Worldwide Marriage Encounter will host a conference, “Building community through relationship” Saturday, Sept. 11-Sunday, Sept. 12 in Anchorage at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. All who have previously attended a Worldwide Marriage Encounter, Retrouvaille or Engagement Encounter weekend are invited. The day conference seeks to promote community and stronger marriages. There is no fee for attending, and meals and supplies are provided. For more information, visit alaskawwme.org, and to register, call 336-0234.
Calls for systematic preparation before November 2011
Zenit.org
CHICAGO — Information about the new translation of the Roman Missal needs to be given in a systematic way before U.S. parishes implement it next year, says the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, made this affirmation in his column Aug. 29 for the archdiocesan paper, Catholic New World.
Noting the Vatican’s July approval of the translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal, he explained that parishes around the nation will begin using it on the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27, 2011.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members in both chambers of U.S. Congress are angling to alter federal law in order to undermine a district court judge’s temporary injunction that effectively puts a stop to the onset of taxpayer-funded embryonic stem-cell research.
U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled Aug. 23 that Obama’s March 2009 Executive Order, which permitted public funds for the research involving the destruction of embryonic human beings, directly conflicted with federal law known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment. The amendment prevents taxpayer monies from funding research in which embryos “are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death.”
A camp for relatives of 33 miners trapped in a copper and gold mine is seen near Copiapo, Chile, Aug 31. — CNS photo
Catholic News Agency
SANTIAGO, CHILE — One of the 33 miners trapped in the San Jose Mine in Atacama, Chile has promised his family that once rescued, he and his wife will officially marry in the Catholic Church.
According to the Spanish daily, La Razon, Esteban Rojas received a note from his wife, Jessica, expressing her hope that once he is rescued, “we will finally get married in the church.” The two have been married civilly for 25 years.
Sister Mary Prema poses beside a statue of Blessed Mother Teresa in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta. She is the current superior general of the Missionaries of Charity. — CNS photo
Aug. 26 marked 100th anniversary of her birth
Zenit.org
CALCUTTA, INDIA — Mother Teresa of Calcutta did not focus on conversions to Catholicism, but rather on loving Jesus and transmitting that love to those around her. Nevertheless, the current superior-general of her order affirms that many Hindus have changed their lives due to even fleeting contact with the saintly nun.
As part of the celebrations surrounding Thursday’s 100th anniversary of Mother Teresa’s birth, German-born Sister Mary Prema, superior-general of the Missionaries of Charity, spoke with the Fides news agency through the mediation of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria.
ESZTERGOM, HUNGARY — Representatives of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences aim to present the church’s outlook on the gifts of creation by way of a “green” pilgrimage.
The Sept. 1-5 event brings pilgrims by boat from Esztergom, Hungary, to Bratislava, Slovakia; by coach from Bratislava to St. Polten, Austria; by train from St. Polten to Lake Erlaufsee, and on foot for six miles to Austria’s Shrine of Mariazell.
The pilgrims will reflect on the theme chosen by Pope Benedict XVI for the 2010 World Day of Peace: “If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation.”
This video features Bishop Gary Gordon from the Diocese of Whitehorse. Bishop Gordon is one of several prelates who are in Alaska for the Sept. 2-5 Serra International Convention in Anchorage. Serra is a lay led organization that seeks to promote vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
In this video, produced last year, Bishop Gordon shares some of the challenges and joys of working in a remote but devoutly Catholic region of the world. His diocese includes the Yukon Territory and the northern quarter of the province of British Columbia. It covers 450,000 square miles (all of Alaska is 586,400 square miles).
Within the Diocese of Whitehorse there are 7,250 Catholics and only about 10 priests to serve roughly 25 parishes and missions.
Bishop Gordon was born in British Columbia in 1957. He was ordained a priest in 1982, serving the First Nations peoples of British Columbia for many years, before being appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to become the Bishop of Whitehorse in 2006.
Email a letter to the editor
