Dr Tom Catena Photograph: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Aurora Humanitarian Initiative/Irish Times Top award for Catholic medic in Africa
A Catholic medical missionary in Africa has been honored with a top international medical award.
Dr Tom Catena (55) from New York received the AMH Gerson L’Chaim Prize for ‘outstanding Christian medical missionary service’ last week.
The American Surgeon, described as “the world’s most important doctor” on US podcast The Drive, serves more than a million people in the war-torn Nuba Mountains, south of Sudan.
Since 2008, Dr Catena has been on call 24/7 and serves more than 350 patients a day at Gidel Mother of Mercy Hospital. The Catholic hospital is the only medical facility in the region.
Red Wednesday now a Philippines’ Church event
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has made Red Wednesday as an official Church celebration in the country.
Red Wednesday, which falls annually in November, is a global initiative of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) to help raise awareness of persecuted Christians around the world.
“This formally makes Red Wednesday an official day of observance in all churches and Catholic institutions in the Philippines,” said Jonathan Luciano, national director of ACN.
“Red is the Christian colour of martyrdom. Studies have shown that Christians remain the most persecuted faith group in the world, particularly in the Middle East and Africa.”
Nun numbers dropping in New Zealand
The number of New Zealand women choosing a life of religion in the Church is shrinking, according to reports.
Figures from the Vatican directory show there are only 182 Sisters across the country.
Of one those, Sister Ann Gilroy of St Joseph’s Cathedral in Dunedin, believes the decline comes from young women not finding the Church an “easy place to be” these days.
“Women have far more options than they did in my time,” she said.
Women Church World, the Vatican women’s magazine, blamed the decline in numbers worldwide in part to working conditions and abuses of power.
Repair of Church trust needed in Scotland
Work is needed to enable the Church in Scotland to “repair trust” with its communities, an independent review has found.
Reviews of safeguarding processes within two of Scotland’s eight dioceses – St Andrew’s and Edinburgh plus Galloway – noted that “healing” was still ongoing.
The findings were published following the 2015 McLellan Commission report which recommended having an independent review into how the Church responds to abuse allegations.
In its report, the group found a willingness from the hierarchy of Scotland’s Church to change but that work was required to “repair and build trust in safeguarding processes”.
Chicago Church discontinues ‘World’s Largest Block Party’
Old St Patrick’s Church in Chicago has announced that it will no longer host the ‘World’s Largest Block Party’ after 35 years.
The block party, which started in 1984, attracts thousands of people each year and is considered one of the city’s signature summer festivals.
However, the West Loop church stated on their website that they “feel it’s time to start creating events that will launch us into the next chapter of our community life”.
A new event, called ‘Shamrock’n the Block’, is being planned by the Church for St Patrick’s Day and will be take place on March 14.