Day: December 25, 2024

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By ACI Africa Staff
Nairobi, 24 December, 2024 / 11:19 pm (ACI Africa).
There is a growing “spiritual crisis” among some members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans/Holy Ghost Fathers/CSSp.), the Superior General of the 321-year-old Missionary Congregation with members across all continents, most them natives of Africa, has warned.
In his Christmas 2024 message to Spiritans and Lay Spiritan Associates (LSA), Fr. Alain Mayama laments “impoverished” spirituality, which he has established during his visits ing Spiritans in their respective apostolic communities is in stark contrast with other situations, where he founded regular prayer to be “at the heart” of the Spiritans’ lifestyle. 
“In many places, in the apostolic communities I have had the privilege and joy of visiting, confreres strive to live a simple and regular life of prayer,” Fr. Mayama says.
For the Spiritans in these apostolic communities, he adds, regular prayer life “is at the heart of their daily activities, and this can be seen in the quality of their community and missionary life.”
“Sick or elderly confreres who have embarked on a new mission have told me how happy they are to be able to accompany the Congregation’s mission through prayer,” Fr. Mayama says about a section of the 2,714 Spiritans present in some 60 countries across the globe according to the 30 April 2024 statistics of the Congregation.
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The Superior General’s experience of Spiritan apostolic communities, where members have embraced a prayerful lifestyle contrasts “other places” he visited where “we see an unacknowledged spiritual crisis developing.”
In these places, he observed “a relationship with God that has become impoverished, erased, where we no longer have a sufficient relationship with God to be able to live from it.”
To underscore the danger of allowing the “unacknowledged spiritual crisis” to develop, Fr. Mayama, the first African Spiritan Superior General, cites Pope Francis, the Spiritan Rule of Life (SRL), and the two founders of the Holy Ghost Fathers, Claude François Poullart des Places and François Marie Paul Libermann.
Pope Francis has drawn the attention of members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (ICLSAL) to “the danger of neglecting the interior life and adapting to the style of the world,” the Superior General of the Spiritans since his election in October 2021 says in his Christmas 2024 message referring to the Holy Father’s address to women and men Religious during the 2024 World Day of Consecrated Life, on February 2. 
“The Holy Father is concerned about the inability of some consecrated people to slow down and make room for God’s action within them,” Fr. Mayama says, adding that the Pontiff is faulting “the growing tendency to get too caught up in our apostolic activity, at the risk of turning Christian and religious life into ‘a lot of things to do’ and neglecting the daily search for the Lord in prayer and meditation.”
The link between prayer and apostolic work is emphasized in the SRL, the Rome-based Superior General says and goes on to cite SRL #87 that states, “our prayer and our apostolic work are ultimately linked. They complement each other. Union with God in prayer leads us to be of service to others, and the apostolic work we do is, in its turn, a worship offered to God in the Spirit (Rom 1:9) and a deepening of our union with Him.”
The native of Congo-Brazzaville lauds the two founders of the Spiritans for demonstrating the link between prayer and pastoral activity.
Claude Poullart des Places and Libermann, Fr. Mayama says, “are our models of the link between union with God and pastoral activity. They didn’t become founders overnight, nor as a result of a well-developed, preconceived strategic plan, but rather thanks to a personal and persevering spiritual experience, a desire to be in the presence of the Lord, listening to Him and worshipping Him.
Poullart des Places, a native of France who gave up the practice of law to study for the Priesthood founded a community for youthful men with the wish to become Priests in 1703. He dedicated the community to the Holy Spirit, calling it the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. 
Some 150 years later, Libermann, a converted Jew, established another religious family also in France, bearing the name, the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, thus the official name, the “Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”.
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On 8 March 2023, a delegation of Spiritans had an audience with Pope Francis to mark the 175th anniversary of the re-founding of their Congregation that is present in some 60 countries across five continents.
Through the years, the Congregation has had 25 Superiors General. Fr. Mayama is the first African native Superior General of the Congregation, whose membership has undergone a “significant demographic shift”.
Sharing the latest statistics of the Spiritans in his Pentecost 2024 message, Fr. Mayama said that for every 10 Spiritans, seven “come from 25 circumscriptions in Africa”, comprising 1,906 members (70.23%).
“Perhaps more striking is the fact that of the 532 professed scholastics, 480 come from Africa (90.23%); 1 from Europe (0.19%), 10 from the Indian Ocean (1.88%); 1 from North America (0.38%); 9 from South America (1.69%); 8 from the Caribbean (1.50%); 22 from Asia (4.14%)” and none from Oceania, he said in his Pentecost 2024 message. 
In his Christmas 2024 message, the Superior General of the Spiritans calls upon his confreres to embrace the “process of spiritual renewal” that is part of the Congregation’s “animation plan” that is in its second phase that was launched on October 2, the anniversary of Claude Poullart des Places.
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The spiritual renewal, Fr. Mayama says, entails coming “to the truth within ourselves, as regards our prayer: personal and community prayer, the reading of the Word of God and the Eucharist celebrated in connection with our apostolic life.”
It also entails rediscovering “the absolute necessity of prayer, drawing inspiration from the examples and writings of our two founders.”
“Each community, despite the daily demands of its missions, will need to establish a schedule for daily prayer according to what is possible in its particular situation,” Fr. Mayama says referring to the Spiritans’ animation plan that is in its second phase.
“May the celebration of the Mystery of the Incarnation, where we contemplate the Word of Life, the Infant Jesus, being reborn in the life of each one of us, help us to give more time to God in prayer, in the midst of our pastoral occupations,” he implores in his Christmas 2024 message in which he recognizes Pope Francis’ invitation to participate in the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year as “Pilgrims of Hope”.
He further implores, “May the Virgin Mary, who gave the world the Saviour, help us to welcome with joy and enthusiasm the invitation to personal and community spiritual renewal.”  
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Mahakumbh 2025: Prayagraj’s 1,400 year legacy of spiritual significance, from Xuanzang to the grandest pilgrimage  Organiser
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December 25, 2024
Bobbi Althoff has found love again months after finalizing her divorce with Cory Althoff.
The Really Good Podcast host confirmed that she is in a new relationship by posting a clip on TikTok.
In the viral video, Bobbi can be seen sharing affectionate moments with her new partner. However, the clip did not reveal her new beau face, leading to speculation among her fans.
Many fans believed her mystery partner to be NFL player Sean Murphy Bunting, who was seen carrying Bobbi on his shoulders at a bar in July.
Addressing the speculation, the 27-year-old influencer posted another clip on the video-sharing app and clarified that the man in the TikTok video was not Sean.
“It is not Sean in the video. Out of respect for his girlfriend, can you guys please stop spreading that rumor,” she wrote.
“In fact, [I] am not dating anyone who you’d ever guess so leave all these random guys who I’m friends with/some who I’ve never heard of alone lol,” Bobbi added.
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Yoon Suk Yeol defies another request for questioning over his failed attempt to impose martial law earlier this month.
South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeolon Wednesday refused to honor a summons from the state’s anti-corruption authorities.
South Korea’s anti-corruption authorities, along with prosecutors, have launched probes into Yoon over his sudden decision to declare martial law earlier this month.
The martial law declaration drew immediate opposition from politicians, with lawmakers having quickly passed a resolution demanding Yoon lift his order.
On December 14, lawmakers voted to impeach the president over his failed attempt to impose military rule.
This means the president has lost his presidential powers. But impeachment does not mean that Yoon can be removed from office immediately.
That decision will have to be reviewed by the Constitutional Court, a process that could take months.
Yoon did not appear for questioning as of 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Christmas Day as requested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported an official saying the agency would continue waiting for Yoon to show up on Wednesday. It would need to review the case further before seeking an arrest warrant, the official added.
Yoon also did not respond on December 15 to a separate summons by prosecutors who are investigating the martial law declaration, Yonhap said. 
Days after his attempt to impose martial law, Yoon apologized saying he would not evade legal and political responsibility over his actions.
But opposition party members have criticized his repeated defiance of the summons and have warned against possible destruction of evidence.
Yoon faces a string of investigations, including potential charges of leading an insurrection, a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty. 
mk/rm (AFP, Reuters)

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Ansonia art teachers, Danielle Rowland and Stephanie Schieltz-Lowder with PJ Burgett receiving the award from OAEA.
Submitted Photo
Brittany Hill
Daily Advocate
ANSONIA — PJ Burgett, superintendent at Ansonia Local Schools, has won the 2024 Ohio Distinguished Educator for Art Education award. This award was for his hard work for bringing art to the Ansonia Schools for elementary students. The award was presented by the Ohio Art Education Association to Burgett.
This award was a nomination award. Burgett stated that he was nominated by the Ansonia art teachers, Danielle Rowland and Stephanie Schieltz-Lowder. Burgett stated he had to write a biography to submit for the award.
When asked about this award he stated that it was a team effort to make it happen. Burgett expressed how he would not have received the award, if not for the amazing staff that helped bring notice to the problem of the elementary school not having art class. As stated by Burgett, “The need being brought to my attention by Danielle Rowland, our art teacher here, saying I don’t get them till now. Having to teach them basics. Now that they are older kids.”
Also, with the help from the school board and treasurer, they gave him the go ahead for this plan for Ansonia students. Burgett wanted to highlight the way that Ashley Fourman, principal for Ansonia’s elementary, reorganized her schedule to make this change work for the elementary school. Burgett said, “It’s one of those times, that I received an award for a whole bunch of people and their hard work to make it happen.”
Congratulations to Ansonia Schools staff and Burgett for working together for the goal of bringing art to the elementary students at Ansonia. This shows with the well-earned award of the Ohio Distinguished Educator for Art Education that Burgett received.
To contact Reporter Brittany Hill, email [email protected].

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“To create the slightly surreal vibe of this photo, I used an on-camera flashgun. When I’m traveling, I have little control over when and where I can take pictures, the pocket-sized sunlight can be a useful, sometimes vital, tool”  Digital Camera World
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The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk’s news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.Read More
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Lava O3 Pro
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Tecno Phantom V Flip 2 5G
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Lava Yuva 4
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Poco C75 5G
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Tecno POP 9 4G
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Vivo Y18T
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Lava Blaze 3 5G
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December 25, 2024 6 min read
The COVID-19 pandemic changed human behaviors — at least for a while.
It also affected animal behavior. Using data from more than 5,000 camera traps during the pandemic, researchers found that in urban landscapes where animals are habituated to humans, all species seemed to get out into nature more often. For example, sightings of raccoons and deer increased, even with more people about.
In more rural areas, however, animals more wary of humans became more skittish and reduced their activity significantly — a sort of asocial distancing.

Viral Dementia
The causes of dementia are many, and most are not well understood.
One getting more attention these days is viral infections, the idea that pathogens can trigger a cascade of events that results in progressive neurodegeneration. Indeed, some recent evidence found that the vaccine for shingles, caused by varicella zoster virus, helps protect people’s brains from dementia.
Part of this shift is due to COVID-19 and concerns about long-term cognitive decline. “I’ve always been a vaccine believer, but the COVID vaccine reinforced to me that there may be long-term benefits to vaccination beyond simply stopping short-term effects,” Paul Harrison, a psychiatry professor at Oxford University, told STAT.

Body of Knowledge
The average smell weighs 760 nanograms. A nanogram is one-billionth of a gram. Things that weigh roughly a gram include a small paperclip, stick of gum and a raisin.

Get Me That, Stat!
Drifting smoke from wildfires in 2019 through 2021 reached almost every lake in North America for at least one day per year, according to a University of California, Davis, report. More significantly, 89% of lakes experienced smoke exposure for more than 30 days.
The research is part of an effort to examine how smoke affects lake environments, such as how much solar radiation penetrates the water or alters its composition.
“We just don’t know yet how smoke affects food webs, lake ecology or what the future of these systems will be if there’s an increase in lake-smoke days,” said study author Mary Jade Farruggia. “I think quantifying the scope of the problem is really the first step. We’re pointing out that this is something we need to manage for across the globe, and not just areas affected by wildfire.”

Doc Talk
Singultus: A hiccup or an attack of hiccups. Multiple attacks are singultases.

Mania of the Week
Macromania: A delusion that things are actually larger than their natural size

Food for Thought
Botanically speaking, the banana is a berry. Blackberries and strawberries are members of the rose family, as are cherries, apricots, plums, pears, apples, quinces and peaches. Blueberries and cranberries are part of the heath group.

Best Medicine
“Doctor, my fingers hurt. Do you think I should file my nails?”
“No, just throw them away.”

Observation
“Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired.” — French author Jules Renard (1864-1910)

Medical History
This week in 1750, Benjamin Franklin was severely shocked while electrocuting a turkey. Two days later, he wrote to his brother that an experiment in electricity had gone wrong when, distracted by talk from observers around him, he inadvertently contacted the “electrical fire,” leaving a small swelling where he was shocked.
“I am ashamed to have been guilty of so notorious a blunder,” he wrote his brother.
The electrocuted turkey wasn’t too happy either.

Perishable Publications
Many, if not most, published research papers have titles that defy comprehension. They use specialized jargon, complex words and opaque phrases like “nonlinear dynamics.” Sometimes they don’t, yet they’re still hard to figure out. Here’s an actual title of actual published research study: “On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study.”
Published in 2005, the study investigators sought to determine which styles of helmet made with aluminum (or aluminium; both are correct) foil are most effective at fending off invasive radio signals. They found that some radio frequences were attenuated, but others were amplified, most notably frequencies reserved for government use. Very suspicious.

Med School
Q: What is the serpent entwining the staff that symbolizes medicine called?
A) Asclepius
B) Serpentis
C) Snaky McSnakeface
D) It has no name
A: The snake is associated with Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, who purportedly learned some of his craft from snakes. According to mythology, the human Asclepius watched a snake use herbs to revive another snake that he had killed. In another tale, a snake whispered healing secrets into Asclepius’ ear after he saved the snake’s life.

Curtain Calls
James A. Moon, 37, was a Quaker farmer in Indiana who also fashioned himself something of an inventor, with a well-equipped workshop. On June 11, 1876, he was found dead on the floor of a hotel room, the apparent victim of a homemade guillotine. Moon had told friends and family that he wanted to become famous, an aspiration cut short.
To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Photo credit: Scott Carroll at Unsplash
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BANGKOK: New Vietnamese internet rules requiring Facebook and TikTok to verify user identities and hand over data to authorities came into force on Wednesday, in what critics say is the latest attack on freedom of expression.
Under “Decree 147”, all tech giants operating in Vietnam must verify users’ accounts via their phone numbers or Vietnamese identification numbers and store that information alongside their full name and date of birth.
They must provide that data to authorities on request and remove any content the government regards as “illegal” within 24 hours.
The new rules came into force on Wednesday, state media VNExpress said.
All social media sites had been given 90 days to provide data on “the total number of regular visits from Vietnam” and the number of regular users per month to authorities, the website said.
“Decree 147 will be used to publicly suppress those with different viewpoints,“ said activist Dang Thi Hue, who writes about politics and social issues on her Facebook account, which has 28,000 followers.
The decree was “the latest sign of infringement of basic freedoms… with a vague line between what is legal and what is not,“ said former political prisoner Le Anh Hung.
“No one wants to go to jail, so of course some activists will be more cautious and afraid of this decree.”
Vietnam’s hardline administration generally moves swiftly to stamp out dissent and arrest critics, especially those who find an audience on social media.
In October, blogger Duong Van Thai — who had almost 120,000 followers on YouTube, where he regularly recorded livestreams critical of the government — was jailed for 12 years on charges of publishing anti-state information.
Decree 147 builds on a 2018 cybersecurity law that was sharply criticised by the United States, European Union and internet freedom advocates who said it mimics China’s repressive censorship of the internet.
‘Just keep playing’
The decree also says that only verified accounts can livestream, impacting the exploding number of people earning a living through social commerce on sites such as TikTok.
Aside from the ramifications for social media firms, the new laws also include curbs on gaming for under-18s, designed to prevent addiction.
Game publishers are expected to enforce a time limit of an hour per game session and not more than 180 minutes a day for all games.
Just over half of Vietnam’s 100 million population regularly plays such games, says data research firm Newzoo.
A large proportion of the population is also on social media, with the Ministry of Information and Communications estimating the country has around 65 million Facebook users, 60 million on YouTube and 20 million on TikTok.
The force of the decree was yet to be felt at a small online gaming cafe in capital Hanoi, where around a dozen young people were glued to their desktop screens.
“I don’t know anything about a time limit for the games,“ said one 15-year-old boy who said he had skipped class to come and play.
“I just keep playing, and as you see, it still works.”
“I never have to show an ID or student card to enter a gameshop or for my game account online. I don’t know how (the decree) will work, let’s see.”
The owner of the cafe, who charges around 30 cents for an hour of gaming, was similarly nonchalant.
“I have no idea what this decree is about. I don’t know if it will work or not.”
“My business is still going normally. They pay and we let them use the desktop for their gaming. It’s simple.”

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(Image by Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay/Creative Commons)
(Image by Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay/Creative Commons)
Most of Louisiana is classified as a mental health professional shortage area, leaving countless families — especially children —without access to critical mental health services. According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, over half of children in Louisiana who experience mental health challenges do not receive the care they need. This is a staggering number given that this study estimates that 30.3% of children ages 3-17 have at least one emotional, developmental or behavioral health disorder. This unmet need has far-reaching consequences, affecting school performance, family stability and community safety.
Addressing this gap starts with investing in higher education programs that train the mental health professionals our state desperately needs. Universities such as the University of Louisiana Monroe, Louisiana State University Shreveport, Louisiana Tech University, Grambling State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, McNeese State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, University of New Orleans, University of Holy Cross, Tulane University, Nicholls State University, LSU and others play a vital role in preparing skilled counselors, psychologists and social workers.
However, the current capacity of mental health training programs is not sufficient to meet the growing demand. We are facing another potential budget shortfall in Louisiana that could impact higher education. Without adequate funding and resources, these programs may struggle to equip students with the expertise and experience required to enter the workforce.
Investing in these programs is not just about addressing today’s challenges — it is about safeguarding the future of Louisiana. By increasing the number of trained mental health professionals, we can improve outcomes for children and families, reduce the strain on emergency services and foster healthier, more resilient communities.
It is time to prioritize the mental health of our state by supporting higher education programs that make a difference. Together, we can build a brighter, healthier future.
MATTHEW THORNTON
chief executive officer, Center for Children and Families, Inc.
 
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