund.

That $1,029,056, to be redirected to the Healing the Wounds of the War in Ukraine Fund, will along with new contributions help provide urgently needed assistance in addressing the often unseen wounds of war.

The World Health Organization has estimated that as many as 9.6 million Ukrainians may experience mental health conditions as a result of Russia’s war.

The invasion, which continues attacks initiated in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and the backing of military separatists in Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, has been declared a genocide in two joint reports from the New Lines Institute and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights. Ukraine has reported more than 125,834 war crimes committed by Russia to date in Ukraine since February 2022.

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the unlawful deportation and transfer of at least 19,546 children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

“The solidarity demonstrated by people of goodwill with the brave people of Ukraine, who are defending their freedom with courage and resilience, is a source of authentic hope that God’s truth will prevail,” said the U.S. Ukrainian Catholic bishops in their report.

A few years ago, a priest friend told me of the phrase ecclesia supplet: literally “the Church supplies.”

From “Adoremus,” an online publication of the Adoremus Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy:

“Ecclesia supplet is a canonical notion where, in certain situations, the Church herself supplies for a required grant of the power of jurisdiction or executive power of governance to a capable person to place an act (such as a sacramental act) validly where such a necessary grant is either missing or was granted defectively. Canon 144 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law (CIC) lists several situations where the “Church would supply” for a missing or defective necessary executive power of governance. …” 

The notion “only applies to the very limited situations outlined in canon 144”; ecclesia supplet “does not and cannot supply for the lack of a required proper person, proper matter, proper form, or proper intent necessary for the valid celebration of a sacrament.”

Suffice it to say that ecclesia supplet has a very narrow canonical application.

Right away, however, I extrapolated the notion in a generalized, Mystical-Body, semi-poetic way to apply to any number of situations where an element might otherwise be lacking or absent.

The Church supplies a tabernacle, an altar, a pew, a priest, for example: items nowhere to be found in “the world.”

For every lackluster homily, the Church supplies a St. John Chrysostom or St. John Henry Newman. When our courage flags, the Church supplies a St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) or a St. Óscar Romero.

When our cross seems too heavy to bear, St. Paul reminds us: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24).

I especially thought of the notion that the Church supplies while reading “He Leadeth Me” (Ignatius Press, $14.35), the spiritual classic by Servant of God Walter Ciszek, SJ (1904-1984).

Born to a large Polish Catholic family in the tough mining town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, as a youth Ciszek developed a secret desire to be a Jesuit priest. Ordained in 1937, he was assigned to eastern Poland but with permission from his order, snuck across the Russian border. There, he worked in a lumber camp for a year: learning the language, quietly performing baptisms, absolutions, and anointings.

Arrested one night, he was sent to the notorious Lubianka Prison and charged with being a Vatican spy. Much of his five years there were spent in solitary confinement.

He was then sentenced to 15 years of hard labor at a Siberian work camp and, as a priest, singled out for the hardest, dirtiest assignments.

From the beginning, he was determined to do the best job he possibly could, every day, every minute. If this was the work by which he was to give glory to God, so be it.

Moreover, he was overjoyed to find that bread and wine for Mass were smuggled in by friendly priests, nurses, and friends. The barracks were lousy with snitches, so he and his fellow believers secretly celebrated the holy sacrifice at the work site on noon break.

“In small groups the prisoners would shuffle into the assigned place, and there the priest would say Mass in his working clothes, unwashed, disheveled, bundled up against the cold. We said Mass in drafty storage shacks, or huddled in mud and slush in the corner of a building site foundation…there were no altars, candles, bells, flowers, music, snow-white linens, stained glass or the warmth that even the simplest parish church could offer. Yet in these primitive conditions, the Mass brought you closer to God than anyone might conceivably imagine.”

No one complained.

“[T]hese men would actually fast all day long and do exhausting physical labor without a bite to eat since dinner the evening before, just to be able to receive the Holy Eucharist — that was how much the Sacrament meant to them in this otherwise God-forsaken place.”

I think of the factions, in-fighting, grumbling, and complaining in today’s Church. And I wonder how many souls Father Ciszek and his men saved — are still saving — as they stood up to their knees in icy water, slammed up against the wall of some freezing cold, drab industrial site, receiving the Eucharist in utter gratitude.

The Church supplies, even when leadership at the highest levels, in and out of the Church, sometimes seems lacking. The Church supplies when our own hearts are hardened and our prayer is dry as dust. The Church supplies even when we long to give our all, and our all seemingly avails so little that we become absurd even to ourselves.

Can I, like Father Ciszek, cup my hands to receive the drop of Christ’s Precious Blood that might otherwise have dropped unseen, unnoticed, to the ground?

Can I in my life supply to the other members of the Mystical Body — past, present, and future — what may be lacking in their own faith or love?

The Church supplies. And let me never forget the price others have paid that I might become a member of it.

From the perspective of the local bishop, the recent effort by the Texas Attorney General to close a Catholic migrant shelter in El Paso shows the impossible situation such organizations are in, balancing federal and state responses with their own mission to serve.

“On the one hand, we are challenged by serious federal neglect to provide a safe, orderly and humane response to migration at our southern border,” Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso said in a Feb. 22 statement.

“On the other hand, we are now witnessing an escalating campaign of intimidation, fear and dehumanization in the State of Texas, one characterized by barbed wire, harsh new laws penalizing the act of seeking safety at our border, and the targeting of those who would offer aid as a response of faith,” continued Seitz, who is the  U.S. Bishops’ Conference Migration Committee chair.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his lawsuit against Annunciation House, a migrant shelter that has operated in El Paso since 1978 on Feb. 20. Paxton is seeking to revoke Annunciation House’s registration to operate in the state, citing public records his office has reviewed that show the organization is “engaged in legal violations such as facilitating legal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.”

Annunciation House called the claims “unfounded,” and the attempt “illegal, immoral and anti-faith.”

“Annunciation House has kept hundreds of thousands of refugees coming through our city off the streets and given them food,” the organization said in a Feb. 21 statement. “The work helps serve our local businesses, our City, and immigration officials to keep people off the streets and give them a shelter while they come through our community.”

“If the work that Annunciation House conducts is illegal – so too is the work of our local hospitals, schools, and food banks,” the organization added.

Seitz also defended Annunciation House, saying that it has given an effective and compassionate response to the city’s immigration challenges; a response that is rooted in the Gospel.

“Its work is an example of our Catholic commitment to the poor, the Christian call to love one’s neighbor, and stepping into the breach to take action where many will not,” Seitz said. “Our Church, our city and our country owe Annunciation House a deep debt of gratitude.”

Seitz also made clear that the efforts of the Church at the border are not political, and instead about responding to the needs of those they encounter. And while he didn’t mention Paxton or the lawsuit directly, he emphasized that the Church will defend those who carry out this work, and not be intimidated.

“Let me be clear. For the Church’s part, we will endeavor to work with all in pursuit of the common good of our city and nation,” Seitz said. “We will vigorously defend the freedom of people of faith and goodwill to put deeply held religious convictions into practice.”

“We will not be intimidated in our work to serve Jesus Christ in our sisters and brothers fleeing danger and seeking to keep their families together,” Seitz added. “We will stand in solidarity with our community’s aid workers and volunteers, with our community non-profits assisting migrants, as well as with all those in the borderlands and throughout our state living under the weight of inhumane immigration policies.”

Gen. 22:1-2, 9-13, 15-18 / Ps. 116:10, 15-19 / Rom. 8:31-34 / Mk. 9:2-10

The Lenten season continues with another story of testing. Last Sunday, we heard the trial of Jesus in the desert. In this week’s First Reading, we hear of how Abraham was put to the test.

The Church has always read this story as a sign of God’s love for the world in giving his only begotten son.

In today’s Epistle, Paul uses exact words drawn from this story to describe how God, like Abraham, did not withhold his only Son, but handed him over for us on the cross (see Romans 8:32; Genesis 22:12,16).

In the Gospel today, too, we hear another echo. Jesus is called God’s “beloved Son” — as Isaac is described as Abraham’s beloved firstborn son.

These readings are given to us in Lent to reveal Christ’s identity and to strengthen us in the face of our afflictions.

Jesus is shown to be the true son that Abraham rejoiced to see (see Matthew 1:1; John 8:56). In his transfiguration, he is revealed to be the “prophet like Moses” foretold by God — raised from among their own kinsmen, speaking with God’s own authority (see Deuteronomy 18:15,19).

Like Moses, he climbs the mountain with three named friends and beholds God’s glory in a cloud (see Exodus 24:1,9,15). He is the one prophesied to come after Elijah’s return (see Sirach 48:9-10; Malachi 3:1,23-24).

And, as he discloses to the apostles, he is the Son of Man sent to suffer and die for our sins (see Isaiah 53:3).

As we sing in today’s Psalm, Jesus believed in the face of his afflictions, and God loosed him from the bonds of death (see Psalm 116:3).

His rising should give us the courage to face our trials, to offer ourselves totally to the Father — as he did, as Abraham and Isaac did.

Freed from death by his death, we come to this Mass to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and to renew our vows — as his servants and faithful ones.

The following is an epistle from the Mt. Athos Grigoriou Monastery that has been circulated amongst Greek believers after the passing of the “same-sex marriage” law in Greece on February 15, 2024.

    

“The princes of men gathered against the Lord and against His Christ” (Matins on Great Saturday).

In the Greek parliament, Christ is again being crucified.

He Who rules the entire universe endures revilement from lawless judges, with the exception of a few, who deserve praise.

The “anointed of the Lord”, our baptized people, is under attack. The powers of darkness from without and within the country are co-conspirators in this initiative. “The dragon was wroth” against those who “have testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17). Those who do not enter into compromise with the orders of the globalists are entering into a great temptation. This is the beginning of tribulations.

The Church, the Synod, the clergy, and the people have said their word, and raised their voices to heaven: “This is a crime!” But the ears of the rulers did not hear it.

O evil day! The fall of Constantinople and the Asia Minor catastrophe pale before it.¹ But there is also the eye of justice.

Serious consequences are falling upon our shoulders and the shoulders of our children. The aged, the young, and the yet unborn are all experiencing them. Especially innocent children, for whom the most shameful “blood tax”² is being prepared.

All this theomachy that has been legalized has put down roots as supposed “social progress”. Fornication, abortion, and no-fault divorce. Now “same-sex marriage” will speed up “progress”. We are falling lower and lower. We are sinking into man-centeredness, into idol worship. All for the sake of ease, and with ease. Ionesco with his song, “Rhinoceroses” was absolutely right. In Paris, one after another were becoming rhinoceroses. Only one opposed it, saying, “I’ll remain a man.”

We knew and survived the calamity of soviet godlessness. Now we are experiencing the horrors of “white demonism” (St. Nikolai [Velimirovich]).

But we shall be courageous. Christ said, I have overcome the world (Jn. 16:33). The Church will live throughout the ages.

We are left with only one option: to revoke this law in practice. We will strengthen our children in virtues and chastity. And this will be a great deed. We will remain with Christ. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will call upon the name of the Lord (Ps. 19:8). Our strength is prayer. The Church must hide in the “desert”, no matter what this prophetic desert may be. In any case, it is far from consent to sinful laws and lawless legislators. We will not be afraid of poverty, or social and psychological isolation. We are accompanied by the Light of the Resurrection. In similar instances our holy fathers were victorious through their courage. They preferred the labor of virtues, and when necessary, exile, sorrow, and deprivation—whether it came to heretical dogmas or morals that contradicted the Gospels. In Babylon the three youths preferred endurance in the furnace over the good life.

Under Julian the Apostate, the Patriarch of Constantinople preferred boiled wheat instead the food that had been offered to idols, which was being forced upon Christians at the market. It is a symbol of voluntary poverty for Christ’s sake, so that our conscience would remain pure, and not subject to the influence of temptations.

Victory belongs to the Sacrificial Lamb. In the end, Christ Crucified, and those who will be of Christ, crucified together with Him, will be victorious. He expects us to follow Him. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing (2 Cor. 6:17), so that He would remain in our lives.

Soon the Lenten Triodion period will begin, and Great Lent is approaching. The life of repentance is not folklore and not an appearance of piety. It is the departure from all iniquity, manifested in deed and pain of heart. For the Resurrection awaits us!

1 Two events that Greeks consider the most grievous day in their Christian history: the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, and the exile of the Greek population from Asia Minor that began in 1922.

2 Here is meant the so-called devshirme—a practice in the Ottoman Empire, when Christian boys were forcefully taken from their families and given over to the Sultan’s complete disposal. Many of them ended up in harems. This is a reference to the possibility presented by the new law of the legal adoption of children by same-sex couples.

St. Giuditta was born on July 7, 1859, in Rome, Italy. She was orphaned as a young girl, and was raised in the Torlonia Conservatory on Via Sant’ Onofrio, by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. She entered the Daughters’ novitiate in Siena, Italy, but was forced to leave when her health declined. 

In 1891, she met Blessed Louis Tezza, the procurator general of the Camillians, on a retreat. He had been thinking about founding a women’s community for the care of the sick, and invited Giuditta to help him. After praying about it, she agreed. 

The following year, Giuditta and two companions received the scapular of Camillian tertiaries, and professed private vows in 1893, adding a promise to care for the sick, even at risk to their own lives. 

In 1885, they took their perpetual vows, and Giuditta was elected Superior General. Louis was sent to Lima, Peru in 1900, leaving the new congregation in her hands. 

Giuditta spread her congregation to France, Belgium, and Argentina. She died on Feb. 23, 1911, in Rome. On Oct. 16, 1994, Pope John Paul II beatified her, and she was canonized by Pope Francis on Oct. 13, 2019. 

San Francisco, February 22, 2024

Photo: synod.com     

The Metropolitan of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America recently paid a visit to the ROCOR cathedral in San Francisco, where he had the blessing of venerating the relics of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco.

On Saturday, February 17, His Eminence Metropolitan Saba, who was Metropolitan Saba enthroned as head of Antiochian Archdiocese of North America (+VIDEO)Orthodox hierarchs, clergy, and faithful came together on Saturday, May 13, for the joyous enthronement of the new head of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.

“>enthroned as primate of the Antiochian Archdiocese less than a year ago, visited the Holy Virgin Cathedral-Joy of All Who Sorrow of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, where he venerated the incorrupt relics of St. John and offered a supplicatory prayer, the Archdiocese reports.

Photo: ​Antiochian Archdiocese (Facebook)     

The cathedral dean Archpriest Peter Perekrestov welcomed Met. Saba and presented him with an icon of St. John, saying: ““Whenever you enter this beautiful church, remember that your souls should be more beautiful. Our souls become beautiful when we keep the commandments of God and purify ourselves.”

The wonderworking and myrrh-streaming Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, another sacred treasure of ROCOR, was present at the Antiochian Archdiocesan Convention in Phoenix Wonderworking Hawaiian Iveron Icon at the Antiochian ConventionThe blessed icon, which has traveled the world, was present for the Divine Liturgy yesterday, July 26, streaming myrrh all morning.

“>in July of last year.

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!

When 58.5% of Oregon voters passed Measure 110 in 2020 — America’s first law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamines — the intent was to emphasize treatment over incarceration. Funds consumed by enforcing laws previously banning such illicit substances would instead be directed to curing addictions.

The law took effect in February 2021.

But three years later, a nationwide surge in fentanyl use has collided with Measure 110’s legalized tolerance to create a perfect storm of overburdened social services, policing and community dynamics. Officials and citizens alike are rethinking the audacious experiment.

Indeed, the situation has become so extreme that Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Jan. 30 joined Multnomah County and Portland city leaders to declare a 90-day tri-government state of emergency.

“Our country and our state have never seen a drug this deadly and addictive, and all are grappling with how to respond,” Kotek said in a press statement. “The next 90 days will yield unprecedented collaboration and focused resources targeting fentanyl and provide a roadmap for next steps.”

For Catholic ministries and parishes in Portland, the impact has been intense as they cope with offering the healing love of Christ to the overwhelmed city.

“It’s a crisis of abuse out there,” Ed Langlois, communications director for Catholic Charities of Oregon, headquartered in Portland, told OSV News. “My wife and I went to dinner in downtown Portland recently and saw a man outside the restaurant window smoking a substance he was heating up on foil. He stood there and smoked for about 10 minutes,” Langlois recalled. “All we could do was try to enjoy our pasta. But watching that man poison himself really gave us pause.”

Studies disagree about Measure 110’s impact.

A study from the Journal of Health Economics cites a 23% increase in “unintentional drug overdose deaths,” while a Brown University report stated, “After adjusting for the rapid escalation of fentanyl … analysis found no association between (Measure 110) and fatal drug overdose rates.”

An additional study from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine echoed Brown University’s conclusion. “Overdoses went up basically everywhere,” senior investigator Corey Davis told Oregon Public Broadcasting. “What didn’t happen is that they didn’t seem to go up more in Oregon after Measure 110 went into effect.”

Still, Langlois’ front-line experience offers an immediate perspective.

“The decriminalization measure arrived at about the same time as an influx of fentanyl in our region, so it’s hard to lay the blame totally on the law,” explained Langlois. Nonetheless, “we can clearly say that in the last three years that we have seen a significant increase in drug use when our outreach workers go out onto the streets,” he said. “Put briefly, there is more drug use now than we ever remember.”

Increased drug use, Langlois noted, also has brought increased violence and other dangers.

Heightened addiction has been apparent “among some of the low-income people linked to our programs, including housing,” he said. “We now send larger groups of outreach workers out and have a strict protocol to make sure they don’t get tangled up in anything untoward. Their bravery is pretty inspiring.”

The frantic, life-saving efforts of drug-related emergencies require steady staff nerves.

“In 2019, Oregon had 300 drug overdose deaths. Three years later, it was 1,000. We keep Narcan on hand here,” said Langlois, referring to a medication used to treat opioid overdoses. “More so than the decriminalization measure, a lack of treatment fuels the drug use crisis we see playing out before our eyes,” Langlois explained.

People who are homeless and trapped in addiction are a particular challenge. While attempting to immediately house them — as Portland has through its Safe Rest Villages’ tiny homes — gets them off the streets, it also “comes with the challenge of managing residents who may be active drug users. That takes more funding and more workers, resources few agencies have,” Langlois said.

“The legalization of recreational drugs points to a general trend of allowing people to shape their own reality,” said theologian R. Jared Staudt, former visiting associate professor at the Augustine Institute and current content director of Exodus 90, a Catholic spiritual exercise app and community for men.

“It’s a retreat from reason and a proper spiritual order toward God and the common good of society. Frankly, I find it bizarre that we would do everything we can to end cigarette smoking and then begin allowing recreational drugs, which make a far more significant impact on health, including the brain,” Staudt told OSV News. “It’s as if we want to see how far we can push things until they explode. Looking around, we might wonder if we are crossing that line.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is explicit concerning drug use, noting that with the exception of “strictly therapeutic grounds,” it is a “grave offense” that inflicts “very grave damage on human health and life.”

Pope Francis, too, has had strong words, calling drug addiction an evil “and with evil there can be no yielding or compromise.”

“Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called ‘recreational drugs,’ are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” the pontiff said in a 2014 address to the International Drug Enforcement Conference in Rome.

In Portland’s Eliot neighborhood, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church sits directly across from Dawson Park, an epicenter of open-air drug use.

When Ed Langlois, formerly with the Catholic Sentinel, the archdiocese’s now-shuttered newspaper, reported on the community in August 2022, he noted that Immaculate Heart’s pastor, Father Paulinus Mangesho, “sleeps in a back room, lest stray bullets pierce the rectory walls.”

Ali Hardy, Father Mangesho’s assistant, said little has changed since Langlois’ article. The neighborhood continues to suffer from violent crime. A Nike factory outlet store closed for good last September and Legacy Emanuel Medical Center installed bulletproof glass and fences around parts of its campus.

“I think that people have found ways to kind of exist with this,” Hardy said with a sigh. “We continue to do what we do. And our parishioners feel like, ‘Well, this is my parish’ — and so they continue to come,” she said. However, she added, “They have some things that they don’t do — some of our older people don’t come after dark.”

With evening Holy Week and Easter liturgies approaching, Hardy says the parish will try to organize rides for intimidated members.

“What we hear when we make calls is that the law makes it a misdemeanor — basically, they get a ($100) ticket,” Hardy said of public drug use, while also noting a police staffing shortage. “If you’re a drug addict, you’re not going to respond to that. So there’s no real deterrent for the use.”

Reflecting on Measure 110, Hardy said, “I did not think that that law served us very well. Or served the people that are caught in this horrible lifestyle. I understand what they were going for — but we didn’t get it. It wasn’t helpful.”

Echoing Langlois, Hardy added, “I think that we need more (residential treatment facility) beds to deal with people that are dealing with drugs. We need to find ways to help them out of it.”

Until then, Hardy said, “We continue to pray. Prayer changes things.”

She added, “I think it would be great to ask people to pray for us — and pray for the city of Portland.”

Talmiche, Huehuetenango Department, Guatemala, February 22, 2024

Photo: thewordfromguatemala.com     

A 2.5-year project in the mountains of Guatemala has come to an end with the formal opening of a new Orthodox seminary and mission center.

Guatemala: Seminary-mission center under constructionZealous for the Orthodox faith they have embraced over the last several years, the Guatemalan faithful are eager to bring the Gospel to their fellow countrymen and beyond.

“>Construction began in mid-June 2021 with a moleben for the blessing of holy water, and now the new center “that will serve the spiritual, educational and administrative needs of the faithful” is open, reports Fr. John Chakos at the Word From Guatemala blog.

Photo: thewordfromguatemala.com     

The seminary-mission center was built with support from the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, many generous donors, and hundreds of volunteers from various villages throughout Guatemala. 500,000 Guatemalans were received into the Church in Latin America: Peoples in Search of Orthodoxy They found me, and they knocked on my door, asking me to receive them. I sent two priests to go and meet them so that we could determine who they are and if their request is serious and valid. I was stunned. It was a ”group” of more than 500.000 people, with 338 churches and chapels, most of whom were natives of Guatemala – and in fact of the ancient race of Mayans!

“>January 2010, and the flow has continued since then.

More than 3,000 people were in attendance for the Divine Liturgy and the opening of the seminary-missionary center by Archbishop Athenagoras, who also announced his retirement to his flock.

“The palpable joy that filled this day reflected the vibrant Christian faith of the long-suffering Mayan people who endured much throughout their tragic history, but never lost hope,” writes Fr. John. “May this new beginning be for them a lasting renewal of their life in Christ and a stepping stone to a blessed and glorious future for generations to come.”

Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!