Funeral Announcement for Father Pius

On January 29, at Mater Dei Hospital, Fr. PIJU M. Of The Child Jesus (Edwin Sammut), of the Discalced Carmelites, Cospicua, aged 72, passed away suddenly yet peacefully, comforted by the rites of Holy Church.  He is survived and mourned by his fellow Brothers and Sisters of the Maltese Semi-Province of the Discalced Carmelites, his siblings, in-laws and family members, members of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, other relatives and friends.  A concelebrated funeral Mass, praesente cadavere, will be ccelebrated at 9:30 am at St. Therese Sanctuary, Birkirkara, on Monday, February 1, followed by private internment in the vaults of St. Theresa Convent, Cospicua.  Due to the current situation, attendance will be limited and monitored according to the protocol established by the Health Authorities.  Live Cam Birkirkara - St. Therese Church will be in operation.  No flowers by request but donations to Qaddejja tac-Cenaklu, Id-Dar tal-Kleru, Fleur-de-Lys, Kirkirkara, will be greatly appreciated.  The Carmelite Community and his family would like to thank the staff at the Emergency Department and Ward M4 at Mater Dei Hospital for their prompt attention and care.  Lord, grant him eternal rest. 

(Taken from Times Malta) 

In Memory of Father Edwin "Pius" Sammut O.C.D.

Father Edwin "Pius" Sammut O.C.D. was our lead catechist who brought the Neocatechumenal Way to Guam in the mid-1990s.  He will always be remembered with love and fondness by all the brothers in Guam.  Father Pius once said to one of the brothers in the Agana Community that he is ready to go with the Heavenly Father, but doesn't know when that will be. The funeral for Father Pius will be on Monday, February 1st at 9:30 a.m. in Malta, which will be at 6:30 p.m. Guam time.  The funeral will be live streamed at the St. Therese Church in Birkirkara, Malta.  A link for the live streaming was sent to all the brothers in the communities. 

We were taught in the Way that death is not the end.  It is a reality and the beginning of eternal life.  Father Pius will always live on in our hearts, and one day we will see him again.  He is now in a better place, interceding to Christ for all of us.  We love you, Father Pius!    

Take Me to Heaven.

This was the last article that was sent to me by our beloved priest in Malta with the song entitled “Take Me to Heaven.”  He wanted me to publish this article.  You can find the article here.

-‐---------------------------------------------------------------------

Rome Newsroom, Jan 21, 2021 / 04:30 am MT (CNA).- A recently ordained Catholic priest died in hospital early Thursday morning after an explosion destroyed a parish building in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Fr. Rubén Pérez Ayala was ordained to the priesthood last June. His first assignment was at the Virgen de la Paloma parish near the Puerta de Toledo in the center of Madrid, where he was serving when an explosion destroyed much of the parish rectory and office at 3 p.m. on Jan. 20.

The young priest was taken to hospital and underwent an operation for his injuries. His brother, Pablo, also a diocesan priest, administered the anointing of the sick.

Cardinal Carlos Osoro Sierra, the archbishop of Madrid, announced the following morning that Fr. Pérez Ayala had died from his wounds overnight. He was 36 years old.

“Last night the young priest has died, Rubén Pérez Ayala, whom I ordained only seven months ago. I am grateful for his life of dedication to Christ and to his Church,” the cardinal wrote on Twitter on Jan. 21.

At least four people have now died from the explosion, according to the Archdiocese of Madrid, which released a statement citing a gas leak in the parish building as a possible cause for the blast on Calle Toledo.

Cardinal Osoro said that he was praying for the victims of the explosion and all those affected by it.

The archdiocese identified one of the deceased as 35-year-old electrician David Santos Muñoz, a parishioner and father of four, who had come to the building “to lend a hand” with the building’s boiler.

Another victim was an 85-year-old woman, according to CNN. Two pedestrians who had been walking by the building at the time of the explosion were among the victims, according to ABC News.

Madrid’s emergency services reported on Jan. 20 that at least 11 people were injured in the explosion.

The building, owned by the Parish of the Virgen de la Paloma, had two floors that made up the priests’ residence and also contained space used by the parish and Caritas.

At Fr. Rubén Pérez Ayala’s first Mass, offered at the Virgen de la Paloma parish on June 21, the priest, who was part of the Neocatechumenal Way, invited those present and watching his livestreamed homily “to look to the Lord, to trust him.”

He said: “When difficulties come, let us cry out to the Lord.”

“You will experience that the Lord is your tranquility ... May we experience the joy that the Lord is with us,” he said.

In an interview with Info Madrid shortly after his ordination, Fr. Pérez Ayala said: “Only when I realized that Christ was calling me to give my whole life without keeping anything for myself was I able to live it with joy.”

Priestly Vocations

 Vocations for the priesthood has been a problem for the universal Church.  However, the Neocatechumenal Way has been known to foster such vocations.  In Guam, we have seen 17 men ordained into the priesthood.  These men were from the communities of the Neocatechumenal Way.  The Way encourages vocations among its members whether it be an itinerant, religious, or the married life.  Below is an article of a cardinal who laments of the lack of priestly vocation in his archdiocese.  He was able to ordain only one man into the priesthood, and that man came from the Neocatechumenal Way.  You can find the article here.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cardinal laments lack of priestly vocations in Florentine archdiocese

Florence, Italy, Jan 10, 2021 / 03:01 pm MT (CNA).- The Archbishop of Florence has said no new students have entered his diocesan seminary this year, calling the low number of priestly vocations a “wound” in his episcopate.

Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, who has led the Archdiocese of Florence since 2008, said in 2009 he ordained seven men as priests for the diocese, while this year he will ordain one man, a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. In 2020 there were no ordinations.

“I consider it one of the biggest wounds of my episcopate,” Betori said in a video press conference last month. This “is a truly tragic situation.”

The 73-year-old cardinal said he believes the low number of men entering the seminary in his diocese is part of a larger vocational crisis that also includes the sacrament of marriage.

“The problem of the vocational crisis to the priesthood lies within a vocational crisis of the human person,” he stated.

The latest Statistical Yearbook of the Catholic Church, published in March 2020, indicated that the number of priests worldwide fell in 2018 to 414,065, with Europe registering the largest decrease, though Italy still has one of the higher concentrations of priests, at around one priest for every 1,500 Catholics.

Like most of Europe, Italy’s demographics have been affected by a 50-year decline in birth rate. An aging population means fewer young people, and according to national statistics, fewer young Italians than ever are choosing to marry.

According to Betori, a “provisional” culture has likely influenced young adults’ choice of a permanent state of life, such as marriage or priesthood.

“A life that wants many experiences cannot be a life that is consecrated to a finality, to a purpose. It is true for marriage, for the priesthood, for all the choices of people,” he said.