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With the National Eucharistic Congress just eight months away, the US bishops announced that scholarships and single-day and weekend passes will be available to make it possible for more Catholics to attend the event to be held next July in Indianapolis. As many as 80,000 Catholics are expected to attend the event from July 17–21, 2024, at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts. Almost 30,000 tickets have been sold for the full five-day congress, which has just released an updated schedule of events. A complete and detailed schedule will be available in January. The congress is the climax of the bishops’ three-year National Eucharistic Revival initiative, which was launched in part because of a Pew Research poll that suggested only one-third of adult Catholics in the US believe in the Church’s teaching on the Blessed Sacrament. Visit catholic news agency dot com for more information.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256033/national-eucharistic-congress-releases-schedule-offers-scholarships-and-weekend-passes
The US bishops will continue to highlight the threat of abortion as a “preeminent priority” in the introduction to a guide they’ll disseminate to Catholic voters ahead of the 2024 election. That designation, the source of debate among some bishops in recent years, was retained when the bishops voted overwhelmingly, 225-11, with seven abstentions, to approve a revised introduction to the guide, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” at their annual fall assembly Wednesday in Baltimore. The new introduction also lists euthanasia, gun violence, terrorism, the death penalty, and human trafficking as “other grave threats to life and dignity of the human person.” In a press conference after the vote, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, vice president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that while many issues are important, “not all issues are equal.” “We are called to stand in radical solidarity with women in difficult pregnancies and their unborn children and to provide them with the kind of support and services and public policies that they need,” he explained.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256025/us-bishops-approve-voting-guide-that-calls-abortion-preeminent-priority
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) this week called for an “immediate cessation of violence” in the Gaza Strip so that the humanitarian organization and other groups can deliver sorely needed supplies to civilians in the region. CRS does not have staff at Al-Shifa Hospital, where fighting has been taking place. But CRS is “supporting four churches in Gaza … which are serving as temporary shelter locations for thousands of people.” “There needs to be an immediate cessation of violence so that CRS and other groups can really bring in and establish a humanitarian operation for, really, the entire 2.4 million people in Gaza,” a CRS executive said this week.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/256028/catholic-relief-services-calls-for-immediate-cessation-of-violence-in-gaza-to-allow-aid
Today, the Church celebrates Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a medieval noblewoman who responded to personal tragedy by embracing Saint Francis' ideals of poverty and service. A patron of secular Franciscans, she is especially beloved to Germans, as well as the faithful of her native Hungary.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-elizabeth-of-hungary-56
The Church also celebrates Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus, who was elected bishop of Neocaesarea in present-day Turkey around 238. He was a much-sought-after arbiter for his wisdom and legal knowledge and ability. He is invoked against floods and earthquakes.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-gregory-thaumaturgus-692