Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862. Members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951. All were canonized during the papacy… Read More »Saint Andrew Dung-Lac and companions
"Dear Aboriginal people: the hour has come for you to take on new courage and new hope. You are called to remember the past, to be faithful to your worthy traditions, and to adapt your living culture whenever this is required by your own needs and those of your fellowman. Above all you are called… Read More »1986: Meeting of Saint John Paul II with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Alice Springs
Dorothy Day was a journalist and social activist who cofounded the Catholic Worker Movement with Peter Maurin. Her approach to social issues combined direct service of the poor, prayer, advocacy and civil disobedience. People began hailing Dorothy a saint shortly after her death in 1980. The cause for her canonisation is underway and in 2012… Read More »1980: Death of Dorothy Day, Founder of the Catholic Worker Movement
The Post Synodal Statement of the 1971 Synod of Bishops contains some of the most quoted words in the body of modern Catholic Social Teaching: "Action on behalf of justice and participation in the transformation of the world fully appear to us as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel, or, in other… Read More »1971: Synod of Bishops’ Statement “Justice in the World”
"St. Andrew was a fisherman who lived in Galilee during the time of Jesus. He often followed John the Baptist and listened to his teachings. Like the other apostles, Andrew became a missionary. He preached about Jesus in the area around the Black Sea. Tradition tells us he preached in northern Greece, Turkey, and Scythia… Read More »Saint Andrew
Children all over the world know him and love him. In Germany, he’s Kriss Kringle. In France, he’s Pere Noel. British children call him Father Christmas. Of course, you know him as Santa Claus. He’s got another name - it’s an ancient one that goes back hundreds of years. It's one of the very first… Read More »Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus)
7 December will mark the anniversary of the release of Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1965, this key document in Vatican II called all to holiness and to integrate their life so that their deeds and words align privately and publicly. It also put human dignity and value at the centre and stood against a split between worship and mission.
"The feast in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the 16th century. Mary appeared to Juan Diego dressed as an Aztec woman to show her love and compassion to an oppressed group of people. Mary had heard the prayers and pain of these people, and she came to give them hope.Mary’s visit… Read More »Our Lady of Guadalupe
Catherine McAuley was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1778. In 1824 she used her inheritance from an Irish couple she had served for twenty years to build a large House of Mercy where she and other lay women would shelter homeless women, reach out to the sick and dying and educate poor girls. The House… Read More »1831: Founding of Sisters of Mercy by Catherine McAuley