Sponsor a gargoyle: Fundraiser launched for Notre Dame
A novel fundraising approach to restore one of the most iconic monuments in the world, the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, enables donors to have a piece of history.
On April 15, Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris unveiled an interactive website – restorenotredame.org – that allows people to donate by adopting or sponsoring pieces of precious art and artifacts that were damaged in a 2019 fire.
Donors can engage with the objects of their choosing and select which they’d like to invest in restoring, whether it is a painting or statue.
Funds can also go toward the cathedral’s restoration as a whole if the person prefers. On April 15, 2019, a fire broke out in the attic and completely consumed the timber roof and spire.
Cardinal Bo: ‘We need the light of God’s mercy in Myanmar’
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo has urged Catholics in Burma to share God’s mercy amid the suffering caused by the military coup in their country by visiting the mourning, sharing food with the starving, and praying unceasingly for peace.
“Today, more than ever, our community stands in need of mercy. Millions are starving. Before they could come out of that disaster, the coup came. Most of our people are starving. We need to share our resources. However poor we are, we could share something. That is the sign of Divine Mercy,” Cardinal Bo said in his homily on April 11.
“Hunger is not only the problem our people face: they are afraid, they are traumatised, their spirit is broken by street violence,’” he said.
Filipino Catholics mark country’s first-ever baptism
Cebu Archdiocese celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christianity in the Philippines by re-enacting the Spanish’s baptism of local chieftains.
The April 14 re-enactment took place at the Basilica del Santo Nino in Cebu City, which is believed to be the spot where Spanish missionaries gave an image of the Child Jesus (Santo Nino) to the wife of the island’s local chieftain.
On April 14, 1521, Cebu chieftain Datu Humabon and Queen Juana were baptised together with 800 locals by Spanish missionary Father Pedro Valderama.
“Cebu, our island, is considered the cradle of Christianity in the entire Philippines. Spanish missionaries gave the local population the icon of the Santo Nino or the Child Jesus as a gift,” Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu said in a speech at the event.
Archbishop calls for peace after Minneapolis fatal police shooting
After a night of protests and vandalism April 11 in Brooklyn Centre, Minnesota, following the police shooting of Daunte Wright, Archbishop Bernard Hebda of St Paul and Minneapolis urged prayers for justice and peace.
“I hope that as a community, we might be able to pause and pray, particularly during this time of already heightened tension due to the Chauvin trial,” the archbishop said in an April 12 statement referring to the current trial in Minneapolis of former Police Officer Derek Chauvin.
At a news conference April 12, Brooklyn Centre Police Chief Tim Gannon, who later resigned, said it appeared from police body camera video the officer accidentally fired her gun while intending to use her Taser. The officer was later identified as Kim Potter.