Bishop’s Letter On Persecuted Christians July 6, 2015 On June 30, 2015, the feast of the Christians martyred under Nero in 64 A.D., our Holy Father, Pope Francis, remarked that there are more persecuted Christians in the world today than there were in the first centuries.
On Feb. 6, the Canadian Supreme Court, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, made it legal nationwide for doctors to end the lives of terminally ill patients. No doubt this decision, taken by our close neighbors, will give added impetus to the movement in this country to legalize ending the lives of those in pain or suffering. At the present time, there are five states that allow physician-assisted suicide.
The Renaissance artist Veronese depicted the first miracle of Jesus in John’s gospel in a large scale painting designed for the refectory of the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. He deliberately transposed the biblical event from the time of Jesus to the 16th century. He turned a simple wedding banquet into a sumptuous feast.