Free Republic

Path to possible sainthoodSisters of Charity encourage devotion to Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich as her feast day approaches May 8CONVENT STATION, NJ - Almost on a daily basis, Sister of Charity of St. Elizabeth Mary Canavan receives phone calls for a variety of requests from people around the world asking for prayers through the intercession of Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich.“The calls can average about 10 to 15 a week, some weeks more than others depending on the moment,” said Sister Mary. “At the time of her upcoming beatification (in 2014), we were at the height of those seeking her intercession.”...

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has approved the attribution a miraculous healing to the intercession of a young American nun, opening the way to her beatification. Born and raised in New Jersey, Miriam Teresa Demjanovich (1901-1927) entered the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth in 1926 and died one year later, taking her religious vows one month before her death.The miracle that opens the way for the beatification of Miriam Teresa Demjanovich involves the restoration of perfect vision to a boy who had gone legally blind because of macular degeneration. Silvia Correale, the postulator for Sr Teresa’s cause in Rome, said...

A nun has been implicated by prosecutors in a troubling case of election fraud, according to local news reports. It's been alleged by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters that Sister Marge Kloos of the Sisters of Charity mailed in an absentee ballot of Sister Rose Marie Hewitt who had reportedly passed away on October 4th of last year. Deters sent a letter to the Board of Elections that said: Re: Deceased Voter Rose Marie Hewitt. Please be advised that sufficient information has been developed with respect to the above mentioned matter to determine that there is probable cause to believe...

Dr. Eileen Clifford, left, with her patient Mary Ferraro at the St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson. Eileen M. Clifford was twice denied admission to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey -- so she started medical school in Mexico.  Now at 67, she is director of care management for St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson and Wayne, and an internist in private practice in Fair Lawn. Clifford, who lives in Clifton, is also a Sister of Charity who started her career wearing a habit and performing nursing duties at St. Joseph's Hospital.   Much has...

Codey to push stem cells in State of State Acting governor seeking $500 million investment Tuesday, January 04, 2005 Acting Gov. Richard Codey plans to propose investing $500 million in stem cell research as a key component of the State of the State speech he will deliver next week, according to two administration officials and a state lawmaker.Codey, who has long championed stem cell research, believes the move is necessary for New Jersey to stay competitive with California, which approved a $3 billion bond issue for stem cell research last fall.The money would help fund the Stem Cell Institute of...

...In seven states in India, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] and its allies have introduced over the past few years a number of laws that punish “proselytism.” Ivan Dias, the archbishop of Bombay...asserted that “conversion from one religious belief to another is a strictly personal matter between God and the individual concerned.” Conversions “induced by force, fraud or allurement,” the cardinal continued, are not part of the Church’s mission. Those who attack the Church must provide proof for their accusations, but they have not been able to do so... “Christians in India number only 2.3% of the total population: of...

HYDERABAD, India, JULY 3, 2006 (Zenit.org).- An Indian episcopate official said that allegations against four Missionaries of Charity regarding forced conversions "are utterly baseless and unjust." On June 25 a crowd of Hindus set upon the four nuns in a hospital and had them arrested on charges of proselytism and conversion of the sick. The nuns were attacked as they went about their weekly visit in a hospital in the city of Tirupati, a Hindu pilgrimage site in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, the AsiaNews agency reported Friday. The four women religious were in the government hospital of Ruia,...

On an oddly shaped lot at the intersection of Westminster Place and Passaic Street in Garfield, the steel frame of the Rev. Calvin McKinney's new church rises to meet the clear, February sky. McKinney has dreamed of building this church for 33 years, since he took over as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, where the modest stucco building belies McKinney's status as one of the most influential blackministers in New Jersey. It was a dream deferred, until Democratic Sen. Jon Corzine gave McKinney $1.8 million from his charitable foundation. The foundation, with Corzine as its only trustee, has showered charities...

<p>Anyone who doubts that news media hostility to religious-based activism is often political at its core need only review the media's treatment of three Dominican nuns sentenced last week to federal prison in Denver for damaging government property at a missile silo. For months the three were regularly applauded in the Colorado press, the subject of tributes in columns and a number of one-sided news reports. One Rocky Mountain News writer started his commentary on the nuns' impending prison stint with the following warning: "We like to think of ourselves as a just nation. So if you want to hold onto that thought, you might want to stop reading here."</p>

Letter Published Revealing Words of ChristROME, NOV. 29, 2002 (Zenit.org).- It would be hard to understand Mother Teresa of Calcutta's work without being aware of the mystical experiences she had, which were the origin of her foundation of the Missionaries of Charity, and impelled her to don a sari and go out into the streets to care for the poorest of the poor. The visions she had were revealed by the religious in a letter addressed to Archbishop Ferdinand Perier of Calcutta, through her spiritual director, Jesuit Father Celeste Van Exem. The passages of her letter, dated Dec. 3, 1947,...