In May of 2015, Pope Francis penned an Encyclical Letter about the necessity to care for creation, which he calls our common home. The Letter is entitled Laudato Si’ taken from a the canticle to creation by St. Francis of Assisi. Next week, on the Feast of St. Francis, October Read more…
As the clock winds down before departing for Rome, there are a number of activities I wish to share with you. Perhaps one of the most exciting ministries presently underway is something we call Welcome Circles. After the war broke out in Ukraine, there was a tremendous need to receive Read more…
The North American Continent Delegation has begun our preparations for this October’s Synod on Synodality. All of us came together Monday for the purposes of meeting one another. Most of the US Delegation gathered at Mundelein Seminary outside of Chicago, and all delegates from Canada the other US delegates were Read more…
As our Pilgrimage of Peace draws to a conclusion, we arrived in Kyoto last night. Today (Friday) is mostly a day of rest, and for some, a bit of sightseeing. Here we will part ways; the Santa Fe contingent will remain until tomorrow, and our Seattle group will depart for Read more…
The Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki was completed in 1925. The altar piece contained a wooden statue of Mary. When the atomic bomb was dropped, August 9, 1945, everything was destroyed. Distraught, a Trappist monk returned to the ruins to pray. After praying, he looked down and saw the remaining image Read more…
On the 78th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing of Nagasaki, we continued discussions with Bishop Shirahama of the Diocese of Hiroshima, Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki and Archbishop Emeritus Joseph Mitsuaki Takami of Nagasaki, working out the final details of our partnership. We concluded our two hour morning session to Read more…
On this 9th and final day of our Pilgrimage of Peace to Japan is the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Clocks that day stopped at 11:02, marking the time of the detonation. Our final official act on this pilgrimage will take place in the Cathedral at 11:00 Read more…
This evening, our Pilgrimage for Peace delegation attended the 51st Memorial Ceremony for Victims of the Atomic Bomb in Nagasaki hosted by the Nagasaki Prefecture Conference of Religious Leaders. Despite the approach of a typhoon, many leaders from various religious groups attended, including Roman Catholic and other Christian denominations, Shinto, Read more…
As I write, it is Tuesday morning in Nagasaki, and the outer bands of Typhoon Khanun are already bringing rain to the city, and mercifully somewhat cooler temps, though it is yet to be seen what that trade off entails! Yesterday we began with Mass in the lower chapel of Read more…
After the morning Memorial Ceremonies, we had a short break and then saw a few more sights here in Hiroshima today. Our first stop was a local parish, Gion Catholic Church, where we watched a short movie about the Jesuit Novitiate at the time of the atomic bombing in 1945. Read more…