How much do we really know about this universal prayer? FATHER GERARD LOUIS SHARES MORE

The rosary helps us to meditate on the life of Jesus and the stories of the Gospels. Photo: VITA Images

Apart from the Mass, the rosary is perhaps the most well-known Catholic prayer. We pray the rosary while waiting for Mass to begin, when we are travelling, when we pray together as a family or neighbourhood group and when we gather at a funeral wake.

I think every Catholic owns a rosary, maybe several. I have been using the same one since I was 12.

The rosary is so much a part of Catholic culture that we almost take it for granted. So how much do we know about the origins and history of the rosary?
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The following is an account of a Catholic with SSA who wishes to remain anonymous.

People have asked me, what it is like to be gay and Catholic, two groups of people that are so diametrically opposed to each other, and yet I embody both identities. Identity. Do I struggle with it? Yes.

Primarily, I struggle with identity and loneliness. But I’m very sure this isn’t an issue faced by the LGBTQ community only.

It is true I can find that listening ear amongst my gay friends and also within the Church community/ministry I have been in for many years. The difficulty is being able to just say it as it is without filters. I filter what I say among gay friends who aren’t exactly able to see the Church’s side, and I filter when I’m among Christian friends who try to understand and be there for me, but don’t know about the fear I have just talking about my sexuality.
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About one third of Catholics attend Mass every weekend. Photo: VITA Images

Audrey Lee

In the United States, for every person joining the Catholic Church, six persons are actually leaving.

This is the startling reality of the state of the Catholic faith in the US and it was revealed at a recent annual spring meeting in June involving the Bishops there.

This and other sobering statistics were shared by Bishop Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
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Priests should defend the Seal of Confession even to the point of shedding blood.

The Apostolic Penitentiary has released a Note which upholds the absolute inviolability of the Seal of Confession, meaning that priests can never be forced to reveal what they learn in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Approved for publication by Pope Francis on 21 June, the “Note on the importance of the internal forum and the inviolability of the Sacramental Seal” was released on July 1.

Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, who signed the Note with Msgr Krzysztof Nykiel, the Regent of the Penitentiary, released a statement to explain the Note’s content.
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