Young Nun Wows Judges on Italy's 'The Voice'

Rome, Italy, Mar 20, 2014 / 01:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Sr. Cristina Scuccia is a 25 year old member of the Ursuline Sisters of the Holy Family who has appeared on "The Voice of Italy," a reality show akin to "American Idol" or "Britain’s Got Talent."

Sr. Cristina surprised the four judges on The Voice of Italy March 19 with both her talent and her habit.

The judges on the show begin with their backs turned to the performer, and turn around only if they like what they hear.

As the judges turned to face Sr. Cristina, their astonishment was visible at seeing a young nun singing Alicia Keys’ “No One.”

A native of Sicily, Sr. Cristina arrived at the show accompanied by four sisters from her community, as well as her parents.

The four judges of the popular TV program are the Italian singers Raffaella Carra, J-Ax, Noemi, and Piero Pelu.

After her performance, Carra asked Sr. Cristina if she is really a nun, and why she chose to compete on the show.

“Yes, I am truly, truly a sister,” she replied.

 

“I came here because I have a gift and I want to share that gift. I am here to evangelize.”

According to the show’s format, when a participant receives the approval of the judges, they then choose which judge’s team to join.

Sr. Cristina chose J-Ax “because I told myself that if they turned around, I would choose the first one.”

J-Ax, who was visibly moved when he saw Sr. Cristina, said he was thrilled to have been chosen by the most popular participant on the show.

Sr. Cristina is trending on Twitter with “#suorcristina.”

Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, used the hashtag in a tweet Thursday, commending her for sharing her talent with the Italian people: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others (1 Peter 4:10)”.

Vocations to Religious Life are Surging in England and Wales; Here's Why

Vocations to religious life in England and Wales have tripled in just eight years. Here are four reasons why

A Sister makes her final profession (Photo: Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk)

From The Catholic Herald (UK)
By Mark Greaves

The number of people entering religious life has tripled over the last eight years, according to revised figures from the National Office for Vocation. Last year 64 people joined religious orders, compared to just 19 in 2004. It seems like the long decline in vocations has been reversed.

In much of Europe, the decline continues. In France, for instance, the total number of novices fell by a third from 2004 to 2011 (from 311 to 204). So what’s the secret – what is Britain doing differently?

1. Pope Benedict XVI’s visit 
 
Vocations officials say they owe a lot to Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain in 2010. Sister Cathy Jones, religious life promoter of the National Office for Vocation, says it strengthened people’s faith and pride at being Catholic. “People who had been discerning a good number of years thought, ‘I’ll give this a go’,” she says.

2. A culture of vocation

Fr Christopher Jamison, director of the National Office for Vocation, says that, in the early 2000s, “lots of different people woke up to the same idea” – that is, that everyone had a vocation, whether that’s to be a priest, a religious, a single or married person. “Vocation” simply means to live out the baptismal call to holiness. A “culture of vocation” is what Catholic culture ideally should be.

This is the idea that vocations ministry is built on. And it leads directly to numbers three and four…

3. Discernment groups
 
Discernment groups have sprung up all over the country. These help people decide what their particular path to holiness will be. They come in various forms, from the national Invocation festival to the Compass programme, run by religious orders, to local Samuel groups. Many religious orders also run their own “come and see” weekends, where interested people can get a taste of religious life.

Fr Stephen Langridge, vocations director at Southwark, says: “It’s not about trying to recruit people – it’s about making people better disciples.”

The Church used to act like a recruitment agency, with adverts on posters and beer mats. That seems to be a thing of the past.

4. Vocations directors
 
Vocations ministry has expanded enormously in recent years. Fr Langridge says that when he was thinking about becoming a priest years ago he saw his vocations director just once. Now, he says, “I wouldn’t let someone apply if I haven’t spent 100 hours with them”.

Fr Jamison says religious orders used to have the idea that they should only pray for vocations. “If you did more than that it showed a lack of faith in God,” he says. Now, he explains, a “significant number” of religious orders have full-time vocations directors. That means they can engage much more with people who are interested in religious life. 

Traditional Catholicism Is Winning

There were 467 new priestly ordinations in the U.S. last year, and Boston's seminary had to turn away applicants.

In his Holy Thursday homily at St. Peter's Basilica on April 5, Pope Benedict XVI denounced calls from some Catholics for optional celibacy among priests and for women's ordination. The pope said that "true renewal" comes only through the "joy of faith" and "radicalism of obedience." 

And renewal is coming. After the 2002 scandal about sexual abuse by clergy, progressive Catholics were predicting the end of the celibate male priesthood in books like "Full Pews and Empty Altars" and "The Death of Priesthood." Yet today the number of priestly ordinations is steadily increasing.

A new seminary is to be built near Charlotte, N.C., and the archdiocese of Washington, D.C., has expanded its facilities to accommodate the surge in priestly candidates. Boston's Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley recently told the National Catholic Register that when he arrived in 2003 to lead that archdiocese he was advised to close the seminary. Now there are 70 men in Boston studying to be priests, and the seminary has had to turn away candidates for lack of space.

Read more at The Wall Street Journal >>

Trappist Monks and Nuns Revive Interest in Monastic Vocations Online

From Catholic Online

By Alison Roncin

For more than nine centuries, Trappist monks and nuns have witnessed to the gospel of Jesus Christ through a cloistered, communal life wholly ordered to contemplation. Cistercians of the Strict Observance, also known as "Trappists" are an order of the Roman Catholic Church who founded their first monastery in the U.S. in 1848.

Cistercian presence in the U.S. has since expanded to include 17 monasteries across the nation. Yet recently, monastic membership has drastically decreased-50 percent since the 1940s-leading those 17 communities to explore more modernized means of fostering new membership.

League MVP Quits to Become a Priest

Grant Desme discusses decision to become priest

From The San Francisco Chronicle
By Susan Slusser

Outfielder Grant Desme just told reporters on a conference call that he truly felt called to the priesthood and that he will enter a Catholic seminary, St. Michael's Abbey in Orange County, in August.

Desme, the Arizona Fall League MVP, said he has been considering becoming a priest for a year and a half, but he had decided to play last season as almost a test of sorts. His sensational season of Class-A ball, and his fine Fall League, convinced him all the more that he must follow his calling to the church.

"I'm doing well in baseball," he said. "But I had to get down to the bottom of things, to what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. Baseball is a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more. It took awhile to trust that and open up to it and aim full steam toward him.

Read the rest of this entry >>