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PHOTOS: New York pro-lifers march with ‘joy on steroids’ despite heavy rain and taunting

Pro-lifers march through lower Manhattan amid a heavy downpour and pro-abortion protests necessitating a significant police presence on March 23, 2024. / Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 25, 2024 / 18:18 pm (CNA).

In what has become an annual confrontation, pro-life advocates faced taunts and intimidation from abortion activists as they made their way through the streets of New York City amid a heavy downpour for the annual International Gift of Life Walk on Saturday. 

As hundreds of pro-lifers walked the route, escorted by a contingent of “New York’s Finest” police officers, the protesters followed them, shouting “Shame on you!” and hurling expletives along the way.

The record-breaking deluge dropped 3.6 inches of rain on the group, but neither the animosity of the protesters nor the weather dampened their spirits.

“Man, did it rain. But the joy? It’s incredible,” Jeffrey Bruno, a Catholic photojournalist who documented the event, told CNA. He described the experience as “solidarity and joy on steroids.”

Hundreds of pro-lifers joined the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, despite heavy rain and protestors on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Hundreds of pro-lifers joined the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, despite heavy rain and protestors on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Dawn Eskew, president of Personhood Education New York and one of the walk’s organizers, told CNA that between 350 and 400 pro-lifers of all ages joined the walk. Though most wore heavy jackets or plastic rain ponchos, all were still thoroughly soaked, one attendee said. 

The event began with a rally and several pro-life testimonies at downtown’s Foley Square after which participants traversed a mile through some of the city’s most iconic areas in lower Manhattan, including Broadway’s “Canyon of Heroes” and Wall Street.

Eskew said that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the event, held this year for the eighth time, has been met with intense anger from abortion protestors. Last year, pro-abortion activists threw piles of trash in the path of the pro-life walkers, temporarily stopping them in their tracks.

Eskew said that she had feared the turnout for the walk might be light because of the violence of last year’s protest. But now she believes people must have been “energized by those protesters,” because this year’s walk was even more highly attended.

Hundreds of pro-lifers joined the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, despite heavy rain and protestors on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Hundreds of pro-lifers joined the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, despite heavy rain and protestors on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Though she said that she was grateful for an increased police presence and barricades, she said that didn’t stop pro-abortion protesters from attempting to disrupt the walk again this year. 

As the pro-life advocates walked the route, they chanted prayers, sang hymns, and some played drums while protestors attempted to drown them out by clanging barriers and shouting expletives.

The New York Police Department arrested at least eight pro-abortion protestors during the event, one social media user who was at the event told CNA. 

New York City police had to make several arrests of pro-abortion protestors during the event because of attempts to disrupt the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
New York City police had to make several arrests of pro-abortion protestors during the event because of attempts to disrupt the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Catherine Donohoe, president of the Pregnancy Service Network and one of the speakers at the rally, told CNA that she estimated there were about 120 pro-abortion protestors.

She said the walk was a good way to begin Holy Week and to join in Christ’s passion. 

“People screamed obscenities at him and cursed him and spit at him. And that’s what was happening; we were being spat at and cursed out,” Donohoe said. “But God always told us, and St. Paul reiterated, that being a witness to Christ is never going to be easy. We’re not asking you to have an easy life. We’re asking you to be obedient, and that’s what we were doing. We were being obedient to God’s call to protect the voiceless.”

Despite all the hardships, it was a “wonderful day,” Donohue said.

“We were soaked, I was drenched,” she said, “but this was nothing compared to what Christ endured.”

New York Police Department officers escort pro-lifers in the International Gift of Life Walk as pro-abortion protestors heckle and attempt to disrupt the event in lower Manhattan on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
New York Police Department officers escort pro-lifers in the International Gift of Life Walk as pro-abortion protestors heckle and attempt to disrupt the event in lower Manhattan on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy in New York.

Donohoe, whose pregnancy network helps 5,000 women and children per year, said that events such as the walk are important to let people know that there are other options and resources besides abortion. 

“The politicians are so against us,” she said, “but it’s important for people to know that there are people out there that can help you.”

Phil McManus, another pro-life New Yorker who took part in the walk, told CNA that it was an “amazing thing to see such dedication” among the pro-lifers.  

“There’s no doubt that there is a spiritual war, which turns into a physical war,” he said. “You could see the power of God and you could also see the power of Satan on the other side.”

Hundreds of pro-lifers joined the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, despite heavy rain and protestors on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Hundreds of pro-lifers joined the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, despite heavy rain and protestors on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

As pro-abortion as the laws already are in New York, McManus said he believes it will only continue getting worse unless pro-lifers and people of faith “step up.”

“I believe they’re expanding the death culture to sick people, elderly, people that are marginal and are not able to protect themselves. It’s spreading and we have to do everything we can to say ‘Enough is enough.’”

“We could preach to the choir but what we need to do is to preach to Main Street. We need to get out there,” he said. “That’s what this walk is all about.”

A Franciscan Friar of the Renewal marches alongside the pro-lifers at the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
A Franciscan Friar of the Renewal marches alongside the pro-lifers at the International Gift of Life Walk in lower Manhattan, New York City, on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

For many Catholic attendees, the event began with Mass celebrated by Father Lawrence Schroedel of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal at St. Peter’s Parish by One World Trade Center. 

Bishop Joseph Coffey, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, also joined this year’s walk and spoke at the rally.

In a statement obtained by CNA, Coffey said that “it is imperative that all New Yorkers of goodwill stand up and demand the recognition that, from the moment of conception, all preborn children are persons. As persons they are fully invested with all rights of the equal protection under the laws of this state and this great nation.” 

Father Lawrence Schroedel of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal celebrates Mass before the International Gift of Life Walk at St. Peter’s Parish in New York City, on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Father Lawrence Schroedel of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal celebrates Mass before the International Gift of Life Walk at St. Peter’s Parish in New York City, on March 23, 2024. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno

Reflecting on his experience at the walk, Bruno shared a statement on X in which he said: “It’s easy to imagine what it’s like... But to be present, to hear the jeers and taunts directed at you, to be soaked to the skin from the torrents of rain as if they were the tears of heaven, to need police in riot gear walk beside you to ensure your safety, that’s quite a different thing.”

“But to be present,” he went on, “is to stand beside those who join in solidarity and faith, it’s to be the voice of the defenseless in the public square, and it’s to live the call to proclaim the truth without compromise. It’s the modern road to Calvary paved with selfless sacrifice and suffering, and while the road to Calvary is long and agonizing it ultimately leads to what we stand for, what we pray for, what we seek: life.”

Thousands of young people gather in Rome to delve deeper into meaning of Holy Week

Saint Josemaría Escrivá inspired and promoted UNIV, an international meeting of young university students seeking to deepen their faith. Since 1968, thousands of students travel to Rome every Holy Week for this purpose. / Crédit: Ágatha Depiné / Unsplash

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 25, 2024 / 16:30 pm (CNA).

St. Josemaría Escrivá inspired and promoted UNIV, an international meeting of young university students seeking to deepen their faith.

English bishop-elect whose installation was canceled returns to ministry

Plymouth Bishop-elect Christopher Whitehead's planned installation was cancelled in February. / Credit: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk|Flickr|CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED

CNA Staff, Mar 25, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

“The diocese communicates that Canon Whitehead has resumed his duties as parish priest of St. John the Evangelist in Bath,” a Clifton Diocese statement said. 

U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference urges Holy Week prayers for end to Israel-Hamas war 

A Palestinian family walks past buildings destroyed in previous Israeli strikes in Gaza City on March 25, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. / Credit: AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 25, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is asking the American faithful to pray for an end to the Israel-Hamas war during Holy Week.

“Thousands of innocent people have died in this conflict, and thousands more have been displaced and face tremendous suffering. This must stop,” the bishops said in a statement on Saturday, March 23 — the day before Palm Sunday, which begins Holy Week.

“As the Church enters Holy Week and Christ’s suffering on the cross and his resurrection are made present to us so vividly, we are connected to the very source of hope,” they said. “It is that hope that spurs us to call on Catholics here in the United States and all those of goodwill to renew their prayers for an end to the raging Israel-Hamas war.”

The ongoing war has claimed more than 30,000 Palestinian lives, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, and more than 1,200 Israeli lives, according to Israeli officials. 

The conflict began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants launched an attack across Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip killing more than 1,200 soldiers and civilians. The militants took more than 240 Israeli hostages, and 130 remain in captivity. After the attack, Israel declared war against Hamas, launching continuing air and artillery strikes. About 85% of the population in Gaza has been displaced and more than 1% of the population has reportedly been killed.

“To move forward, a cease-fire and a permanent cessation of war and violence is absolutely necessary,” the bishops said. “To move forward, those held hostage must be released and civilians must be protected. To move forward, humanitarian aid must reach those who are in such dire need.”

The bishops also quoted Pope Francis, who has been calling for a cease-fire for months: “One cannot move forward in war. We must make every effort to negotiate, to negotiate, to end the war.”

The joint statement was issued by Archbishop for the Military Services Timothy Broglio, who serves as the president of the USCCB, and Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace.

“As Christians, we are rooted in the hope of the Resurrection, and so we pray for a just and lasting peace in the Holy Land,” the statement read. 

Why isn’t the Annunciation celebrated today?

The Annunciation by Fra Angelico (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons. / null

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 25, 2024 / 13:30 pm (CNA).

Every March 25, the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is celebrated in the Catholic Church, but this year Holy Week supersedes that observance.

The Annunciation of the Lord commemorates the archangel Gabriel’s announcing to Mary that she would become the mother of the Savior. With her “yes,” or “fiat,” the Son of God became incarnated in the womb of the Virgin Mary (cf. Lk 1:26-38).

The Annunciation holds the rank of a solemnity, which means its celebration takes precedence over all the feast days and memorials for saints or blesseds. However, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explained why it cannot be celebrated on March 25 this year.

“Since March 25 is Monday of Holy Week this year, the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is moved to Monday, April 8,” the liturgical calendar for American dioceses states.

Holy Week (this year March 24–30) commemorates the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord as well as the institution of the Eucharist, events that infinitely surpass any other solemnity or feast day of any saint or blessed.

In addition, after Holy Week comes the Easter Octave, during which the Church continues to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Easter is “the ‘Feast of feasts,’ the ‘Solemnity of solemnities’” (No. 1169).

The Easter Octave, which begins on Easter Sunday and concludes with Divine Mercy Sunday, runs from March 31 to April 7 this year.

Thus for 2024, the solemnity of the Annunciation has been moved to April 8, two weeks after March 25, so it can be celebrated with the recognition it deserves, this great mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God, which prepares us for Christmas.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Norway bishops: Proposal to expand abortion abandons ‘Christian and humanistic heritage’

Ultrasound of baby at 12 weeks / arhendrix/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 25, 2024 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Current Norway law allows elective abortions through the 12th week of pregnancy but only in limited cases afterward.

New film ‘Jesus Thirsts’ shows transformative power of the Eucharist

Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist will be shown in theaters June 4, 5, and 6, 2024. / Credit: Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist

CNA Staff, Mar 25, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

A new film focusing on the transformative power of the Eucharist will be hitting the big screen this June.

Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist” will take viewers on a journey to rediscover and revive the importance of the Eucharist through dialogue with notable Catholic figures by exploring the biblical origins of the Eucharist and sharing personal stories from those whose lives have been impacted by the Blessed Sacrament. 

The film will be shown in theaters nationwide June 4, 5, and 6 through Fathom Events. Each date will consist of two showings, a 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. showing in each given time zone. 

Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist will be shown in theaters June 4-6. Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist
Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist will be shown in theaters June 4-6. Jesus Thirsts: The Miracle of the Eucharist

Several well-known Catholics make an appearance in the film including Father Donald Calloway, Scott Hahn, Jim Wahlberg, Curtis Martin, Chris Stefanick, Father Robert Spitzer, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, and Tim Gray, among others. 

Deacon Steve Greco is the executive producer of the film. He spoke with CNA about the inspiration behind the film and what he hopes viewers will take away from it.

Greco explained that amid the ongoing Eucharistic Revival in the U.S., he felt it was “very critical that we have a movie focusing on the real presence of Jesus with top Catholic theologians and leaders across the country and across the world.”

“The movie is going to change people’s lives because the most important thing for us right now is to understand how much God loves us,” he said. “And what the movie talks about is that Jesus is the personification of love through the Mass and through the Eucharist.”

“I believe the Holy Spirit has guided us in making this movie.”

He added that the film has a special focus on young adults due so many leaving the Church and their lack of belief. 

“Hopefully, and we believe, they will realize that this is real. This isn’t just a symbol. This isn’t just a tradition. This is real. This is Jesus,” Greco emphasized. 

Another important demographic highlighted in the movie is the Hispanic population. Greco pointed out the fact that the Catholic Hispanic population is one of the fastest-growing populations in the Church and “is on fire in many places.”

Oscar Delgado, a former NBC journalist turned film producer, who is also bilingual, speaks in Spanish in the film about an adoration chapel he helped build in Chicago, which is home to the largest monstrance in the world.

Greco added that they partnered with the Knights of Columbus to add an 13-minute adjunctive film, produced by the Knights of Columbus, titled “Our Lady of Guadalupe: Woman of the Eucharist.” 

The short film will air after “Jesus Thirsts” and explores the centrality of the Eucharist in that famous Marian apparition.

Greco shared that he has three hopes for what people will take away from watching this movie: that people know how much they are loved by Jesus, that they go to Mass more frequently, and that more people will feel called to go to adoration and, because of this, that there will be an increase in religious vocations.

“To have Eucharistic adoration changes you,” Greco said. “We know for a fact that many vocations come from Eucharistic adoration.”

He added: “So we hope there’s an uptick, if not a dramatic uptick, in religious vocations that come out of this film. We hope that the attendance at church, the attendance at adoration, the prayer life is transformed and that people, again, are transformed by the love of Jesus.”

“We really believe that every priest, every deacon, every bishop, every Catholic needs to see this.”

Legislative update: The 5 states taking up private school choice bills in 2024

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey held a news conference to sign school choice legislation on March 7, 2024, in Montgomery, Alabama. / Credit: Governor’s Office /Hal Yeager

CNA Staff, Mar 25, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

The school choice debate continues to resonate across the nation following a record year in 2023, when 20 states expanded school choice programs, with 11 states enacting “universal” school choice by allowing all students to use state tuition assistance to attend nonpublic schools.

More than 13.7% of Catholic school students nationwide use school choice program funding to help with tuition, according to the latest data from the National Catholic Education Association. In Ohio, Florida, Indiana, and Arizona, more than half of students attending Catholic schools receive tuition aid from school choice programs.

Popular programs include publicly funded “education savings accounts” (ESAs) as well as tax credit scholarships, which allow taxpayers to receive tax credits when they donate to private school scholarship programs. 

In addition, private school vouchers draw from public funding set aside for the particular child’s education. Charter schools and open-enrollment public schools also enable parents to pick the school they think is best for their child. 

For all families: Alabama

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on March 7 signed school choice legislation to create publicly funded ESAs for families.

“Alabama is only the 14th state in the nation to provide families with an education savings account option,” Ivey said in a statement

The Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act of 2024 sets aside up to $7,000 of funding per family per year for school tuition. Set to begin on Jan. 1, 2025, the program will use up to $100 million annually.  

Parents can put these funds toward school-related expenses including textbooks, educational software, and even tutoring. It can also go toward nonpublic online organizations and education services for students with disabilities. 

These ESAs will be available to “the parent of an eligible student whose family had an adjusted gross income not exceeding 300% of the federal poverty level for the preceding tax year,” the bill read.

Like many school choice programs, Alabama’s ESAs will gradually become available for all families in 2027. 

“Our plan will not only work for Alabama families — it will work for the state and will be effective and sustainable for generations to come,” Ivey said. 

A narrow vote: Idaho

The turbulent school choice debate in Idaho continues as another school choice bill was shot down earlier this month.

The school choice billHouse Bill 447, would have created a $50 million tax credit and grant program to subsidize private school tuition, but the House Revenue and Taxation Committee narrowly rejected it. 

The bill, which failed by a narrow 9-8 vote on March 12, follows several attempts to develop school choice in Idaho through bills including varied programs of tax credits, ESAs, or school vouchers.

HB 447 would have granted up to $5,000 per family to use for educational expenses, including private school tuition, while families with a child with a learning disability could claim an extra $2,500. The funds would have been on a first-come first-served basis, with a cap of $50 million total in government spending. 

A proposed amendment: Kentucky

Kentucky on March 15 approved a proposed constitutional amendment on school choice to appear on the ballot in November. This amendment would open up the possibility of school choice in Kentucky schools.

Because of the 1891 “Blaine Amendment” that prevents public education funds from going toward nonpublic schools, Kentucky is currently unable to institute public charter schools. 

But the amendment would remove “legal barriers to Kentucky families having the same kind of educational opportunities available in most other states,” a press release from school choice advocates stated. 

The school choice amendment would change the state constitution to allow Kentucky “to provide financial support for the education of students outside the system of common schools,” the proposed amendment reads.

According to Jim Waters, president of the Bluegrass Institute, the amendment “would not determine Kentucky’s specific school-choice policy; rather, it simply clarifies that nothing in the Constitution prevents lawmakers from creating and funding such policies.” 

Debating legislation: Wyoming 

Wyoming passed school choice legislation March 8 that would allow families to use state education savings account programs to fund tuition for a nonpublic school of their choosing.

The bill allows funding to go toward private, charter, and some home-based education. The ESAs can be used for tuition, fees, or even school supplies. 

The program depends on a sliding scale, offering between $600 to $6,000 per student per year depending on the families’ income, ranging from 150% of the federal poverty level to 500%. 

The Wyoming Education Association is currently suing the state, alleging that it is not providing K-12 with enough funding, and will go to trial in June.

The governor has 15 days to sign or veto the bill. 

Nearly there: Georgia 

A school choice bill in Georgia that would offer ESAs for private school tuition passed narrowly in the House. The bill still has to pass the Senate and be signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, who has expressed support for the program.

The bill would allow parents whose children are in the bottom quarter of public schools in terms of test scores to send their children to private schools or to teach them at home. The bill would grant them $6,500 in funding. 

Children who already attend nonpublic schools would have to spend a year in public school to qualify for the voucher, whereas new kindergarteners would qualify for it immediately. 

The bill also includes measures codifying teacher pay raises and increasing funding for pre-Ks as well as testing requirements for voucher students.

The proposed program would be capped at about $140 million, which would accommodate more than 21,000 students.

Young people are the living hope of a missionary church, pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Young people need to understand how much Christ loves them unconditionally and how much the church needs their voices and presence, Pope Francis said.

"Dear young people, you are the living hope of a Church on the move! For this reason, I thank you for your presence and for your contribution to the life of the Body of Christ," the pope told the world's young people in a written message.

The pope's message was released by the Vatican March 25 to mark the fifth anniversary of his apostolic exhortation "Christus Vivit" ("Christ is Alive"), published in 2019 and reflecting on the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment.

Pope Francis said he wanted to reach out again to young people with a message that could be "a source of renewed hope for you."

Christ is alive, he said in his message, and "his love for you is unaffected by your failings or your mistakes. He gave his life for you, so in his love for you he does not wait for you to be perfect."

"Walk with him as with a friend, welcome him into your life and let him share all the joys and hopes, the problems and struggles of this time in your lives," the pope wrote. "You will see that the path ahead will become clearer and that your difficulties will be much less burdensome, because he will be carrying them with you."

Pope Francis at World Youth Day 2023
Pope Francis, accompanied by an international group of World Youth Day pilgrims, waves to the crowd before beginning the WYD prayer vigil at Tejo Park in Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 5, 2023. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

"In today's world, marked by so many conflicts and so much suffering, I suspect that many of you feel disheartened. So together with you, I would like to set out from the proclamation that is the basis of our hope and that of all humanity: 'Christ is alive!'" he wrote, and "he loves you with an infinite love."

"How greatly I want this proclamation to reach every one of you, for you to accept it as living and true in your own lives, and feel the desire to share it with your friends!" the pope wrote.

Pope Francis noted that April 14 will mark the 40th anniversary of the first great gathering of young people that, during St. John Paul II's Holy Year of the Redemption, "was the seed of the future World Youth Days."

Pope Francis recalled his first World Youth Day as pope in Rio de Janeiro in 2013, and how "I urged you to make your voices heard! 'Hagan lio!' Make a mess!"

"Today, once again, I ask you: make your voices heard! Proclaim, not so much in words but by your life and your heart, the truth that Christ is alive! And in this way, help the whole Church to get up and set out ever anew to bring his message to the entire world," he wrote.

He encouraged young people to never "leave us without your good way of 'making a mess,' your drive, like that of a clean and well-tuned engine, and your own particular way of living and proclaiming the joy of the risen Jesus!"

 

Five suggestions from Mother Angelica for Holy Week

Mother Angelica. / Credit: Eternal Word Television Network

ACI Prensa Staff, Mar 24, 2024 / 14:00 pm (CNA).

Mother Angelica, foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), CNA’s parent company, once offered helpful advice for Holy Week.

In a program broadcast in March 1994 before Easter, Mother Angelica offered five ways to be well prepared when the Easter Triduum begins. Her Holy Week recommendations continue to be wise and practical to this day:

1. Repent and change your life.

At the beginning of her reflections, Mother Angelica mentioned Marian apparitions and said that they all have in common the call to “repentance, a metanoia, a change of life.”

When the Virgin’s message is followed, the person must make you “a better Catholic, a better Christian, it must make you a better individual, make you more loving, more kind, more forgiving. It has to make you appreciate Jesus more and appreciate our Mother, your family more.”

“It has to make you more loving in your family and more compassionate. We are Christians!” she emphasized.

She then referred to the Bible and said: “This book is to be lived, not just read.”

Speaking about the mercy of God and the passage about the woman caught in adultery, the foundress of EWTN pointed out that Jesus told her: “Go and sin no more. There is a condition for her to be forgiven,” she explained.

2. Remember that hell exists.

“You say well, there’s a lot of theologians who say there’s no hell. When you’re down there with this theologian, you’re gonna look at him and say, ‘You got me in here.’ Is that going to do you any good? Don’t pay attention to that rot. Better to be in heaven and look down and say ‘I told you there was one, you wouldn’t listen,’” she added.

Mother Angelica then said that the Virgin Mary does not want her children to go to hell but rather that they be saved from it.

“Our Mother is trying to tell us: ‘You cannot defy God forever, you cannot murder children forever [through abortion], you cannot teach great apostasies and lies forever, you cannot ruin your children forever. God sees you going toward that precipice, which is eternal, and he’ll grab us.’”

3. Forgive your enemy.

Mother Angelica explained that people’s great wounds originate “when we can’t forgive.”

“Next week [Holy Week] is the week in which we must forgive. None of us went through what Jesus went through, yet he forgave. Can you imagine that? On Good Friday you go to church and imagine our dear Lord hanging like that for so long.”

This week, she said, “I would like you, before Good Friday, to call your favorite enemy, that is, the one you hate the most, the one you talk about the most and to whom you wish terrible things to happen. Call him and tell him: ‘I forgive you.’ And if the answer is ‘don’t bother me,’ which is something he might say, you don’t need to worry because you’ve already forgiven him.”

4. Pray the rosary every day.

Mother Angelica further emphasized the need to pray the rosary daily, since “there is nothing more powerful than prayer.”

Responding to a woman who called the program asking for prayers and advice to deal with a family problem, Mother Angelica recalled that “our dear Lord said ‘don’t let the sun go down on your anger’ ... What you need to know and what I want to tell you is this: You and your sister pray the rosary every day and be at peace.”

“All my life I have thought that when a person dies, there is that space of less than a second between the judgment and the moment when there are no more chances, when everything is established forever. I believe that that moment of time is the one in which through prayers a person can see Jesus for an instant. I think that vision might make them say, ‘Oh God, forgive me!’ It’s all they need to be saved.”

“So, don’t get discouraged by looking for results. Pray with confidence. I can tell you that if you trust in the Lord, he never, but never, fails. He is like that,” she explained. “God will answer your prayers as he answered [St.] Monica’s for [St.] Augustine,” she added.

5. Learn to listen to other people’s problems.

At one point in the program, Mother Angelica heard from a man who suffers from depression and who commented that he didn’t feel like doing anything.

“Many people suffer from depression. Sometimes it’s physical, I know, but sometimes it happens that we think too much about ourselves, about the future,” she said.

“Sometimes those who suffer from depression don’t pray, they say they can’t, but you have to make yourself do it by saying, ‘Jesus, I love you, help me. I don’t want to feel like that.’ And then do something, go to a nursing home. ‘How depressing!’ No, it’s not.”

Mother Angelica then proposed doing something concrete, not only for those who suffer from depression: “You need to feel the love and gratitude of other people and in this way we get out of ourselves, out of our heads.”

“Remember, someone needs you somewhere. Someone needs your prayer, your smile, your attention,” she said.

“There are people in nursing homes who have nine or 10 children and none of them visit them. Why don’t you go? Why don’t you look around and see your neighbor? Why don’t you look him up and listen to his problems for a while? Suddenly you end up saying: ‘And I thought I had a problem.’”

“You have to do something: You have to pray, you have to trust and then do something to get out of yourself and get out of depression that way. And ask others to pray for you,” Mother Angelica recommended.

To conclude, the foundress of EWTN as well as the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Alabama wished everyone “a blessed, grace-filled, and prayerful Holy Week: Forgive your worst enemy, love your family, and have a very blessed Easter. God bless you.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.