Catholic News

Father Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., a sought-after spiritual director and retreat master, processes the massive golden monstrance containing the Eucharist into the midst of the assembled crowd in Lucas Oil Stadium. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 20, 2024 / 09:27 am (CNA).

Attendees at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis were urged Friday night to approach Jesus just as people approached him in the Gospels: with their sins and brokenness, seeking healing. 

Father Boniface Hicks, OSB, a sought-after spiritual director and retreat master, carried the massive golden monstrance containing the Eucharist into the midst of the assembled crowd in Lucas Oil Stadium. Kneeling before the Eucharist, Hicks reminded the crowd of Jesus' great and freeing love for every person. 

"He loves you. He made you. He desired you. He chose you. He knit you together with love, with his own hands in your mother's womb. You are a masterpiece of his loving creativity. He sees you. He gazes on you now with love. He delights in you. I want to invite you on a new journey of healing," Hicks prayed before the silent, kneeling crowd of 50,000. 

"He sees, in your whole life, a golden thread of goodness. He made you in his own image, and you've never lost that. That golden thread of goodness has continued even through the deepest sorrows, the darkest moments … Even in times of weakness, in times of sins and failures, times that you were hurt, and times that you hurt others, he wants to bring healing. Healing for your hurts, healing for your failures. And so I invite you to open your heart to his healing love."

Hicks invited the crowd to pray a litany — a series of petitions to God — focused on healing. The first response was "Jesus, heal my heart with your love." The second was "Jesus, come close to me." The third was "Please forgive me, Jesus." And the fourth was "Jesus, help me to believe."

"Let us pray for courage as we hold the hurting places in our hearts before Jesus' loving gaze," the priest said before solemnly processing the Eucharist around the stadium.  

Hicks had previously told the National Catholic Register that his purpose in offering the healing prayers is to "help people open their hearts to how they can invite Jesus not only physically closer but also closer to those places where they carry insecurities and fears, tears and wounds from the past, as well as places where we have failed through our own sin."

"I think there's a temptation to reduce these things to an intellectual exercise, and I think the design of the organizers, and certainly my desire, is to let it be a real personal encounter that reaches the heart," Hicks said ahead of the service. 

Before the adoration session, Sister Josephine Garrett of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth spoke of the importance of repenting of sin, quoting her community's foundress, who said that God is pleased with "a soul who is susceptible to many falls, but who, knowing her weakness, turns to God in humility."

"Tonight, I am begging you on behalf of Jesus Christ … tonight is a night of healing, but the healing begins with repentance," the popular podcasting sister, who is also a licensed mental health counselor, said.

"No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine, and what I think, say, do, and achieve in my life spills over into that of others, for better or for worse. And this is good news. The healing that you and I long to see in the body of Christ — it begins with my repentance, with your repentance."

The congress, the first such event to be held in the United States since World War II, is the fruit of the U.S. Catholic bishops' multiyear project of Eucharistic Revival. The initiative aims to galvanize Catholics in their faith and love for the Eucharist as preparation for a special nationwide year of mission. Catholics young and old, from all across the country, are in attendance. The energy was high ahead of the keynotes last night, with an impromptu mosh pit forming in front of the stage during a high-energy worship song. 

Before the keynotes, the crowd heard from Paula Umaña, a former top-ranked tennis player from Costa Rica who lost the use of her legs due to a neurological condition. Today, she credits her family's prayers and Mary's intercession with helping her restore her ability to walk with the help of special leg devices. She appeared before the crowd with her son, Charles, who told the crowd: "When it seems impossible, run to Jesus."

Today, Saturday, will have as a highlight a massive Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis, beginning at the convention center and ending at the Indiana War Memorial. 

At tonight's Revival Session, attendees will hear from Bishop Robert Barron, Gloria Purvis, Tim Glemkowski, and Jonathan Roumie, and will have praise and worship led by acclaimed musician Matt Maher. 

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Bishop Andrew Cozzens, who spearheaded the National Eucharistic Revival and congress taking place in Indianapolis from July 17-21, 2024, takes questions from the media. / Credit: Zelda Caldwell/CNA

Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 20, 2024 / 14:20 pm (CNA).

Amid divisions in the United States and within the Catholic Church, the National Eucharistic Congress is "a moment of unity" for American Catholics, Bishop Andrew Cozzens told CNA.

In an interview at the congress in Indianapolis on July 19, the bishop of Crookston, Minnesota, who spearheaded the U.S. bishops' National Eucharistic Revival, observed that a fruit of the congress has been "a real experience of unity."

"Our society is wrought with division and especially American society with the individualism that breeds division," Cozzens said.

"Unity in the Church is really essential for us today because that attitude of division in our society affects our Church, and it affects it dramatically," he added.

More than 50,000 Catholics from all 50 states who speak more than 40 languages are present at the congress, which features keynote speeches and Eucharistic adoration in the Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium.

"What's beautiful is we are united here with our bishops. It was the bishops who called us together. We are here because we are Catholic and we share the same faith," the bishop said.

On Saturday morning, throngs of the faithful packed together in the NFL stadium for a Syro-Malabar liturgy. The Syro-Malabar Church is an Eastern Catholic rite primarily celebrated in India in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

Tim del Castillo from California described the experience of attending the Syro-Malabar liturgy as "a very powerful spiritual moment."

At the end of the nearly two-hour liturgy, the hundreds of concelebrating priests and bishops processed out the corner of the stadium where the football players usually run onto the field at the beginning of the game, he said, and the people spontaneously started clapping and even cheering for the bishops.

"You could feel the support of the laypeople and everybody in the Catholic Church for our bishops who are our leaders — even though we don't always agree with them necessarily on everything, they are our leaders, they are our fathers," Castillo said.

"These are the ministers of our sacraments that are going out into the world for us laypeople and giving us the body and blood of Jesus Christ."

For Castillo, the National Eucharistic Congress has "absolutely" been an experience of Church unity, especially with the opportunities each day for Catholics to pray together at different liturgies, including the Ruthenian-Byzantine rite, the Traditional Latin Mass, and youth Masses with praise and worship.

"You have all these Catholics who are all here to worship the Lord, and it's okay that we're doing it in different ways," he said.

"And the center of it all is the adoration chapel across the street. Jesus in the Eucharist is where all these graces are flowing from," he added.

Each day of the National Eucharistic Congress, the perpetual Eucharistic adoration chapel has been full of people of all ages kneeling and praying in silence. 

In the opening ceremony of the congress, Cozzens held up the Blessed Sacrament in a 4-foot monstrance in the center field of the football stadium and led tens of thousands of people in prayer in adoration of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

Reflecting on the moment, the bishop said: "It was mainly an experience of gratitude to the Lord. I'm just so grateful to the Lord for his faithfulness and his provision and his love for each of us and for love for all these people."

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Father Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., a sought-after spiritual director and retreat master, processes the massive golden monstrance containing the Eucharist into the midst of the assembled crowd in Lucas Oil Stadium. / Credit: Jonah McKeown/CNA

Indianapolis, Ind., Jul 20, 2024 / 09:27 am (CNA).

Attendees at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis were urged Friday night to approach Jesus just as people approached him in the Gospels: with their sins and brokenness, seeking healing. 

Father Boniface Hicks, O.S.B., a sought-after spiritual director and retreat master, carried the massive golden monstrance containing the Eucharist into the midst of the assembled crowd in Lucas Oil Stadium. Kneeling before the Eucharist, Hicks reminded the crowd of Jesus' great and freeing love for every person. 

"He loves you. He made you. He desired you. He chose you. He knit you together with love, with his own hands in your mother's womb. You are a masterpiece of his loving creativity. He sees you. He gazes on you now with love. He delights in you. I want to invite you on a new journey of healing," Hicks prayed before the silent, kneeling crowd of 50,000. 

"He sees, in your whole life, a golden thread of goodness. He made you in his own image, and you've never lost that. That golden thread of goodness has continued even through the deepest sorrows, the darkest moments…Even in times of weakness, in times of sins and failures, times that you were hurt, and times that you hurt others, he wants to bring healing. Healing for your hurts, healing for your failures. And so I invite you to open your heart to his healing love."

Hicks invited the crowd to pray a litany — a series of petitions to God — focused on healing. The first response was "Jesus, heal my heart with your love." The second, "Jesus, come close to me." The third: "Please forgive me, Jesus." And the fourth: "Jesus, help me to believe."

"Let us pray for courage as we hold the hurting places in our hearts before Jesus's loving gaze," the priest said, before solemnly processing the Eucharist around the stadium.  

Hicks had previously told the National Catholic Register that his purpose in offering the healing prayers is to "help people open their hearts to how they can invite Jesus not only physically closer but also closer to those places where they carry insecurities and fears, tears and wounds from the past, as well as places where we have failed through our own sin."

"I think there's a temptation to reduce these things to an intellectual exercise, and I think the design of the organizers, and certainly my desire, is to let it be a real personal encounter that reaches the heart," Hicks said ahead of the service. 

Before the adoration session, Sister Josephine Garrett of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth spoke of the importance of repenting of sin, quoting her community's foundress who said that God is pleased with "a soul who is susceptible to many falls, but who, knowing her weakness, turns to God in humility."

"Tonight, I am begging you on behalf of Jesus Christ…tonight is a night of healing, but the healing begins with repentance," the popular podcasting sister, who is also a licensed mental health counselor, said. 

"No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine, and what I think, say, do, and achieve in my life spills over into that of others, for better or for worse. And this is good news. The healing that you and I long to see in the body of Christ — it begins with my repentance, with your repentance."

The Congress, the first such event to be held in the United States since World War II, is the fruit of the U.S. Catholic bishops' multi-year project of Eucharistic Revival. The initiative aims to galvanize Catholics in their faith and love for the Eucharist as preparation for a special nationwide year of mission. Catholics young and old, from all across the country, are in attendance. The energy was high ahead of the keynotes last night, with an impromptu mosh pit forming in front of the stage during a high-energy worship song. 

Before the keynotes, the crowd heard from Paula Umaña, a former top-ranked tennis player from Costa Rica who lost the use of her legs due to a neurological condition. Today, she credits her family's prayers and Mary's intercession with helping her restore her ability to walk with the help of special leg devices. She appeared before the crowd with her son, Charles, who told the crowd "When it seems impossible, run to Jesus."

Today, Saturday, will have as a highlight a massive Eucharistic procession through downtown Indianapolis, beginning at the convention center and ending at the Indiana War Memorial. 

At tonight's Revival Session, attendees will hear from Bishop Robert Barron, Gloria Purvis, Tim Glemkowski, and Jonathan Roumie, and will have praise and worship led by acclaimed musician Matt Maher. 

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Some young people from Gaza during study aid activities in a gazebo inside the compound of the Latin Parish of the Holy Family. Beginning June 10, 2024, about 150 children and teenagers ages 4 to 17 who are sheltering in the Latin parish and in the Orthodox parish have taken up their books and notebooks again to reconnect with their studies. Three gazebos in the garden host study groups. They were open-sided, but they have been closed to help the youth avoid distractions, as there are always people around. / Credit: Photo courtesy of Father Gabriel Romanelli

Jerusalem, Jul 20, 2024 / 10:00 am (CNA).

About 150 children and teenagers ages 4 to 17 who are sheltering in the Latin Parish of the Holy Family in Gaza took up their books and notebooks again in June for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last October thanks to an effort spearheaded by their parish priest, Father Gabriel Romanelli.

The program had to be suspended for two weeks earlier this month due to Israeli military action but resumed once again on July 19.

Returning to Gaza in mid-May after being stuck in Jerusalem for the first seven months of the Israel-Hamas war, Romanelli wasted no time. Within a few weeks, he launched the St. Joseph Project to help children reconnect with their studies after missing an entire year of school due to the ongoing conflict.

"I had been thinking about it since the war broke out, and when I returned, I saw that there was a great need for it," he recounted. "It is good for children and teenagers to use their time well. Leaving them without study, without structure, leaves them at the mercy of what happens around them."

It is not a typical school, and there are no formal curricula to follow. The idea is rather to help the young people channel their physical and mental energy into something constructive and to be ready for when school resumes.

"Because this war will end one day, and we will be ready to start again," Romanelli said with conviction. 

"Engaging in studies helps to avoid thinking and talking only about the war, to not focus solely on the conflict. It is a small seed of hope," he explained to CNA.

"The project," Romanelli explained, "is dedicated to St. Joseph because it is thanks to him that the Holy Family found salvation in Egypt, passing through here, and later returned to Nazareth. We ask him to protect our children and help them grow."

Attacks had intensified in the area very close to the parish. The priest recounted that "bombs and missiles fell within a few dozen or hundreds of meters, and shrapnel from bombs and missiles continued to rain down in the compound," making it "very dangerous to stay outdoors."

Some Christians from the Latin parish were slightly injured last week following an explosion in a nearby market. The Sacred Family School of the Latin Patriarchate, located about three miles away from the Latin parish, was hit on July 8, but that incident did not influence the decision to suspend activities.

Organizing the project hasn't been simple. There isn't a free space in the Catholic compound. But Romanelli doesn't lack initiative.

The chapel, the kitchen, the living room, and the balcony of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word's house have all become "classrooms"; three gazebos in the garden host study groups.

"They were open-sided, but we closed them to help the children avoid distractions, as there are always people around," Romanelli said. Even the parish church hosts a group.

The school supplies the students are using were accumulated over time by Romanelli.

"For years, I have always tried to anticipate the worst-case scenario and have always stocked up on stationery for various school and oratory activities," he told CNA. "Also at the beginning of the war, I had as much of this type of material bought as possible."

Young refugees from the nearby Orthodox parish of St. Porphyrius also participate in the school activities. The students are grouped by age. The younger ones gather for study on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the older ones meet on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Every day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., small review lessons are held on key subjects: mathematics, Arabic, science, and English. Religious education and catechism are dedicated to the afternoon time and oratory activities.

"The [students] are happy, they have a desire to learn," Romanelli said. "Of course, there are no homework assignments, because they don't even have a home. There has been a positive impact on families as well. Parents encourage their children to read, review, and be punctual for classes."

About 40 teachers have volunteered to help the children. "For them, too, preparing and engaging with the youth is very important," Romanelli said. 

Before the war, the teachers taught in the five Christian schools — the Latin Patriarchate school, the Rosary Sisters' school, the Protestant school, the Greek Orthodox school, and the Holy Family school — as well as some government schools. Today, they are all refugees in the Catholic and Orthodox compounds.

While it may seem peculiar to talk about education and studying when missiles and bombs continue to rain down around, Romanelli argued that there is nothing more right to do.

"Education is nourishment for the soul; it is essential," he said. "First and foremost, from a spiritual perspective. If life is not lived in union with God, without the life of grace, people are like walking dead. Without this, humans will never find inner peace. But alongside this, it is important to nourish the intellectual aspect, the thought."

Romanelli continued: "After eight months without lessons, without reading, what can we talk about? If one does not care for the formative, intellectual aspect, if one does not nourish oneself with good, interesting things that speak of the future, if one does not read and study, the soul withers, and thus life withers."

With the St. Joseph Project, Romanelli has sought to "offer young people the opportunity to nourish their souls, both intellectually and spiritually. To keep them engaged in constructive activities, even though the noise of war serves as the backdrop to their days."

At the moment, it's not possible to imagine if or how a new school year might begin, but, Romanelli said, "the experience of these lessons shows us that there is the will and moral strength, there is the desire to start again, to find solutions."

"God will help us," Romanelli said. "The time of divine providence is perfect. On our part, we continue to sow desire for peace, justice, reconciliation, and to do good to all those we can, starting with those close to us."

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Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate for the Plataforma Unitaria Democratica party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (left) and current Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro appear to have the lead in that country's upcoming elections, which will take place July 28, 2024. / Credit: UAN BARRETO/AFP via Getty Images; AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

ACI Prensa Staff, Jul 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

Next Sunday, July 28, presidential elections will be held in Venezuela. Various candidates are vying for victory, but according to the Voice of America, several pollsters point out that two in particular seem to have the lead: current president Nicolás Maduro and Edmundo González Urrutia.

With a little over a week until the elections, Venezuelan Catholics must take a much closer look into which option best represents their moral and religious convictions.

Various activists and organizations inside and outside the country, such as the International Crisis Group, have charged that in Venezuela the elections will not be completely free or fair, since in recent months, Maduro's forces have been arresting opposition leaders and closing businesses and establishments that have provided any type of logistical support to González.

In addition, there are serious complaints against the Venezuelan electoral system. In 2017, the company Smartmatic, in charge of providing the software and machines used in the elections, accused the regime of manipulating participation figures, the BBC reported, and questioned the result of that year's elections in which the opposition decided not to participate.

Nicolás Maduro

Maduro is once again seeking reelection, aspiring for a third term that would keep him in office until 2031.

Maduro was serving as vice president under President Hugo Chávez when the latter died in office and Maduro assumed the presidency. He was subsequently elected president in a 2013 special election.Throughout his years as president, Maduro has been harshly criticized by leaders around the world and has been accused, along with his family and friends, in different cases of corruption.

Since 2020, the United States Department of State has offered a reward for information that leads to the capture of Maduro and other Chavista (pro-Maduro) leaders for crimes related to drug trafficking and terrorism. Under his government, millions of Venezuelans have left the country and hundreds of dissidents have been murdered, according to the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch.

Furthermore, due to the country's economic collapse, millions of people are mired in extreme poverty, suffering from hunger and all kinds of deprivation. Maduro has blamed this on an alleged "economic war" against Venezuela, orchestrated mainly from the United States.

In religious matters, Maduro claims to have been raised Catholic and that his paternal family ancestry is of Sephardic Jewish origin, the Jerusalem Post reported. However, in 2005 he visited India — along with his wife and prominent Chavista figure, Cilia Flores — to meet the questionable guru Sai Baba and advance the establishment of a branch in Caracas to follow his teachings, according to the Indian Express.

In addition, over the last few years, Maduro has strengthened his ties with the evangelical church, announcing plans of financial support and appearing on national television alongside pastors in the midst of prayer sessions, while harshly criticizing the efforts at dialogue promoted by the Vatican in Venezuela and while it has persecuted and attacked the country's bishops on numerous occasions.

In 2020, Reuters reported that Maduro expressed his support for same-sex unions and asked the country's legislature, the National Assembly, to consider legalizing such unions in Venezuela, falsely claiming the alleged support of Pope Francis in this regard. On the issue of abortion, Chávez's successor has not expressed himself openly.

Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado

Edmundo González Urrutia became relevant on the Venezuelan political scene in recent months when he was chosen as a stand-in candidate for María Corina Machado, who this year was disqualified by the Chavista justice system from running for any public office. González, 74, held various and important diplomatic positions during the 20th century.

Despite González's experience, it is Machado who has assumed leadership of the campaign, touring the country with massive rallies and voicing strong opposition to Chavismo (the socialist policies of Chávez and his successor Maduro). Machado, the coordinator of the Vente Venezuela party, with a center-liberal tendency, has stood out as a political leader since 2002.

During the events of the last decade in Venezuela, Machado never managed to establish herself as the leader of the opposition coalition until, in 2023, she was elected by an overwhelming majority in the opposition's primary elections to find a unity candidate to face Maduro in the presidential election.

The national coordinator of Vente Venezuela has affirmed her Catholic faith on numerous occasions. However, at the same time she has spoken out in favor of euthanasia, in a 2023 interview with Politiks, "only" in certain cases.

On the issue of abortion, Machado affirms that "a national, rational debate must take place" and that despite being clear about her religious convictions, she would "never impose" her religious vision on society. "That would be absolutely contrary to what a liberal society deserves and demands," she said.

Likewise, she has been clear about her position in relation to homosexual unions: "I am in favor," she stated in the same interview. Regarding allowing adoption for homosexual couples, Machado responded that she is in favor of "the well-being of children" and added that she knows firsthand "the drama of abandoned children."

The bishops' call

In recent days, the Venezuelan episcopate has highlighted the "majority will" of Venezuelans who wish to participate in the elections on July 28 to achieve a change that allows all citizens to "live in peace and justice."

On behalf of the bishops, Archbishop Jesús González de Zárate, president of the Venezuelan Bishops' Conference (CEV), stated that as pastors they must accompany this desire and actively contribute so that it can be realized.

"Like Elijah's, the road is long and difficult. There is still a long way to go to achieve a better Venezuela, but we must not give up on this endeavor," González de Zárate said in his homily at a Mass renewing Venezuela's consecration to the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

On July 11, the CEV published a new pastoral exhortation in which it encouraged Venezuelans to participate in the elections in order to overcome the very serious situation in which basic services, education, the economy, freedom, and justice in the country find themselves.

In addition, they called for a careful evaluation of the ability of each of the candidates to solve Venezuela's problems. 

"The vote thus assumes a vital importance in the current reality we live in: Only by overcoming abstentionism and political apathy will we be able to make progress in the reconstruction of the country," the bishops said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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WBVM/Tampa (90.5 Spirit FM) announces the promotion of Davis Watts to Program Director. Watts will continue to serve as Music Director and host of the More Music Middays (10 a.m. - 3 p.m.) Watts says, "It's been an honor serving the Tampa Bay community with this amazing team for the past 13 years. I feel that the Lord, our listeners and the industry friends I've made over these years have prepared me for the exciting challenge of leading our air staff and I'm eager to get started."  

Watts joined the Spirit FM team in 2008, moving through the ranks of night time announcer, to middays, Music Director and now Program Director.  "I've seen tremendous growth in Davis, and a hunger to improve not only his craft, but the station's as a whole.  I'm excited that he's up to the challenge." said John Morris, Station Manager. 

Spirit FM is a 100,000 FM station serving the Tampa/St. Petersburg market since May 1986. The station is owned by the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, the only Catholic station in the country programming contemporary Christian music. For more information about Spirit FM, visit myspiritfm.com.

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