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God our light, make your Church like a rainbow shining and proclaiming to all the world that the storm is at an end, there is peace for those who seek it and love for the forgiving.
The above prayer is one of the collects for the Third Sunday in Lent from A New Zealand Prayer Book (p. 577, 1988 Edition) The readings for the third Sunday in Lent for this year all revolve around two themes: water and rock. Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well and asks her to give him some water. A whole discussion follows around the theme of living water. For the reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, the children of Israel are bemoaning the fact that they are in the desert and have no water. So, God commands Moses to strike the rock with the staff he used to part the Red Sea, and out comes water in the wilderness. In our Psalm for Sunday, Psalm 95, the word “rock” is used twenty-two times.
How many times have you felt “between a rock and a hard place”? Have you ever felt, “You can’t get water from a rock”? Both of those axioms can be true – except when it comes to God! God was able to provide water in the wilderness. Jesus did give to the Samaritan woman at the well living water – AND peace and salvation of her soul. When the people were at their lowest (between a rock and a hard place - the desert and slavery in Egypt) and the woman at the well was experiencing isolation because of her sins, which were many, God intervened and offered physical and spiritual salvation. (Much more on the woman at the well in this Sunday’s Sermon, btw.)
The rainbow has long been a symbol of God’s saving presence in the world. While a rainbow has nothing to do with a rock, it has everything to do with “the end of the storm.” As we continue our Lenten journey, may we feel that there is no place in our lives where God cannot reach us with sustenance for our bodies and peace for our souls.
One of the Prayers of the People from Planning for Rites and Rituals for this Sunday states:
For the Church throughout the world, that all who lead the people of God during the present age may have courage to endure the disputes and sufferings of our time, and to have the vision to see the places in which God is revealing his presence in our midst.
Lord Have Mercy Upon Us.
Fr. Joseph Krasinski
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Daylight Savings Time - Spring Forward 1 hour! | |
Healing Service - 12:10 pm | |
Blood Donation Drive - 7:30 am - 2:00 pm | |
Evensong & Provost Installation - 5:30 pm | |
Morning and Evening Online Reflection | |
Begin and end your weekday with online reflections. Reflections feature prayers, readings from Holy Scripture, and contemplative music and are led by clergy from National Cathedral in the morning and from Canterbury Cathedral in the evening. In addition, daily Choral Evensong song by the Canterbury Cathedral Choir is available online. Select the applicable link below for access. | |
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If you would like to include someone on the Prayer List or add an anniversary or birthday for special prayers, please call the Cathedral office at 305-456-8851, use the 'Contact Us' link on our website, or send an email ...
office@trinitymiami.org
pastoralcare@trinitymiami.org
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Sick - In Recovery
Rev. Winnie Bolle, Domenica Brazzi, Doris Gray, Rev. James Considine, Helen Ebanks, Carol Cunningham, Robert Horton, Dom Spaziani, Jreve Simanelli, Ashley Ramos, Cathy Stahre, President James Carter, Jr., Sonia Barbara Delgado
Sanctuary Candle
To the glory of God and thanksgiving for the Anglican Chorale
Anglican Cycle of Prayer
The Church of South India
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Birthdays
Joan Lutton
Thomas Gay
Mike Twford
Anniversaries
In Memoriam
Melissa Jattan
Ernest Trapp
Rebeca Williams
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Cathedral Update: Provost
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The Right Reverend Peter Eaton, Bishop of Southeast Florida, is pleased to announce the appointment of the Reverend Canon Jason Roberson as provost of Trinity Cathedral in Miami. Father Roberson was unanimously elected by the Cathedral Chapter, and this election was affirmed by the Bishop.
The Bishop will install Father Roberson as provost during Evensong at 5:30 p.m. on Palm Sunday, 2 April 2023.
More...
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These are difficult times and many struggle to make ends meet. When you come on Sundays, please consider bringing one or more items of canned or boxed food. Items to consider include canned goods, peanut butter, packaged cereals, paper products, dish and laundry soaps, boxed dinners, toiletry items, and feminine hygiene products. Remember that we cannot accept expired food or items that need refrigeration.
Gift Card Ministry
The LGBT ministry has organized an on-going Gift Card collection drive to aid in the purchase of perishable food items for food pantry recipients. Our Sacristan - Roberto Soto - personally distributes these cards on a weekly basis. To continue to help this cause or if you or someone you know could benefit from this ministry, please contact Roberto Soto at:
Trinity Cathedral, c/o Roberto Soto
464 N.E. 16th Street, Miami, FL 33132
(787) 586-8262 or via email probosoto@hotmail.com
Names of donors and recipients will remain confidential
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March 12, 2023
Third Sunday in Lent
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Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42
Exodus 17:1-7
Here, in the wilderness, we find the Israelites just outside of Sinai, so near and still so far. However, the distance is made so long not because there is far to walk, but because their hearts have wandered once again back toward Egypt, even while their feet led them ever closer to that holy mountain. Notice in verses 5-6, God instructs Moses to “go on ahead of the people” taking some of the elders with him. Where do they go? To Horeb—a name often used for Sinai within scripture—where God has instructed Moses to act.
We might be inclined to think that it was a well that opened after Moses struck the rock at God’s command; but no, something more miraculous happened. Water poured forth from the rock and it ran past Moses, past the elders who were with him. It ran past them all, out of that place called Massah and Meribah. It flowed all the way back to Rephidim where the people sat waiting. It was there at Rephidim that the Israelites drank. It was there, drinking that water flowing from an unseen source, that they remembered the Lord was indeed among them.
- Where is your “Rephidim”? where do you find yourself stuck and thirsting?
- Often, we may find ourselves wondering, “Is the Lord among us or not,” and like the Israelites, the answer that God is with us may come from an unexpected place. From what unseen sources do you quench your spiritual thirst? From where is your water flowing?
- When was a time you went on ahead of your neighbors, like Moses, to calm their restless spirit? What happened?
Psalm 95
A familiar psalm, one in which the psalmist reminds us of who God is—of God’s magnificence and presence. The psalmist also invites us to participate in this reminder by joining in the recitation of Psalm 95: “Come let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.” From the very beginning, this psalm invites us into an act of worship, a posture of prayer. It is no wonder that it has so often been the start of our days in morning prayer.
The psalmist recalls Moses’ striking the rock because the people had forgotten God’s presence among them and lost their hope in God’s magnificence. Psalm 95 serves to help us remember and maintain that hope by declaring in songs and shouts the glorious things our God has done, so that in times of tribulation and jubilation, we might not forget our God.
- Where have you seen God at work in your life and the lives of those around you?
- How does your community help you to worship and pray? How do you help them to do the same?
Romans 5:1-11
Here, St. Paul shows a series of stages by which we understand the grace afforded us in Christ Jesus. In this collection of readings, St. Paul is not just reflecting on the experiences of the early Christians; he also is hearkening back to the experiences of Israel described in the Torah or Pentateuch—the first five books of the Bible.
Exodus 17:1 reminds us that the Israelites journey in stages as God commanded. Here, in Romans 5:1-5, St. Paul explains the stages by which we arrive to recognize the grace we have received and discover the hope we maintain that we might share in the Glory of God.
St. Paul writes that suffering produces endurance, which produces character, which produces hope, which does not disappoint. However, we should not take St. Paul’s words as an encouragement to seek out suffering or worse to inflict suffering on our neighbors. Instead, we should read his words as a pastoral reminder that, though we may at times find ourselves in trouble and suffering, God is still there with us—even if we have brought trouble on ourselves.
- Reflect on your spiritual journey to this moment. It is full of stages; which stages stand out right now?
- St. Paul shows us how he and some people find hope even in suffering. Of course, suffering is not the only place where we might discover hope. Where do you find hope? Are there any surprising places or stages in which you found hope in God?
John 4:5-42
All the way back in Exodus, God stood before a rock and instructed Moses to strike it with his staff. Here once again, far more visible, God is before a rock where water may be drawn. This time, a woman stands perplexed before God who sits, tired by journeying, by Jacob’s well.
“How can you ask a drink of me?” she asks. She was a Samaritan and he a Jew. Did she notice that he was tired? Tired though he may have been, he was full of life, and he promised her that same life: water that “will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” Eventually, she ponders aloud to him about the coming Messiah, and Jesus—our God—reveals to her that he is, in fact, the Messiah. This woman becomes the first evangelist; she runs back to the city, Sychar, and proclaims what she has seen and heard, and many come to believe.
She does not only tell them about Jesus, but she also invites them to come and perceive. Notice too, that even while proclaiming, she is still unsure: “He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” Even she is still growing by stages and thirsting for the living water.
- Think of a time in which someone unexpected aided you or asked for your help. What happened?
- The people of Sychar perceive Jesus because of the Samaritan woman. Who in your life has helped you to perceive Jesus?
This Bible study was written by Paul Keene, a seminarian at Berkeley Divinity School at Yale.
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God's Blessings on your Birthday! | |
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Thomas Gay
Cathedral Chapter Secretary
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Weekly Bulletin Insert
Life Transformed - Week 3
March 12, 2023
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episcopal church.org
The Way of Love in Lent
The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self-giving, and death; then, we rise in hope to life transformed. This Lent, communities are invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life. Together, we will reflect anew on the loving actions of God as recounted in the Easter Vigil readings. Together, we will walk through the depths of salvation history into the fullness of redemption. Throughout Lent, come along with us as we explore Life Transformed: The Way of Love in Lent, produced by Hillary Raining and Jenifer Gamber. You can find resources mentioned below at iam.ec/lifetransformed or by scanning the QR code.
Week 3
Sunday, March 12
Today’s Practice: Watch the Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining’s video at iam.ec/lifetransformed for Week 3. The topic is based on the practice “Learn” and is titled, “Learn Wisdom and Live”.
Read: Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6
Monday, March 13
Today’s Prompt: Where can you seek and serve Christ in someone unlike you?
Read: “And you shall be my people, and I will be your God. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall enjoy the fruit.” – Jer. 30:22, 31:4-5
Tuesday, March 14
Today’s Prompt: How is the Jesus who walked this earth beckoning you to meet him?
Read: Mark 10:46-52
Wednesday, March 15
Today’s Prompt: How can you incorporate rest from technology today?
Read: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” – Matt. 11:28
Thursday, March 16
Today’s Prompt: Try praying with Anglican prayer beads.
Read: “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” – Luke 18:1
Friday, March 17
Today’s Prompt: In your prayers today, what new words or thoughts touch you?
Read: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” – Phil. 4:6
Saturday, March 18
Today’s Prompt: How might you share what brings you great joy with others?
Read: “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” – Rom. 12:6-8
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Lenten Book Study Sunday!
Join us every Sunday in Lent after 10 am service. Select the picture to download a free copy of the discussion guide.
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The Rev. Gay Jennings
Former President of the House of Deputies
Episcopal Women's History Project
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episcopal archives.org
Gay Jennings, in an address to the Annual Meeting of the Episcopal Women's History Project, talks about the women who have led the fight for women's inclusion in the governance of the Episcopal Church
Founded in 1980 as an independent national organization of Episcopal women, the Episcopal Women's History Project has played an important role in recovering and documenting the lives of women who have made outstanding contributions to the Episcopal Church. The Project aims to raise awareness about the historic place of women in the Church and their ethnic, racial, regional, and class diversity. Since its formation, the group has produced historical resources, conducted oral history interviews, published a newsletter, distributed grants, and supported and encouraged research and scholarship related to Episcopal women's history. The Project has been a model for similar efforts in other faith communities. The Archives serves as the official repository for EWHP. Organizational records include minutes, correspondence, conference agendas, biographical data, resource files, program documentation, oral history guidelines, other interview-related material, and a selective run of the EWHP newsletter, Timelines, 1980-2011. The EWHP archive also includes a substantial collection of oral histories and oral interviews.
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Anglican Cycle of Prayer: March 12, 2023
The Church of South India (United)
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The Church of South India is the result of the union of churches of varying traditions Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed. It was inaugurated in September 1947, after protracted negotiation among the churches concerned. Organized into 24 dioceses, each under the spiritual supervision of a bishop, the church as a whole is governed by a synod, which elects a moderator (presiding bishop) every 3 years. Episcopacy is thus combined with Synodical government, and the church explicitly recognizes that Episcopal, Presbyterian, and congregational elements are all necessary for the churchs life. The Scriptures are the ultimate standard of faith and practice. The historic creeds are accepted as interpreting the biblical faith, and the sacraments of baptism and the Lords Supper are recognized as of binding obligation.
Church of South India
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's statement on the death of the Rt. Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III
“Please join me in prayer for Bishop Griswold’s family and for all of us who give thanks for a remarkable and faithful servant of God who served among us as the 25th presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church. May the soul of Bishop Griswold, and the souls of all the departed, through the mercies of God, rest in peace and rise in glory.”
Arrangements will be published when they are finalized.
Bishop Griswold’s family provided the following obituary:
The Rt. Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold III died Sunday, March 5, 2023, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A renowned preacher known for his warmth and wit, Griswold served as the 25th presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, leading the Protestant denomination from 1998 to 2006. Griswold also co-chaired the Roman Catholic-Anglican Commission from 1998 to 2003 and made significant contributions to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and to its practical use in the liturgical life of the church. Griswold’s private spiritual practice was deeply informed by the early mothers and fathers of the church, and he championed Eastern traditions of the open-hearted and healing power of God’s love.
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, in 1937, Griswold earned a Bachelor of Arts at Harvard College and a Master of Arts from Oriel College at the University of Oxford. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1963. He married his beloved wife, Phoebe Wetzel, in 1965, and they raised two daughters in Philadelphia and Chicago, where Griswold was elected as Episcopal bishop in 1987. Griswold practiced a wide ministry of teaching, writing, lecturing, and leading retreats, nationally and internationally. After completing his term as presiding bishop, he served as a visiting professor at seminaries and universities in South Korea, Cuba, and Japan, as well as at the Episcopal Divinity School, the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Virginia Theological Seminary and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. He also served as bishop visitor to the Society of St. John the Evangelist. His books include “Going Home” (Cowley Publications Cloister Book), “Praying our Days: A guide and companion” (Church Publishing Group),“Tracking Down the Holy Ghost: reflections on love and longing” (Church Publishing Group), and, co-authored with the Rev. Mark McIntosh, “Seeds and Faith” and “Harvest of Hope” (Eerdmans).
He is survived by his widow, Phoebe, his two daughters, Hannah and Eliza, and three grandchildren.
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Rev. Florence Li Tim-Oi:
A Priest born of Wartime Occupation
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womans ordination campaign.org
Florence Li Tim-Oi (5 May 1907 – 26 February 1992) was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion. This happened on 25 January 1944 in Macau.
When the Church of England began ordaining women priests in March 1994, few people appreciated that the first Anglican woman priest in the Anglican Communion had been ordained 50 years earlier on January 25, 1944 when Florence Li Tim Oi’s priesthood was recognised by Bishop Ronald Hall in war torn Macao. Her story bears remarkable similarity to that of Roman Catholic Ludmila Javorova who was clandestinely ordained in Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia’s underground Church by Bishop Felix Davidek in 1970.
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Collect
Almighty God, who dost pour out thy Spirit upon thy sons and daughters: Grant that we, following the example of thy servant Florence Li Tim-Oi, chosen priest in thy church, may with faithfulness, patience, and tenacity proclaim thy holy gospel to all the nations, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
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Memorial tributes pour in for Rt. Rev. Griswold
episcopal news service
Griswold was the first of the church’s presiding bishops to serve a nine-year term after the 1994 meeting of convention had reduced the term from 12 years.
Known for his ecumenical and interreligious work, Griswold helped to shepherd The Episcopal Church’s full-communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The relationship grew out of an agreement passed at the 1997 General Convention during which Griswold was elected.
The actual terms of what became known as “Called to Common Mission,” were contentious in the intervening years as both denominations struggled with the other’s view of bishops’ authority. Eventually, the agreement was formalized during a liturgy on Epiphany 2001 at Washington National Cathedral.
Griswold also served as co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission from 1999 to 2004. He co-chaired the Anglican-Roman Catholic Theological Consultation in the United States from 1992 to 1997.
While his term was marked by deepening ecumenical relationships, at the same time Episcopalians and Anglicans struggled with sharp disagreements amongst themselves. Some of the so-called “bonds of affection” that many believe hold together the worldwide Anglican Communion snapped in 2003 when the Diocese of New Hampshire became the first in the communion to elect an openly gay partnered priest, the Rev. Gene Robinson, to be its bishop.
Those bonds had begun to fray about 15 years earlier when the Diocese of Massachusetts elected the Rev. Barbara Harris as bishop suffragan. She was the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion at a time when some Anglicans opposed women becoming priests, much less bishops.
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Institute for Religious Freedom says 500 churches, religious sites destroyed during Ukraine war
episcopal news service
At least 494 religious buildings in Ukraine have been destroyed, damaged, or looted as a result of the Russian invasion—and the seizure of religious buildings for use as Russian military bases increases the scale of destruction of religious sites in Ukraine, according to the Institute for Religious Freedom.
The Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF Ukraine), a non-governmental human rights organization founded in 2001 in Kyiv, Ukraine, presented data on the impact of the war on Ukrainian religious communities during the Summit on International Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 1.
Destruction across all regions of Ukraine
Most churches, mosques, and synagogues were destroyed in the occupied Donetsk (at least 120) and Luhansk (more than 70) regions of Ukraine. The scale of destruction is also high in the Kyiv region (70), where desperate battles were fought in defense of the capital, and in both the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, with more than 50 destroyed religious buildings in each.
Even if the most affected are the eastern regions of the country, damaged religious sites are spread across all of Ukraine, from Kherson in the south to Chernihiv in the north. Russian air strikes on civilian targets, including drone attacks, have affected almost all regions of Ukraine and continue to this day.
The Institute for Religious Freedom also documented many cases of seizure of religious buildings in Ukraine for use as Russian military bases or to conceal the firing positions of Russian troops. “This tactic of the Russian military provokes an increase in the scale of destruction of religious sites in Ukraine,” reports IRF Ukraine.
Targeted attacks on religious figures and believers by the Russian military and intelligence services, primarily in the occupied territories of Ukraine, are also documented by IRF Ukraine. Believers and clergy often became targets for Russian occupation authorities because of the Ukrainian language, belonging to a different denomination, or for any other manifestation of Ukrainian identity.
All religions and denominations affected
According to the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience, at least 307 religious sites in Ukraine were ruined during 11 months of Russian attacks, including churches, mosques, synagogues, educational and administrative buildings of Ukraine’s religious communities.
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Los Angeles bishop baptizes Princess Lilibet, daughter of Prince Harry and Meghan
episcopal news service
Princess Lilibet Diana, the daughter of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was baptized last week in a ceremony at the couple’s home by Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor, the bishop confirmed in a March 8 post on Facebook after several national and international news outlets reported on the ceremony.
“On behalf of Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry, and at the invitation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, I had the blessing of presiding as the sacrament of Holy Baptism was conferred on their daughter,” Taylor shared, saying that the service took place March 3 at the couple’s home in Montecito, California.
“Prince Harry and Meghan were gracious hosts to the congregation of family and friends who were present,” Taylor said.
The couple initially had asked Curry to preside at the baptism, a service he helped plan. But when he tested positive for COVID, he asked Taylor to take his place, according to Amanda Skofstad, the church’s public affairs officer. Curry has since recovered from what was his second bout of COVID.
Harry and Meghan stepped back from their royal duties and relocated to Southern California in 2020 amid fraying relations with the prince’s family, partly over their treatment of his wife, an American and former actress. Harry further detailed the rift with his father, King Charles III, and brother, Prince William, in the recently published bestseller “Spare.”
Married in the Church of England in May 2018, the couple asked The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop to preach at their wedding in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. That sermon brought international attention to Curry’s Christian message of the power of love.
This month, the baptism of the couple’s 21-month-old daughter also marks the first time they have referred to her publicly by the title of princess, a distinction that was conferred when her grandfather assumed the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September. The christening was first reported by People. The couple also have a 3-year-old son, now known as Prince Archie.
There had been some uncertainty whether the two children would be referred to by royal titles, but Buckingham Palace confirmed to media outlets on March 8 that the royal website would be updated to reflect the titles of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
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Episcopal delegates resume in-person presence at annual UN women's commission
episcopal news service
Episcopal delegates to the 67th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women gathered for a breakfast meeting at the Episcopal Church Center in New York on March 6 to begin their work at the annual international event promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Over 8,700 delegates from across the world —a record number—are attending the March 6-17 event held at U.N. headquarters and offsite locations around the city. It’s the first time in four years UNCSW has been held in person. The 2020 event was postponed because of the coronavirus and both the 2021 and 2022 events were held online.
One thing that makes this year’s session unique is that the United Nations is working on its first-ever Global Digital Compact, to be published in September, Lynnaia Main, The Episcopal Church’s representative to the United Nations, said during the breakfast meeting.
“This UNCSW is incredibly significant because its final outcomes document will feed into the recommendations for that compact,” she said, noting that delegates will be sharing information about technology resolutions that have been adopted by General Convention.
The theme of the March 6-17 commission is innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. According to the latest progress report on the Sustainable Development Goals, it will take 286 years to achieve gender equality at the current pace of improvement.
“Roll up your sleeves, because we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Main said.
The nine Episcopal delegates representing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry come from six provinces across the United States, as well as from Colombia which is in Province IX.
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Southern Africa bishops OK prayers for same-sex couples, won't offer blessings, marriage
episcopal news service
Anglican bishops in Southern Africa have resolved to craft special prayers for couples in same-sex relationships, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town announced March 6.
Releasing statements by the church’s Synod of Bishops, Makgoba said the bishops had agreed at a meeting last week to prepare formal prayers suitable for providing pastoral care to couples in same-sex civil unions.
However, he noted that the bishops were unable to reach consensus on blessing same-sex unions during church services and ruled out church marriages for same-sex couples.
The synod met last week for its first in-person meeting in three years, and published the results of its deliberations to church members March 5.
At the meeting, the bishops considered a proposal to allow local churches to conduct formal blessings of same sex unions. However, they could not reach agreement on the proposal, and said in a statement that “the divisions within the Synod of Bishops reflect the divisions in the church as a whole, and we are not at peace with one another on this issue.”
In response, Makgoba noted at the meeting that the church is already baptizing the children of same-sex couples and conducting confirmation services for LGBTQ+ Anglicans. He went on to challenge the bishops to “develop prayers of affirmation and acknowledgement for all faithful Anglicans with which all of us can agree.”
The synod agreed to his proposal. The bishops will consider drafts for the formal prayers at their next meeting in September before presenting them to church ruling bodies which also represent other clergy and lay members of the church.
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Dictatorship in Nicaragua dissolves Hohn Paul II Catholic University
catholic new agency
In a new blow to the Church in Nicaragua, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has ordered the legal status of several institutions to be revoked, including that of John Paul II Catholic University.
On March 7, the Ministry of the Interior published in the regime’s official newspaper, La Gaceta, the text of Ministerial Agreement 28-2023-OSFL, which cancels the legal status of the John Paul II University Association and the Autonomous Christian University Association of Nicaragua (UCAN).
The ministerial agreement text said the reason for the decision was “noncompliance” with the obligations of the universities “according to the laws that regulate them.”
The agreement states that the directors of both institutions must “deliver in an expeditious and orderly manner to the National University Council (CNU) the information on students, teachers, careers, curriculum, enrollment databases, and qualifications (Academic Registry).”
The agreement explains that the CNU will proceed to “relocate the students who were enrolled in the two universities” to “the CNU universities.”
Regarding the disposal of the universities’ movable and fixed property, the ministerial agreement establishes that the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic will implement “their transfer on behalf of the State of Nicaragua.”
The cancellation affects the students and campuses of the John Paul II Catholic University in Managua, Juigalpa Chontales, Matagalpa, and Granada, as well as UCAN and its locations in León, Chinandega, Estelí, Juigalpa Chontales, Masaya, and Matagalpa.
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Thousands attend funeral Mass for beloved Los Angeles Bishop O'Connell
religion news service
Catholics, multi-faith clergy and elected leaders from across Southern California filled the pews of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles on Friday for the funeral Mass of Auxiliary Bishop David Gerard O’Connell, a beloved priest regarded as a “peacekeeper,” a “man of the people” and a “good friend to Los Angeles.”
It was the third day of memorial services in remembrance of O’Connell, 69, a native of Ireland, who was found shot to death Feb. 18 in his Hacienda Heights home. Parishioners on Thursday formed lines at the cathedral during a daylong public viewing for the bishop before a vigil Mass was held in his honor.
On Friday, the prayer of St. Patrick emanated as bishops and cardinals processed into the cathedral. Cardinal Robert McElroy was among the bishops in attendance. City and state leaders including Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore and California Senator Maria Elena Durazo sat in the front pews alongside O’Connell’s family.
In his homily, Monsignor Jarlath Cunnane spoke of his 50 years of friendship with O’Connell, whom he described as a friend of Jesus and of the poor. Cunnane recalled how O’Connell was faithful to him while he was ill in the hospital. He also remembered their weekly dinners for which O’Connell would often arrive early and walk along the parking lot, with his dog’s leash in one hand and a rosary in the other.
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Celebrating the wedding of Deja and Shakur | |
Choral Evensong with the Anglican Chorale | | | | |
