Nun called 'the prison angel' dies in Mexico at 86

Los Angeles, Calif., Oct 29, 2013 / 04:01 pm (CNA).- Mother Antonia Brenner, who married and divorced twice before converting to the Catholic faith and devoting herself to prison ministry for nearly 39 years in Tijuana, died Oct. 17 at the age of 86.

“Humanly speaking, this is an irreparable loss, but from the point of view of the mission that she had, I think we have won something,” Archbishop Rafael Romo Munoz of Tijuana said after receiving news of her death.

“She is a woman with the characteristics of a saint. I say that because I knew her and loved her a lot. I also received much affection from her. She has the traits of a saint, and that is why the Church has come out winning.”

Mother Brenner was born Mary Clarke and was the mother of eight and lived in Beverly Hills prior to her conversion, which was effected by a dream. Even before this, she had done volunteer work for the poor in both Mexico and California.

In 1969 she dreamt she was a prisoner at Calvary preparing to be executed. Suddenly, Jesus appeared and offered to die in her place, which she refused, saying she would never leave him no matter what happened to her.

After this dream, Mother Brenner decided to devote her life to the Church.

Despite initial difficulties due to her status as a divorcee, in 2003 she founded the order of the Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour, which was founded for older women who feel called to serve the poor.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 1982 about her prison ministry, Mother Antonia said, “Something happened to me when I saw men behind bars. … when I left, I thought a lot about the men. When it was cold, I wondered if the men were warm; when it was raining, if they had shelter.”

“I wondered if they had medicine and how their families were doing. …when I returned to the prison to live, I felt as if I'd come home.”

Both for the guards and the inmates at La Mesa penitentiary, Mother Brenner was the prison angel. But behind bars she was known as “Mama.”

In her interview with the Times, Mother Antonia said the prisoners needed “to accept that they're wrong. They have to see the consequences. They have to feel the agony … but I do love them dearly.”

Mother Antonia and her Eudist Servants of the Eleventh Hour carried out their work from the Heart of Mary Home in Tijuana, where candidates for the congregation spend a period of discernment and formation before fully joining.

Love of God 'scorches' our selfishness, Pope says

Vatican City, Oct 30, 2013 / 05:56 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his general audience Pope Francis continued his reflections on the Creed, stressing the centrality of the Communion of Saints in the faith and how that communion embraces and purifies the Church.

“The love of God,” Pope Francis told thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square Oct. 30 for his weekly  address, “scorches our selfishness, judgments and divisions.”

The Pope opened his remarks by saying “Dear brothers and sisters, today I want to talk about a very beautiful reality of our faith: 'the Communion of the saints.'”

He noted that the expression has two different yet related meanings – the first being a communion in “holy things,” and the second a communion “between holy people,” as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

“The communion of saints is the deepest reality of the Church,” he said, emphasizing that the second connotation “reminds us that there is a communion of life between those of us that believe in Christ.”

Through Baptism, the Pope added, “we have incorporated ourselves” in Christ and in the Church, and have been made “sharers in the communion of life and love which is the Blessed Trinity” and “are united to one another in the Body of Christ.”

Reflecting on the unity of the Trinity, Pope Francis stressed that “The relationship between Jesus and the Father is the 'womb' of the link between Christians.”

“If we are rooted in that womb, in this burning fire of love which is the Trinity, we can become able to possess one heart alone and one soul alone, because the love of God scorches our selfishness, judgments and divisions.”

The pontiff then used the analogy of a big family to describe dynamic of the Communion of Saints, urging that we should help one another and that “through this fraternal communion we draw nearer to God and we are called to support one another spiritually.”  

He then challenged those present, encouraging them to ask themselves “Do we know how to share the uncertainties of our itineraries of faith, looking for fraternal help in prayer and spiritual comfort? Are we available to listen and help all those who ask for it?”

The Communion of Saints, he noted, “thanks to the resurrection of Jesus, establishes a deep and indissoluble link between those who are pilgrims on earth, the souls of Purgatory and those who enjoy celestial bliss.”

It is to the Saints in heaven, he urged that we must “unite ourselves as a Church, which finds the highest form of solidarity in the prayer of intercession,” highlighting how the upcoming Feasts All Saints and All Souls are both an example and opportunity to ask for assistance from those seated with God in heaven.

“As we rejoice in this great mystery,” he concluded, “let us ask the Lord to draw us ever closer to him and to all our brothers and sisters in the Church.”

Among the pilgrims present at the audience today were groups and individuals from England, Wales, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Vietnam, the United States, Argentina, El Salvador, and México.

Texas pro-life law takes effect after some portions struck down

Austin, Texas, Oct 29, 2013 / 05:42 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A ban on abortions when an unborn baby can feel pain took effect in Texas today, one day after a federal judge blocked other new restrictions on abortion practices in the state.

“The American public understands the importance of this law. Pain-capable unborn children should be protected from the violent act of a dismemberment abortion,” Mary Spaulding Balch, National Right to Life’s director of state legislation, said Oct. 29. “Sadly, 40 states still allow it. We continue to work for a day when mothers and their children are fully protected and respected by our laws and our society.”

“Unborn children and their mothers deserve better than the violence of abortion,” she said.

The law bans abortions after 20 weeks into a pregnancy on the grounds that an unborn baby can feel pain at this point. Nine other states also bar late-term abortions on the basis of fetal pain.

The Texas state legislature passed the ban in July as one of several provisions in a bill restricting abortions.

On Oct. 28, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled against two other provisions of the law, but not the late-term abortion ban.

Yeakel said that a separate provision requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of their clinic was unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction against it. The judge said the provision creates a “substantial obstacle” and an “undue burden” for a woman seeking “an abortion of a nonviable fetus.” He said the provision was not rationally related to state interests in preserving and promoting fetal health and a woman’s health.

Judge Yeakel, a George W. Bush appointee, also issued a limited injunction against a provision of the law requiring that all abortions take place in surgical centers, a provision which would have ended the practice of giving women abortion drugs to take at home, the Washington Post reports.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office said the state immediately appealed the ruling.

The lawsuit has been filed by 11 abortion clinics and three abortion-performing doctors who said the provisions would end abortions in over 33 percent of the state’s licensed abortion facilities. They said the law would end abortions in Fort Worth and five other major cities.

Texas Right to Life said the bill provisions were intended to “protect women and life” and to “raise standards for abortion providers.” The organization charged that Judge Yeakel’s decision “further jeopardizes the health of abortion-vulnerable women.” 

Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, said the decision showed “contempt for women’s safety.”

“Pro-life organizations and independent concerned citizens have documented ambulance after ambulance shipping injured mothers from abortion facilities to hospitals,” she said Oct. 28. “This should be proof enough that these doctors are woefully unqualified to mend the horrors they regularly wreak on women. But furthermore, women across the country should ask themselves: ‘If my doctor can’t earn a hospital’s trust, do I really want him treating me?’”

Democratic State Sen. Wendy Davis drew national attention to the law in June, when she held a filibuster opposing it for more than 10 hours at the close of the Texas legislature’s first special legislative session of the year.

The legislative session closed in controversy, with some abortion supporters in the legislature’s upstairs gallery disrupting the attempt to vote on the bill.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry subsequently called a second special session of the legislature to pass the abortion restrictions and other laws, amid displays of support from pro-life groups. 

Commenting on the recent ruling, Balch observed that although opponents of the legislation had challenged “smaller pieces” of the new law, they never challenged the protections for “pain-capable children.”

“Even our opponents realize this legislation, and the extensive science behind it, is sound,” she said.