By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer

My youngest son Patrick turns four this week. He is a delight to watch at this age, particularly when one of his older brothers carries him around the house. Facing the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve longed for the joy and confidence that Patrick exudes when he’s in their strong arms. The other day, I was reminded of a group that Saint John Paul II once called the “Strong Right Arm” of the Catholic Church – The Knights of Columbus.

The two-million-member Catholic fraternal organization is flexing that “strong right arm” in the response to the COVID-19. The order’s new “Leave No Neighbor Behind” initiative is helping local members address the pandemic’s unique challenges in tangible and intangible ways. “[O]ur duty is to lead our families, protect our parishes, and serve our communities, remembering always that where there’s a need, there’s a Knight.”

In addition to encouraging members to donate to, and volunteer at, local food banks, the Knights of Columbus are also encouraging members to donate blood. The latter is a longstanding tradition of the order. In fact, the Knights of Columbus pioneered nationwide blood drives in the United States in the 1930s. But the “Leave No Neighbor Behind” initiative doesn’t end there, because the Knights understand that the challenges will remain long after the medical crisis abates.

Whether it’s a matter of weeks or months, the stay-at-home orders will eventually be lifted and school, work, social and worship routines will resume. But the economic toll of the public closure of parishes will likely be felt long after parish churches reopen for Sunday mass. Fortunately, the Knights are offering financial support to struggling Catholic dioceses across the United States. The order just announced it has available $100 million in low-interest financing to help dioceses weather the economic impact of COVID-19 crisis. The Knight’s financial assistance program isn’t new; the order has been a key lender to parishes and dioceses for more than a century through its ChurchLoan program. The magnitude of the available assistance is. This financial safety net will allow Catholic parishes to continue to serve bodies and souls during and in the aftermath of this epidemic.

In fact, none of this is new for the Knights of Columbus. They’ve been responding to crises, individual and societal, since their founding in the late 1800s. Started by an Irish-American Catholic priest (Father Michael J. McGivney) and named in honor of the great Italian explorer (Christopher Columbus), the Knights began as an organization to care for widows and orphans from St. Mary’s parish in New Haven, Connecticut. Today the Order is organized into more than 15,000 local councils based in cities and towns across the country and abroad. Dedicated to the principles of charity, unity, fraternity and patriotism, the Knights participate in educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works.

The Knights have a long history of community outreach through innovative charitable programs. “During times of need from the 19th century to the present, the Knights of Columbus has been there in communities around the country to support one another, the Church and the evolving needs of their communities,” says Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “From world wars, to influenza pandemics more than a century ago, to hurricanes and earthquakes, the Knights of Columbus has helped make the difference for many individuals and communities, and we will do so again during the present situation.”

Today’s Knights of Columbus constitute a vast volunteer network of members ready and willing to ensure that essential needs are met in communities from coast to coast. Members are assisting one another, especially the elderly and those living alone. At a time when many churches are closed, the Knights are reaching out to their fellow parishioners and pastors to identify and meet local needs as they arise.

Finally, the Knights of Columbus as an organization has kept its focus on the importance of placing our trust in God. It is providing spiritual resources to its members and urging them to offer prayers composed by Pope Francis and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during this time.

Once again, in a time of crisis, the Knights of Columbus has risen to the occasion to serve both neighbor and Church with the strong arms of a loving big brother.

God answers a long-term worker’s prayer for an outreach day in Spain, connecting her with people from her host country in North Africa.

Ethnomusicologists visited a North African country to help local singers and a Sudanese Nubian believer write a worship song in his language and style.

The Bible in the local Arabic dialect is shared via smartphone app in North Africa.

A long-term OM worker in North Africa has the opportunity to study the Bible with local friends.

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 11:45 am (CNA).- Modern society is formulating an “anti-Christian creed” and punishing those who resist it with “social excommunication,” Benedict XVI has said in a new biography, published in Germany May 4.

In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the 1,184-page book, written by German author Peter Seewald, the pope emeritus said the greatest threat facing the Church was a “worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanistic ideologies.”

Benedict XVI, who resigned as pope in 2013, made the comment in response to a question about what he had meant at his 2005 inauguration, when he urged Catholics to pray for him “that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.”

He told Seewald that he was not referring to internal Church matters, such as the "Vatileaks" scandal, which led to the conviction of his personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, for stealing confidential Vatican documents. 

In an advanced copy of “Benedikt XVI - Ein Leben” (A Life), seen by CNA, the pope emeritus said: “Of course, issues such as ‘Vatileaks’ are exasperating and, above all, incomprehensible and highly disturbing to people in the world at large.”

“But the real threat to the Church and thus to the ministry of St. Peter consists not in these things, but in the worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanistic ideologies, and to contradict them constitutes exclusion from the basic social consensus.”

He continued: “A hundred years ago, everyone would have thought it absurd to speak of homosexual marriage. Today whoever opposes it is socially excommunicated. The same applies to abortion and the production of human beings in the laboratory.”

“Modern society is in the process of formulating an ‘anti-Christian creed,’ and resisting it is punishable by social excommunication. The fear of this spiritual power of the Antichrist is therefore only too natural, and it truly takes the prayers of a whole diocese and the universal Church to resist it.”

The biography, issued by Munich-based publisher Droemer Knaur, is available only in German. An English translation, “Benedict XVI, The Biography: Volume One,” will be published in the U.S. on Nov. 17.

In the interview, the 93-year-old former pope confirmed that he had written a spiritual testament, which could be published after his death, as did Pope St. John Paul II.

Benedict said that he had fast-tracked the cause of John Paul II because of “the obvious desire of the faithful” as well as the example of the Polish pope, with whom he had worked closely for more than two decades in Rome.

He insisted that his resignation had “absolutely nothing” to do with the episode involving Paolo Gabriele, and explained that his 2010 visit to the tomb of Celestine V, the last pope to resign before Benedict XVI, was “rather coincidental.” He also defended the title “emeritus” for a retired pope.

Benedict XVI lamented the reaction to his various public comments since his resignation, citing criticism of his tribute read at the funeral of Cardinal Joachim Meisner in 2017, in which he said that God would prevent the ship of the Church from capsizing. He explained that his words were “taken almost literally from the sermons of St. Gregory the Great.”

Seewald asked the pope emeritus to comment on the “dubia” submitted by four cardinals, including Cardinal Meisner, to Pope Francis in 2016 regarding the interpretation of his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia.

Benedict said that he did not want to comment directly, but referred to his last general audience, on Feb. 27, 2013.

Summing up his message that day, he  said: “In the Church, amid all the toils of humanity and the confusing power of the evil spirit, one will always be able to discern the subtle power of God's goodness.”

“But the darkness of successive historical periods will never allow the unadulterated joy of being a Christian ... There are always moments in the Church and in the life of the individual Christian in which one feels profoundly that the Lord loves us, and this love is joy, is ‘happiness’.”

Benedict said that he treasured the memory of his first meeting with the newly elected Pope Francis at Castel Gandolfo and that his personal friendship with his successor has continued to grow.

Author Peter Seewald has conducted four book-length interviews with Benedict XVI. The first, “Salt of the Earth,” was published in 1997, when the future pope was prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was followed by “God and the World” in 2002, and “Light of the World” in 2010.

In 2016, Seewald published “Last Testament,” in which Benedict XVI reflected on his decision to step down as pope.

Publisher Droemer Knaur said that Seewald had spent many hours talking to Benedict for the new book, as well as speaking to his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger and his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

In an interview with Die Tagespost April 30, Seewald said that he had shown the Pope Emeritus a few chapters of the book before publication. Benedict XVI, he added, had praised the chapter on Pope Pius XI’s 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.
 

 

About 110 men, women and children climbed five volcanoes in Auckland in the Freedom Climb New Zealand on Saturday, 16 August.

After recognising that no training was available for lay leaders, particularly those in house churches, workers planed the launch of a Bible school.

An adolescent girl with a history of frequent electronic cigarette use of nicotine was hospitalized with severe necrotizing pneumonia. Blood cultures obtained before the administration of empirical broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics had positive results for the growth of Fusobacterium necrophorum. The pathogen is an uncommon but well-known cause of anaerobic pneumonia with unique features that are collectively referred to as Lemierre syndrome or postanginal sepsis. The syndrome begins as a pharyngeal infection. Untreated, the infection progresses to involve the ipsilateral internal jugular vein, resulting in septic thrombophlebitis with direct spread from the neck to the lungs causing multifocal necrotizing pneumonia. The teenager we present in this report had neither a preceding pharyngeal infection nor Doppler ultrasonographic evidence for the presence of deep neck vein thrombi, leading us to explore alternative mechanisms for her pneumonia. We propose the possibility that her behavior of frequent vaping led to sufficient pharyngeal irritation such that F necrophorum colonizing her oropharynx was inhaled directly into her lungs during electronic cigarette use. Preexisting, but not yet recognized, vaping-related lung injury may have also contributed to her risk of developing the infection. The patient was hospitalized for 10 days. At follow-up one month later, she still became short of breath with minimal exertion.

Idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia is a rare and potentially life-threatening condition that is defined by bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and fever in the presence of pulmonary eosinophilia. It often presents acutely in previously healthy individuals and can be difficult to distinguish from infectious pneumonia. Although the exact etiology of idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia remains unknown, an acute hypersensitivity reaction to an inhaled antigen is suggested, which is further supported by recent public health risks of vaping (electronic cigarette) use and the development of lung disease. In this case, a patient with a year-long history of vaping in conjunction with tetrahydrocannabinol cartridge use who was diagnosed with idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia with associated bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy is described.

OBJECTIVES:

To determine if a multicomponent intervention was associated with increased use of first-line antibiotics (cephalexin or sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim) among children with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in outpatient settings.

OM Ireland's Big Red Bus visited a housing estate in the town of Ballina in County Mayo.

OM Ireland's Creative Arts Team and a group from the US lead a week-long tour into schools and a kids’ club in a housing estate.

OM Ireland journalist Hannah Rueber volunteered for a school programme and witnessed something truly incredible.

After years of the team dreaming, the Big Red Bus finally joins the National Ploughing Championships during a windstorm.

Walvis Bay, Namibia:: The Vice President of Namibia officially opens Logos Hope as she visits the country.

A new missions experience in Namibia is not as much a programme as it is a journey.

On 19 March, OM Australia moved into their new home, a place that will help mobilise more people and finances into missions.

On 22 August, 150 people climbed in the inaugural OM Boonah Freedom Climb to raise awareness and funding for the Jogini girls of India.

A Ukrainian pastor responds to nearly 100 per cent unemployment in his village by starting biofuel and cash crop business enterprises.

OM Panama launches the new International Intensive School of Missions and hosts a new session of Mission Extreme.

A change of plans for OM Panama volunteers leads to a powerful prayer meeting.

Words: Abbie Lyall

Words: Abbie Lyall

Big firms are using political connections to keep their hands on pension fund surpluses, says the head of the Financial Services Board.

A FROSTY morning and the sun is yet to rise sluggishly over the horizon. Outside, though, already snippets of chirping bird song ring out from the pitch blackness. In my mind’s eye, I imagine little groups huddled high among the branches of the trees. Waiting and watching.

During Easter, the oldest town in Austria celebrated the life of Jesus and furthered the dream of planting a church.

Partners of OM EAST distribute copies of My First Bible to Nenets children on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Arctic Russia.

OM EAST and a local partner prepare to send copies of the Right Choices Bible to the Nenets tribe on the Yamal Peninsula.

OM EAST is helping meet the need for Bible study booklets to help Bayash Christians grow in their faith.

OM EAST is publishing Rodney “Gypsy” Smith’s autobiography to help inspire Roma believers in Serbia.

After years of work and anticipation, Gypsy Smith has been published in Serbian, a cause for rejoicing in a Roma church in Serbia.

THE first cap is the sweetest. For hockey player Alan Forsyth it came on October 19, 2015: Great Britain versus Argentina at Bisham Abbey. He scored on his debut, too, teed up by fellow Scot Chris Grassick after 28 minutes.

MOST people's memories of Millie Small in 1964 are of her climbing international charts with the massive hit song, My Boy Lollipop. But for Dennis Smith, it was her return to Jamaica that year that made the greatest impression.

A PUBLIC health professor has warned that the Scottish Government’s strategy to escape the lockdown will encounter “a big problem” unless test results can be provided quicker.

SCOTLAND is struggling to meet its targets for new affordable homes despite government funding.

LEARNING from the hands of her grandmother in Italy, it was perhaps always going to be Giovanna Eusebi's destiny that she would go on to create culinary masterpieces of her own one day.

Big Zuu is headed back out on tour - but not as we know it.

In a village in Serbia, OM workers see Roma believers reaching Roma, encouraging them to let God put a new song in their mouths.

Believers travel by snowmobile or helicopter to share a message of great worth with indigenous reindeer herders and fishermen.

OMEGA Diagnostics shares jumped 77 per cent after it announced it is part of the UK rapid test consortium working to jointly develop and manufacture an antibody test.

NEATEBOX, the Scottish technology firm which specialises in improving accessibility for people with disabilities, has been accepted into an accelerator programme run by Royal Bank of Scotland.

A BIOTECH veteran has hailed a Glasgow firm that claims to have discovered two separate potential treatments for Covid-19 patients for use before they are put on ventilators.

Police have charged a man after a spate of poisonings killed birds of prey over a two-year period.

It was 3pm on May 8 1945 when Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill addressed the nation from the Cabinet Room announcing that “we may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing,” but that message instead led to three days of partying in Glasgow’s George Square, children were given time off school and families were looking forward to being reunited again.

It is a tiny spit of land that lies in the Firth of Clyde two miles off the coast of Troon where colonies of seabirds have made their homes for centuries.

IT is one of he most important seabird observatories in the world, but its very future was called into question when fire ravaged through it and left it no more than a pile of rubble.

FOR decades, both Celtic and Rangers have dominated the national conversation when it comes to football in Scotland. The vast majority of issues seem to revolve around the two Glasgow clubs and, predictably, the issue of how to conclude the Premiership campaign has been boiled down to whether or not Celtic should be crowned champions if – as is looking increasingly likely – the 2019/20 campaign is unable to be played to a finish.

THE most important lesson in life is to always travel in hope rather than expectation. That way the almost inevitable disappointment that follows isn’t quite as crushing. A cheery thought for these troubled times.

IT’S almost time for the last supper. Though not quite. Another 24 hours will have to pass before the concluding morsel is munched, the final nibble on the edge of no more. After that, a little part of Scotland’s living history will die.