Latest from Herald Malaysia
Herald Malaysia
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Herald Malaysia
Catholic 'American Ninja Warrior' fighting world hunger, one obstacle at a time
Austin Baron takes part in the Season 17 semifinals of 'American Ninja Warrior' July 14, 2025 on NBC. (OSV News photo/courtesy of Trae Patton, NBC) Baron was immediately hooked. He began ninja training in middle school. 'There are two main types of obstacles,' this ninja warrior explained. 'There are upper body obstacles for which you have to use your hands, moving from one grab bar to another. The other type involves obstacles where you have to go back with your feet, balancing and moving through an obstacle to get to the other side.' Baron said he trains in ninja gyms in Virginia, but has to rely on the rock climbing and bouldering wall at Duncan Student Center when he is back on Notre Dame's campus. There are no ninja gyms nearby. What makes him so committed to the ninja warrior competition — as opposed to other athletic pursuits and sports, especially those for which Notre Dame is so famous? 'I really fell in love with the ninja warrior community,' he explained. 'There is such respect for others even when they're competing against each other. There's this sense of helping others even while these same competitors are doing their best as well.' Both men and women compete and competitors are from a variety of age groups. And some come from other countries, he added. Ninja Austin Baron hopes to bring awareness to world hunger crisis But it's apparently Baron's deeply held commitment to address hunger that provides the real backstory for his participation in the semifinals. That too began years ago in Virginia in the Barons' parish, St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn. 'When I was 12,' he recalls, 'I went to an event at my parish that was providing meals for hungry people, and I learned that these meals that we were packing would be the only food that they'd have to eat!' Austin was stunned. The event was sponsored by Cross Catholic Outreach, an American organization founded in the U.S. in 2001. It has helped to provide food, access to clean water and housing in more than 90 countries throughout the world. After that eye-opening experience, Baron says, 'I wanted to do something more to help them. I started to fund-raise so that we could send more meals.' With the help of his family, he started a little business making rope toys for dogs. He said he watched a YouTube video to find out how to do it. Apparently, the family's two dogs — Shamrock and Crash — thought the resulting rope toys were pretty good. He called his new company 'Knot Perfect.' When he was in high school, he got help from his family, particularly his mother, to make Knot Perfect a 501(c)(3) nonprofit — By 2025, entrepreneur Austin Baron had made more than 1,500 dog toys. According to a June 26, 2025 news release from the University of Notre Dame about Baron's American Ninja Warrior competition, Knot Perfect has already raised over $30,000, providing more than 100,000 meals to children and families around the world. Supporters of his efforts can contribute to Knot Perfect at its website. But how does this exceptionally committed and altruistic college student hope to inspire others to also work to end world hunger? He admits that many will respond: 'World hunger is too big a problem for me to deal with; what good are my cans of soup and tuna, and a box or two of pasta given at my church every week?' 'What I'm trying to do,' Baron responded, 'is to take something that I love to do — being involved in ANW competitions and making dog toys — and combining it with my mission to feed the hungry. So, that's what I'd suggest to other people. Combine the things that you love to do with your mission. And then, rely on God, knowing that he will be guiding you along the way.' Baron is heading to the ANW finals after the July 14 semifinals, where he has a chance to win this year's $250,000 prize and the title of 'American Ninja Warrior.' He's made it very clear that if he wins, his prize money will go to promote that amazing goal — feeding the world's 1 billion hungry people.--OSV News
Herald Malaysia
6 hours ago
- General
- Herald Malaysia
Catholic student wounded in Israeli strike: "Love is stronger than war"
Suhail Abo Dawood, a young Catholic student from Gaza seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on July 17, Thursday, tells that his condition is improving. Love", says the young man, who writes a column for the Holy See's newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, "is stronger than war". Jul 21, 2025 The Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza (AFP or licensors) By Roberto Cetera - Ashdod Suhail greets us with a broad smile and much surprise, although Fr Romanelli in Gaza had already warned his mother Randa that we were coming. "We had said many times in these months that we would soon meet in Rome or in Gaza, when peace comes. But I never thought we would finally meet in this hospital in Ashdot, Israel." The young student from Gaza, who was seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on Thursday morning, had been transported to the Israeli hospital that night, as it was impossible to give him proper care inside the Strip. His face is in pain but full of hope. His condition has improved after all the shrapnel that had wounded him, including damaging his internal organs, was removed. "Peace will return to Gaza. Because, as I wrote in my last article you published: Love is stronger than war", he says. With some difficulty, we manage to weave a conversation in which he also speaks about his future hopes, his desires, the articles he has in mind for the future, and above all the journey of faith he has undertaken and the discernment he is making - and which we will publish in Monday's edition of L'Osservatore Romano .--Vatican News
Herald Malaysia
7 hours ago
- Health
- Herald Malaysia
Catholic student wounded in Israeli strike:
Suhail Abo Dawood, a young Catholic student from Gaza seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on July 17, Thursday, tells Vatican media that his condition is improving. Jul 21, 2025 The Holy Family Catholic parish in Gaza (AFP or licensors) By Roberto Cetera - Ashdod Suhail greets us with a broad smile and much surprise, although Fr Romanelli in Gaza had already warned his mother Randa that we were coming. "We had said many times in these months that we would soon meet in Rome or in Gaza, when peace comes. But I never thought we would finally meet in this hospital in Ashdot, Israel." The young student from Gaza, who was seriously wounded in the Israeli attack on the Holy Family parish on Thursday morning, had been transported to the Israeli hospital that night, as it was impossible to give him proper care inside the Strip. His face is in pain but full of hope. His condition has improved after all the shrapnel that had wounded him, including damaging his internal organs, was removed. "Peace will return to Gaza. Because, as I wrote in my last article you published: Love is stronger than war", he says. With some difficulty, we manage to weave a conversation in which he also speaks about his future hopes, his desires, the articles he has in mind for the future, and above all the journey of faith he has undertaken and the discernment he is making - and which we will publish in Monday's edition of L'Osservatore Romano .--Vatican News
Herald Malaysia
7 hours ago
- General
- Herald Malaysia
New short documentary highlights the life of Servant of God Julia Greeley
A new, short documentary tells the story of Servant of God Julia Greeley, also known as Denver's Angel of Charity, who was born into slavery near Hannibal, Missouri. Jul 21, 2025 An image of Servant of God Julia Greeley in a parish. | Credit: Screenshot/Colorado Capuchin Franciscans By Francesca Pollio Fenton A new, short documentary tells the story of Servant of God Julia Greeley, also known as Denver's Angel of Charity, who was born into slavery near Hannibal, Missouri. 'Julia Greeley: Servant of the Sacred Heart' features interviews with Father Blaine Burkey, OFM Cap, who wrote a book on Greeley's life; Mary Leisring, president of the Julia Greeley Guild; Father Eric Zegeer, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Denver, Greeley's parish; and Jean Torkelson, executive director of the Julia Greeley Home, a Denver nonprofit that serves women in need. In the 13-minute documentary, interviewees discuss Greeley's deep faith, her acts of charity, and her courageous response to the challenges presented throughout her life. When she was a child, while her master was beating her mother, his whip caught Greeley's right eye and destroyed it. After she was freed in 1865, she spent her time serving poor families, mostly in Denver. In 1880, Greeley entered the Catholic Church at Sacred Heart Parish in Denver. She attended daily Mass and had a deep devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. She joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1901 and was known for her dedication to the people in her community, bringing them things they needed. Despite having arthritis, she walked countless miles to collect and distribute alms and to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Greely died on June 7, 1918, and her cause for canonization was opened by the Archdiocese of Denver in 2016. Burkey is a retired priest in the Archdiocese of Denver. A scholar and expert on the life of Greeley, in an interview with CNA he described her as 'a very zealous person.' 'Despite all the problems people gave her, she turned it around and didn't spend time worrying about that,' he said. The priest also highlighted that among Greeley's many charitable deeds, 'every time she had money leftover to take care of herself, she [instead] took care of the poor,' and 'she didn't spend her life trying to get even or [seek] vengeance or anything like that.' He said he hopes the faithful are 'encouraged by that message that you shouldn't be concerned with vengeance but with mercy.'--CNA
Herald Malaysia
7 hours ago
- General
- Herald Malaysia
Pope at Mass: Take summer to savor moments of reflection
Presiding over Mass at the Cathedral of Albano, Pope Leo reflects on hospitality, service, and listening as essential elements to building a relationship with God and others. Jul 21, 2025 Pope Leo XIV presides over Holy Mass at the Cathedral of Albano (@Vatican Media) By Kielce GussieMarking his third Sunday at the papal summer residence in the Castel Gandolfo, Pope Leo XIV presided over Mass for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time at the nearby Cathedral of Albano. At the start of his homily, the Pope joked about having to change in plans to visit Albano back in May. "As you know, I was supposed to arrive on May 12, but the Holy Spirit had other plans. Still, I'm truly happy to be here, and with this sense of fraternity and Christian joy, I greet all of you present." Reflecting upon the first reading and the Gospel, he said these passages call us to reflect on hospitality, service, and listening. Good hosts The Pope first looked at the the first reading from Genesis where three men visit Abraham 'in the heat of the day'. Pope Leo pointed out how Abraham's response to these visitors as master of the house was one of hospitality. With this attitude, the atmosphere changed and, as the Pope highlighted, 'the afternoon's stillness is filled with gestures of love' from Abraham, his wife Sarah, and their servants. In that setting, God shares the news the couple had been waiting for: they will have a son. This encounter encourages us to reflect on how God chose the path of hospitality to enter into Abraham and Sarah's lives. Twin dimensions of hospitality Turning to the Gospel, Pope Leo commented on how the passage 'teaches us about God's way of acting.' Jesus came as a guest in the house of Martha and Mary, not as a stranger but as a friend during a celebration. The two sisters react to their guest in very different ways: Martha welcomes him by serving, while Mary sits at his feet to listen to him. Jesus responded to Martha's comments by inviting her to see the value of listening. Yet, the Pope stressed that 'it would be incorrect, however, to see these two attitudes as mutually exclusive, or to compare the merits of the two women.' Service and listening, he said are 'twin dimensions of hospitality.' When striving to live these two aspects in our daily lives, our relationship with God must come first and we need to live out our faith through concrete actions, according to our state in life. But we can only do this after reflecting on the Word of God and listening for the Holy Spirit. In order to do this, the Pope called us to dedicate times of silence and prayer, eliminating distractions, so we can focus on God and give him space to speak to us. He argued 'this is a dimension of the Christian life that we particularly need to recover today, both as a value for individuals and communities, and as a prophetic sign for our times.' The Pope pointed out that summer is a good moment to push for this and experience the beauty of our relationship with God and how it can help us be more open to others. Summer vacation and God As summer often offers more free time to reflect and spend time with others, Pope Leo challenged everyone to 'make good use of this, by leaving behind the whirlwind of commitments and worries in order to savor a few moments of peace and reflection' and to visit others. Summer can be an opportunity to care for others, get to know them, and listen to them. These are all expressions of love, the Pope explained, of which we are all in need. He argued that if we courageously try to live these out, we will be promoting a culture of peace, 'helping those around us to overcome divisions and hostility and to build communion between individuals, peoples and religions.' Recognizing that this demands effort and sacrifices, Pope Leo stressed that it is in these efforts that 'something worthwhile can be built in life.' Listening to and serving others is the only way to create and strengthen genuine relationships with others. Thank you for your service At the end of Mass, Pope Leo presented the Bishiop of Albano, Vincenzo Viva, with a chasuble. "We present this gift to His Excellency, an expression of our closeness to his diocesan Church, with the hope that the Lord's blessing may always accompany you. Thank you for your service and thank you to your poeple."--Vatican News
