Quote
“When your priorities are right, it isn’t hard to make a decision. Live your life by faith.”
| Former NFL player and coach Herm Edwards, in his keynote address at the Diocese of Sioux City’s Bishop’s Dinner for Catholic Schools Oct. 12. Edwards, now an ESPN football analyst, said that with daughters attending Catholic school, he understands the value of Catholic education. (Catholic News Service)
In the news
Poverty and the family
MANILA, Philippines – Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila said the Synod of Bishops on the family was more than a series of discussions on divorce and gay unions and that the impact of poverty on families, especially in Asia, was a major concern of participants.
The prelate told reporters at an Oct. 30 news conference that while he was in Italy he was part of a forum on families and afterward a number of contract workers from the Philippines approached him in tears. Cardinal Tagle said one worker told him, “If it weren’t for hardship I would never have left my wife and children behind.”
The Philippines is among the world’s top countries that sends workers overseas. (CNS)
Saints under 30
Selfless sacrifice
Laura Vicuna’s brave death a few months before her 13th birthday was a life-changing moment for her mother, and through it she became a model of selfless filial love.
Laura, born in 1891, was the first child of a Chilean soldier and his wife. Her father was killed when she was a toddler, and her mother moved with Laura and her sister to a town in Argentina. Laura’s mother became the mistress of a ranch owner, who would make advances toward Laura.
Laura, meanwhile, had begun attending a boarding school where she was noted for being a devout, helpful and compassionate student. Concerned about her mother, who seemed to languish under the ranch owner’s thumb, the child in 1902 offered her life in exchange for her mother’s conversion.
Laura fell ill and returned to her family at the ranch. In January 1904, she tried to flee the lustful and drunken ranch owner, who beat her badly. She died a week later, but her offering bore fruit when her mother decided to return to the church. (www.sodality.ie)
