Coatzacoalcos, Mexico :: The local mayor boards Logos Hope for a unique arrival and welcomes crew as they settle into a new city.

Coatzacoalcos, Mexico :: Logos Hope's crewmembers encourage a youth group to listen to God's call to serve.

Coatzacoalcos, Mexico :: A village gets its first library, with books and shelves donated by Logos Hope.

An OM couple plants a church in North Africa, disciples believers and, preparing to step out, trains local leaders to take responsibility of the fellowship.

Long-term worker teaches Transform seminar about loving Muslim women, encouraging two participants to deepen relationships with Muslim friends back home.

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

Worker shares how OM’s storytelling course revitalised her English classes and friendships.

Atlantic Crossing :: Making Logos II shipshape for a longer voyage

After a successful dry dock in Hong Kong, OM Ships’ vessel Logos Hope is en route for a two-port visit to the Philippines from the end of May.

OM Ships is in final preparations for the Power Up Logos Hope technical project as the four millionth visitor comes aboard in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

From 21 July - 19 August, Logos Hope brought the hope of the Gospel to over 50,000 people who visited the ship in Incheon, South Korea.

The story of how OM’s Ship Ministry began

A team of volunteers and doctors attended to over 300 people in a town almost destroyed by an earthquake in 2007.

With a team of 6 people, OM Peru recently went on an outreach to an area called Alto Piura.

Forty women climb Machu Picchu to raise awareness about human trafficking during a five-day Freedom Challenge trek in Peru.

Adobe targets the consumer and enthusiast photography audience with this version of its Lightroom professional photo workflow program. It's slick and nimble, and now boasts most of Lightroom Classic's photo-editing tools, but still lacks some workflow features, local printing, and plug-in support.

Vatican City, May 4, 2020 / 07:29 am (CNA).- Jesus died for everyone, but disordered attachment to one’s own ideas can cause divisions which break the unity of God’s people, Pope Francis said at Mass on Monday.

“There are ideas, positions that create division, to the point that the division is more important than unity,” the pope said May 4. People think “my idea is more important than the Holy Spirit who guides us.”

Francis called division a “disease of the Church, a disease which arises from ideologies or religious factions…”

Throughout the Church’s history there has always been a spirit of thinking one’s self to be righteous and others to be sinners, he said, describing it as an “us and the others” attitude, which says others are already condemned, while “we have the right position before God.”

Speaking from the chapel of his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta, Francis emphasized that Jesus died for everyone.

Imagining a dialogue with someone questioning the statement, he said, “‘But did [Jesus] also die for that low-life who made my life impossible?’ He died for him too. ‘And for that crook?’ He died for him.”

“For everyone,” Francis underlined. “And also for people who do not believe in him or are of other religions: he died for everyone.”

Without using a name, the pope referenced a retired cardinal living inside the Vatican, who, he said, likes to say “the Church is like a river,” with different people being like different parts of the river.

“But the important thing is that everyone is inside the river,” the pope said. “This is the unity of the Church.”

The Church is a wide river, “because the Lord wants it so.”

Pope Francis quoted a verse from the day’s Gospel reading, John 10:11-18, when Jesus says: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Jesus is saying “I am Shepherd of everyone,” the pope explained. “Everyone: Big and small, rich and poor, good and bad.”

Pointing to the divisions in the Church after the Second Vatican Council, he said it is permissible to think differently from one another, but always “in the unity of the Church, under Jesus the Shepherd.”

He prayed that the Lord would free Catholics from the illness of division and help them to see “this great thing from Jesus, that in him we are all brothers and he is the Shepherd of all.”

Pope Francis offered the day’s Mass for families, that in this time of quarantine because of the coronavirus pandemic they will continue to try new and creative things together and with their children.

He also acknowledged the reality of domestic violence, asking for prayers for families “to continue in peace with creativity and patience in this quarantine.”

After Mass the pope led those following the Mass via livestream in an act of spiritual communion. He concluded with Eucharistic adoration and benediction.

 

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has ordered 15 psychiatric hospitals in Belgium which belong to the Brothers of Charity to cease identifying as Catholic institutions after they allowed the euthanization of patients in 2017.

The hospitals are managed by a civil non-profit corporation with the same name as the Brothers of Charity religious congregation which owns them.

The CDF decision was communicated in a letter dated March 30, stating that "with deep sadness" the "psychiatric hospitals managed by the Provincialate of the Brothers of Charity association in Belgium will no longer be able to consider themselves Catholic institutions."

In a statement responding to the CDF's decision, the superior general of the Brothers of Charity, Br. René Stockman, said that "with a heavy heart" the religious congregation "must let go of its psychiatric centers in Belgium."

Br. Stockman pointed out that it is "painful" that the psychiatric centers of the Brothers of Charity in Belgium have lost their Catholic status, considering also that the brothers "were among the pioneers in the field of mental health care in Belgium."

At the same time, Stockman said he recognizes that "the congregation [the Brothers of Charity] has no choice but to remain faithful to the charism of charity, which cannot be reconciled with the practice of euthanasia on psychiatric patients."

The decision by the Vatican's doctrinal office ends three years of disputes between the Brothers of Charity and the corporation which manages their hospitals in Belgium.

In 2017, the board decided to allow euthanasia to be carried out in its hospitals in Belgium, where the euthanasia law is among the most broad.

At the time of the decision, the board of the corporation was composed of 15 members, with only three of them religious brothers of the congregation. 

Two of the three religious brothers among the board members, Luc Lemmens, 61, and Veron Raes, 57, supported the euthanasia decision. Their terms on the board ended at the end of September 2018 and were not renewed.

The religious congregation, especially Stockman, protested the decision, reiterating the Brothers of Charity's rejection of euthanasia in their hospitals.

The brothers appealed to the Vatican, which asked the psychiatric hospitals to change their protocol allowing euthanasia as “a medical act” under certain conditions.

The hospital management responded with a long statement in September 2017, in which it contested a lack of dialogue and maintained the hospital was "perfectly consistent" with Christian doctrine.

The CDF's direction that the hospitals must no longer identify as Catholic was communicated in a letter signed by CDF prefect Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer and secretary Archbishop Giacomo Morandi.

The letter retraced the developments of the story, recalling that the document allowing euthanasia in the brothers' hospitals "refers neither to God, nor to Holy Scripture, nor to the Christian vision of Man."

According to the letter, the CDF had spoken with the Brothers of Charity and had also informed Pope Francis of the gravity of the situation.

Other audiences had also taken place beginning June 2017, including with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Secretariat of State, the representatives of the Brothers of Charity and the managing corporation, as well as representatives of the Belgian bishops' conference.

The Holy See also sent Bishop Jan Hendriks, auxiliary of Amsterdam, as an apostolic visitor, but he did not register any steps forward nor a desire to find "a viable solution that avoids any form of responsibility of the institution for euthanasia."

The request of the CDF to the Brothers of Charity and to the managing corporation was clear: “affirm in writing and in an unequivocal way their adherence to the principles of the sacredness of human life and the unacceptability of euthanasia, and, as a consequence, the absolute refusal to carry it out in the institutions they depend on."

The corporation "did not give assurance on these points."

The CDF therefore reiterated that "euthanasia remains an inadmissible act, even in extreme cases," and strengthened the statement by citing St. John Paul II's 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae, and a Jan. 30 speech by Pope Francis to the CDF.

The CDF stressed that "Catholic teaching affirms the sacred value of human life," the "importance of caring for and accompanying the sick and disabled," as well as "the Christian value of suffering, the moral unacceptability of euthanasia" and "the impossibility of introducing this practice in Catholic hospitals, not even in extreme cases, as well as of collaborating in this regard with civil institutions."

The Brothers of Charity is a religious congregation of lay brothers founded in 1807 in Belgium, whose specialization is care for the sick and those with psychiatric diseases.

At the congregation's July 2018 general chapter the group stressed that the Brothers of Charity "believes in sacredness and absolute respect for every human life, from conception to natural death. The general chapter requires that each brother, associate member and others associated with the mission of the congregation adhere to the doctrine of the Catholic Church on ethical issues."

Vatican City, May 5, 2020 / 08:10 am (CNA).- The Vatican’s migrant and refugee office has released a booklet with guidance on how the Church might respond to the problem of people internally displaced within their own countries due to conflict or disaster.

Many people might be unaware of the existence of internally displaced people, or IDPs, Cardinal Michael Czerny, under-secretary of the migrants and refugees section, said May 5.

Speaking during a livestreamed press conference, he noted that internal displacement “is a current, contemporary reality in a surprising number of countries.”

Internally displaced persons are defined as those who have had to flee their home or residence due to violence, conflict, disaster, or development projects to find refuge in another part of the country. Since IDPs have not crossed international borders, they do not have the legal status of refugee or migrant and do not receive the legal protections those categories can give.

Czerny’s office, which is a part of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Development, published a booklet May 5 called “Pastoral Orientations on Internally Displaced People.”

The document is directed primarily at dioceses, parishes, Catholic NGOs, and other Catholic organizations. It has short paragraphs on key issues related to the welcome, protection, promotion, and integration of IDPs, interspersed with quotes from relevant Church documents and speeches by Pope Francis.

The importance of spiritual care for Catholics who are internally displaced in their countries is one of the topics addressed. Cardinal Czerny said Tuesday he would like to highlight the response an average Catholic parish might give when it “discovers IDPs in its midst and learns how to reach out to them.”

“To me, this is a great sign of hope,” he said.

“When the Holy Father asks us to go to the peripheries, we might think of going to a faraway foreign land where we will do exotic things,” the cardinal said. “But the real peripheries which hurt are the ones that are very near at hand, the ones where people among us are invisible, are set aside, are discarded, are overlooked.”

According to data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), at the end of 2019, 45.7 million people were living internally displaced from their homes worldwide for reasons of conflict. Including other causes of displacement, the number of IDPs is more than 50 million.

The IDMC reported that the countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced people are Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Colombia, though nearly every country in the world has IDPs.

In the United States, the IDMC says there were 916,000 people newly displaced internally due to disaster in 2019. The majority of these new displacements were caused by Hurricane Dorian and the California wildfires.

The Church can do something so that “those among us who have been forced to flee and find themselves among us will receive Christian welcome and the response the Body of Christ wants to give them,” Czerny explained.

He said the aim of “Pastoral Orientations” is for the more than 50 million IDPs “to be recognized and supported, promoted and eventually reintegrated, so that they can play an active, constructive role in their country even if powerful causes, both natural and unjust human causes, have forced them to flee from home and take refuge somewhere.”

“In the post-COVID-19 world that is emerging, their contribution will be very much needed,” the cardinal added.

He explained that publishing the document on internal displacement is “not a lessening on the priority of refugees, migrants, asylum seekers, victims of human trafficking,” but a matter of “continuing to respond to the full range of people’s needs and vulnerabilities,” even in the midst of a global pandemic.

“There are very many needs which didn’t go away just because we were focused on other things in the past weeks,” he underlined. “It’s not a question of COVID-19 displacing priorities. It’s a question of both/and…”

Problems such as internal displacement were already there, “and, on top of it all we also have the challenge as a human family of resisting and overcoming this pandemic.”

The Church, he said, is able “to take on a new challenge without jettisoning other problems as if they suddenly became irrelevant.”

Vatican City, May 6, 2020 / 09:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday advanced the sainthood causes of five men and women, including an Italian teenager who died of a brain tumor in 2009, declaring them “venerable.”

After a May 5 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the pope approved the heroic virtue of Italian priests Francesco Caruso (1879-1951) and Carmelo De Palma (1876-1961), as well as the Spanish Redemptorist priest Francisco Barrecheguren Montagut (1881-1957).

Before becoming a priest, Barrecheguren Montagut was married (he was later widowed) and had a daughter, Maria de la Concepción Barrecheguren García (1905-1927), who was also declared venerable by the pope May 6.

The fifth sainthood cause to move a step toward canonization was that of Italian teenager Matteo Farina, who lived from 1990 to 2009. 

Farina grew up in a strong Christian family in the southern Italian town of Brindisi. He was very close to his sister, Erika.

The parish where he received the sacraments was under the care of Capuchin friars, from whom he gained a devotion to St. Francis and St. Padre Pio. 

The postulator of Farina’s cause for sainthood said that from a young age Farina had the desire to learn new things, always undertaking his activities with diligence, whether it was school or sports or his passion for music.

Starting at eight years old, he would receive the sacrament of reconciliation often. He was also devoted to the Word of God. At nine years old, he read the entire Gospel of St. Matthew as a Lenten practice. Farina also prayed the rosary every day.

When he was nine years old, he had a dream in which he heard St. Padre Pio tell him that if he understood that “who is without sin is happy,” he must help others to understand this, “so that we can all go together, happy, to the kingdom of heaven.”

From that point onward, Farina felt a strong desire to evangelize, especially among his peers, which he did politely and without presumption.

He once wrote about this desire, saying “I hope to succeed in my mission to ‘infiltrate’ among young people, speaking to them about God (illuminated by God himself); I observe those around me, to enter among them as silent as a virus and infect them with an incurable disease, Love!”

In September 2003, a month before his 13th birthday, Farina began to have symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as a brain tumor. As he was undergoing medical tests, he began to keep a journal. He called the experience of the bad headaches and pain “one of those adventures that change your life and that of others. It helps you to be stronger and to grow, above all in faith.”

Over the next six years, Farina would experience several brain operations and undergo chemotherapy and other treatments for the tumor.

His love for Mary strengthened during this time and he consecrated himself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In between hospitalizations, he continued to live the ordinary life of a teenager: he attended school, hung out with his friends, formed a band, and fell in love with a girl. 

He later called the chaste relationship he had with Serena during his last two years of life “the most beautiful gift" the Lord could give him.

When he was 15, he reflected on friendship, saying “I would like to be able to integrate with my peers without being forced to imitate them in mistakes. I would like to feel more involved in the group, without having to renounce my Christian principles. It’s difficult. Difficult but not impossible.”

Eventually, the teenager’s condition worsened and after a third surgery he became paralyzed in his left arm and leg. He would often repeat that “we must live every day as if it were the last, but not in the sadness of death, but rather in the joy of being ready to meet the Lord!”

Farina died surrounded by his friends and family on April 24, 2009. 

Francesca Consolini, the postulator of Farina’s cause, wrote on a website dedicated to the young venerable that in him emerged “a deep inner commitment oriented toward purifying his heart from every sin” and he experienced this spirituality “not with heaviness, effort or pessimism; indeed, from his words there emerges constant trust in God, a tenacious, determined and serene gaze turned to the future...”

Farina often thought about the faith and the “difficulty of going against the current.” Concerned about a lack of good faith education for young people, he undertook this task among his own peers. 

He once wrote in his journal: “When you feel that you can’t do it, when the world falls on you, when every choice is a critical decision, when every action is a failure ... and you would like to throw everything away, when intense work reduces you to the limit of strength ... take time to take care of your soul, love God with your whole being and reflect his love for others.”

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

A new believer strives for obedience to follow God in difficult circumstances.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

Families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience challenges navigating multiple systems to access services. Family navigation (FN) is a model to provide information and support to access appropriate services. Few studies have been used to examine FN’s effectiveness for families of children with ASD. This study used mixed methods to (1) characterize FN services received by a sample of families in the Autism Treatment Network; (2) examine change in parent-reported activation, family functioning, and caregiver strain; and (3) explore families’ experiences with FN services.

OBJECTIVES:

To summarize baseline data and lessons learned from the Autism Learning Health Network, designed to improve care and outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We describe challenging behaviors, co-occurring medical conditions, quality of life (QoL), receipt of recommended health services, and next steps.

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.

Adolescent use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has increased dramatically, with younger and nicotine-naive adolescents starting to use these devices and use them more frequently than combustible cigarettes. In emerging evidence, it is shown that e-cigarettes are not effective in helping adult smokers quit and that youth using e-cigarettes are at risk for becoming nicotine dependent and continuing to use as adults. Important gaps in our knowledge remain regarding the long-term health impact of e-cigarettes, effective strategies to prevent and reduce adolescent e-cigarette use, and the impact of provider screening and counseling to address this new method of nicotine use.

Various states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes and/or decriminalized recreational marijuana use. These changes coincide with a decrease in perceived harmfulness of the drug and an increase in its use among youth. This change is of critical concern because of the potential harmful impact of marijuana exposure on adolescents. Marijuana use has been associated with several adverse mental health outcomes, including increased incidence of addiction and comorbid substance use, suicidality, and new-onset psychosis. Negative impacts on cognition and academic performance have also been observed. As the trend toward legalization continues, the pediatric community will be called on to navigate the subsequent challenges that arise with changing policies. Pediatricians are uniquely positioned to provide innovative care and educate youth and families on the ever-evolving issues pertaining to the impact of marijuana legalization on communities. In this article, we present and analyze the most up-to-date data on the effects of legalization on adolescent marijuana use, the effects of adolescent use on mental health and cognitive outcomes, and the current interventions being recommended for use in pediatric office settings.

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

An outreach team learns the value of sharing their personal testimonies and what a little light can do to a community.

OM Ireland's Immersion team reflects on their first month as interns in churches around Ireland.

A woman once mentally ill walks in the light of Christ after five years living in spiritual, mental and physical darkness.

One Namibian OM worker operates a prayer house—and does so much more.

Two native Namibians stand as the only Christians in their community

An update about the flood damage in Eastern Australia

On 12 December, OM Australia settled on their first-ever permanent base after renting for over 20 years.

On 1 July 350 teens and leaders poured into the University of Queensland, Australia, for five days of fun and discipleship.

Peter* from MAP Australia has a Muslim friend who attended a church camp. His friend has never been the same since.

OM worker is amazed to see God change lives, as he peers over his book table on a busy Muslim street in Australia.

Teens in Europe are gathered this week to connect with Jesus and each other. A month ago, teenagers in Australia had this experience.

Team members of MAP Australia seek to live out the message of the Gospel to all people, no matter how sympathetic or opposed.

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 former Afghan fighter discovers Jesus Christ in the Qur’an.

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

OM supported the Ukrainian Military Ministry in order to print trauma counselling books

A report of results: OM has been supporting church planting efforts and training local missionary teams to plant churches nearby and within the conflict area.

A welder's life is renewed in Kaharlyk, Ukraine through a new business opportunity with OM.