St Ignatius of Loyola Jesuits prepare to celebrate Ignatian Year
The roughly 15,000 members of the Society of Jesus, their collaborators and many people who draw on the spiritual heritage left by St Ignatius of Loyola are preparing to mark a special Ignatian Year beginning May 20 and lasting until the saint’s feast day, July 31, 2022.
Anticipating the celebration, Father Arturo Sosa, the Jesuit superior general, hosted the launch May 11 of Walking with Ignatius, a book-length interview he did with journalist Darío Menor.
On May 20, 1521, the soldier Ignatius was wounded by a cannonball in battle; he spent months in bed recuperating and reading about Jesus and the lives of saints.
He decided he wanted to be one of them and set off on a journey to discern God’s will for his life.
California bill targets university healthcare links to Catholic hospitals
A bill threatens to ban University of California health systems from partnering with institutions that follow Catholic ethics, prompting concern ideological motives on abortion and LGBT issues will damage partnerships and limit medical care access.
An organisation of Catholic hospitals has defended its efforts to adhere to Catholic ethics, but also defend the partnership on the ground that they or their network hospitals provide some procedures related to gender transitioning and have won recognition from major LGBT groups.
“Currently there are many… contracts with the University of California and Catholic healthcare,” Edward Dolejsi, interim executive director of the California Catholic Conference, told CNA. “[W]e provide services in a variety of underserved communities, and the University of California wants access to those communities and wants to train their physicians in those communities.”
Five bishops, 220 priests have died from Covid in Mexico
According to a May 11 report from the Catholic Multimedia Centre eight women religious, six men religious, and 12 deacons have also died from the coronavirus in the country.
A total of 24 bishops have come down with Covid-19, with 19 making favourable progress and recovering from the disease. Five bishops in the older age bracket have publicly shared they have received the Covid-19 vaccine.
The diocese hardest hit has been the Archdiocese of Guadalajara with 24 priests dying from the virus, followed by the Archdiocese of Mexico with 21 priests and one of its auxiliary bishops, Francisco Daniel Rivera Sánchez.
According to the latest CMC report, the increase in deaths compared to its previous report was four priests, one male religious and one deacon.
Former Coptic Orthodox monk hanged for bishop’s murder
Wael Saad, a former monk of the Coptic Orthodox Church, was executed Sunday, May 9 for the 2018 murder of Bishop Epiphanius, the abbot of St Macarius Monastery.
Raymond Rasmi Mansour, another monk who assisted in the crime, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Mansour had also been sentenced to death, but his sentence was reduced after winning an appeal.
Bishop Epiphanius’ body was found July 29, 2018, with injuries to his head and back that suggest that he had been hit by a sharp object.
Saad, whose monastic name was Isaiah al-Makary, was charged with the bishop’s murder August 11, 2018, and confessed to the murder the following day.
The bishop’s murder highlighted tension in the Coptic Orthodox Church over monasticism, ecumenism, and reform.