By Jessica Larson
AUGUSTINE, Fla. (OSV News) – The newly unveiled sculpture of the Apostle Santiago at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine in the heart of downtown St. Augustine is a tangible link to its counterpart at the entrance of the Santiago Cathedral in Spain.

Placement of the statue came on the feast of St. James (Santiago), July 25, during an event marking the convergence of spiritual connections between cultures and continents. It included the opening ceremony of Camino de la Unidad, a network of pilgrimage routes in the Americas.

The evening commenced with a solemn procession, as the revered statue of St. James was carried from the Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish-built masonry fort dating to the late 1600s, to its new home in the cathedral basilica a few blocks away.

The statue, crafted by the skilled hands of Juan Vega, is fashioned after one found at Spain’s
Santiago Cathedral. It returned with a local Florida delegation that visited Spain in 2022 to solidify St. Augustine’s connection to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (the Way of St. James) and will reside permanently in the west courtyard of the cathedral basilica.

Jesus counted St. James among his three closest apostles, and he earned the title of Apostle of Spain for his unwavering evangelical zeal and his missionary endeavors in A.D. 40. After he was martyred in A.D. 44, his remains were laid to rest in the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela, the destination of the renowned Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain.

The newly unveiled sculpture of the Apostle Santiago in St. Augustine invites pilgrims and visitors alike to embark on a spiritual journey, embracing the values and teachings of the Camino de Santiago. Its presence in St. Augustine is a powerful symbol of harmony and continuity, bridging the spiritual connection between the Camino in Spain and its expansion to the Americas through the Camino de la Unidad.

The Camino de Santiago in Spain draws pilgrims from diverse backgrounds, and it is hoped that St. Augustine will soon become another cherished destination for spiritual seekers from around the world.

During the celebration of evening Mass July 25, Deacon Mike Elison highlighted the diverse motivations of those who undertake the Camino de Santiago. Whether mourning the loss of a loved one, seeking direction at a crossroads in life, pursuing adventure and meaningful connections or simply yearning for solitude with God, the Camino can be a transformative experience.

In his homily, Deacon Elison urged attendees to step out of their comfort zones, carrying with them only what truly matters.

The deacon shared 10 life lessons gleaned from the Camino experience, and one in particular – “Pack light and throw stuff out” – resonated deeply with Timothy Johnson, who was part of the Florida delegation that went to Spain in 2022.

Johnson, who is the Craig and Audrey Thorn distinguished professor of religion at Flagler College in St. Augustine, was among representatives of St. Augustine’s academic, cultural, historical, government and religious sectors that took the trip to solidify their membership in the Alliance of Cathedrals and strengthen the city’s connection to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

According to the St. Augustine diocesan website, the alliance “is an association formed by historic and culturally rich cathedrals from different parts of the world. Its main objective is to strengthen the importance of these cathedrals as tourist destinations and as centers of spirituality and culture, enriching the experience of visitors and promoting intercultural understanding and dialogue.”

Johnson told the St. Augustine Catholic, the diocesan magazine, he was delighted to see the project come full circle.

During the Mass, Father John Tetlow, pastor and rector of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, officially signed the proclamation joining the Alliance of Cathedrals. The alliance is dedicated to promoting faith, research, knowledge exchange and cooperation in areas such as theology, sociology, heritage conservation, cultural and religious tourism promotion, and the organization of joint events and activities.

The cathedral basilica, a founding member of the alliance, now officially becomes the anchor for the new Camino de la Unidad network of pilgrimage routes in the Americas, offering another way for people to experience the transformative power of pilgrimages.

Father Tetlow also unveiled the new stamp for the local Camino, which will serve as an official record of a pilgrim’s “Certificate of Distance.” This certificate, issued by the Chapter of the Cathedral of Santiago, certifies the number of kilometers pilgrims have traveled, provided they have covered at least 100 km (about 62 miles) on foot.

(Jessica Larson writes for the St. Augustine Catholic, magazine of the Diocese of St. Augustine.
NOTES: For more information about the Camino de la Unidad or Camino is the Way, visit https://caminoistheway.com/quienes-somos. A video of the July 25 feast day celebration can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yw2fv3fy.)

By Paulina Guzik
LISBON, Portugal (OSV News) – World Youth Day is known as an event that can and does change lives, but when a teenager said she has regained her sight during the Portuguese youth fair, it electrified both Portugal and Spain on Aug. 6.

Two and a half years ago, Jimena, a 14-year-old girl from Madrid, lost 95% of her sight due to a problem related to her myopia. Being a teenager, she was still using her cell phone, but only for audio messages. Over the course of her disease, she had begun to learn Braille to read with her hands.

Last week, she traveled to World Youth Day in Lisbon with her Opus Dei youth club, El Vado, from the popular Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas. Because of her visual impairment, she was registered as a handicapped pilgrim. On Aug. 5 – the first Saturday of the month and the day when Pope Francis prayed the rosary with sick young people in Fatima – Jimena got up like every day, with blurred vision.

After praying to Our Lady of the Snows, whose feast day it was, and after having completed the novena to Our Lady with her classmates, Jimena went to Mass. When she returned to her seat after receiving Communion, she realized she had recovered her sight.

“When I opened my eyes I saw perfectly!” she said in a WhatsApp audio message that she sent to her family and friends, that has since gone viral.

“After Communion I sat on the bench, I started crying a lot because it was the last day of the novena and I wanted to … I asked God very much (for this), and when I opened my eyes, I saw perfectly,” she said.

The healing was so instantaneous that at the end of that same Mass, Jimena got up and read the last prayer of the novena clearly and aloud, to the astonishment and joy of her friends present at the church.

The audio continues with her being surprised at seeing her “older” classmates (she had not seen them for more than two years), and then asking for a mirror to see herself, after which she admitted: “I am a little changed, too.”

Jimena asked all her friends to accompany her to thank God for that “gift,” and commented that she will call all her daughters “Nieves” – “Snow” – because Aug. 5 is her “new birthday.”

In an interview with the Spanish radio network COPE, Jimena explained that she convinced all the young people with her group at WYD to pray for her healing. “And today after Communion … I see perfectly! Well, I don’t know how to explain it,” she said.

Jimena’s mother, whose name was not revealed, was quoted by Spanish blog Camino Catolico saying that “Faith moves mountains,” and that the miracle happened precisely at noon “after (Jimena received) Communion and in front of her entire WYD group.”

“Jimena saw again,” the mother said.

“She has called us crying and with all her friends like crazy. We don’t know much else at the moment. They are going to try to see the pope to tell him. Today everything begins again, and Our Lady of the Snows is already an active part of our faith,” she was quoted as saying.

A nun friend of the family contacted Cardinal Juan José Omella of Barcelona, president of the Spanish bishops’ conference, to tell him what happened and the cardinal called the girl to hear the story directly from her. Jimena, in the words of the cardinal, “was very enthusiastic.”

Asked at a press conference in the WYD media center Aug. 6 about the case, the cardinal considered it a “grace of God,” nevertheless counseling those present to wait for medical assessments before proclaiming the event as miraculous.

“I think that there we have a piece of information that is beautiful and a girl who has recovered her sight,” the cardinal said. “Doctors will now have to assess whether or not it was incurable,” the first process in the official declaration of a miracle.

At one of the WYD sessions with young pilgrims from Spain, Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, commented: “What happened with Jimena is a sign, which is how miracles are called in the Gospel of St. John. We need the light to see God and to see everything with the eyes of God. It is a sign,” he clarified, “and a call from Our Lady to open our eyes, to grow in our faith.”

The healing appeared to happen a few hours after Pope Francis was praying in the famous Marian shrine on Aug. 5.

“We are very happy and rejoice with her, and we pray with her,” Carmo Rodeia, spokesperson of the Shrine of Fatima, told OSV News.

(Paulina Guzik is international editor for OSV News. Follow her on Twitter @Guzik_Paulina)

By Katie Yoder

(OSV News) – A podcast production by Catholic publishing company OSV (the parent company of OSV News) with a nationally-recognized religious sister is featuring “Hope Stories with Black Catholics” this summer.

“A hope story is a time in someone’s life when he or she was called to hope in a deep way,” Sister Josephine Garrett, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, told OSV News of the ongoing series. “Hope (especially hope that is deep and profound and connected to the deepest desires of our hearts) takes courage, and as we wait for what is longed for, we can experience grief, loss, joy, fear, expectancy – all sorts of feelings.”

“Hope isn’t the easiest experience to enter into,” she added, saying that “in each episode the guests share times in their life when they were brought to the thresholds of hope.”
In total, the podcast will consist of 15 episodes lasting around 30 minutes each while highlighting the stories of 17 U.S. Black Catholics from all walks of life.

“Seventeen guests because some episodes include married couples!” Sister Garrett explained, adding that the podcast also will include single Catholics, deacons, religious, priests and a bishop.

Sister Garrett, a writer, speaker and mental health counselor based in Tyler, Texas, has experience talking about hope. A relevant voice on social media, where thousands of people follow her on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, Sister Garrett became Catholic in 2005 before professing vows in 2020.

While Sister Garrett’s podcast about hope stories will cover the same topic in each episode, each story is unique because each guest is unique, she stressed.

“We discuss the guest’s faith journey, their definition of hope, their hope story that they chose to share in the episode and each guest also shares their views on the place of Black culture in the life of the church,” Sister Garrett said.

As one of the guests, Father Robert Boxie, chaplain at Howard University and priest-in-residence at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Washington, told OSV News he “absolutely enjoyed” being a part of the podcast and sharing his hope story. He was grateful to share his work as the Catholic chaplain at one of the U.S.’s preeminent historically Black institutions of higher education ministering to young Black Catholics and students at Howard.

“I believe we are bringing hope in a real way because our Catholic faith has something to offer on campuses like Howard,” he said. “And more importantly, we are encouraging and forming a generation of Black Catholic leaders with the message that their faith, their gifts, their contributions and their presence in the church matter.”

Father Boxie also shared his advice for listeners seeking hope.

“We all have a story of hope to tell and all of us have a reason for our hope, that is, Jesus Christ,” he said. “My prayer is that listeners will be inspired by the stories of Black Catholics, appreciate the unique witness that we bring to the Catholic Church and realize how it’s necessary for these stories to be told.”

Sister Garrett agreed that every person has a hope story.

“We all have stories of hope, we are all called to hope courageously in the promises of God, so I believe these episodes will resonate in some way with all people,” she said before citing Romans 5:2-5: “We boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

She said the podcast began after OSV decided to enter the podcasting space and invited her to host one that they hoped to launch.

“We knew the podcast would line up with my book that comes out in the fall and we zeroed in on highlighting Black Catholics before we zeroed in on telling stories of hope,” she said, referencing her upcoming book that will be released by OSV called “Hope: An Invitation.”

“It wasn’t a private inspiration, it was the fruit of my own prayer, my editor’s prayer and the prayer of other members of the OSV team,” she added.

If listeners take away one thing from the podcast, Sister Garrett hopes it is the realization “that every member of the body of Christ is a gift and brings something to the church that only he or she can bring.”

“While our stories are unique and our various hopes are unique, at the same time all of our stories and all of our hopes are rooted in Christ, and the hope of the resurrection won for us in Christ,” she said.

“I also want listeners to enter into the joy,” she added. “There is so much laughter and joy throughout this podcast and so I hope listeners take away the joy as well.”

Listeners can already tune in to the first several episodes of the production from OSV podcasts on a variety of platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Amazon Music, Castro, Castbox and Goodpods.

(Katie Yoder is a contributing editor for Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic newspaper based in Huntington, Ind. NOTES: A link to “Hope Stories with Black Catholics” is here: https://hopestories.osvpodcasts.com/)

Editor’s note: Ivory Phillips, parishioner of Holy Ghost Jackson, wrote a summary of his experience at the 13th National Black Catholic Congress that took place from July 20-23 in National Harbor, Maryland. To read it, visit https://bit.ly/PhillipsNBCC.
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By Gina Christian
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. (OSV News) – A Sending forth the participants of the 13th National Black Catholic Congress at their July 23 closing Mass in the Washington metropolitan area, Bishop John H. Ricard offered them an admonition that he said he learned from his days as a youth camping in the woods – “Don’t let the fire go out!”

Bishop Ricard, the superior general of the Josephites, who formerly served as the bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, was the homilist at the Mass, celebrated at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. He encouraged the congress participants to be enlivened by the flame of the Holy Spirit, and to bring that spirit of faith back to their homes, parishes, dioceses and to the African American communities in their cities and towns.

“You’ve got to poke the flame and stir it up … We can’t let the fire go out,” he said, also encouraging people to address problems like violence in their communities, the mass incarceration of people of color, and the challenge of reaching out to young adult Black Catholics raised in the faith, who no longer go to church.

An estimated 3,000 Black Catholics from 80 dioceses across the United States attended the four-day gathering, which included Masses, keynote addresses, breakout sessions for adults and youth, and a visit to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“I’m grateful to God that you are here in such great numbers, to bear witness to our church and our faith in the Lord,” Bishop Ricard, 83, said.

In his homily, Bishop Ricard praised the legacies of faith of the six U.S. Black Catholics being considered for sainthood whose portraits were depicted in large banners hanging behind the altar, noting how the Holy Spirit had reigned down on each of them.

“We’re here this weekend to reap the harvest that has been sown,” said Bishop Ricard.

Those candidates for sainthood include Venerable Henriette Delille of New Orleans, the foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family; Venerable Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange of Baltimore, the foundress of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first religious congregation of African American women; Venerable Father Augustus Tolton of Chicago, the first publicly known Black Catholic priest in the United States; Venerable Pierre Toussaint of New York, renowned for his charitable works; Servant of God Julia Greeley of Denver, known for her devout faith; and Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration and dynamic evangelist from Mississippi who died of cancer in 1990.

Sister Thea, who was known for her soaring style of singing, participated in the sixth National Black Catholic Congress, held in 1987 on the campus of The Catholic University of America in Washington. Remembering the impact of her life, Bishop Ricard said, “The Holy Spirit came upon the songbird. Didn’t she become a witness of triumph over sickness and discrimination?”

Bishop Ricard also noted the legacy of Daniel Rudd, a pioneer Black Catholic journalist from Kentucky who founded the Congress of Colored Catholics that first met at St. Augustine Church in Washington in 1889.

That group, the bishop said, “is the granddaddy of the National Black Catholic Congress,” a movement that was revived in 1987, after Rudd’s group had held five earlier national gatherings around the turn of the century.

Honoring the memory of Rudd’s effort, Bishop Ricard said, “They had the vision, they had the determination, and they had the will back then to come together, because Rudd believed that in the Catholic Church, there was the fullness of the revelation of the teaching of Jesus, and that was the answer to all of the problems that Blacks were facing.”

The main celebrant of the July 23 closing Mass was Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr., the president of the National Black Catholic Congress. He was joined by five other bishops, about 60 priests and nearly 50 deacons. Joining the laypeople in the congregation were numerous African American women and men religious.

(Mark Zimmermann is editor of the Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Washington.)