Day of Prayer Declared by Bishop Baker

Today, in Hanceville, AL., Bishop Baker will celebrate Mass and dedicate a Marian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, while formally celebrating the Day of Prayer that he declared should be observed by the entire Diocese of Birmingham to intercede to God in these troubling times.

From the Birmingham News:

The Lourdes Grotto, a replica of the grotto in Lourdes, France, will be dedicated Tuesday with a 10 a.m. Mass on the grounds of the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville.

Birmingham Bishop Robert Baker will preside at the dedication Mass. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, there will be a rosary procession at the grotto, said Brother David Mary, a member of the Knights of the Holy Eucharist religious order based at the Shrine.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the 1858 apparitions of St. Bernadette at Lourdes, believed by millions of Catholics to be miraculous appearances by the Virgin Mary.

Our Lady of the Rosary

 

One of my favorite books, co-authored with Amy, shortly after Pope John Paul II added the luminous mysteries. It is written according to his suggestions that he laid out in his Apostolic Letter on the rosary.Praying the Rosary: With the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries

Rabbi Speaks at Synod

From the New York Times:

The first rabbi invited to address the Vatican’s annual synod of bishops criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on Monday and indirectly touched on a main sticking point in Roman Catholic-Jewish relations: the church’s efforts on behalf of Jews during World War II. The chief rabbi of Haifa, Shear-Yashuv Cohen, above, described a speech last month at the United Nations by “a certain president of a state in the Middle East” as a series of “false and malicious accusations” and “anti-Semitic infamy.” In his speech, Mr. Ahmadinejad denounced Israel and said Zionists controlled the world economy. Rabbi Cohen also said Jews “cannot forgive and forget” that some leaders may not have done enough to help save Jews during the Holocaust, apparently a reference to Pius XII, who was pope from 1939 to 1958.