Month: August 2022

Pope Francis tells members of the numerous de Mello family of Portuguese entrepreneurs never to forget prayer, and recalls the power of keeping our gaze fixed on the Crucifix.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov August 26, 2022

“Let us not forget prayer, because prayer helps us to keep faith alive; the balm of faith is preserved by often turning our thoughts to the Lord: it can help us so much to look at the image of the crucifix, to stop our gaze there.. It is a beautiful way to pray.”

Pope Francis gave this reminder when meeting with the Family of Pedro Maria Guirmaraes de Mello in the Vatican on Friday.

The Mello family is a Christian family of entrepreneurs and as such has over 100 years of history, dedicated to social responsibility, with very strong bonds with the Portuguese Catholic University. The family of 12 siblings employs over a thousand people, as they work to develop their businesses and their collaborators for a better world.

In his remarks, the Pope thanked them for their witness of their love for the Church and for their “pilgrimage to the tomb of St Peter.”

“It is faith in Jesus that brought you here and brought you together. It is good to see a family united, and a family strengthened by the gift of faith.”

Harmony in families

He expressed his joy to see the family and thinking of families like theirs.

“Seeing your family and thinking of families like yours,” the Pope reflected, “I am reminded of Psalm 133: ‘How good and how pleasant it is, when brothers dwell together as one! Like fine oil on the head, running down…'”

The oil, he noted, is a beautiful image of union, and of the happiness of being in communion.

“But the oil,” he added, “is also an image of the faith that strengthens our bonds and, through the Holy Spirit, makes harmony in families possible – this is important – harmony also in the Church, in the world.”

By CBCP News

August 23, 2022
Manila, Philippines

A global leader for Catholic women on Monday invited the Catholic Women’s League-Philippines to keep walking the path of social and environmental respect.

Speaking before CWL members in Metro Manila, María Lía Zervino, president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO), urged them to continue heeding the cry of the poor and of the planet.

“Continue to listen and respond to the cry of the poor and the cry of the planet as Pope Francis said in Laudato Si,” Zervino said at the Ermita Church.

The Argentine, who has been in Rome since 2013, particularly acknowledged the CWL’s roles and programs at grassroots level.

“What you have is this wonderful union here in your parishes and dioceses. I think all WUCWO organizations must learn from you,” she said.

Zervino, a known old friend of the pope, said she is in the country for a five-day visit “to listen and to learn” from the national CWL.

“If we want to serve the WUCWO organization, we must know them (members) better. We must know and realize what they are living, what they are suffering, and what they are needing so we must be nearer,” she added.

Zervino arrived in Manila on Aug. 20 and immediately met with the CWL national board and visited the tomb of former Manila Archbishop Michael O’Doherty at the crypt of the Manila Cathedral.

Archbishop O’Doherty founded the CWL Philippines in 1919. To date, the organization has about 60,000 active members nationwide.

On Sunday, Aug. 21, she visited a number of some of the organization’s projects in the dioceses of Cubao, Kalookan, Novaliches and Malolos.

Aside from its advocacies and charitable programs, the CWL also helps support seminarians pursue their vocations.

“We believe that we have to support our clergy so we are doing our best,” said its national president Rosa Rita Mariano.

Zervino recently made headlines after the pope appointed her and two nuns to the Dicastery for Bishops, the first time women have been allowed to serve the Vatican body that helps choose new bishops.

World Mission August 24, 2022

Two bishops caution webinar attendees against further human rights abuses in the Philippines

LOUISVILLE — During a Tuesday evening webinar, two bishops — one retired from the United Methodist Church, one Roman Catholic* — used their lived experience under martial law enacted by former Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos to urge viewers to be wary of what Marcos’ son, BongBong Marcos, the nation’s 17th president, could bring about for the nation of nearly 116 million people.

The webinar, the second of six planned by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines-U.S. Chapter, was called “The Church in the Struggle Against the Marcos Dynasty.” The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), together with Church & Society and Global Ministries, were among the co-sponsors.

The presenters were Bishop Solito Toquero, who’s retired from the United Methodist Church, and the Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza, Roman Catholic bishop of the Diocese of San Carlos. The Rev. Sadie Stone, a United Methodist pastor serving Bethany United Methodist Church in San Francisco, introduced them.

Next month marks the 50th anniversary of martial law as enacted by Ferdinand Marcos, noted Stone, who’s traveled to the Philippines five times, most recently in June. Elected alongside Bongbong Marcos this spring was Sara Duterte, the daughter of the outgoing president, Rodrigo R. Duterte. The new president has been invited to come to the U.S. this fall and will speak to the United Nations.

“We are already seeing oppression in the new administration,” Stone said. “Those of us in the United States need to realize the U.S. plays a role” in, among other policies, providing military aid. Since 2016, the U.S. has given more than half a billion dollars to the armed forces and national police in the Philippines, according to Stone.

Toquero called his talk “Ministry in the Context of Repression During the Time Marcos.”

Toquero said Filipinos have inherited “the trinity of evil”: feudalism, fascism and U.S. neocolonialism. He traced Filipino history back to September 1972, when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, closing the nation’s Congress and arresting opponents and demonstrators.