News - October 2024 RSS Feed

On Sunday, October 20, 2024, Pope Francis canonized several individuals. Included among them was Saint Giuseppe Allamano (1851-1926). I want to focus on him today. He was the fourth of five children to Giuseppe and Marianna Cafasso Allamano. His mother was a younger sister of Saint Giuseppe Cafasso (1811-1860). He entered the seminary when he was fifteen and ordained to the priesthood in 1873. He dreamed of becoming a missionary but poor health prevented that from happening. Shortly after his ordination he was appointed the spiritual director at the major seminary of the diocese of Turin. After he received his doctorate in theology in 1876, he was appointed the rector of the largest Marian shrine in Turin. He remained in that position until his death. Even though he could not be a missionary himself, the missions were on his mind. In 1901, he founded the Consolata Missionary Institute, a missionary society for priests and laymen. A few years later he founded the Consolata Missionary Sisters for women who also desired to be missionaries.

Sunday, October 20, 2024, was World Mission Sunday. In recent years the Holy Father has canonized saints as part of the commemoration of World Mission Sunday. This year Pope Francis canonized fourteen new saints, including three founders of religious orders and eleven martyrs who were killed in Damascus in 1860. They all lived in the nineteenth century, although two of the religious founders died in the early decades of the twentieth century. Today I will write about the eleven who were killed in Damascus in 1860. They are known collectively as the Martyrs of Damascus. They were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1926.

October is both Respect Life Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month. There is certainly an important connection between the two events. In observance of both events, I am finishing the overview of Domestic Violence that is based on an important statement entitled When I Call for Help. This statement was issued several years ago by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. I am going to devote both the column for this week and the column for next week to presenting an overview of Domestic Violence that is based on an important statement entitled When I Call for Help. This statement was published several years ago now from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The First Sunday of October is designated as Respect Life Sunday. The Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has issued a statement to mark this occasion. I want to provide some excerpts from it for today’s column.