Sister Mary Evelyn Jegen, one of the co-founders of Pax Christi USA and the group's first national coordinator, died July 4 after a long illness. She was 86. A funeral Mass for Sister Jegen, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for 66 years, was scheduled for July 11 in the chapel at her community's motherhouse in Cincinnati. In 1982, she became the third recipient of Pax Christi USA's Pope John XXIII Teacher of Peace Award. During her tenure as national coordinator, from 1979 to 1982, Pax Christi USA's membership grew from less than 1,000 to more than 5,500 members, including 46 U.S. bishops. "Mary Evelyn Jegen was teacher and mentor for an entire generation of Catholic peace activists like me," said a July 7 statement form Tom Cordaro, Pax Christi USA's "ambassador of peace" and an author and lay minister. "She had that rare combination of gifts that set her apart from many others in the movement. She was an excellent theologian, a gifted writer and, most importantly, she was a strategic thinker and visionary. Everything Mary Evelyn did as a leader in the Catholic peace movement was strategically focused on her vision of making nonviolence and peacemaking an integral part of Catholic social teaching and practice at all levels of the church."

A priest at the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization has said Sister Cristina Scuccia, who recently won The Voice Italy, is an example of how the Church must go out to the existential peripheries. "What Sister Cristina has done can be considered going out to the peripheries, because she has gone to a different stage to bear witness to her choice of life, and in this sense I think she has hit the target," Father Alejandro Diaz, a Colombian, said in a recent interview with CNA. Like Sister Cristina, he explained, "we have to come out ourselves to speak of God to others, not in the abstract, but about what God has done in our lives." At the beginning of June, the 25 year-old religious won The Voice Italy and gained world-wide acclaim for her charisma and ability to bring share the Word of God with the public. "I have a dream, which is to hold hands and pray together the Our Father," she told the studio audience when she won. "I want Jesus to enter into here." Sister Cristina "sings but she also talks about God and invites people to pray,” the priest noted. “She said she wanted to transmit a gift, and to me it was not only the gift of her singing ability but also the gift of her vocation, because she is a young religious who went on this stage without fear and said, 'I am a religious, I believe in God.'” He said Sister Cristina should not be made into an idol but should be seen as a means of reaching God, because "the Holy Spirit will always be the great evangelizer, and he doesn't have only one method or stage for bring people close to Christ. There are many ways to evangelize and Sister Cristina has shown us one of them.” In accord with the synod for the new evangelization in 2012, which recognized that beauty is a means of evangelization, Fr. Diaz said Sister Cristina's example shows that it is possible to be a witness to the faith in the media and through art. Music can be a channel for speaking of God and conveying an explicit message based on the Gospel, "and it is certainly one of the many ways through which we can bring the person of Jesus to the people," he explained. In her first statements to the media after her win, Sister Cristina Scuccia said she would now "return to my priorities, which are Jesus and prayer." Since then, she has made only two public appearances, one on June 14 on the TV2000 program "Good News Festival," and another on June 27 on the Rai2 program "Donne ad alta quota.

We have been spending time in Bible study with the book of Revelation. When we first began to talk about embarking on the journey through Revelations, I was anxious. There is such an aura around St. John’s revelation that I have found myself either avoiding or skipping the last book of the Bible. Now that I have begun to read and study the book, my anxiety has subsided. I am certainly not an expert but it does allow you to come to a deeper understanding about the Mass and other aspects of our faith. In addition, something that I have often wondered about was what happened to the Virgin Mary and the apostle John after Jesus rose from the dead and then left them again. We do know that Mary and John settled in Ephesus and there is a message to the town in Revelation. It reveals what is happening in Ephesus and subsequently tells us a little of the life of Mary, John, and Timothy (who served as bishop of the church there). One of my favorite passages so far urges us to use our voices like a trumpet to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ. How glorious would that sound be if we all came together to bring the message of ever-lasting life through Jesus Christ to a world that is obviously hungry for something more than worldly power, greed and selfishness? Speaking of using your voice to bring Jesus to the world, I have been listening to a recently released EP by Tori Harris called Sweet Dolor (which means sorrow). All of the songs are terrific. Hearts Once Stone, in particular, is very powerful. I saw a recent interview where Tori described that she was in adoration before the Eucharist and asked God to reveal part of her heart so that she could determine what she needed to do next in her life. This EP is the answer as she made the leap of faith to pursue a music ministry full time. I encourage you to support her efforts. The songs have already become such a blessing to me.

A new radio program launched in the Palm Beach Diocese in June with a focus on shedding light on pro-life issues, and sharing ways to get involved in promoting the culture of life in the not-so-pro-life world. Organizers believe the program may be the only one of its kind in Florida, if not the United States, that is broadcast from a site across the street from an abortion clinic. "We are doing battle on the frontlines," said Anne Lotierzo, a parishioner of St. Joseph Parish in Stuart, who hosts "CrossRoads" with Duane Berreth, a parishioner of St. Mark the Evangelist in Fort Pierce. Berreth, a grand Knight of Columbus, heads the parish's respect life ministry. "We like being at the front lines. That is where the battle is," Lotierzo said in an interview with the Florida Catholic, Palm Beach's diocesan newspaper. "CrossRoads" airs on WJPP 100.1 FM (Prince of Peace Radio) that reaches listeners in areas of Stuart, Palm City, Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce. "I think the program idea is great," said Eva Daniel-Barrera, a parishioner of St. Mark the Evangelist. "The program will let everybody know about current pro-life issues. There are a lot of concerns today."

In a narrowly tailored 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court June 30 said closely held companies may be exempted from a government requirement to include contraceptives in employee health insurance coverage under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The court said that Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Woods, the two family-run companies that objected to the government mandate that employees be covered for a range of contraceptives, including drugs considered to be abortifacients, are protected from the requirement of the Affordable Care Act. The opinion essentially held that for-profit companies may hold protected religious views. But the court also said that government requirements do not necessarily lose if they conflict with an employer's religious beliefs. The court noted that cases challenging the mandate for nonprofit entities, such as Catholic colleges and faith-based employers, are pending and that the June 30 ruling doesn't consider them. The decision also did not delve into whether the private employers have religiously motivated protection from laws under the First Amendment. It said the government failed to satisfy the requirement of RFRA, a 1993 law, that the least-restrictive means of accomplishing a government goal be followed to avoid imposing a restriction on religious expression. The majority opinion said the ruling applies only to the contraceptive mandate and should not be interpreted to hold that all insurance coverage mandates -- such as for blood transfusions or vaccinations -- necessarily fail if they conflict with an employers' religious beliefs.