U.S.

New network will accompany migrants

WASHINGTON — Jesuit Refugee Service/USA has launched the Migrant Accompaniment Network, a nationwide group of volunteers “who will engage those who have recently arrived in the U.S. with their integration into welcoming communities,” the organization said in a Sept. 14 announcement. “The network we are building will provide a way for the many people who want to help newcomers in their community to accompany them and to advocate for migrants, refugees and those seeking asylum in the United States,” Joan Rosenhauer, executive director of JRS/USA, said in a statement. The new network will work “to serve those in need” in collaboration with the Kino Border Initiative and the Ignatian Solidarity Network and will collaborate with partners in Mexico border cities, as well as throughout Mexico and Central America. The JRS/USA announcement on the network came a few days ahead of the U.S. Catholic Church’s observance of National Migration Week Sept. 19-25.

WORLD

Strong education will build a ‘better world,’ cardinal tells U.N. summit

UNITED NATIONS — During a U.N. education summit, the Vatican’s secretary of state reiterated Pope Francis’ pre-pandemic call that education is “one of the most effective ways of making our work and history more human.” Addressing the final day of the Transforming Education Summit Sept. 19, Cardinal Pietro Parolin described how the pope has been moved by “strong conviction that through education we can strive for a better world.” He said the pope has stressed the need to create an “educational village” in which all people “share the task of forming a network of open, human relationships” that overcome discrimination and allow people to flourish. In addition, Cardinal Parolin explained, the Church has “always accompanied evangelization with the transmission of knowledge, culture and science” through a global network of nearly 220,000 schools and 1,365 universities in which 70 million students, including non-Catholics and non-Christians, are enrolled.

Vatican announces contest to compose music for Holy Year 2025 hymn

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is looking for an original musical score for the official hymn for the Holy Year 2025 that will highlight its theme, “Pilgrims of Hope.” It must be an original and unpublished score for liturgical purposes and for voice and organ to accompany lyrics already written in Italian, it said. “Participation in the competition is free and open to everyone.” A section of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Vatican office Pope Francis has tapped to coordinate the jubilee planning, announced Sept. 17 that it was launching an international competition for the composition of the Jubilee hymn. Participants can find the application to enter the contest at https://www.iubilaeum2025.va/en/inno.html and begin uploading their musical scores Jan. 16; the deadline is March 25. To participate, applicants must follow the competition regulations and specifications, which include composing a score that can be performed by a “schola cantorum” as well as by a church assembly.

— Catholic News Service