VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1  •  JANUARY 3, 2015

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis prays for ongoing AirAsia search

Large families are schools of solidarity and sharing, Francis affirms

Pope: This New Year’s, embrace gratitude, reject slavery of sin

In peace message, Pope takes aim at modern-day slavery

Without the Church, Jesus ‘is at the mercy of our imagination,’ Pope says

WORLD NEWS

Thai bishops declare Holy Year of prayer for a New Pentecost

In Pakistan, ‘living the faith is a new challenge every day’

In refugee limbo, Iraqi Christians keep the faith

In Zimbabwe, poverty is the Church’s biggest enemy

Conference to consider the human element in Catholic family life

For Catholics in Ukraine ‘the situation in the war zones is catastrophic’

U.S. NEWS

Members of Congress: Abortion funding breaks health care law promise

FEATURES

It’s a Hard-Knock Life: ‘Annie’ Movie Review

Moral Courage

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • January 4, 2015

Monday • January 5, 2015

Tuesday • January 6, 2015

Wednesday • January 7, 2015

Thursday • January 8, 2015

Friday • January 9, 2015

Saturday • January 10, 2015

The Catholic Digital News

The Free Weekly Newsmagazine for the Church of the 21st Century

Volume 1, Issue 1 • January 3, 2015

Copyright © 2015 by LGC Publishing. All rights reserved.

News articles and images originating from the Catholic News Agency and other media outlets have been reproduced with the full permission of their respective copyright holders. All rights reserved.

Scripture readings for Daily Mass have been reproduced from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition. Copyright © 1989, 1993 by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission through the Gratis Use Policy of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.

Content editing, cover image design, and digital book creation by P. C. Weber

The Catholic Digital News

Website: catholicdigitalnews.com

New issues of The Catholic Digital News are published every Saturday as free e-book downloads that are released exclusively through this website. Although these files are provided gratis to the public, they remain fully protected under copyright law. Consequently, users should be aware that certain actions are expressly forbidden once an issue of The Catholic Digital News has been downloaded onto a device. These include reproduction or distribution of the file at other websites, over the Internet, or through other media; utilization of the file for commercial use or other unauthorized purposes; disassembly of the file or alteration of its internal code or content; modification of the file to create derivate works; or violation of third-party copyrights on text and images contained within the file. For full compliance, please download issues of The Catholic Digital News for personal use only and refer others to this website instead of sharing downloaded copies.

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis prays for ongoing AirAsia search

by CNA/EWTN News • December 29, 2014

Pope Francis gives the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square on October 2, 2013. (Elise Harris/CNA)

Rome, Italy — In his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis promised his prayers for families affected by the disappearance of an AirAsia jet carrying 162 people.

The Pope said his “thoughts are with those on board this missing AirAsia plane” as well as families and loved ones undergoing “these difficult situations with apprehension and suffering.”

Pope Francis also prayed for rescue workers involved in the tragedy.

AirAsia Flight 8501 went missing Sunday morning during a flight from Indonesia to Singapore. The jet was carrying 162 people - including 16 children and one infant.

An international search-and-rescue operation has been fruitless. The head of the Indonesian government’s rescue effort told CNN the jet likely crashed into Indonesia’s Java Sea.

The Pope also offered his condolences to the victims of a ferry accident on Sunday in the Adriatic Sea. The ferry caught fire while carrying more than 400 passengers between Greece and Italy. Eight people have been confirmed dead, according to CNN. By Monday afternoon, the Italian coast guard confirmed the evacuation all remaining passengers.

The origin of the fire remains unclear. Though, the ferry was reportedly carrying trucks filled with oil. A Greek news agency reported the cargo may have scraped the ceiling and set off sparks to start the blaze.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Large families are schools of solidarity and sharing, Francis affirms

by CNA/EWTN News • December 29, 2014

Pope Francis greets pilgrims during the General Audience held January 8, 2014. (Kyle Burkhart/CNA)

Vatican City — In an address on Sunday to Italy’s National Numerous Family Association, Pope Francis thanked the members of large families for their cultivation of virtues that benefit society at large, as well as themselves.

“The fact of having brothers and sisters is good for you,” he said Dec. 28 to the children among the some 7,000 members of large families from across Italy at the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.

“The sons and daughters of large families are more inclined to fraternal communion from early childhood. In a world that is frequently marred by selfishness, a large family is a school of solidarity and sharing; and these attitudes are of benefit to all society.”

The audience was on the occasion of the association’s tenth anniversary, and marked the feast of the Holy Family.

“You have come here with the most beautiful fruits of your love,” he said to the parents of the families. “Maternity and paternity are gifts from God, but your task is to receive this gift, to be amazed by its beauty and to let it shine in society. Each of your children is a unique creation that will never be repeated in the history of humanity. When we understand this, that each person is willed by God, we are astonished by the great miracle that is a child! A child changes your life!”

We have all seen, he reminded them, men and women who have profoundly changed “when a child arrives,” adding that a child is “the unique fruit of love,” coming from and growing in love.

“You, children and young people, are the fruit of the tree that is the family: you are good fruit when the tree has good roots – grandparents – and a good trunk – the parents,” Pope Francis said. “The great human family is like a forest, in which the trees bear solidarity, communion, fidelity, support, security, happy moderation, friendship. The presence of large families is a hope for society.”

This, he said, “is why the presence of grandparents is very important: a valuable presence both in terms of practical assistance, but above all for their contribution to education. Grandparents conserve the values of a people, of a family, and they help parents transmit them to their children. Throughout the last century, in many countries in Europe, it was the grandparents who transmitted the faith.”

“Dear parents, thank you for your example of love for life that you protect from conception to its natural end, in spite of all the difficulties and burdens of life, that unfortunately public institutions do not always help you to bear.”

He lamented that while the Italian constitution calls for particular regard for large families, this is only “words” and is “not adequately reflected in the facts.”

Considering Italy’s low birth rate, he voiced hope that it’s politicians and public administrators would give large families “all due support.”

“Every family is a cell of society, but the large family is a richer, more vital cell, and the state has much to gain by investing in it.”

In light of this, he affirmed the National Numerous Family Association, and groups like it, for advocating for large families in the European nations, and for being “present and visible in society and in politics.”

He concluded by praying in particular “for those families most affected by the economic crisis, those in which the mother or father have lost their jobs and in which the young are unable to find work, and those families in which the closest relationships are marked by suffering and who are tempted to give in to loneliness and separation.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Pope: This New Year’s, embrace gratitude, reject slavery of sin

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • December 31, 2014

Pope Francis at Dec. 31 Vespers in St. Peter’s Basilica. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — At the year’s end, Pope Francis reflected on Christ’s saving presence within time, cautioning against nostalgia for the slavery of sin, and encouraging gratitude that leads to repentance.

The theme of time was central to Pope Francis’ off-the-cuff homily, delivered during evening Vespers in Saint Peter’s Basilica Dec. 31.

“The significance of time, temporality,” he said, “is the atmosphere of God’s epiphany, that is, of the manifestation of God and his concrete love.”

The evening celebrations were also marked by the chanting of the Te Deum, an ancient prayer of praise which grants the one who recites it publicly on New Year’s Eve a plenary indulgence under the usual conditions. The Pope also presided over exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

Pope Francis turned his reflection to the words of Paul to the Galatians, taken from the evening’s Vespers: “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

“Time was – in a manner of speaking – ‘touched’ by Christ, the Son of God and of Mary,” he said, thereby becoming the “‘salvific time’… defined by salvation and grace.”

This theme of time, in turn, “inspires us to think about the end of life’s journey, the end of our journey,” the Holy Father said. By examining our conscience, he explained, we revisit what we have done, giving thanks for the good we have received and have been able to accomplish, all the while recalling “our weaknesses and our sins.”

Pope Francis then reflected on the Te Deum, recited shortly after the homily, during which “we praise the Lord” and at the same time ask his forgiveness.

“The attitude of thanks disposes us to humility, to recognize and welcome the gifts of the Lord,” he said.

While we are filled with gratitude, however, we recall that “we are far from [God] because of original sin,” causing our “filial relationship” to be “profoundly wounded.”

“Because of this, God sent his Son to redeem us with His blood,” the Holy Father added, thereby freeing us “from the slavery of sin” and restoring our filial status.

It is with this gift of redemption in mind that we make our examination of conscience, Pope Francis said: “Do we live as children or as slaves? Do we live as persons Baptized in Christ, united by the Spirit, redeemed, free? Or do we live according to earthly logic, corrupt, doing that which the devil makes us believe is in our best interest?”

This “slavery” of sin, the Pope continued, reduces time to the mere “moment,” preventing “us from fully and truly living in the present, for it empties the past and closes the door to the future, to eternity.”

Yet we long for this slavery, he said, because it makes us feel safe. He compared this longing to the desire for fireworks: “they seem to be beautiful but in fact they only last a few moments!”

This examination of conscience, the Holy Father continued, also depends on the “quality of our work, of our lives, of our presence in the city, of our service toward the common good, of our participation in public and ecclesial institutions.”

As Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis expressed his desire to take on the experiences of those living in the “eternal city,” recalling the witness of the martyrs Saints Peter and Paul.

Reflecting on the recently-revealed corruption cases in Rome, he called for a conversion of hearts, as well as for a “renewed commitment to create a more just and stable city, where the poor the weak, and the marginalized are at the center of our concern and our daily activities.”

The poor and weak, when cared for, “reveal the treasure of the Church” and of society, he said. On the other hand, when the poor are ignored, “persecuted, criminalized,” and forced into a life of crime, the society is revealed to be “impoverished to the point of misery.” This society “loses freedom and prefers the ‘garlic and onions’” of slavery.

Such a society ceases to be Christian, he said.

Pope Francis concluded his homily by inviting the faithful to not long for slavery, but rather to reflect on the “final hour” and remember that this is the “fullness of time.”

The Virgin Mary, he said, as the temple in which the Word was made Flesh in time, “gave to the world the Savior, helping us to welcome him with open hearts, to be and truly live freely as God’s children.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

In peace message, Pope takes aim at modern-day slavery

by CNA/EWTN News • January 1, 2015

General Audience with Pope Francis, April 17, 2013. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Vatican City — Denouncing modern slavery as a “scourge,” Pope Francis on New Year’s Day called for concrete action and the “globalization of fraternity” to combat slavery and human trafficking.

“Whenever sin corrupts the human heart and distances us from our Creator and our neighbors, the latter are no longer regarded as beings of equal dignity, as brothers or sisters sharing a common humanity, but rather as objects,” Pope Francis said in his Jan. 1 message for the 48th World Day of Peace.

He appealed to “all men and women of good will” and to “the highest levels of civil institutions” who witness “the scourge of contemporary slavery.” He urged them “not to become accomplices to this evil, not to turn away from the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings, who are deprived of their freedom and dignity.”

In a November report, the organization Walk Free said that 35.8 million people suffer in slavery, defined as the systematic deprivation of a person’s liberty, and abuse of their body for personal or commercial exploitation.

Modern slavery includes forced labor, debt bondage, trafficking in persons, organ trafficking, sexual exploitation for money, and forced marriage.

Pope Francis said that while slavery has been “formally abolished,” millions of people are “deprived of freedom and are forced to live in conditions akin to slavery.”

“I pray especially that, on the basis of our common calling to cooperate with God and all people of good will for the advancement of harmony and peace in the world, we may resist the temptation to act in a manner unworthy of our humanity,” he said.

Pope Francis lamented the forced prostitution of both sexes as well as forced marriage practices.

He also noted the plight of laborers in domestic or agricultural work, in manufacturing and mining in countries whose laws do not comply with international standards or lack protection for workers’ rights. The Pope spoke of the poor living conditions of many migrants, who face hunger, robbery, the deprivation of their freedom, and physical and sexual abuse.

He blamed slavery on poverty, underdevelopment and “exclusion,” which work in combination with a lack of education access or a lack of unemployment. He also denounced “corruption on the part of people willing to do anything for financial gain,” taking aim at intermediaries who are complicit in trafficking and slavery.

The Pope called on countries to prevent slavery and trafficking, to protect victims, and to prosecute perpetrators. Businesses must ensure “dignified working conditions and adequate salaries” for employees, and must be vigilant that their suppliers do not rely on subjugation or human trafficking.

Those who purchase goods also have a social responsibility to be aware of products or services that depend on these injustices.

Pope Francis stressed the need to be “freely converted to Christ,” noting the universality of the first Christian community.

“Differing origins and social status did not diminish anyone’s dignity or exclude anyone from belonging to the People of God. The Christian community is thus a place of communion lived in the love shared among brothers and sisters,” he explained.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is “capable of redeeming human relationships, including those between slaves and masters, by shedding light on what both have in common: adoptive sonship and the bond of brotherhood in Christ,” the pontiff said.

He cited Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Pope Francis praised the “enormous and often silent efforts” to support victims of slavery and trafficking, especially the efforts of women’s religious congregations who provide psychological and educational rehabilitation for victims and work to reintegrate them into their home society.

“These institutes work in very difficult situations, dominated at times by violence, as they work to break the invisible chains binding victims to traffickers and exploiters,” he said.

The Pope cited the example of St. Josephine Bakhita, a nineteenth-century Sudanese woman who was kidnapped into slavery and endured brutal masters beginning at the age of nine years old.

“Subsequently – as a result of painful experiences – she became a ‘free daughter of God’ thanks to her faith, lived in religious consecration and in service to others, especially the most lowly and helpless.

“This saint, who lived at the turn of the twentieth century, is even today an exemplary witness of hope for the many victims of slavery; she can support the efforts of all those committed to fighting against this ‘open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ’.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Without the Church, Jesus ‘is at the mercy of our imagination,’ Pope says

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • January 1, 2015

Pope Francis celebrates New Year’s Day Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God on Jan. 1, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — In his homily on New Year’s Day, Pope Francis said that Jesus and his mother Mary are “inseparable,” just like Jesus and the Church, who is the mother of all humanity that guides her children to God.

“To separate Jesus from the Church would introduce an ‘absurd dichotomy,’” the Pope told mass attendees who were present in St. Peter’s Basilica for his Jan. 1 mass celebrating the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.

“(The Church) is like a mother who tenderly holds Jesus and gives him to everyone with joy and generosity…Without the Church, Jesus Christ ends up as an idea, a moral teaching, a feeling,” he said.

Without the Church and her guidance, our relationship with Christ “would be at the mercy of our imagination, our interpretations, our moods,” the Roman Pontiff continued.

It’s not possible to understand the salvation offered by Jesus without also appreciating the motherhood of the Church, he explained, noting that it’s also impossible to love and belong to Christ without loving and belonging to the Church because the Church is God’s family who brings Christ to humanity.

“Our faith is not an abstract doctrine or philosophy, but a vital and full relationship with a person: Jesus Christ” who lives among us and can be encountered inside the Church through her sacraments, Pope Francis explained.

“No manifestation of Christ, even the most mystical, can ever be detached from the flesh and blood of the Church, from the historical concreteness of the Body of Christ.”

In his reflections, Pope Francis noted how the Church, in celebrating the solemnity of Mary as the Mother of God, reminds us that she, more than anyone else, has received the Lord’s blessing by giving a human face to the eternal God.

At Jesus’ birth, he and his mother Mary “were together, just as they were together at Calvary, because Christ and his mother are inseparable: there is a very close relationship between them, as there is between every child and his or her mother,” the Pope observed.

Mary is capable of being so close to her son due to the knowledge of heart and faith that she received from him, as well as her experience of motherhood and her openness to allowing God to enter into her own plans, the pontiff noted.

“She is the believer capable of perceiving in the gift of her Son the coming of that fullness of time…that is why Jesus cannot be understood without his Mother,” he said, reiterating that it is not possible to understand Jesus without the Church either, “because the Church and Mary always go together.”

By giving us Jesus, the Church offers humanity the fullness of God’s eternal blessing, he said, noting that Mary is the “first and most perfect” disciple of Christ, and is the one who opens the path to receive the Church’s motherhood.

Mary is the model of the pilgrim Church and is the one who sustains the Church in her maternal mission, he observed, noting that her “tactful witness” has accompanied the Church since its beginnings.

“She, the Mother of God, is also the Mother of the Church, and through the Church, the mother of all men and women, and of every people,” the pontiff said, and prayed that Mary would obtain the Lord’s blessing for all of humanity.

Pope Francis then noted how Jan. 1, in addition to the Marian solemnity, also marks the World Day of Peace, which this year holds the theme: “No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters.”

He prayed that the Lord would generate peace in individual hearts, within families and among nations, and called on each person, according to their capabilities, to combat modern forms of slavery and foster solidarity with the help of Jesus, who became our servant.

The Roman Pontiff concluded his homily by drawing attention to a statue of Mary and the child Jesus at the side of the altar, and noted how her title as “Holy Mother of God” dates back the Council of Ephesus in 431 A.D.

“What a beautiful greeting for our mother,” he said, and invited the congregation to join him in standing and honoring her by reciting aloud the title “Mary, Holy Mother of God” three times.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

Thai bishops declare Holy Year of prayer for a New Pentecost

by Antonio Anup Gonsalves (CNA/EWTN News) • December 27, 2014

Thai Catholic bishops declaring Holy Year of prayer. (Aroonprapha Sukkasee)

Bangkok, Thailand —The Thai Catholic bishops have declared a “Holy Year” aimed at restoring the fervor of a New Evangelization and commemorating the 350th anniversary of the first Synod of Ayutthaya in Thailand.

The great jubilee will also mark the opening of the first Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Thailand under the theme, “The Disciples of Christ Live the New Evangelization,” slated from April 20-25, 2015.

The bishops opened the Holy Year for Thailand striking a gong three times during a solemn Mass on Dec. 6. The congregation consisted of priests, religious and faithful gathered at Lux Mundi, the national major seminary in the Samphran district of Thailand’s west-central Nakhon Pathom Province.

Monsignor Andrew Vissanu Thanya Anan, executive secretary of the Thai Bishops Conference and former Vatican undersecretary for the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, explained the idea behind the year.

“The Holy Year is an opportune time of grace and compassion for rediscovering the ardor of evangelization, fruitfully accomplished by the missionaries in the past, and reconnecting to revitalize the mission of the Thai Church to the emerging challenges of today,” he told CNA Dec. 20.

“A new Pentecost will foster new evangelization, integrating faith and culture that will give an impetus for bolstering holistic interfaith and interreligious dialogue in the Asian context.”

Concelebrating the Mass, Archbishop Paul Tscoang In-Nam, Apostolic Nuncio to Thailand, read a mandate sent by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, that acknowledged the “pioneering efforts made by the missionaries who preached the Word of God in this Nation and thereby contributed to the growth of the Catholic Community.”

Cardinal Filoni expressed his greetings and hope that the “Holy Year celebration (will) inspire a new sense of mission which should involve the responsibility of all the Church.”

Meanwhile, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, by virtue of the Special Faculties granted to it by Pope Francis, granted the formal approval for the proposed celebration of the “First Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Thailand” to be held in April 2015.

Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitavanij of Bangkok, president of the plenary council, presided over the Mass to open the Holy Year.

His homily stressed that there is a need for the “Holy Spirit, that will boost the fervor of proclaiming Christ like the early apostolic community.”

“Let us pray for a new Pentecost for renewing our New Evangelization,” Archbishop Kriengsak said, explaining that this “can be achieved by nurturing small ecclesial communities in order to renew their evangelical mission of proclaiming and living the Gospel.”

During the year-long commemorative jubilee, several faith formation empowerment programs are underway, particularly focusing catechesis and strengthening Small Christian Communities.

The first Synod of the Catholic Church in Thailand was held in the former capital city of Ayutthaya in 1664.

The Vatican has also issued a commemorative stamp marking the 350th anniversary of Synod of Ayutthaya.

Today, the Catholic population of Thailand is less than 1 percent of the population. Some 95 percent of the Thai people are Buddhist, and many of the remainder are Muslim, making interreligious relations an important facet of life for Catholics in the south-east Asian nation.

In the last 50 years, Thailand has witnessed the creation of two archdioceses – Bangkok and Tare-Nongsaeng – on Dec. 18, 1965 and subsequently the creation of six new dioceses: Chanthaburi, Ratchaburi, Chiang Mai, Ubonratchathani, Udonthani and Nakhonratchasima.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

In Pakistan, ‘living the faith is a new challenge every day’

by Reinhard Backes (Aid to the Church in Need) • December 28, 2014

A young girl lights a candle at a Marian grotto in Pakistan. (Magdalena Wolnik)

Faisalabad, Pakistan — The brutality of the act can hardly be surpassed: in early November, a Christian couple was beaten and burned to death in the Pakistani province of Punjab.

Both were in their early 30s, the wife was pregnant. The charge: desecration of the Quran. The background: Article 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code, the blasphemy law, which does more to promote than prevent the arbitrary use of power against persons of different religions.

The act put the spotlight on the situation of minorities in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Bishop Joseph Arshad of Faisalabad, in north-western Pakistan, makes no bones about the difficulties facing non-Muslims, and especially Christians, each every day. He told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need: “The influence of the fundamentalists has grown immeasurably over the past few years. Anything can happen at any time. For this reason, many fellow countrymen who do want change choose to remain silent.”

Bishop Arshad is placing his hopes in young people: more than a third of the 180 million Pakistanis are younger than 15.

“Sixty per cent of Pakistanis are illiterate. We can make a change through education. In doing so, we also want to reach those who are not able to go to school. Our country has few very rich and very many poor people.”

“What is missing is a middle class” as a force of moderation, the prelate said, adding that “to change this situation for the better, however, all political and social powers have to work together.”

For one thing, the bishop feels it is important to maintain good relations with Muslim leaders.

“It is not easy for any young Pakistani, whether Muslim or Christian, to find work. Young people get depressed and those who are able, leave the country. Young Christians, moreover, are being discriminated against: this makes finding work even harder. To live the faith is a new challenge every day. But we are trying to give them strength and convince them to stay,” the bishop explained.

There are 60 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Faisalabad. The majority of their approximately 30,000 students are Muslim. Christians and Muslims going to school together should make it easier to live together, the bishop said. There are also plans to reopen a technical school in the near future, which will include housing for students who live far away.

Currently, 185,000 Catholics live in the 23 parishes of the diocese. They are ministered to by 46 diocesan and religious priests. A key aspect of the Church’s work is providing pastoral care to families and young people. Bishop Arshad, who comes from Lahore, where he also studied journalism as a young priest, emphasized that “preaching is important. Those who receive a good education are able to live the faith, even in a difficult environment.”

Bishop Arshad is apparently undaunted by complex tasks. Before Pope Francis sent him to Faisalabad, he served in the diplomatic service of the Vatican. In the diocese, the 50-year-old places all of his hopes in the cohesion of priests and the faithful.

“In the parishes, which can encompass up to 150 villages, the pastors are supported in their work by six to seven catechists; some villages see the pastor only once a year. The catechists receive a salary so that they can devote themselves fully to their tasks. Each catechist is responsible for about 20 villages.”

Every Sunday the pastors celebrate the Eucharist at three to four meeting places in order to reach as many of the faithful as possible.

Aid to the Church in Need supports the Faisalabad diocese, largely through building projects, including the construction or repair of churches and chapels, as well as construction of housing for priests and for catechists.

Aid to the Church in Need is an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. Websites: churchinneed.org (USA); acnuk.org (UK); aidtochurch.org (AUS); acnireland.org (IRL); acn-aed-ca.org (CAN); acnmalta.org (Malta)

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

In refugee limbo, Iraqi Christians keep the faith

by Kevin J. Jones (CNA/EWTN News) • December 29, 2014

Imad Ibraheem Daood with his wife Sajida and their four children, in a refugee center in Amman. (Kevin J. Jones/CNA)

Amman, Jordan — Threatened by forced conversion or death at the hands of the Islamic State, many Iraqi Christians have had to flee their homes – but one refugee family sheltered at a Jordanian church has declared their continued faith.

“We are nearly every day going to the church here. We are praying. Still we have the faith,” Dr. Imad Ibraheem Daood, a 47-year-old surgeon and father of four, told CNA Oct. 28.

“We lost many things, but still we have the faith. Still there is hope.”

“We trust in God,” added Yusif, his 13-year-old son.

Daood and his family used to live in the Christian town of Bartella, a little more than ten miles from Mosul in Iraq.

“We lived in very big houses,” he said; Valentin, his energetic teen daughter, described their homes as “palaces.”

Now they live in a refugee shelter: the church hall across from Our Lady of the Assumption Armenian Catholic Church in Amman.

Families of five or six sleep in areas not much larger than an office cubicle. Colorful sheets mounted on bland wooden partitions about four feet tall provide some privacy. A few festive decorations, hung along the walls, try to lighten the mood.

The refugees maintain an organized dignity. Their beds are simple, but neatly made. Purses and other items hang on hooks. But the 80 people who now live here share one only bath in common.

“It’s not enough to wash my children,” lamented Sajida, Daood’s wife. They can bathe only once or twice a week.

“We are living in a very bad situation,” Daood said. “We are afraid of diseases, getting sick. There is some difficulty in our food supply.”

“Every day becomes less and less,” he said of the food. “Especially the dinners. Most of the time we don’t have one.”

Outside the church hall, old men played backgammon to pass the time. One of them strikes a playful grin, takes out his dentures and displays them to entertain visitors and children.

Some of the young men helped paint the church.

Among them was Mareo. Daood’s 20-year-old son Ibad introduces him: “He lose his father in church in Baghdad. By explosion.”

Mareo, who speaks in uncertain English, said his father was killed in 2006. He was a policeman at Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Cathedral in the Karrada neighborhood of Baghdad. The cathedral has been the site of many deadly attacks since 2004.

Mareo believes his father died for the faith, and prays to him.

“We pray to make the situation more calm,” he said.

The young man and his mother left Iraq Sept. 10 thanks to funding from Caritas Jordan, a Catholic humanitarian agency.

“Caritas will help us buy food, buy water. Thank God!” Mareo exclaimed.

As of late October, Caritas Jordan helped about 2,000 Iraqi Christians fly to Jordan from Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan. The agency is assisting them and another 2,000 who came from Iraq by other means. Caritas has helped the refugees find shelter at churches or at rented houses, when available.

The U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services has provided about $350,000 to prepare several Jordanian church facilities to receive the Iraqis. The agency also supplied blankets, mattresses, and modest furniture.

Local Jordanians, both Christian and Muslim, have reached out to help the Iraqis. Prince Hasan has visited some of the church shelters.

Daood voiced gratitude for the help, but still worried: “It is not enough.”

Even so, the shelters are less dangerous than home.

“We didn’t feel safe there. We were afraid to be killed. Our houses, our things have been stolen. They threatened us (either) to be killed, or to become Muslim.”

He was speaking of “Daesh” as it is known in Arabic. English-speakers call it the Islamic State, whose violent expansion across Iraq and Syria has killed thousands and driven millions from their homes. Those who do not convert to its vision of Sunni Islam must pay a tax or flee for their lives.

“The situation is becoming worse and worse, especially for Christian people,” Daood said.

Many Christians had alreadsy fled to his home town due to the instability following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the later withdrawal of U.S. troops.

Daood and his family had already left their home several times for fear of violence. But the last time, in early August, was different.

“The invasion was sudden. No one even fought against them,” Daood said, questioning the inaction of the Iraqi government and its allied defense forces that had promised to defend Bartella.

“They just wanted to leave us, I think, to be killed,” he said, snapping his fingers: “Just like that.”

“They should have prepared for withdrawal, to protect the people. They should have announced it. Actually, they announced ‘we will not leave’.”

Some people in Bartella had asked whether they should carry weapons to defend themselves. According to Daood, the armed forces had replied: “No, we are ready to defend you. We will never leave you.”

“But what happened was exactly the opposite. They left us.”

“If we didn’t leave within hours … something terrible would have happened to us.”

Daood and his children had a harrowing flight from home. The Islamic State had cut off supplies and utilities to the town two months before invading in August.

They had no more than a few hours’ notice that Islamic State forces were on their way. Some people left behind the ill, the handicapped, and the elderly. They left at night with hundreds of other people, whose cars clogged the roads.

“We spent about five hours to go less than 60 kilometers,” Daood said. “We were afraid that a bomb might reach us, or Daesh might reach us. We were fighting with time, just to be away from them.”

“You have to stay, obey, and never say anything. Otherwise they will not accept you,” he said. “These people will not accept the other. This is the problem. In any country, there are many different kinds of people who live there, different religions. They are living together.”

“But these people, they want only themselves.”

He said Iraq was different before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion: “We had many Muslim friends. We were talking with them. There was no problem.”

“After the war, and this situation, probably they are starting to change,” Daood explained, adding that some Iraqi Muslims are adopting “these bad ideas about the Christians.”

He said some Muslims began to accuse Christians of not believing in God and said they needed to change their religion.

“You cannot defend (yourself), because there is no one to protect you. Anyone can kill you, hurt you, no one will care.”

Daood has given up on returning home, even if peace is reestablished.

“After a few months, everything will change again, and the crisis continues, and again and again. This is not a good situation, especially for my children.”

His two eldest children both hope to be doctors like their father.

Daood asked Americans to help him and his family.

“If they can help us to start a new life, in our new country…”

Valentin interjected: “A new future!”

“There is no future here,” her father continued sadly. “In Iraq there is no future. We want to go to some safe country, start a new life.”

“A new beginning,” Valentin said.

The future may be delayed.

Jordan hosts not only thousands of Iraqi refugees, but 1.4 million refugee Syrians. Millions more refugees are spread across the Middle East, and Western countries are reluctant to take in asylum seekers.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

In Zimbabwe, poverty is the Church’s biggest enemy

by Reinhard Backes (CNA/EWTN News) • December 30, 2014

A young boy stands in front of a simple mud hut in a village in the Diocese of Chinhoyi in Zimbabwe. (Jesuitenmission)

Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe — Father Felix Tachiona Mukaro is disappointed in his country’s politicians, as many Zimbabweans are, saying they are more concerned with power than the peoples’ poverty.

“All they care about is influence and power, not the country itself or the fact that the economy is in shambles and people don’t know how they are supposed to make it through the day,” he said in a recent interview with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.

Fr. Mukaro was ordained in 2007, and now works as a development expert in the Diocese of Chinhoyi, in the north of the country. He is confronted with daily evidence of the country’s political stagnation and the ongoing fight to succeed Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the country with an iron fist.

“While administering pastoral care we clearly see just how deeply the majority of the people are suffering,” the priest said.

Millions have in the meantime left Zimbabwe, resettling in neighboring Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa or starting new lives in the United States or Europe. People no longer trust the local currency, the Zimbabwe dollar, so those who can afford to, use the US dollar, the Euro, British pound or South African rand.

Many Zimbabweans who live abroad send money back home. However, “not everyone is so fortunate as to have family living abroad who can help,” Father Mukaro stressed.

“Many don’t even have a dollar a day in order to survive. And when priests speak out about the widespread injustice, they are threatened or even physically attacked,” he added.

Zimbabwe’s economic malaise is particularly palpable in the Chinhoyi diocese, which covers a vast, predominantly rural territory: mines have been closed, and farms that were once thriving have been expropriated and taken over by supporters of the governing party. Most of the land lies fallow. The priest does not expect rapid political change – he believes any real transformation must be preceded by a change in mentality. He puts great stock in the arduous, day-to-day pastoral work carried out by 48 priests in the 19 parishes of the diocese.

However, the local Church has scant resources. Distances are enormous and reliable means of transportation, such as cars, are often not available.

“Our diocese is dependent on aid” from Catholic agencies abroad, he said; “our priests really are destitute – they have no way to make a living.” And the people themselves cannot help the Church, because they are scrambling for basic necessities themselves.

The diocese is grateful support from abroad. It ensures the livelihood of its priests and thus the continuation of pastoral care in rural areas. Fr. Mukaro concluded: “Our work is based solely on the Gospel and we defend its values. If we were to accept contributions from politicians, this would undermine our pastoral care because we would then have to defend their actions.”

Aid to the Church in Need is an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. Websites: churchinneed.org (USA); acnuk.org (UK); aidtochurch.org (AUS); acnireland.org (IRL); acn-aed-ca.org (CAN); acnmalta.org (Malta)

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

Conference to consider the human element in Catholic family life

by CNA/EWTN News • January 2, 2015

(Catherine Scott via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0)

Rome, Italy — Catholic marriage preparation and pastoral care of the family in light of human nature will be the topic of an upcoming Rome conference that takes inspiration from the Extraordinary Synod on the Family.

The conference, hosted at Rome’s Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, aims “to make a constructive contribution to the reflections of the Church on marriage and the family,” a brochure said.

The event will take place at the Opus Dei-affiliated university March 12-13. It is organized by the university’s School of Canon Law, with participation from the university’s other schools.

Speakers include Cardinal Carlo Caffara of Bologna, who will speak on the topic “Faith and Culture in Marriage.” In addition to lectures, there will be presentations from experts on practical initiatives that have produced “abundant fruit” in marriage preparation and support for married couples.

The conference comes after the October 2014 Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family, which laid the groundwork for the October 2015 bishops’ synod on the same topic.

At focus is the “anthropological question,” that is, the nature of the human being. This question, the conference said, is “a necessary element for carrying out a truly effective pastoral care of the family.”

The conference will reflect on the Catholic vision of humanity and its relevance to the evangelization of the family. Its approaches will draw on theology, philosophy, the Christian sacraments, canon law and pastoral care.

Conference topics include the identity and relationship between men and women, the anthropological foundations of the indissolubility of marriage, and the place of family in the media.

The conference cited the 2014 extraordinary synod’s final message of Oct. 18, which said: “Faithful to Christ’s teaching, we look to the reality of the family today in all its complexity, with both its lights and shadows.”

Anthropological and cultural changes that influence all aspects of life, the synod said, require “an analytic and diversified approach.”

The conference will provide simultaneous translation in English, Spanish and German.

Registration for the general public is 80 Euros.

The conference’s Italian-language website is at pusc.it/can/conv2015.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

For Catholics in Ukraine ‘the situation in the war zones is catastrophic’

by Reinhard Backes (Aid to the Church in Need) • January 3, 2015

Volunteers distribute food in Ukraine in this undated photo. (Aid to the Church in Need)

Kharkiv, Ukraine — For Bishop Stanislav Shyrokoradiuk of Kharkiv-Zaporizha, the situation in Eastern Ukraine is dramatic: his diocese encompasses almost the entire eastern part of Ukraine, including areas that are no longer under the control of the government in Kyiv.

“The situation in the war zones is catastrophic. There is hunger. More than 80 people have already died of it in Luhansk and Donetsk,” the Bishop of Kharkiv-Zaporizha, who is also the director of Caritas Ukraine, emphasized during a talk with employees of the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need.

According to Bishop Shyrokoradiuk, more than 18 million people live in his diocese, including about 60,000 Roman Catholic Christians.

“We are a missionary Church,” he said. “Twenty years ago, we didn’t have a single parish; today there are more than 50. The faithful have Ukrainian, Polish, Russian as well as Vietnamese roots.”

The parochial work of the diocese is focused on pastoral as well as social and humanitarian tasks: “We receive shipments of relief supplies and medicine from Western Europe. We need this help, Christian solidarity, but also political aid,” said Bishop Shyrokoradiuk.

He is worried about the rising tide of refugees from the war zones, estimating there are more than 20,000 in Kharkiv at this time.

“We are trying to help where we can. Just a few weeks ago, we were at least able to give 300 pairs of shoes to children.”

But Bishop Shyrokoradiuk’s influence is limited. To his knowledge, the aid intended for people in the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk does not reach those in need.

In western Ukraine, Bishop Vitaliy Skomarovsky of Lutsk also sees the consequences of the battles in the East.

“The war may seem far away. But in reality, many young men from the western part of the country have joined the war. Just recently, a row of fir trees was felled in the cemetery of Lutsk to bury 13 young soldiers.”

Other cities have also buried soldiers killed in the line of duty. According to Bishop Skomarovsky, the Church is taking care of the bereaved as well as those families whose fathers have gone East as soldiers.

“The war is ever-present. We notice that financial resources are being used for it; many things in the social sector have been stopped. However, people are now doing a lot more on their own initiative, solidarity is growing among the people,” Bishop Skomarovsky said.

Warm clothing, among other things, has been collected because many soldiers in the East are inadequately equipped and feel as though they have been abandoned.

With 35 parishes and 25,000 faithful, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lutsk is the smallest in Ukraine. Until World War II, it was part of the Polish territory of Volhynia. Ukrainian nationalists carried out a number of massacres of the predominantly Polish population in the region, beginning in mid-July 1943. These were tolerated by the German occupying force. More than 50,000 people were killed.

As a result of the massacres, many Catholic parishes are still deserted today.

Bishop Skomarovsky commented: “A very, very large number of people participated in the Memorial Mass held at the cemetery of Skirche on 11 July 2014. However, I don’t feel any tension among the new young generation.”

In Ukraine, which is populated by many different demographic groups, this is a sign of hope of reconciliation.

Bishop Shyrokoradiuk of Kharkiv-Zaporizha said, “We hope for peace because many people are praying for it.”

Aid to the Church in Need is an international Catholic charity under the guidance of the Holy See, providing assistance to the suffering and persecuted Church in more than 140 countries. Websites: churchinneed.org (USA); acnuk.org (UK); aidtochurch.org (AUS); acnireland.org (IRL); acn-aed-ca.org (CAN); acnmalta.org (Malta)

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

Members of Congress: Abortion funding breaks health care law promise

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • December 26, 2014

Speaker John Boehner administers the the oath of office to members of the 113th Congress on Jan 3, 2013. (Official Photo by Heather Reed CC BY-NC 2.0)

Washington, D.C. — More than 75 members of Congress have written the Obama administration emphasizing that abortion coverage must be billed separately under the health care law, as it was promised.

“The abortion surcharge must be a separate payment. However, the proposed rule brazenly ignores the separate payment requirement in the law and instead specifies that the abortion surcharge may be collected in a single payment and the surcharge does not even have to be listed on the consumer’s bill,” the members of Congress wrote in a December letter to HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

When the law was passed, the separate billing for abortion coverage was meant to assuage concerns of those objecting to paying for abortion coverage for reasons of conscience. At least one health plan not offering abortion coverage was to be featured on each state insurance exchange set up under the law.

Back in September, however, an independent government watchdog found that five state exchanges offered only plans including abortion coverage. In addition, the Government Accountability Office reported that many insurance issuers were not separately billing enrollees for abortion coverage as was promised.

In the Affordable Care Act, Section 1303 directs health plan issuers on the insurance exchanges to “segregate” the estimated abortion coverage costs for all enrollees choosing such coverage.

However, the members of Congress charged in the letter, the proposed HHS rules allow insurers another way aside from separately billing abortion coverage: simply itemize the estimated cost of abortion coverage and send it as part of one single bill.

The text states, “Section 1303 of the Affordable Care Act permits, but does not require a QHP [qualified health plan] issuer to separately identify the premium for non-excepted abortion services on the monthly premium bill in order to comply with the separate payment requirement. A consumer may pay the premium for non-excepted abortion services and for all other services in a single transaction, with the issuer depositing the funds into the issuer’s separate allocation accounts.”

The members of Congress argued that the proposed rules go against the health care law.

“In contrast to the law, the proposed rule permits issuers to collect the premium in a single transaction. Additionally, issuers are permitted but not required ‘to separately identify the premium for non-excepted abortion services for the monthly premium bill in order to comply with the separate payment requirement’,” they wrote Secretary Burwell.

“Therefore under the proposed rule, the surcharge is not billed separately and will likely be all but invisible to the consumer,” they continued.

“[I]t is essential that the administration at least follow the minimal statutory requirements related to the accounting gimmick often referred to as the Nelson amendment,” they continued.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chair of the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, argued the lack of enforcement by the HHS is part of more broken promises from the Obama administration.

“President Obama’s solemn promise not fund abortion on demand continues to be broken with impunity,” the congressman said in a Dec. 18 statement.

Commenting on the health plan enrollees and the billing for abortion coverage on the insurance exchanges, he stressed, “Consumers have a right to know.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

FEATURES

It’s a Hard-Knock Life: ‘Annie’ Movie Review

by Carl Kozlowski • December 29, 2014

It’s been a hard-knock life for the new version of the movie musical “Annie,” if you believe the mostly scathing reviews that it has received from critics across the country. Only 18 percent of critics gave it a good rating on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, and the choice quotes thrown at the movie included the Los Angeles Times’ assessment that the movie is “grim.”

But I’m happy to report that when I actually sat down to watch the movie myself on Sunday night with a female friend, amid an absolutely packed theatre in that same city of Los Angeles, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the new “Annie” is in fact a tremendous amount of fun. And if we as adults without children liked it so much, then I have to give the film a full-hearted recommendation for families with kids.

Along with the previously reviewed “Big Eyes,” which provides a highly unpredictable and entertaining plot while being almost completely inoffensive for teens and adults, these provide two good movie options for the Christmas and New Year’s holiday break. And the inspirational true-life story “Unbroken” about an American who survived a harsh WWII Japanese POW camp - which I haven’t seen yet, also is drawing praise from Christian circles, giving teen and adult filmgoers a third stellar option at theatres.

Updating the classic Broadway musical from 1977 and the 1982 hit movie that originally brought its magic to the screen, the new “Annie” cleverly resets the story in present-day Manhattan rather than the Great Depression-era 1930s. More importantly, it also recasts the movie to make both Annie and her caretaker (now known as Will Stacks rather than Daddy Warbucks) African-American, Quvanzhane Wallis (who was Oscar-nominated for her 2013 debut role in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”) and Jamie Foxx as Stacks.

In the new movie, Annie isn’t actually an orphan, but rather was abandoned as a baby by her parents outside an Italian restaurant. She’s still under the care of a Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), who now harbors a slew of young girls in her apartment as a scheming foster parent.

Annie is always sneaking away from Miss Hannigan’s apartment to try and track down her parents, and on one eventful day, she literally runs smack into Stacks, a billionaire cellphone magnate who is running for mayor of New York City. He pulls her out of the way of a speeding truck, saving her life, and his heroic deed goes viral after being caught on a cellphone camera.

Stacks is a loner who has no kids or even a wife or girlfriend to speak of, but when his campaign advisor Guy (Bobby Cannavale, in a hilariously smarmy performance) tells him being around Annie would win over voters, he reluctantly allows her to move into his stunning penthouse apartment. As Annie adjusts to her new life of privilege and Stacks adjusts to having responsibility for another person, Miss Hannigan jealously schemes to ruin It all for them.

Sure, the plot is simple, and it stays that way since the focus is on the music and a child’s sense of wonder at getting to experience life in New York on both ends of the economic spectrum. For kids, it’s sure to be pure magic on that level, but there’s fun to be had beyond the musical numbers for adults.

The movie has slyly funny updates on the omnipotence of cellphone cameras, social media and viral videos, along with a dose of satire lobbed at today’s political campaigns and how much style has replaced any sense of substance in them. From the lead duo of Foxx and Wallis on down through the supporting players (including Rose Byrne as Stacks’ right-hand woman who is tired of being overlooked as a romantic interest) such as Diaz and Cannavale on down through the other girls and the smaller characters who color the edges of Annie’s life, the casting is terrific.

That isn’t to say the movie is absolutely perfect. Diaz has been taking some brutal critiques for her off-pitch singing, but the movie slyly acknowledges the actress’ lack of pipes by inventing a backstory for Hannigan in which she was fired as a background singer for ‘90s dance-music act C&C Music Factory. Strangely, it’s the cast’ most accomplished singer – the Grammy-winning, million-selling Foxx - - who sounds the strangest, with his voice buried in the mix of his lead-singing numbers.

Director Will Gluck co-wrote the sharp update with Aline Brosh McKenna, and the two have delivered a movie that, regardless of what other critics have to say. One attacked the movie by saying that its message seems to be “rich people are nice too.” In an era in which class warfare is played by the mainstream media and the wealthy are demonized at all turns, perhaps that explains why the critics are ganging up on this fine family film. Or maybe it’s the fact that it’s a fine family film.

Either way, surveyed audiences have rated it an A-. I’d say that’s about right, and have no doubt anyone in our audience who sees this will feel the same way.

Carl Kozlowski has been a professional film critic and essayist for the past five years at Pasadena Weekly, in addition to the Christian movie site Movieguide.org, the conservative pop culture site Breitbart.coms Big Hollywood, the Christian pop culture magazine Relevant and New City newspaper in Chicago. He also writes in-depth celebrity interviews for Esquire.com and The Progressive. He is owner of the podcasting site radiotitans.com, which was named one of the Frontier Fifty in 2013 as one of the 50 best talk-radio outlets in the nation by talkers.com and will be relaunching it in January 2014 after a five-month sabbatical. He lives in Los Angeles.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

FEATURES

Moral Courage

by Alice von Hildebrand • January 2, 2015

Which one of us would fail to respond enthusiastically to the courage of heroes, who in moments of grave danger, risk their lives to help their fellow men. When they survive, they are honored. When their generosity leads to their demise, their spouse or family get recognition.

There are boys who already as toddlers are attracted by danger, and often meaninglessly risk their lives to prove that they are “machos.” My brother was one such: more than once, he flirted with death by canoeing in the raging North sea…and survived. But when he died in a car accident, I recall saying to myself: it would not have been appropriate for him to die in bed.

But there are also some boys - usual a minority - who conscious that life is a precious gift, never take unnecessary risks. They are usually ridiculed as being “sissies” or “girlish” and are looked down upon as cowards.

But history teaches us that some of the greatest heroes were not machos: at times they were timid young girls. Let us recall the heroism of a St. Agnes - a teen ager who defied tyrants and did not hesitate to accept torture and death rather than to betray the One she loved.

In our own time, Joan Andrews, an unusually shy girl who dreaded to be sent to the store to get some item for her mother, showed heroic moral courage in defying the promoters of abortion. She was jailed for months. She is a heroin of the prolife movement. All Saints shared this moral courage, - so very different from physical courage, even though they do not exclude one another.

My theme is moral courage but a few words about physical courage are appropriate. One striking thing about this virtue is that it often implies fighting the vagaries of nature: devastating fires, flood, hurricanes, storms, earthquakes. All of them are life threatening, and make us shake from fear. In some cases, the “enemy” can also be other human beings. This is the tragic case in wars: many of them were waged for the sake of power and domination and were, I fear, illegitimate. Some of them were justified, for example in case of self- defense: a country unjustly attacked has a right to defend itself, and those who risk their lives for a just cause deserve our admiration and are rightly called heroes. Charles Peguy has sung their praise: “happy are those who died provided it was in a just war.”

In physical courage, there can, however, be a potential moral danger namely that the courageous person is partly motivated by brashness: a desire to prove oneself to be “above fear,” a dangerous self- assurance, which makes one assume that one is a “superman” who achieves victory by his bravery.

Moral courage does not challenge the forces of nature: the enemy is much more dangerous for it does not threaten our body, but our soul. Christ has warned us that this is the one danger we should fear most.

I am referring to poisonous errors and moral evil, such as heresies and moral perversions. The first endangers our faith, and so do venomous philosophies that aim at corrupting a society. Chesterton, in his own inimitable fashion, has condemned them in the following words:

“We say that the dangerous criminal is the educated criminal .We say that the most dangerous criminal now is the entirely lawless philosopher. Compared to him burglars and bigamists are essentially moral men. My heart goes out to them”. (The Man who was Thursday. P. 43).

What a condemnation of many of our colleges and universities!

One of the many stupidities one hears in them is that ideas are harmless: action alone is dangerous. Freedom of thought and speech is a “dogma,” except however, for those who defend the objectivity of truth and moral values. But elementary common sense teaches us that some of the most disastrous events that have taken place in history, - either the French revolution, the Communist revolution and Nazism -, all started with the dangerous sword called a pen. Whether we think of the writings of Voltaire and his disciples, or those of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, or Nietzsche, to mention but a few, we realize that millions and millions of deaths were the evil fruits of their vicious ideas, born of the pride of “geniuses” convinced that they are “potential” saviors of the world and if followed, will make of this earth an earthly paradise.

Another popular “intellectual” dogma is that certainty is attainable only in domains devoted to what I dub “neutral’ truths”, that is all truths related empirical sciences and mathematics which do not interfere with our “life style.” All “sensitive” truths are at best “opinions” and it should be left to the individual to pick and choose.

Our enthusiasm for moral heroes is likely to make us assume that – like them-, we shall courageously risk our lives in order to fight error and vice. In fact, there is a coward lying dormant in all of us. At the last supper. Peter, speaking in the names of the Apostles, said solemnly that “he was willing to die for Christ”, but a few hours later, the same Peter said: “I know not that man.” Tragically when he said that he would gladly give his life for the one he had acknowledged to be “the Messiah, the son of the living God,” he was sincere. Subjectively he had convinced himself that his love guaranteed his courage, but had to make the humiliating discovery that, like all of us, he was a coward.

In his great dialogue, Phaedrus, Plato wrote the following sentence:

“…we should dare to speak the truth, when truth is our theme.” (247)

What is amazing is the word “dare.” It definitely implies that some danger is involved. Why should it be dangerous to utter a truth? It is a crucial word in the human vocabulary and yet Plato is giving us a warning: we need courage to speak the truth. Obviously he is not referring to what I dubbed “neutral” truths. If I say that the distance between New York and Philadelphia is 94miles, I am not taking any risk. But they are truths of such nature that to proclaim them is “dangerous,” because they challenge us and by their very nature are implicit commands: when someone declares Christ to be God, these very words order us to recognize that He deserves our adoration and our obedience. When someone declares: “the murder of innocent babies in the womb is an abominable crime,” he antagonizes the powerful movement called family planning; if echoing Plato, (Laws, Book VIII, 836), he proclaims that homosexual acts are against nature and a threat to the welfare of any society, he will become an enemy of those who, first underground and then openly, have convinced the public at large that actions condemned in Genesis are now - that we have liberated ourselves of old taboos, - perfectly legitimate. We are entitled by birth right, to choose the life style that gives us “self- fulfillment.”

This perverse view has been carefully prepared by a so called “education,” aiming at convincing us that there are no absolute moral truths: they are all relative and depend upon the time and the culture that one happens to live it. It was declared to be “high time” to liberate ourselves from paralyzing taboos which have kept us in bondage. This view also justifies “same sex marriage” - a moral abomination that threatens the very fabric of society and that a no- nonsense Italian peasant would condemn on the ground that “no door can be opened if lock and key are identical.” From time immemorial - starting with Genesis - marriage has been declared to be the union of a man and a woman – whose spiritual, intellectual, affective and biological structures are so admirably complementary. Today in our morally decadent world, it is neither prudent nor politically correct to proclaim clearly and loudly that the natural moral law is as valid today as it was when given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is a risky affair to proclaim the objectivity of truth and of moral values in our society seeped in “dictatorial relativism.”

One needed moral courage in Germany to go on roof tops and denounce Nazism, proclaiming loudly and clearly the diabolical character of its philosophy: atheistic, totalitarian, immoral, racist, trampling on the dignity of the human person .We cherish to live in illusion and refuse to see “unpleasant truths” challenging us to abandon our comfortable cocoons, and giving up the pleasures that we are “entitled” to.

A comfortable and safe life has a powerful attraction to all of us. We do not like Cassandras who disturb our slumbers. Let us recall the words attributed to Archimedes when soldiers interrupted his geometrical work; … “do not disturb my circles.” He was murdered. We are all like him, and yet, from time to time, God sends us heroes: those willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of fighting Evil par excellence: moral evil.

In his Memoirs, My Battle against Hitler, Dietrich von Hildebrand deplored the “the political prudence” of German bishops, who were clearly called upon to denounce the “Fuehrer.” It was clearly their mission to denounce this diabolical philosophy, so clearly in contrast with the teaching of Holy Church which they had the mission to defend. Had they, from day one, been united in declaring: non possumus, as it was their duty to do as pastors of their flock, there might have been a slight chance that the attraction of this modern anti Christ would have been weakened. In 1933, most of them were “prudent.” Thank God, later when they were forced to open their eyes, several of them lived up to their mission. These are moments when one recalls the fearful words of the Apocalypse: “because you are neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth.”(III-16)

History repeats itself: how desirable it would have been for our spiritual leaders today to go on the streets and loudly oppose the legalization of abortion followed by the legal placet given to homo sexual marriages - views which years ago would have triggered screams of horror.

But “prudence” (a euphemism for cowardice) is not the only virtue that the Evil one has hi jacked to spread confusion. His new victory was achieved when – with diabolical cleverness - he tried to convince a sleepy public that the Church – in her radical condemnation of sins against nature, is “lacking compassion.” It should be clear that “true charity” is incompatible with “anathema sit.” It is “high time” to realize that a condemning Church is not and cannot be a “Church of love” as she claims to be.

The word “compassion” (to suffer with) is indeed a beautiful word prominent in the Gospel bound to win our assent as soon as we hear it. But Lucifer – the father of lies - has now cleverly whispered into the ears of sleeping Catholics that the Church has clearly betrayed her “mission” and while claiming on paper that She is a Church of love is in fact a ruthless judge sending millions of her so-called children to hell. Satan now has the noble mission of reminding the Church of what her “authentic”’ teaching is; he presents himself of an apostle, he who truly understand Christ’s message which is MERCY.

“Infiltration” is a much more effective way to conquer a citadel that a frontal attack – powerful as the latter might be. Once the enemy is “within,” victory is guaranteed. This is the one chance given Lucifer to defeat or at least to weaken the Rock of Peter that he fears more than anything else: the Roman Catholic Church, built by Christ, and who through Peter, has the key leading to the Kingdom. From the very beginning, She has been the butt of his vicious frontal attacks, but today his technique is to use “holy words” while perverting their meaning: the word remains the same; what it communicates is radically different.

Compassion is today the Devil’s preferred tool: it sounds so “catholic.” Is not the Gospel replete with examples of compassion: the father of the prodigal son hastening toward him; Christ showings compassion toward the woman caught in adultery. Our Savior is the good Pastor, leaving 99 sheep to look for the lost one. This is, according to Satan, the authentic message of the Gospel which in our time has been distorted due to “paralytic morality rules” which are perfectly meaningless in the modern world. The time has come to proclaim on roof tops: true love of the sinner inevitably means a loving understanding for his sin: for they essentially belong together. The homo sexual loves homosexuality; a practice that gives him so much satisfaction that he “cannot live without.” Up to now we have totally overlooked what is “positive” in homosexuality by ruthlessly condemning it. The call of the hour is to do justice to what is positive in this type of relationship.

Once again, Plato gave us an answer to that question: why is this sin against nature so attractive?

His answer is that it is “triggered by “unbridled lust” (Laws, I, 626). But that was a long time ago; should not modern man benefiting from the discoveries of “social sciences” honestly raise the following question: “it not God himself who has linked certain activities with pleasure? is not pleasure to be viewed as a gift that we are invited to enjoy? Is it not sheer ingratitude not to make the best of what is our nature? We both enjoy it; what could be wrong with it?”

An analogy with surgery might be of help: if a patient is afflicted with a cancerous tumor close to his heart, he has no choice but find an outstanding surgeon who will remove these tissues which happen to be deeply incrusted in his body. This can only be done by means of a scalpel – an instrument of extreme sharpness – just to look at it makes one shudders. The patient understandably dreading such a grave operation will look at the surgeon with fear and horror. He is a “butcher” and has no understanding for the fact that the tumor is so ensconced in his body that to remove it will inevitably not only cause terrible sufferings but will leave deep scars on him. He is now the enemy.

The same applies to heresies and moral perversions: the initiator of these devilish lies has an easy time convincing gullible masses that any condemnation of them is inevitably harsh and uncharitable toward their perpetrators. Lutheranism is Luther’s child, and to condemn it is to wound its father with a mortal wound. Is it not more “compassionate” to look for positive traits in this doctrine?

I shall dub this approach “a eunuch charity.” For Luther’s greatest enemy is Lutheranism, and in refuting it and fighting it, we prove ourselves to be the loving friend of the “great” (tragic) reformer.

The words that we should meditate on today are those of St. Paul to the Galatians: “have I become your enemy because I spoke the truth?” (Galatians, 4 - 16)

How right Kierkegaard was when he wrote: “we are all more or less afraid of the truth,” because to know it means to live it and to live it necessarily implies suffering and persecution in a world in which the very word is hated or at times ridiculed, as by Nietzsche who wrote: truth is the type of error that some people cannot do without.

We live in a fearful “world,” a world for which Christ refuses to pray. But through his death on the cross, He has given us the tools to achieve victory for He has vanquished the “world.”

Alice von Hildebrand is a lecturer and an author, whose works include: The Privilege of Being a Woman (2002) and The Soul of a Lion: The Life of Dietrich von Hildebrand (2000), a biography of her late husband. She was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of St. Gregory by Pope Francis in 2013.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

SUNDAY • JANUARY 4, 2015

The Epiphany of the Lord

First Reading (Is 60:1-6; NRSV)

Arise, shine; for your light has come,

and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For darkness shall cover the earth,

and thick darkness the peoples;

but the Lord will arise upon you,

and his glory will appear over you.

Nations shall come to your light,

and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes and look around;

they all gather together, they come to you;

your sons shall come from far away,

and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.

Then you shall see and be radiant;

your heart shall thrill and rejoice,

because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,

the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

A multitude of camels shall cover you,

the young camels of Midian and Ephah;

all those from Sheba shall come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense,

and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.

Second Reading (Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6; NRSV)

For surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Gospel Reading (Mt 2:1-12; NRSV)

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

MONDAY • JANUARY 5, 2015

Memorial of St. John Neumann

First Reading (1 Jn 3:22–4:6; NRSV)

We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Gospel Reading (Mt 4:12-17, 23-25; NRSV)

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,

on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

the people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

TUESDAY • JANUARY 6, 2015

Tuesday after Epiphany

First Reading (1 Jn 4:7-10; NRSV)

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Gospel Reading (Mk 6:34-44; NRSV)

As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” When they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.

WEDNESDAY • JANUARY 7, 2015

Wednesday after Epiphany

First Reading (1 Jn 4:11-18; NRSV)

Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

Gospel Reading (Mk 6:45-52; NRSV)

Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. He intended to pass them by. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out; for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

THURSDAY • JANUARY 8, 2015

Thursday after Epiphany

First Reading (1 Jn 4:19–5:4; NRSV)

We love because he first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.

Gospel Reading (Lk 4:14-22; NRSV)

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

FRIDAY • JANUARY 9, 2015

Friday after Epiphany

First Reading (1 Jn 5:5-13; NRSV)

Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Gospel Reading (Lk 5:12-16; NRSV)

Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to tell no one. “Go,” he said, “and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.” But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

SATURDAY • JANUARY 10, 2015

Saturday after Epiphany

First Reading (1 Jn 5:14-21; NRSV)

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal.

We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Gospel Reading (Jn 3:22-30; NRSV)

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized — John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.

Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”