News from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

A note from Rome via the UISG JPIC e-news bulletin:
Kivu-Ituri of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has experienced a devastating massacre of human life.  There is a petition (available here) to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and the UN High Commission for Human Rights.

Reflections on the Apostolic Exhortation

Click here to read several reflections on Amoris Laetitia ("The Joy of Love"), the Apostolic Exhortation on love in the family.  Remember that the text of the entire document is available here.

Amoris Laetitia

The brand new Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia ("The Joy of Love") will be released at a Vatican press conference on Friday, April 8 at 11:30 am (that's 5:30 am EDT).  Live streaming of the press conference is available here.  As you may recall, the document is a result of the two-year process of the Synod on the Family.  Thus, the document is appropriately subtitled, "On Love in the Family."  The text of the document will be available here once it is released.  (It is being released to journalists at 8:00 am and to the public at noon.)

SOLD

SOLD is a narrative, feature film adaptation of the globally acclaimed novel by Patricia McCormick.  Based on true stories, SOLD illustrates the brutality of child trafficking, which affects millions of children around the globe every year.  Click here to visit the SOLD website for more information on the film, screening dates and times, and to request a screening in your area.

Re-evaluating just war theory

The Vatican will host a conference next week to re-examine the Church's teachings on the just war theory.  Click here to read more about the conference, which will be co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice and Pax Christi International.  Pray for those involved in this April 11-13 conference as they reconsider this centuries-old theory.

Outrageous Women and Their God

From the Felician University (Lodi, NJ) website:

Felician University’s ninth annual Pope John Paul II Lecture titled, “Outrageous Women and Their God,” will feature keynote speaker Sister Mary Beth Lloyd, M.P.F. The event will be held on Thursday, April 7, 2016 at 7 p.m. in the second floor lecture hall in Albin Obal Hall on the College’s Lodi campus, 262 South Main Street. Sister Mary Beth's talk will connect the work of the foundresses of both the Religious Teachers Filippini, (St. Lucy Filippini) and the Felician Sisters (Blessed Mary Angela) through their concerns for women and children. Sister will speak about the work being done in the developing world with women and children as well as right here in New Jersey through John Corr Family Resources. Sister has created a number of videos as part of her  work and she will incorporate a few clips from those videos into her presentation. 

A Living Work of Mercy

In his remarks at the Divine Mercy prayer vigil on Saturday evening, Pope Francis suggested the following:

It would be lovely, as a reminder, let's say, a "monument" of this Year of Mercy, if in every diocese there were a structural work of mercy: a hospital, a home for the elderly, or for abandoned children, a school where there was none, a home for recovering addicts... So many things are possible. It would be lovely if every diocese were to think: What can I leave as a living reminder, as a living work of mercy, as a wound of the living Jesus for this Year of Mercy?