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Fr. Louis Twomey: Martin Luther King’s Jesuit Ally
On February 18, 1957, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote to Henry J. Engler, Jr., dean of Loyola University New Orleans’s business school. King had risen to prominence leading the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, a triumph against racial segregation. His face was on the cover of Time magazine, and he had just been elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Yet, as the world awaited his next move, King’s mind was on the past actions of a Jesuit priest.
“Dear Dr. Engler,” King typed, “Please copy from Father’s files some of his statements to the people involved in the last sugar-cane strike.”
By "Father,” King meant Engler’s Loyola colleague Louis J. Twomey, SJ (1905–1969), a labor priest known for his support of Black workers.
King’s note is part of a newly discovered cache of letters revealing that Twomey was his earliest ally in the Catholic clergy.
On this 95th anniversary of King’s birth, these letters shed new light on his ecumenism. They also show how King supported Twomey’s own advocacy. Twomey, a co-drafter of Jesuit Father General Pedro Arrupe’s 1967 Letter on the Interracial Apostolate, played a crucial role in motivating US Jesuits to promote civil rights.
Twomey grew up in Florida without questioning his privileged status as a white man in the segregated South. But as a young Jesuit in the 1930s, he discovered the social teachings of Leo XIII and Pius XI, as well as the work of interracialist John LaFarge, SJ, and became a fiery champion of human dignity. His passion for the social apostolate led his provincial to send him to New Orleans in 1947 to found Loyola University’s Institute of Industrial Relations.
His Holiness Pope Francis encourages Biblical Scholars to carry out their studies on Scripture while remaining in the Heart of Jesus. Watch HERE!: https://www.facebook.com/reel/399015602469...
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Holy See Receives Bishops Álvarez, Mora, 15 Priests After Nicaragua Frees Them
Bishop Rolando Álvarez, who had been detained for over a year, Bishop Isidoro del Carmen Mora Ortega, two seminarians, and 15 priests have been released.
A total of 19 representatives of the Catholic Church have been freed by the Nicaraguan government.
Government officials in Managua confirmed the news, first reported by local media. All arrived in Rome on Sunday afternoon, with the exception of one who remained in Venezuela. They are now guests of the Holy See.
Bishop Álvarez of Matagalpa and the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Estelí, was sentenced to 26 years in prison where he had been since February last year following house arrest since August 2022. Bishop Mora was arrested in December. During the Angelus at the beginning of the year, Pope Francis spoke of about the situation of bishops and priests "deprived of their freedom" in the Central American nation. He assured everyone of his "closeness in prayer" and invited God's people to pray for Nicaragua, expressing his hopes "that the path of dialogue will always be sought to overcome difficulties."
Already in October, 12 Nicaraguan priests were released from prison. The Holy See accepted the request to receive them, welcoming them to Rome and providing housing. Read the full article HERE!: https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city...
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Pope Francis: Escalation In War Frightens Me
Blessings for all, even to "irregular" couples, just as God "blesses everyone, everyone, everyone"; his "fear" of military escalation and the crime of war that has stolen the smile from children; confirmation that he has no intention of resigning, and the announcement of two trips: to Polynesia in August, and to his native Argentina by the end of the year.
These are a few of the topics addressed by Pope Francis in an interview on the Italian TV program “Che tempo che fa”, which aired on Sunday, 14 January.
The Pope responded to a question about the document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Fiducia supplicans, which opens the possibility of blessing couples in "irregular" situations, including same-s*x couples, and which has elicited various reactions.
He reaffirmed that "the Lord blesses everyone, everyone, everyone.”
“We must take these people by the hand,” said the Pope, “not condemn them from the start.”
This is "the pastoral work of the Church,” he noted, calling it an "important" task for confessors, who are called to "forgive everything."
The Pope revealed that he himself—in 54 years of priesthood—has only once denied forgiveness "due to the person's hypocrisy."
Israel has been engaged in a war against Hamas, Gaza's ruling group, since 7 October, when hundreds of Hamas operatives invaded Israel, slaughtering 1,300 people – mostly civilians - and kidnapping some 240 as hostages.
Israel began bombarding Gaza soon after, followed by a ground incursion. Despite this, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his country was not seeking to capture, occupy, or control the Gaza Strip after the war ends.
However, the cost to human life and regional stability has been devastating. As of Saturday, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza claims more than 23,300 people have been killed in the conflict.
It was these high casualty figures that prompted South Africa to declare that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinians and bring a case to the International Court of Justice.
In recent days, the spillover from Gaza has reached Yemen and the Red Sea, where Houthi rebels have conducted a series of dangerous attacks against commercial shipping. The Houthis insist their actions are in response to Israel’s war against Hamas.
Palestinian Premier Shtayyeh: 'When Palestinian Children Will See The Sea of Gaza'
“Christians represent a very important component of the Palestinian people. Their high educational level, received in your excellent schools, their strong aptitude for entrepreneurship and trade, as well as in the free professions, and their passionate belonging to the fate of our people, make them a key part of the construction and development of a finally free and independent state.”
This tribute to the Christian community begins the conversation Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh wanted to grant L”Osservatore Romano in these difficult days. Mr. Shtayyeh, 66 years old, has a background as an economist, has been the governor of the Islamic Development Bank, and Minister of Public Works. He has always been a member of Fatah and has a reputation as a skilled negotiator on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas.
Since January 2019, he has been the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine.
“Believe me,” he tells L”Osservatore Romano, “it”s not just a tribute, it’s the recognition of an important role that Christians have had in our history. For example, Christian schools have been the center of gravity for many political movements that have arisen in Palestine. Many of our past leaders were Christians. Christians have always represented a prestigious intellectual class within our people. You probably don’t know that, before 1948, for example, an important Catholic daily was published in Jaffa. In our history, there have never been differences between Muslims and Christians, also because the Israeli occupation certainly made no distinctions in persecuting both: Christians too found themselves as refugees after 1948, Christians are also stopped at checkpoints, Christians also endure abuses, Christians also risk their lives due to the arrogance of Israeli soldiers. It’s sad to admit it: we are united by a common destiny.”
The Christian community, however, is losing faithful in Palestine.
Allow me to correct you: I would not speak of the Christian community of Palestine as a distinct entity from the rest. On the contrary, mind you, Christians are the most evident proof of the historical roots of our people in this land, simply because they have inhabited it for 20 centuries. Muslims arrived later. As for your observation, yes, Christians are decreasing. And for this, I feel a responsibility, before the Christians, to the rulers of the United States and Europe who, for a misunderstood sense of solidarity, have made it easier to grant visas and residence permits to young Palestinians. Western governments should rather invest in creating a more livable situation here for young Palestinians. Economically and politically. We invest a lot in education, tolerance, inclusiveness, and pluralism in our society. Think, in terms of a pluralistic society, that we have as many as 17 parties — legal — that participate in the political life of the country.
“War itself is a crime against humanity. People need peace. The world needs peace.”
Pope Francis launched that appeal for an end to war on Sunday, as he prayed the Angelus with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.
“At the beginning of the year, we exchanged wishes for peace, but weapons have continued to kill and destroy,” he lamented.
Pope Francis urged everyone to pray for “people who have power over these conflicts,” so that they might realize that war is “not the way to resolve them”.
War, he added, “sows death among civilians and destroys cities and infrastructures.”
He asserted that war is itself a crime against humanity.
The Pope noted that he had just watched Fr. Ibrahim Faltas, the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land in Jerusalem, speaking on a program on Italian TV.
Fr. Faltas, said the Holy Father, spoke about the need to “educate for peace.”
