Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew: “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven.”

Righteousness means right relationships – good rapport with your wife, your neighbor, your parents, your children, your co-workers, and with God. Right relationships take work, daily efforts of honesty and patience, forgiveness and perseverance – doing little things with love from morning until night.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, and the virtues of faith and courage, we can restore and build right relationships.

En Español: Construyendo Relaciones Buenas

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Watch on YouTube

As we enter 2021 in a turbulent time, let us look beyond the storm of COVID-19, politics and division. Let us look to the light and move in confidence and hope remembering Jesus’ words: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” As Pope Francis reminds us, “we too have realized that we cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together can we do this.” Let us call upon Jesus together, pray for one another and encourage one another – Jesus is the light, He will calm the storm.

Obispo Olmsted nos insta a mirar más allá de COVID, la política y la división

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“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.” (Mt 1:23)

God our Father sent us His Son to be the light in times of darkness, our peace in times of conflict, and Life that is stronger than death. In the Child Jesus, who is human and divine, the dawn from on high shines upon us, overcoming our sadness and leading us to goodness and hope.

If you are gathering with family this Christmas, or united with them through prayer, I encourage you to keep doing the recommended mitigation measures. Let us remember with gratitude and prayer that our frontline healthcare workers, the hospital systems and all our community leaders are bearing a heavy burden as they serve the common good. Please be safe, cheerful and holy.

On behalf of Bishop Nevares and all the clergy and religious of the Diocese of Phoenix: Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

¡Feliz Navidad de parte de Obispo Olmsted y la Diócesis de Phoenix!

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In this new video, Bishop Olmsted urges us to keep our loved ones close to our heart this Thanksgiving, and offers up some practical tips to help prepare our hearts and minds to welcome the Lord as we enter into the Season of Advent.

And as we await Christmas day, we encourage you to check out our new Advent flip book — a beautiful document that provides historical and liturgical context to the season, hymns, prayers, cultural celebrations, and more. The Advent and Christmas Resource is offered in English and Spanish, as a flip book digital magazine, and as a downloadable PDF, which includes additional crafts and coloring pages to print at home: https://dphx.org/advent

Dando gracias y rezando por todos ustedes – Un nuevo mensaje de Obispo Olmsted

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Catholic schools are a great gift for our young people and their parents. Growing up, Bishop Olmsted went to a small country school with just a few students — and he and his family were the only Catholics! It was a good community and he has wonderful memories, but when he experienced Catholic education, upon entering the seminary, he was amazed at the richness of the Catholic intellectual heritage began to realize how much he had missed.

Be sure to join us for the virtual Night of Hope! It will be a powerful 35-minute event in support of Catholic education and scholarships for students who are relying on us to come together to turn a Night of Hope into their future.

En Español: Obispo Olmsted reflexiona sobre el valor de una educación católica

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Ser saludable, inteligente y santo en el nuevo año escolar: Un mensaje del Obispo Olmsted

Watch and Like this message from Bishop Olmsted as we prepare to resume in-classroom learning, and be sure to Share it with your family and friends!

Be Healthy – Be Smart – Be Holy: https://dphx.org/stayhealthy

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NEW YORK (CNS) — Moviegoers anticipating the feature film about the story of the children of Fatima will have to wait a few more months to see the famous miracle story on the big screen.

The historical drama, directed by Marco Pontecorvo and distributed by Picturehouse, was originally scheduled for widespread release April 24, the second Friday of Easter. But like many films slated for this spring, “Fatima” was pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The circumstances that the world finds itself in now require precautionary measures and action,” the film’s official Facebook profile posted March 19. “As a result, we are postponing the opening of ‘Fatima’ in theaters to Aug. 14, 2020.”

Based on real-life events and starring Joaquim de Almeida (“Queen of the South”), Goran Visnjic (“Beginners”), Stephanie Gil (“Terminator: Dark Fate”) and Lucia Moniz (“Love Actually”), with Sonia Braga (“Aquarius”) and Harvey Keitel (“The Piano,” “The Irishman”), “Fatima” tells the story of Lucia dos Santos, a young Portuguese girl, and her two younger cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

In 1917, the three young shepherds reported receiving visions of Mary near the town of Fatima, Portugal. While the children’s testament inspired thousands of believers, it also incited anger from government officials and put their lives at risk. Jacinta and Francisco, who fell victim to the global flu pandemic of 1918, were canonized in 2017. Lucia, who became a cloistered Carmelite nun in Portugal, died in 2005 at age 97.

While some distribution companies have opted to make their spring titles available via streaming, such as “Birds of Prey,” “Trolls World Tour” and “Emma,” “Fatima” has followed the path of blockbuster titles whose release dates have been delayed entirely, including “No Time to Die,” “Mulan” and “Wonder Woman 1984”).

Bob Berney, CEO of Picturehouse, told Angelus, the online news outlet of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, that once movie theaters announced widespread closures, “we really had no choice” but to reschedule release. “We really felt that this movie is about community, and we believe that the theatrical experience is the best way to see the movie,” he said.

If that weren’t reason enough, the fact that the film’s producers are based in Rome and unable to travel to spring premieres secured the decision.

According to Berney, the new date for releasing the film was partially inspired by its proximity to the feast of the Assumption, which is Aug. 15.

A news release summarizing the production of “Fatima” emphasized the prominence of the story that turned a small Portuguese town into a major pilgrimage site.

“The power of its legacy has brought together an eclectic international group of cinema artists who believe that Fatima’s miraculous message of faith and peace, which galvanized the world over a century ago, is more important than ever,” the release said.

As a remake of the 1952 Warner Brothers film “The Miracle of Our Lady of Fátima,” this movie seeks to make the story newly accessible for a modern audience. “To tell this story like it was told in 1952 wouldn’t work today,” producer Rose Ganguzza stated in the news release. She explained that putting the events of Fatima in the context of early 20th-century Europe, which was embroiled in military conflict and religious violence, is crucial.

In the months leading up to the film’s new release date, Berney told Angelus the “Fatima” publicity team will take advantage of the extended timeline to launch “a broader and richer grassroots movement,” mainly via social media, to raise awareness about the film.

“Given the fact that people can’t go anywhere right now gives us an opportunity to show key people the movie so that they’re more prepared to talk about the movie,” he said.

Despite the series of disruptions, Berney remains confident that “Fatima” will still have a widespread positive impact.

“The message of the film, which is really peace and hope and praying, seems more relevant than ever,” he told Angelus. “I think the crisis we’ve been through will make people more attuned to the message.”

— By Sophia Martinson, Catholic News Service. Martinson, based in New York, writes for Angelus, the online news outlet of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

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WASHINGTON (CNS) — Bishop Gregory J. Mansour, who heads the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn, New York, is pretty sure he came down with symptoms of COVID-19 from helping a man who had fallen and was coughing on a Brooklyn street.

“I have no regrets whatsoever even while I was suffering,” he said on an April 29 segment of Current News, part of NET TV, the cable network of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

The bishop, who is 64, and who has served in the Brooklyn Eparchy since 2004, said people were yelling at him to stay away from the coughing man who was later picked up by an ambulance.

When asked if he would still help in a similar situation now, he said he would, noting that the person was “really in bad shape, and everyone was just standing around. I was not even thinking of anything; it was just natural instinct.”

A week later, in late March, the bishop said he developed symptoms of COVID-19 and was sick for a few weeks. In late April he said had a test that showed that he had had COVID but he now has the antibodies, giving him, as he put it: “something of a defense, so I can go forward now.”

Bishop Mansour said living with the virus gave him a “better sense of communion” with his fellow priests and with others. “We have so many people going through this, suffering and some deaths.”

The numbers of COVID patients and deaths have been high in New York. On May 1, the state’s health department reported 164,505 COVID-19 cases, with more than 13,000 deaths and 5,231 probable deaths. In Brooklyn, there have been 43,621 reported cases of COVID-19.

The bishop said his experience with the virus also taught him some spiritual lessons.

“When you’re by yourself, you really take the time to sincerely look at your relationship with God and your own behavior, your own thoughts and emotional life and to align it more closer to God’s will,” he told the Catholic news show.

He also said he was “very grateful to have gone through” the experience and particularly thankful to all those on the front line: first responders, doctors, nurses, retail workers and pharmacists for “laying down their lives for others.”

— By Carol Zimmermann, Catholic News Service.

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WASHINGTON (CNS) — This is the time of year parishes have been preparing to welcome new Catholics into the Church through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, but the coronavirus has changed how catechumens and candidates are participating in RCIA.

To prevent this pandemic from stopping these individuals from pursuing full entrance into the Church, the Catholic publisher TAN Books has released a free online version of the Credo RCIA program, which was developed in tandem with the Dominican friars at the Thomistic Institute, based at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington.

Access to the YouTube videos for each lesson and PDFs of both the catechist and catechumen materials are available online through TAN Books and the Thomistic Institute websites.

Credo is a video program that “carefully teaches participants and catechumens the key tenets of the faith,” said a news release announcing online access.

It is designed to be all-encompassing, covering all topics recommended by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. It also can be used with other RCIA programs so leaders can easily pick up wherever their participants left off. Credo can be streamed from anywhere.

In RCIA, catechumens are those who have never been baptized, and they receive Baptism, Confirmation and first Communion at the Easter Vigil. Candidates who have already been baptized in another Christian tradition enter the Church through a profession of faith, being confirmed and receiving the Eucharist.

The Thomistic Institute, founded 10 years ago, “seeks to promote Catholic truth in the contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians, especially at top tier universities,” according to a news release.

The institute — thomisticinstitute.org — has over 50 student chapters, including at Harvard, Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Duke University and on campuses in Dublin, London and Rome.

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INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — Back in early April, Jim Donlan had a problem. Face masks were starting to be used more widely in public settings as a way to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but he couldn’t find any.

So, like many other people, he started making them, but he didn’t stop there.

In about three weeks, Donlan and volunteers who have come to his Indianapolis garage have made and given away some 2,800 masks.

“This is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done,” said Donlan, a member of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis. “There’s nothing better that you can give to somebody right now than a mask. Right now, people are scared of this virus and they’re looking for a way to protect themselves and others. It’s a selfless act to be wearing one right now.”

Donlan worked for 33 years as a firefighter for the Indianapolis Fire Department before retiring at the end of February. He’s also been an assistant wrestling coach for the past three years at Father Thomas Scecina Memorial High School in Indianapolis.

It wasn’t long after retiring that the spread of the coronavirus began to dominate people’s attention and significantly change their daily lives. While Donlan enjoyed being retired, he knew he could do more.

In addition to making masks, he’s also now working as a front-line medical worker as an emergency room technician at Community Hospital East in Indianapolis.

The coronavirus threat hasn’t given him second thoughts about his new line of work.

“It didn’t change my mind about it at all,” Donlan said. “I thought that, more than ever, this was a time that I could serve a little bit.”

He said his three decades as a firefighter helped form him to accept danger in serving others.

“I was blessed by my job in the fire department,” Donlan said. “In return, I tried to give the fire department the best I had. I wanted to do everything I could in my power to maybe be the last line of hope.”

He calls his efforts to make and give away masks his “little mission.”

“It’s nothing special,” he said. “It’s just one more thing for many people.”

The masks are made of heavy-duty shop paper towels, coffee filters, pipe cleaners, staples and rubber bands. They cost about 10 cents to make and can be assembled in seconds.

He said the paper towels have been shown to be three times more effective than ordinary cotton cloth in filtering particles. Donlan also said these masks are reusable and can be washed and air-dried.

“The whole time that we’re in operation in here, everybody’s in gloves and masks,” Donlan said. “We’re constantly sanitizing the exterior of our gloves. I’ll sanitize the workstations three or four times throughout the day. We do our best to make the mask not be part of the problem.”

Anyone who comes to volunteer also has their temperature checked.

“If this would even be so lucky as to prevent one infection, it would all have been worth it,” he said. “Not one life. Just one infection.”

The third-generation firefighter said: “God’s been so good to me, so, any time that I can give back, I love the opportunity.”

While he spoke about his efforts from his garage, a fellow Holy Spirit parishioner, Mike O’Connor, came to pick up some masks to give to volunteers at food distribution points in Indianapolis for students now going without meals from schools.

“It’s the American way of sitting down and figuring out what each and every one of us can do and bring to the task,” O’Connor said of Donlan’s efforts. “I’m not surprised, having known Jim as long as I have. I’ve seen him jump in, whether it’s with the wrestling team at Scecina or other things. He steps up to the plate.”

Although living in the pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, Donlan is confident that it will have a good effect on society in the long term.

“You’re going to look back and remember this time and how positive it was,” he said. “It was scary, but positive. A lot of people are coming together.”

— By Sean Gallagher, Catholic News Service. Gallagher is a reporter at THE CRITERION, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

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