Paul Keenan
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre launches new website
The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre has unveiled a new website towards communicating the full range of projects it undertakes in the Holy Land.
Designed primarily as a means of keeping the 30,000 knights and ladies of the order worldwide informed, www.oessh.va is also aimed at anyone interested in events in the Holy Land. Speaking at the launch of the new site, Francois Wayne, Director of Communications for the order, said that anyone “can find the encouragement on this site to continue to help the Christian communities who live in the biblical lands, within a perspective of dialogue and a dynamic universal fraternity”.
Development of the website was a cooperative project between the Equestrian Order and the Secretariat of the Holy See communications.
America’s oldest serving priest is 104
America’s oldest and longest-serving Catholic priest turned 104 on July 28. Born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, in 1912, Msgr Vincent Topper survived an infant bout of tuberculosis to go on to Catholic school before breaking with expectations that he would enter the family retail business to enter the priesthood.
He was ordained on June 6, 1936. He went on to serve in six parishes under seven bishops and eight Popes. He retired in 1978 and now lives in active retirement in Harrisburg. Throughout his ministry, Msgr Topper made education improvements a focus of his work. He is the founder of a Catholic school in Milton, Pennsylvania among other achievements in that sector. Of his longevity and 80 years of ministry, Fr Topper said simply, “I tried to be a good priest and to brings others to Christ”.
Images of kidnapped priest found online
Doubts surround the authenticity of a photograph which has emerged on social media apparently showing Salesian priest Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, the Indian cleric kidnapped in Yemen in March. Appearing unexpectedly on the priest’s own Facebook page, possibly as a result of hacking by his kidnappers, the photo shows the priest in apparent good health and now with a full beard. Its appearance has reportedly buoyed his family that the priest remains alive, and while sources close to Fr Uzhunnalil share this belief, they have voiced some reservations. One anonymous source told the Catholic News Agency that “I have checked with a confrere with Yemen experience and very close to Fr Tom who shares my doubts about the authenticity of the photo”.
Leaders of the Salesian community would only state they are working to verify the authenticity of the photo.
African-American archbishop named for task force on race
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has named African-American Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, Georgia, as chair of its newly formed task force on race.
Amid ongoing tensions and controversies around police shootings of black Americans, Archbishop Gregory, who was the first African-American president of the US bishops’ conference, will oversee the work of the task force as it engages directly with members of communities directly affected by police shootings as well as police departments on the issue. The work of the task force will culminate in a report to the bishops’ autumn meeting on the best way forward in building bridges between groups divided by the killings.
In accepting his new role, Archbishop Gregory said: “I am honoured to lead this task force which will assist my brother bishops, individually and as a group, to accompany suffering communities on the path toward peace and reconciliation.
“We are one body in Christ, so we must walk with our brothers and sisters and renew our commitment to promote healing,” he said. “The suffering is not somewhere else, or someone else’s; it is our own, in our very dioceses.”