St. Mary's Church

El Obispo de Paterson, New Jersey (EE.UU.), Mons. Kevin J. Sweeney, presidió esta mañana la Misa exequial del P. Rafael Ángel Ciro, sacerdote colombiano de 45 años que se suicidó el 27 de agosto, y en una sentida homilía recordó que Jesús, que comprende nuestros dolores y sufrimientos, “está aquí y nos consuela”.

La cantante mexicana Evelin Toledo lanzó la canción O todo o nada, en honor a la hermana Clare Crockett, religiosa de origen irlandés que falleció en el terremoto de Ecuador en 2016 y que está en proceso de beatificación.

El grupo musical colombiano “Fruto del Madero”, que nació gracias al rezo del rosario en comunidad, visita por primera vez Argentina para participar de distintas actividades.

La obra de teatro “Autopista al Cielo”, sobre la vida del futuro santo Carlo Acutis, ha inspirado la devoción eucarística entre los niños y las familias de una parroquia en Australia.

El Papa León XIV recorrerá este viernes a las 4:00 p.m. (hora de Roma) el centro Borgo Laudato si’, en Castel Gandolfo, la histórica residencia pontificia a orillas del lago Albano.

CNA Staff, Sep 3, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).

Authorities in California arrested a man who brought a cache of weapons, including gun paraphernalia, to a remote California abbey late last month. 

Sheriff’s deputies arrested 38-year-old Joshua Michael Richardson after he allegedly made criminal threats against St. Michael’s Abbey, located in Silverado, about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles in the Santa Ana Mountains. 

Richardson, an Alabama resident, originally sent the abbey “emails that were interpreted as threatening,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a Sept. 2 press release. 

The suspect subsequently “visited the church in person and made additional threats,” after which a priest reported the incident to the sheriff’s department.

Authorities quickly located and arrested Richardson for the alleged threats, and upon searching his vehicle they found “body armor, high-capacity magazines, brass knuckles and knives.”

Richardson was booked into the Orange County Jail. Records show he is being held at a police facility in the city of Orange. 

In its press release the sheriff’s department urged residents: “If something seems off, say something.” 

“Trust your instincts and report suspicious activity, whether it is a strange message, unusual behavior, or something that does not sit right,” they said. “Your call could stop a crime before it happens.”

St. Michael’s Abbey, run by the Norbertine Fathers in Silverado, was founded in 1961. Currently, 60 priests and more than 40 seminarians live there. The Norbertines of the abbey ran the nationally renowned St. Michael’s Preparatory School from 1961 to 2020. 

News of the arrest comes roughly a week after a gunman perpetrated a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring more than 20 other children and adults.

Según los últimos datos ofrecidos por el Dicasterio de la Evangelización, 24 millones de peregrinos han viajado a Roma desde que comenzó el Jubileo de la Esperanza el pasado diciembre.

Laudato si’ cobra vida en un centro de formación en ecología integral en los jardines de las villas pontificias de Castel Gandolfo

Carlo Acutis y Pier Giorgio Frassati que serán canonizados el domingo 7 de septiembre serán representados en las nuevas emisiones filatélicas presentadas por el Servicio Postal y filatélico del Vaticano

CNA Staff, Sep 3, 2025 / 08:55 am (CNA).

Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda said this week that Catholics and others in the Twin Cities are revealing “signs of God’s great love” in the week following the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church. 

“I get the idea that people are very much turning to the Lord at this time and there’s just been a real outpouring of love,” the archbishop said on “EWTN News Nightly” on Sept. 2. 

Hebda told EWTN News President Montse Alvarado that there has been “no shortage of volunteers” in the days since the shooting, which claimed the lives of eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski while injuring approximately 20 others.  

“Counselors are coming forward,” the archbishop said. “Those who are able to help their parents and families in all different ways are stepping forward to really show what happens when a church community is impacted.”

Hebda said he was gratified after Pope Leo XIV spoke directly about the shooting and called for an end to the “pandemic of arms” that brings about such violence. 

The Holy Father’s prayers were particularly poignant, the archbishop said, given that Leo himself is a native of the Midwest. 

“[It was] huge … especially to be able to hear those words in English and in a Midwestern accent,” he said. 

“The victims of the shooting were taken to two different hospitals in Minneapolis,” Hebda said. “And one of them is adjacent to the very hospital where Pope Leo had done his [clinical pastoral education] when he was a seminarian.” 

“So I know he knows the spot, he knows Minneapolis, and we're really counting on him continuing those prayers,” the prelate said. 

Stricken church will be reconsecrated

Annunciation Church will have to be reconsecrated after the shooting, an act that Hebda described as “reclaim[ing] that territory for the Lord.”

“I know it's going to take a long time for some of the faithful to be able to go back into that building that was the site of such devastation,” he told Alvarado. “But we're hoping that as time continues to heal and as those prayers continue … that we will get to that point where that church will once again be a hub of activity.”

The archbishop also touched briefly on the recently renewed debate over the effectiveness of prayer in the wake of tragedies. Some figures in the media and even politicians over the past week have derided prayer and dismissed its role in addressing suffering and societal ills.

In contrast, Hebda said he has heard numerous stories about how students at Annunciation Catholic School have “turned to prayer” after the shooting. 

“I was with one young woman, and she was talking about holding the hand of the other young girl who was in the ambulance with her, and how they prayed [the Our Father] fervently,” he said.

The archbishop said he also heard of a young man who was injured in the shooting and who “asked the doctor to pray with him before the operation.”

“It's interesting at a time when prayer is being debated, that's what it seems like people are appreciating the most,” Hebda said.