WORLD BIRDING

 

GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT is next weekend  Feb. 13-15. Last year’s global  count yielded 8,078* species of the world’s known species, that is 158 more than in 2024. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world were birding during those four days in February.

Spend time in your favorite places watching birds in as little as 15 minutes. Identify them, count them, and submit your counts which will help scientists better understand and protect birds around the world. If you already use eBird or Merlin, your submissions over the 4 days count toward GBBC.

Go to their website  (https://www.birdcount.org/participate/) for information and details.  Good birding!!!

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* There are generally considered to be over 11,000 species of birds, with major checklists like AviList recognizing around 11,131 species, though this number fluctuates as new species are described or split, and estimates vary depending on the classification system used. Some alternative definitions, looking at taxonomic variations, suggest the number could be closer to 20,000, but the most widely accepted count hovers around 11,000.

IRISH YOUTH AGAINST SUICIDE

 

Our next hopefully saint to be, is another youth, from the same part of the world as our last young man, but this time Ireland.

 DONAL WALSH  (my Irish ancestors were Walshes but came to this country in early 1800s) was an Irish cancer awareness and anti-suicide activist from Blennerville, County Kerry. Described by the Irish Independent as "a teenager who inspired a nation", Donal was diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of twelve. He became well known for his activism against teenage suicide after appearing on an interview on RTÉ's Saturday Night Show. He died in 2013 at the age of 16, with thousands paying tribute to him after his death.

The son of Fionnbar and Elma Walsh, Donal was born in County Kerry in 1996. He had a sister, Jemma. A passionate sports fan, Donal had plans to become a sports journalist. His favorite sport was rugby.

 In 2009, Donal was diagnosed with osteosarcoma after a tumor was found in his leg. He underwent chemotherapy, but it eventually spread to his lung and he became terminal. While undergoing treatment in Crumlin Children's Hospital, the youth raised over €50,000 to improve conditions in the hospital.

 Donal, a rugby fan all his life, received support from former Munster Rugby player Paul O'Connell during his battle with cancer, the pair becoming friends.

 Donal became well-known in Ireland following an interview with Brendan O'Connor on his Saturday Night Show. In this interview, Donal expressed his anger at the prevalence of teenage suicide, saying "I hear of young people committing suicide and I’m sorry but it makes me feel nothing but anger”.

 Donal died on 12 May 2013, at his home in Blennerville, surrounded by his family. In the aftermath of his death, thousands paid tribute to him on social media.  Minister of State Kathleen Lynch paid tribute to Donal, describing him as "extraordinary" and commending his articulate nature and maturity. Thousands attended his funeral, including members of the Kerry Gaelic football team and his sporting hero Ronan O'Gara.

The coroner for County Kerry, Terence Casey, noted that in the aftermath of Donal's appeals to young people, suicide rates had dropped considerably in Kerry, a county which had suffered high rates of suicide in the previous years. Youth resource website SpunOut.ie reported that in the aftermath of Donal’s death, traffic to the site of young people seeking assistance with suicidal thoughts had increased significantly.

 Donal was posthumously honored by the National Newspapers of Ireland for "outstanding contributions to public debate" in 2013. He also received the Rehab Young Person of the Year award after his death.

In October 2013, the HSE released a video appeal from Donal aimed at 15 to 19 year olds appealing against suicide. The video was distributed to schools as part of an anti-suicide campaign. On New Year's Day in 2014, a documentary on Donal's life aired on RTÉ, titled Donal Walsh - My Life.

Donal’s parents set up the Donal Walsh Live Life Foundation to honor his legacy and continue campaigning against teenage suicide. The foundation was honored by Kerry County Council in 2019, having raised almost $600,000 for charitable causes and organized visits to schools. 

In 2023, thousands gathered at Knock Shrine on the tenth anniversary of Donal's death to celebrate Donal Walsh Day.

Donal’s uncle, Fr Michael Walsh, is an Augustinian priest. Fr Walsh showed a copy of the Sunday Independent to his then prior general, Fr Robert Prevost. Fr Prevost, the would-be Pope, was so impressed with Donal’s article that he agreed to make him an honorary Augustinian. He wrote to Donal to offer him the honorary recognition. Donal accepted and was sworn in two days before he died.

Perhaps the Pope who granted Donal this honor will one day canonize him! 

CHICLAYO AGAIN

 

 

Once again the unknown (outside of Peru) city of CHICLAYO is in the news. It is not because of the Holy Father, who was bishop there from 2015 to 2023, when he was called to Rome.

Because Chiclayo, on Peru’s northern coast, is located in a typically warm region, it has been chosen to host the international solemn celebration of the 34th World Day of the Sick, which will take place there Feb. 9–11.

 In February, during the Southern Hemisphere summer, temperatures can range from 66 to 86 degrees. Both times I was there, it never got too hot for me (November/December).

Cardinal Michael Czerny explained the reasons for choosing the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Chiclayo: “We needed a place where, given the climate in February, it would be less likely that the celebration would be affected by bad weather,”

Needless to say, the Holy Father was most pleased with this choice, as the Peruvian people are dear to his heart. Cardinal Czerny will attend as the pope’s envoy and prays the World Day of the Sick observance will reflect both the spiritual dimension of care for the ill and the active participation of the entire local community.

 The Vatican prefect added that during the celebration in Chiclayo — which he said  it will be possible to perceive “the importance of the theme of compassion and care for the sick, combined with the joy that the pope comes from this region.”

The World Day of the Sick is an awareness day, or observance, in the Church intended for "prayer and sharing, of offering one's suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding everyone to see in his sick brother or sister the face of Christ". The day was instituted on 13 May 1992 by Pope St. John Paul II and is celebrated on 11 February,  the feast of Our Ladyof Lourdes.

Cardinal Michael Felix Czerny, CMG SJ is a Czech-born Canadian Catholic prelate who has served as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development since 2022. After a career spanning Canada, El Salvador, Africa, and Rome, and after founding the African Jesuit AIDS Network, he started working at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2010.

In 2016, he became the undersecretary of the migrants and refugees section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Pope Francis named Michael Czerny a cardinal in 2019 and prefect of the dicastery in 2022.

NEXT MILLENNIAL SAINT?

 

Our next saint to be, another young man to hopefully one day join the ranks with Sts. Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlos Acuti, is JOE WILSON, a young Scotsman who expressed his profound relationship with the Lord in his personal diary and whose sudden death at the age of 17 in 2011 has inspired many people around the world.

Joe was born in 1994 in the village of Carfin in Lanarkshire, Scotland (a county between Glasgow and Edinburgh).  His parents, Alan and Veronica Wilson, had raised him in the faith along with his younger sister, Angela, for whom Joe had felt a special affection. 

 Joe was known to be a humble and kind young man with a great longing for holiness. In his last year at his Catholic high school, the teacher was giving a religion class about the saints and asked the students: ‘What do you think a saint would be like today?’”

The whole class turned around and pointed to Joe, saying ‘There he is.’

 The strong faith of St. Thérèse of Lisieux  inspired Joe, who found in this saint the strength he needed to serve others, becoming an example of generosity and dedication for his family and all those around him.

A short distance from his house was Carfin Grotto, a place of pilgrimage and shrine to Our Lady of Lourdes, which Joe frequently visited to find the peace he longed for.

This enclave, known as “the Lourdes of Scotland,” witnessed the spiritual growth of the young man, whose friendship with the Lord deepened during his final years. When Joe fell into a coma due to a heart condition, hundreds of people gathered at the shrine to pray for his recovery, holding a candlelight pilgrimage.

Joe died on Dec. 20, 2011, at Wishaw General Hospital, just five days after his 17th birthday, from Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a congenital heart condition that can particularly affect young athletes. His sudden death was a huge shock to his family.

 Among his personal belongings, his father found a diary in which Joe had recorded, since the age of 14, the most intimate details of his spiritual life, with reflections on faith and his search for God that reflected an unusual maturity for his age. “I will always be close to God, because he is the most important thing in my life.”

 The young man expressed his enthusiasm for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Scotland in 2010: “I prayed the rosary on Sunday so that everything would go well and there would be many conversions. Jesus will be on the altar! Or at least, as close to Jesus as we can be on earth, on the altar.”

 “I know the world won’t be perfect, and that’s why I love having faith. Think of all the people who are starving, in wars, in famines; who were excluded, tortured, who weren’t loved in the world. All these people who were unfortunate on earth are, I’m sure, sitting on the highest thrones in heaven. How reassuring is that?” he wrote shortly before his death.

Joe’s life is an example e to all young people, who see it is possible to be a normal person, and, at the same time, become holy.

Will Joe be another millennial saint? While Scotland has a rich heritage of Celtic saints, the last Scottish-born person to be canonized was St. John Ogilvie, a Jesuit priest martyred in Glasgow in 1615 and canonized by Paul VI in 1976.

DOCTOR TO THE POOR

 

The next posts about saints or those being considered for canonization were either in the field of medicine or suffered  and died from an illness.

BL. LADISLAUS BATTHYANY-STRATTMANN, a layman, doctor and father of a family,  was born in 1870 in Dunakiliti, Hungary, into an ancient noble family. He was the sixth of 10 brothers. In 1876 the family moved to Austria. When Ladislaus was 12 years old his mother died. He was already convinced at an early age that when he grew up he would be a "doctor of the poor". He often said:  "When I grow up, I will be a doctor and give free treatment to the sick and the poor".

 When he was preparing for his university studies, Ladislaus's father wanted him to receive the education he would need to look after the family property. Ladislaus therefore enrolled in the faculty of agriculture at the University of Vienna, where he also studied chemistry, physics, philosophy, literature and music. It was not until 1896 that he began to study medicine in which he obtained a degree in 1900.

In 1898, he married Countess Maria Teresa Coreth, a deeply religious woman. Their marriage was a happy one and God blessed them with 13 children. The whole family took part in Holy Mass every day. After Mass Ladislaus would give the children a catechism lesson and assign to each one a concrete act of charity for that day. Every evening after they prayed the Rosary they would review the day and the assigned act of charity.

In 1902, Ladislaus opened a private hospital in Kittsee with beds for 25 patients. Here he began working as a general practitioner, later specializing as a surgeon and oculist. During the First World War, the hospital was enlarged to admit 120 wounded soldiers for treatment.

On the death of his uncle, Ödön Batthyány-Strattmann, in 1915, Ladislaus inherited the Castle of Körmend, in Hungary. He also inherited the title "Prince" and the name "Strattmann". In 1920 his family moved from Kittsee to Körmend. They turned one wing of the castle into a hospital that specialized in ophthalmology.

Dr. Ladislaus became a well-known specialist in this field, both in Hungary and abroad. He was also known as a "doctor of the poor", and the poor flocked to him for assistance and advice. He treated them free of charge; as the "fee" for their medical treatment and hospital stay, he would ask them to pray an "Our Father" for him. The prescriptions for medicines were also free of charge and, in addition to providing them with medical treatment, he often gave them financial assistance.

As well as the physical health of his patients, Ladislaus was also concerned with their spiritual health. Before operating he would ask God to bless the operation. He was convinced that as the medical surgery was his domain, he was still an instrument in God's hands, and that the healing itself was a gift of God. Before his patients were discharged from hospital, he would present them with an image of Our Lord and a spiritual book entitled:  "Open your eyes and see". This was a way to give them guidance in their spiritual life. He was considered a "saint" by his patients and even by his own family.

When Ladislaus was 60 years old, he was diagnosed with a tumor of the bladder. He was admitted to the Löw Sanatorium in Vienna. This was to be the greatest trial of his life, yet his patience and charity were unfailing. From the sanatorium he wrote the following words to his daughter, Lilli:  "I do not know how long the good Lord will make me suffer. He has given me so much joy in my life and now, at the age of 60, I must also accept the difficult moments with gratitude".

 To his sister he said: "I am happy. I am suffering atrociously, but I love my sufferings and am consoled in knowing that I support them for Christ".

 Dr. Ladislaus died in Vienna on 22 January 1931 after 14 months of intense suffering. He was buried in the family tomb in Güssing. His lifelong motto had been:  "In fidelity and charity".

WIFE OF A VENERABLE

 

It is time that we get back to our saints or saints to be.  Starting off the New Year is a woman who has been known mostly through her husband, but was a  "go-getter for God", in her own right. Recently in the news we learned that Enrique Ernesto Shaw was made Venerable, but not much is known about his wife, who is also hopefully on the road to canonization.

SERVANT OF GOD CECILIA BUNGE de SHAW was born on May 13, 1921, in the city of Buenos Aires. She was the only child of Jorge Bunge and Cecilia Fourvel Rigolleau. She completed her secondary studies at the Jesús María School and attended the Higher School of Fine Arts to perfect her passion: painting.

 She married Enrique Ernesto Shaw, with whom she had 9 children, 32 grandchildren, and 51 great-grandchildren. With her husband, she raised a large family and accompanied the Venerable Servant of God Enrique Shaw, a business leader and figure in Catholic organizations, on his path to sainthood.

 After becoming a widower and losing her father within a few months, she took charge of Pinamar SA, following in the footsteps of her father who founded the seaside resort city of Pinamar.

 She raised her family while also dedicating herself to her professional life. An enterprising and determined woman, with a commanding presence without being ostentatious, she served as president of the company's board of directors for 35 years. She brought about significant changes in the city, requiring her to dedicate herself fully to the task.

 Beyond her intense business activity, Cecilia Bunge developed a charitable profile that led her to be president and member of the Fleni Foundation (for neurological diseases), national president of the League of Mothers of Families, member of Caritas Argentina, and Catholic Action.

In addition, she chaired the Elsa Shaw de Pearson Foundation, was director of Casa FOA, and a lifetime member of the Christian Association of Business Leaders. She represented the Argentine government at the Congress of the Laity in Rome.

She directed the magazine Vivir en familia and was responsible for managing the Plaza Hotel. For her extensive business work and contributions to numerous charitable institutions, she received many awards, including the Konex Award in 1998.

She strongly advocated for balanced urban development, respecting the ecological environment and thus achieving a healthy and high-quality life for the population, satisfying the needs of the time without compromising the capacity of future generations.

Enrique Shaw and Cecilia Bunge accompanied each other on their paths towards holiness, both accomplishing much in this life in the name of Christ.

 Their granddaughter, Sara Critto de Eiras, selected excerpts from the letters between her grandparents, publishing them in a book titled “ Enrique and Cecilia: Love Letters .”

Cecilia dedicated a poem about love to Enrique in one of her letters:

To be in love is to feel a bird in your heart.
It's to live in a heaven shared by two.
It's to feel the Virgin's mantle.
It's to finally understand the communion of souls.
It's to know the exact value of every minute.
It's to want to capture the fleeting time.
It's to have reached the fullness of life.
It's to find the perfect being you've always searched for.
It's to laugh for no reason and cry for nothing.
It's to forgive.
It's to rejoice in the simple things and forget about difficulties.
It's to close your eyes and see him, to look at the moon and long for him.
It's loving you, Enrique, and that's all.

BAPTISM

 

THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST

Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;
The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,
The Father speaks, the Spirit and the Son
Reveal to us the single loving heart
That beats behind the being of all things
And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings
'You are belovèd, you are my delight!'
In that swift light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river,
To die and rise and live and love forever.                      

                                      Malcolm Guite,Anglican priest, poet  

Icon by Ulyana Tomkevych (Ukrainian, 1981–)