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CNA Staff, Mar 31, 2020 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- Local media in Nicaragua are reporting that despite the nation’s bishops’ conference suspending Mass and prohibiting large gatherings, the mayor of Granada is going ahead with an annual pilgrimage that the bishops had canceled.

For more than 150 years, Catholics in Nicaragua have venerated an image of Jesus del Rescate (Jesus of the Rescue) in Popoyuapa, near the city of Rivas. The image represents the crowning of thorns and the flogging of Christ.

Normally there is an annual pilgrimage to the image, which pilgrims make by wagon and on foot, during the "Week of Sorrows" that marks "the final stretch" of the time of Lent, according to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner.

However, the bishops have said that this year it will not be possible to carry it out in the traditional way, given the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Nevertheless, Julia Mena, mayor of Granada, has organized and funded a group of pilgrims to do the pilgrimage, providing them with food and personal hygiene supplies, according to the Nicaraguan news website Confidencial. The priest at the shrine told Confidencial that he has “no plans to receive the pilgrimage.”

The Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference has not commented publicly on the matter.

Nicaragua has five confirmed cases of COVID-19. The government has not yet decreed any kind of alert or emergency regarding the pandemic, nor has it ordered a suspension of classes, Confidencial reports.

The country’s Ministry of Health has maintained that the internal movements of travelers arriving from countries with outbreaks of coronavirus would not be restricted, La Prensa reports.

President Daniel Ortega has been president of Nicaragua since 2007, and oversaw the abolition of presidential term limits in 2014.

The Church had suggested that elections, which are not scheduled until 2021, be held this year, but Ortega has ruled this out.

Ortega was a leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which had ousted the Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and fought US-backed right-wing counterrevolutionaries during the 1980s. Ortega was also leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990.

CNA Staff, Apr 2, 2020 / 02:50 pm (CNA).- The statue of the Nazarene of Saint Paul will be processed April 8 through the streets of Caracas to help the faithful observe Holy Week.

It will be atop a popemobile used by St. John Paul II when he visited the country in 1985.

According to local tradition, the striking image was brought to Caracas from Seville in 1674. The wooden sculpture depicts Christ dressed in an ornately embroidered purple robe carrying his cross.

According to accounts, the image was processed in the city with prayers during a plague that broke out in Caracas in 1696, and the devotional act was credited with ending the pestilence.

The image was originally kept in a church dedicated to Saint Paul the Hermit, whose intercession was attributed to ending a plague in 1579. The wooden sculpture is now reserved in Saint Teresa Basilica, as Saint Paul’s church was demolished and replaced with a municipal theater by an anticlerical president in 1881.

The procession is held annually on Holy Wednesday.

Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, Archbishop of Merida and apostolic administrator of Caracas, said the “route will cover a great part of the city for veneration by its devotees,” and asked for understanding as the route itself has not yet been finalized and will be announced later.

According to local media, the prelate said in a letter that the image should be transported in accordance with safety and hygiene regulations to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

Porras said that the image should not be carried by people but transported by vehicle only and there should be another vehicle for a priest and assistant along with sound equipment for the prayers.

The archdiocese said that parishes can join the initiative and organize such a procession in their own areas as long as they observe the proper health precautions.

Finally, the archdiocese asked the faithful devotees of the Nazarene of Saint Paul to offer their prayers from their homes and to wait for the end of the coronavirus lockdown to visit the image in Saint Teresa Basilica.

Villavicencio, Colombia, Apr 7, 2020 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The president of the Colombian bishops’ conference, Óscar Urbina, suspended 15 priests of his archdiocese from ministry who have been accused of sexual abuse. Other jurisdictions in the country have removed four other priests.

Archbishop Óscar Urbina of Villavicencio told Colombian media that the accused priests represent 15% of the city’s priests.

The priests are accused of committing sexual abuse in Colombia, Italy and the United States, Caracol Radio reported.

Fr. Carlos Villabón, communications director and chancellor for the archdiocese of Villavicencio, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, that the 15 priests were suspended while a canonical investigation proceeds at the Vatican.

“On March 16, 2020 these 15 priests were notified after a preliminary investigation was carried out. They are neither convicted nor acquitted by this suspension, only asked to relinquish their parish duties, cease celebrating the Eucharist and cease their ministerial service while the complete investigation is conducted,” the priest explained.

The results of the preliminary investigation “are now being sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, and there they will determine the gravity of the facts and what the Church calls a penal canonical process will be conducted,” Villabón said.

“It’s unknown how much time the canonical process will take, but the idea is that it proceed as quickly as possible, considering that in Italy and in many parts of the world there’s a quarantine because of the coronavirus,” the communications director added.
Caracol Radio published a list of the 19 priests, but Villabón told ACI Prensa that the archdiocese would neither confirm nor deny the names reported.

 “According to a witness under protection by the prosecutor’s office, the 19 priests apparently formed a network of abusers, Caracol Radio reported.

In an April 3 statement, the archdiocese of Villavicencio announced that an accusation was received Feb. 14, 2020 concerning “acts against sexual morality by some priests of this archdiocese.”

“Having as a priority the alleged victim, we expressed to him our deep pain and solidarity and have offered him psychological and spiritual accompaniment. We reaffirm our commitment to act with clarity and transparency for his good and that of the Church,” the statement said.

Following the protocols of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Protection of Minors, once the abuse was reported, the regional prosecutor’s office was notified and “we made ourselves completely available to cooperate in the investigations taking place in this case,” the statement said.

The archdiocese said that it has taken steps “to eradicate the terrible evil of abuse within and outside our institution. We ask to be informed of any situations where one of our members has finally betrayed his vocation of service and dedication to the Lord and the community.”

A version of this story was first reported by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

CNA Staff, Apr 30, 2020 / 05:47 pm (CNA).- When Bolivia closed its borders March 25 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, hundreds of Bolivian seasonal farm workers in central Chile found themselves stranded.

With their seasonal work ended and their savings depleted, many of the farm workers had no choice but to sleep on the streets of Santiago, unable to obtain food or shelter.

In the weeks that followed, Catholic groups stepped up to arrange shelter, food, and additional aid for the migrant workers.
Red CLAMOR, a network coordinating efforts among numerous organizations to serve migrants, refugees, and human trafficking victims, led the effort to provide temporary shelter for the Bolivians starting the night of April 28.

The network coordinated with the Chilean Catholic Institute for Migration, the Archdiocese of Santiago, the Vicariate for Social Ministry, the Human Mobility Ministry, Jesuit Migration Services, and Caritas Chile, as well as municipalities and the central government to arrange for shelter and meals for the Bolivians.

Initially, the network found accommodations for 600 people. By the first evening, however, the total had risen to 950, lodged at parishes and a local retreat house.

The migrant workers were provided with masks and hand sanitizer, meals, and sleeping mats. They are also being aided with legal advice on their employment situation and access to unemployment insurance.

Auxiliary Bishop Cristián Roncagliolo of Santiago said the effort was coordinated with the municipalities and other government authorities.

“For the moment it’s a solution so that they can stay somewhere more decent than the street,” the prelate said.

“It’s our Gospel duty to welcome the stranger. But we know that’s not enough. Because there are many more people that still need be in lockdown in order to later return to their country,” he continued. “We encourage other social actors to be welcoming to the Bolivian brothers.”

Lorenzo Figueroa, the director of Caritas Chile, called the situation “a new wakeup call about what the migrant communities are going through, especially during times of pandemic.”

Caritas Chile reported that the Foreign Ministries of Chile and Bolivia have reached an agreement that if Bolivian citizens stay quarantined for 14 days in the city of Iquique in northern Chile, which is close to Bolivia, they can then return to their own country.

 

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 03:53 pm (CNA).- When he was just 15 years old, Fr. Geison Gerardo Ortiz Marín had to quit school and find a job to help support his family.

Faced with a difficult economy, Ortiz’s family was struggling financially. He quit school and found a job opportunity at a neighboring family’s bakery, where he worked for five years.

The priest told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish language news partner, that he learned important life skills from the job, such as “knowing what it is to meet a schedule, getting up at dawn and working overtime. In short, it was an enriching experience.”

He took those life skills with him when he entered seminary at age 21. He has now been a priest for 10 years and serves as pastor of Saint Rose of Lima parish in Ciudad Queseda in northern Costa Rica.

Recently, however, Ortiz has returned to his roots as a baker to raise funds for the needy in his parish during the coronavirus pandemic.

Public Masses were suspended a month ago in Costa Rica due to the pandemic. As the lockdown continued, the priest could see the financial strain mounting on members of the community.

“A lot of people starting knocking on the rectory door asking for help, while the parish and local charitable groups weren’t getting any income from the collection,” he explained.

So Ortiz began baking. He uses around 55 lbs. of flour each workday to bake different kinds of bread, rolls and other items. A bag of baked goods sells for 1500 colones, or about $2.65.

“With 1500 colones here we can buy perhaps a 5-pound package of rice,” he said, adding that he has been able to help about 60 families so far.

From the sale of baked goods, he was able to raise extra funds, he said, which have ensured that anyone who has knocked on the rectory door has left with a package of rice, sugar or beans.

No one has been sent away empty handed, the priest said.

“I work all day long baking bread, selling it, and in the evenings I celebrate the Eucharist. I always tell the Lord, 'Thank you for the true bread that gives eternal life, which is the greatest of riches and is what I want our people to have, receive, taste and feel',” he said.

Ortiz encouraged other priests to find creative ways to help serve those in need during the challenging times presented by the pandemic.

“I believe that this is a special moment,” he said. “God has allowed me to return to my origins. God has allowed me to help meet the needs of our brothers. This is a moment in which the Lord is allowing us to live in solidarity and to reach out in a very special way.”

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Each spring, the Athletics department at Penn State Behrend honors the college’s best student-athletes for their performances on and off the field. This year, because of the transition to the remote-learning environment, the awards were announced on video by Senior Director of Athletics Brian Streeter.

The winning writers of Penn State University Libraries Short Stories’ “April Showers” spring 2020 contest have been announced. Representing six Penn State campuses, the latest writing contest challenged Penn State students, faculty and staff across the commonwealth to unleash their best original short stories or poetry on the theme of weather.

Jason Williams, an assistant teaching professor of engineering at Penn State Behrend, helped develop a plastic face shield for use in COVID-19 environments. More than 50,000 of his shields have been shipped to health-care providers in three states.

Penn State Behrend’s Black School of Business inducted 30 students into the Beta Gamma Sigma international business honor society on April 17. The students are enrolled in the college’s residential programs and in Penn State World Campus majors that are offered by the Black School.

Penn State Behrend faculty member Michael Campbell has been named distinguished professor of biology. Campbell, who joined the college in 1994, also directs the Lake Erie Regional Grape Research and Extension Center.

The experiences that Chris Eggerman, a 2017 graduate, had while at Penn State gave him a glimpse of the challenges and rewards he would enjoy in a career, and, paired with his education in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, equipped him with the skills he uses in his current profession as a security adviser at Liberty Mutual.

Bridget O’Donnell, assistant director of student engagement at Penn State Brandywine, has been recognized as Advisor of the Year by the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities.

Penn State Brandywine is offering a complimentary virtual seminar on Practical Social Media Tactics for the Busy Entrepreneur from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 18, through Zoom video conferencing.

Fifty students of Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus have generated $71,063.48 in donations for the annual Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON), held Feb. 22 to 23 in the Bryce Jordan Center at University Park.

The Laurel Highlands boys basketball team will be honored at the USCAA Men’s Division II Basketball National Championship Game on Wednesday, March 11, at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.