Catholic Church leaders in Africa meeting in Angola to discuss the family
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The 17 the Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagscar popularly known as SECAM opened officially Tuesday 19th with a Mass presided over by the President of the Assembly, Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi. He is the Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Lubango here in Angola.There are more than 150 African Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and Secretaries General of regional and national episcopal conferences attending the plenary assembly. Almost all African episcopal conferences are represented here.The Bishops are looking to deepen their appreciation of the two Synods on the Family that took place at the Vatican in 2014 and 2015. As you know, these two Synods culminated in Pope Francis’ highly acclaimed Apostolic Exhortation, Amris Laetitia.Yet the Church in Africa, way back in 1994 during the African Synod described the African Church as family –the Church as family. So for the Bishops gathered here, this familiar ground but it is also new ...
The 17 the Plenary Assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagscar popularly known as SECAM opened officially Tuesday 19th with a Mass presided over by the President of the Assembly, Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi. He is the Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Lubango here in Angola.
There are more than 150 African Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and Secretaries General of regional and national episcopal conferences attending the plenary assembly. Almost all African episcopal conferences are represented here.
The Bishops are looking to deepen their appreciation of the two Synods on the Family that took place at the Vatican in 2014 and 2015. As you know, these two Synods culminated in Pope Francis’ highly acclaimed Apostolic Exhortation, Amris Laetitia.
Yet the Church in Africa, way back in 1994 during the African Synod described the African Church as family –the Church as family. So for the Bishops gathered here, this familiar ground but it is also new in that there are new challenges facing the African family. The Church needs a pastoral response to these challenges.
At the end of an intensive first day, Tuesday, the Bishops last night also took time to visit an art exhibition of religious objects and artefacts housed in the old Church property known as the the Igreja da Misericordia or simply the Church of Mercy. Archdiocesan.
By evening time, the Bishops were more relaxed and they joked and shared jokes with one another. That is just another aspect of these meetings. The Bishops meet as colleagues to share not only the serious matters of the Church but also to share their friendship and to affirm one another in the mission as shepherds of the Church.
From the SECAM Plenary Assembly in Luanda, Angola I am Fr Paul Samasumo
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A Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish procession honoring the patroness of Cuba on Sept. 7, 2023. / Credit: Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Havana, CubaACI Prensa Staff, Mar 28, 2024 / 16:00 pm (CNA).The regime of President Miguel Díaz-Canel in Cuba has prohibited several Holy Week processions in different cities of the country, including the El Vedado area of Havana as well as in Bayamo, a town that was the scene of major protests earlier this month.Last week, ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner, reported on the prohibition of processions in the Diocese of the Most Holy Savior located in the Bayamo-Manzanillo area in the province of Granma, due to the regime's fear that new protests would break out. The prohibition has been extended to the capital, Havana, according to a Catholic priest.In a March 25 Facebook post, Father Lester Zayas, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the El Vedado business district of Havana, reported that the day before he had been notifie...
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The Catholic faithful gathered in the Cenacle in Jerusalem for the Mass of the Lord's Supper that the Franciscan friars celebrated on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Cenacle is at the center of strong tensions and disputes regarding ownership and rights of access and celebration. An ancient tradition places King David's tomb here and over the centuries Jews and Muslims have leveraged this to first expel the Franciscans and then to prevent Christian worship, which they deemed sacrilegious. / Credit: Marinella BandiniJerusalem, Mar 28, 2024 / 17:15 pm (CNA).On Holy Thursday, the doors of the Cenacle in Jerusalem were opened to welcome the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land. In this "Upper Room," called the Cenacle in the Holy Land, Jesus had his Last Supper, washed his apostles' feet, and instituted the Eucharist. It was here that the Franciscans celebrated the Mass of the Lord's Supper, reenacting those same gestures. (At the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher,...
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The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...