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Photo: Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I embrace.
This is an announcement of two new volumes of pastoral letters written by His Beatitude Patriarch Gregorios III:
"I Am With You Always"
Volumes III and IV
2010 to 2012 and 2013 to 2017
Published by Eastern Christian Publications
Available separately - price $20 and $25 respectively
Or together with volumes I and II – price $60
See http://ecpubs.com/featured-products/
And http://ecpubs.com/product-category/spirituality/page/2/
Parma, Ohio (ugcc.org.ua) - Over 30 youth, young adult leaders, volunteers, and clergy from the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of St. Josaphat in Parma gathered together on June 15-16th, 2017 at Cheeseman Farm in Portersville, Pennsylvania for the annual Eparchial Youth Days (formerly known as Acolyte and Youth Convention).
The theme of this year’s convention was “Diakonia: Serve & Do Good” in reference to Mark 10:45 and was dedicated to the ‘Year of Diakonia’ – service to one’s neighbor – a theme that the Ukrainian Catholic Church has chosen to commemorate in 2017.
CWN - In a letter to Pope Francis on the occasion of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople reflected on the martyrdom of the apostles and the persecution of Christians today.
“The Church, throughout her history, during different epochs and times, has been persecuted; however, the blood of her martyrs was a source of strength in faith and a witness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew said in his June 29 letter. “As the Bride of Christ, the Church, is still called to martyria today, as it faces new forms of persecution and oppression.”
The Ecumenical Patriarch, who holds a primacy of honor in Eastern Orthodoxy, continued:
Over the last few years, we have witnessed with great sorrow the attacks targeting Christians and their places of worship. Our sister Churches stand in solidarity with all persecuted and oppressed Christians of our times, and at this very moment, we call to remembrance those who are in mines, in exile, in harsh labor, and those in every kind of affliction, oppression, necessity, or distress.
The Ecumenical Patriarch also expressed the conviction that “our common witness before the numerous challenges of our contemporary world constitutes a positive testimony for the Church of Christ and for bringing us closer to unity.”
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CWN - Pope Francis received a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on June 27, as is customary in the days around the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29), patrons of Rome.
“The exchange of delegations between the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople on their respective patronal feasts increases our desire for the full restoration of communion between Catholics and Orthodox, of which we already have a foretaste in fraternal encounter, shared prayer and common service to the Gospel,” the Pope said.
“In the first millennium, Christians of East and West shared in the same Eucharistic table, preserving together the same truths of faith while cultivating a variety of theological, spiritual and canonical traditions compatible with the teaching of the apostles and the ecumenical councils,” he continued. “That experience is a necessary point of reference and a source of inspiration for our efforts to restore full communion in our own day, a communion that must not be a bland uniformity.”
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vatican.va - The Holy Father has appointed as Apostolic Administrator sede vacante of the eparchy of Parma of the Ruthenians, United States of America, H.E. Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J., currently auxiliary bishop of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia.
Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J.
Msgr. Milan Lach, S.J. was born on 18 November 1973 in Kežmarok, in the Archieparchy of Prešov of the Byzantines, Slovakia.
From 1992 to 1995 he attended the Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of Prešov and in 1995 he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Trnava.
After his theological studies in the theological faculty of the University of Trnava (1997-2001) he was ordained a priest in 2001 in Košice.
From 2001 to 2003 he worked in the scientific area of the Centre of Spirituality East-West of Michal Lacko in Košice and later (2009-2011) he was Superior of the same centre.
In 2009 he graduated in Oriental Ecclesiastical Sciences from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. At the same time he served as spiritual father at the Pontifical Collegium Russicum and also as spiritual assistant of the Federation of Scouts of Europe in Rome.
CWN - Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church, will renew the consecration of Lebanon and the Middle East to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The consecration will take place in Fatima on June 25, following a “Lebanon day” at the famed Marian shrine.
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