VOLUME 1, ISSUE 25  •  JUNE 20, 2015

Table of Contents

Copyright Notice

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: Judges should protect human dignity, not violate it

Caring for creation is a duty for all, Pope says ahead of encyclical launch

Pope Francis to parents: Do you believe in the beauty of love?

Is climate change natural or man-induced? For Pope Francis, it’s both

In Vatican trial, former archbishop faces sex abuse charges

Benedict XVI’s summer plans – rare public events and a visit to Castel Gandolfo

Pope Francis: Receive new encyclical with ‘open heart’

Don’t blame God when someone dies – trust in the resurrection, Pope says

A meeting to remember: seminarians chat with Benedict XVI

Environment encyclical takes bold stance on controversial issues

Pope Francis blasts abortion, population control in new encyclical

The Pope’s take on transgender issues? Accept the body God gave you

Link to full text of the Pope’s new encyclical, Laudato Si

Magisterium, not secret authors, had final say on encyclical

Vatican: Encyclical aims to promote common good, not take sides

Saint Francis and his star role in the Pope’s new encyclical

The first encyclical wholly from Francis overturns expectations

Will Pope Francis change the date of Easter?

Love life, have fun – a Pope Francis pep talk to Special Olympians

WORLD NEWS

Mosul archbishop’s plea to the West: Save us from ISIS

For Pakistan Catholics, Mary is protector and bridge for dialogue

What happens when an entire country becomes infested with demons?

Muslim leaders in Lebanon condemn persecution of Christians in the Middle East

In Thailand, Catholic seminary marks eight vibrant decades

A new church is consecrated in United Arab Emirates amid hope for peace, dialogue

Summorum Pontificum Conference celebrates Benedict XVI’s liturgical legacy

Catholics in Holy Land aggrieved by arson attack on monastery in Israel

U.S. NEWS

Married couples to Catholic Church: Give us clear, positive teaching on marriage

Minnesota archbishop resigns with ‘clear conscience’ amid sex abuse charges

For Archbishop Gomez, assisted suicide bill is empty compassion

How the U.S. bishops believe America can overcome racial violence

Ahead of Supreme Court marriage decision, states act to protect religious freedom

Top U.S. bishops unwavering in support of traditional marriage ahead of Synod

After mass shooting horror, S.C. Catholics mourn with Charleston church

U.S. bishops on ‘Laudato Si’ – it’s about conversion

Infallible? Informal? How binding is the new encyclical on Catholics?

FEATURES

Love, Tolerance, and the Making of Distinctions

Fathers and Their Families

Unsympathetic confessors abuse the sacrament and turn people off

Double movie review: ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Love and Mercy’

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Sunday • June 21, 2015

Monday • June 22, 2015

Tuesday • June 23, 2015

Wednesday • June 24, 2015

Thursday • June 25, 2015

Friday • June 26, 2015

Saturday • June 27, 2015

The Catholic Digital News

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

Volume 1, Issue 25 • June 20, 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: Judges should protect human dignity, not violate it

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 13, 2015

Pope Francis addresses priests, bishops, theologians, and nuns in the Sarajevo Cathedral in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 6, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — On Saturday, Pope Francis spoke to members of an Italian judiciary council about their responsibility to protect man’s dignity, and said a culture rooted in Christian values is necessary for keeping crimes and corruption at bay.

“Globalization itself,” the pontiff said, “carries with it aspects of possible confusion and disorientation, such as when it becomes a vehicle for introducing customs, ideas, even standards, foreign to a social fabric with consequential deterioration of cultural roots.”

In light of this “profound shock” to cultural roots, he added it is important for public authorities and those in the judiciary field to use their office to “give stability and resistance to the foundations of human society through the recovery of fundamental values.”

The Pope said the true foundation for these values is found in Christianity: “the love of God, which is inseparable from the love of neighbor.”

Such a foundation, he said, can serve to block the spread of criminal activity and the “plague of corruption,” which are also present in developed democracies.

Pope Francis made these remarks during a Jun. 13 audience at the Vatican with members of the Italian Superior Council of the Magistrature, a political entity which aims to ensure autonomy and independence for judiciaries from other branches of the Italian government.

One way of criminal activity and corruption, the pontiff told the judiciaries, is through the education of new generations in an “anthropology and way of life” which responds to the “lofty and profound inspirations of the human soul.”

For this reason, institutions should work toward the promotion of the “human person and of peaceful coexistence,” he said.

“Justice is not done in the abstract, but always considers man in his true value, as a being created in the image of God, and called to achieve, here on earth, His likeness.”

Pope Francis also observed the how the interventions made by judiciaries in the face of violations against the law not only affect individuals, but communities.

“Rightly,” he said, there is placed “particular emphasis on the theme of human rights, which constitutes the fundamental nucleus of the recognition of essential human dignity.”

The Holy Father warned against abuses which, “instead of promoting and guaranteeing human dignity, actually threaten or even violate it.”

The Pope concluded by remembering the former vice president of Catholic Action, judge and politician Vittorio Bachelet, who was assassinated in 1980 by the Brigate Rosse (Red Brigades).

“May his witness as a man, a Christian, and a jurist continue to animate your commitment to the service of justice and the common good.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Caring for creation is a duty for all, Pope says ahead of encyclical launch

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2015

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square after the Wednesday general audience, May 7, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis said Sunday that his coming encyclical on the care of creation is not just for some, but is addressed to all, and serves as an invitation to pay more attention to environmental destruction and recovery.

In his comments to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his June 14 Angelus address, Pope Francis noted how his upcoming encyclical on the care of creation, “Laudato Si: On the Care of the Common Home,” will be published this Thursday, June 18.

“This encyclical is addressed to all,” he said, and invited the world to participate in its publication “with a renewed attention to environmental degradation, but also to recovery” of one’s own territory.

“Let us pray so that everyone may receive (the encyclical’s) message and grow in responsibility toward the common home God has entrusted to us.”

Francis made his comments on the encyclical after leading pilgrims in the traditional Marian prayer, which he does every Sunday in St. Peter’s Square.

Before leading those gathered in the Angelus prayer, the Pope reflected on the day’s scripture readings, particularly the Gospel, which focused on two parables using the image of seeds planted in the ground.

On the image of the mustard seed presented by Jesus in the day’s Gospel from Mark, Pope Francis noted how despite being the smallest of all seeds, once planted it grows into “the largest of all plants” in the garden.

He said that the kingdom of God is like the mustard seed since it is often viewed as “a humanly small and apparently irrelevant reality.”

“To enter and become a member one needs to be poor in heart; not trusting in their own abilities, but in the power of the love of God; not acting to be important in the eyes of the world, but precious in the eyes of God, who prefers the simple and the humble,” Francis explained.

If we live according to these criteria, then the power of God “bursts through us and transforms what is small and modest into a reality that leavens the whole mass of the world and of history,” he continued.

Francis turned to a second parable offered in the Gospel, which tells of a man who plants seeds on his land that grow without his effort, and who then cuts the crop when the harvest comes.

The man could be either awake or asleep and the seed would still grow on its own because the man trusted in both the seed’s own capacities as well as the fertility of the soil, the Pope said.

In the Gospel the seed is seen as a symbol for the Word of God, he noted, and explained that just as the “humble seed” grows in the ground, so God’s Word stirs and works in the heart of those who hear it.

“God has entrusted his Word to our land, that is, to each of us with our concrete humanity. We are able to be fruitful, because the Word of God is a creative word” that leads to a full harvest, the Pope continued.

Francis stressed that it is always God himself who makes his kingdom grow since only he can make it take root and mature.

Man, he said, is God’s “humble collaborator, who contemplates and rejoices in the creative divine action and waits patiently for the fruits.”

Pope Francis closed his reflections by saying that although our own “weak” efforts might seem small when faced with the complexity of the world’s current problems, we have no reason to fear difficulties if we unite our work with Christ.

“The victory of the Lord is secure: his love will sprout and make every seed of goodness grow on the earth. This opens us to trust and hope, despite the dramas, injustices and the sufferings we meet,” he said.

After leading pilgrims in the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis greeted pilgrims present from around the world, and gave special mention to a group coming from Houston, Tx., before wishing everyone a good lunch and asking for prayers.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis to parents: Do you believe in the beauty of love?

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2015

Pope Francis with a group of disabled children, led by Unitalsi Lazio in Santa Martha on May 29, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — In an address on Sunday, Pope Francis asked parents if they believed in the beauty of the love God gives to a man and a woman, and told them to make sure their children see this love in little signs of affection.

“God calls men and women to be parents who believe in love, who believe in its beauty,” the Pope said June 14.

“I want to ask you, do you believe in the beauty of love? Do you believe in the greatness of love? Do you have faith in this? This is a daily faith.”

The Pope’s words were addressed to the parents of communicants and confirmation candidates participating in the convention of the Diocese of Rome alongside the priests and catechists leading their formation.

In his address, the Pope said there is need for a “moral and spiritual rebirth” in the city of Rome, which he said has become subject to relativism and a destructive “ideological colonization” being pushed by schools and the secular society.

He reminded the parents that they are the first ones responsible for their children’s education, and should correct the “strange ideas” children are frequently subjected to in their classes or reading material.

Francis also spoke on different aspects of married life, specifically highlighting the vocation of parents, the communion of a married couple and the family, and the family’s mission.

To be a father and a mother is a call from God, he said, explaining that the way marriage mirrors God’s eternal love is a “mystery, but providence wanted to entrust it particularly to man and woman, called to love each other without reservation.”

The special love shared between spouses is not simply limited to feelings of passion or even an initial enthusiasm that might pass, but is rather founded on “the beauty of love, and this must be discovered every day.”

He said that it is a beautiful testimony for children when they see their parents make peace after a fight, and when they express their love through little caresses or kisses.

“Don’t ever forget that your children are always watching you, and when they see that a father and mother love each other, children grown in an air of love, in happiness, also in security, because they know that they are safe in the love of their father and mother,” the Pope continued.

Francis also warned against the damage done to children when they see their parents fighting, insulting or even beating each other every day.

“When you fall into these sins, think that the first victims are your own children. Your own flesh,” he said, explaining that children are constantly “scrutinizing” their parents “to see if it’s possible to be good and to see if reciprocal love can overcome every difficulty.”

Pope Francis then turned to the differences between men and women, saying that parenthood is founded on the complimentarily of men and women, as the Bible reminds us.

The Pope said that when engaged couples come to him and tell him they want to get married, he always tells the man that his vocation is to make his wife “more of a woman,” and tells the woman that her vocation is to make her husband “more of a man.”

Communion in marriage comes from this “handcrafted work” of learning to love each other in one’s differences, he said.

This complimentarily of spouses also helps children mature in their own identity when comparing the different ways their fathers and mothers love.

“Through the feminine figure we men learn to encounter in life the extraordinary beauty of women, and women (bring) similar things learning from the masculine figure that man is different, and has his way of feeling, thinking and living,” the Pope noted.

Francis then spoke about families that are separated, and lamented that in modern society such scenarios “seem inevitable.”

Even though parents have been separated due to wounds or problems, “the Church carries you in her heart, and your educative role is not interrupted,” he observed.

He encouraged parents in separations to collaborate and look for agreements rather than resort to fighting, so as to ensure the happiness of their children.

“Please, don’t use your children as hostages!” the Pope said, explaining that “it does so much damage” to children when their parents speak badly about one another.

To do this “is terrible, because that child, that boy or girl, grows up with a tension that they don’t know how to resolve and they learn the ugly path of hypocrisy, to say … Never, never speak badly about each other, never!”

Forgiveness is an essential aspect to every marriage, the Pope said, and is something that must be practiced every day in order to carry out the family’s mission of being collaborators in the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Pope then turned to the role of grandparents, noting that the elderly constitute a fourth of Rome’s population. Grandparents have a place of “dignity” in the family, and are a source of wisdom and memory, Francis said.

He noted that in many countries when practicing the faith was prohibited, it is the grandparents who have passed it on by teaching children prayers and taking them to be baptized in secret.

Instead of putting them in nursing homes, “don’t be ashamed of grandparents! Don’t be ashamed of the elderly,” Pope Francis said. “They give us wisdom, prudence, which help us a lot.”

He closed his address by encouraging spouses to deepen in their love for one another, and to always show their affection for each other, because it does their children good to see it.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Is climate change natural or man-induced? For Pope Francis, it’s both

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2015

Pope Francis greets pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the Wednesday general audience on Nov. 19, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — One of the most challenging scientific questions Pope Francis faces in his new encyclical on creation is that of climate change, which a source close to the document says the Pope addresses in a balanced perspective without taking sides.

“The great novelty which emerges from the encyclical is that it comes from a shepherd who’s thinking of all those who are his,” a source familiar the encyclical has said.

“(It) has a big overview, the capacity of helping us walk towards a more integral ecology that is all inclusive and comprehensive.”

No one ought to feel “left out” in the encyclical, he said, “No one should be able to say ‘oh, the pope talked to this side or that side’ and say ‘I have a clean conscious because it’s not addressed to me.”

The encyclical will be published June 18. Its title, “Laudato Si,” means “Praised be You.” It is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

One of the challenges Francis has faced with the encyclical is appreciating the scientific consensus on topics such as climate change.

The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the encyclical itself acknowledges that “the scientific community is giving clear, consensual but complex answers” on climate change, and that “the causes are several.”

While these causes can be put in both ‘natural’ and ‘human’ categories, they mainly fall within the “human” sphere, he noted.

“Great natural forces are not under our control; human causes are. There is strong scientific evidence that the human factors are already having much impact and causing great damage not only to nature itself but also to the lives of people across the globe, especially the poor,” the source observed.

Because of this “it is morally imperative that we human beings take responsibility for what we are doing” and work to stop damaging trends while finding new ways to produce, distribute and consume products.

However for this to happen, there must be a change of heart so that humanity is more open developing these new trends, which aim to better care for our common home and those who live in it.

With this perspective, the source said, everyone will feel more impelled to act, whether they are passionate about saving trees or having drinkable water, or whether they are everyday people living in ordinary neighborhoods, someone who works on ecology policies in New York.

The source said that if the encyclical could be summed up in a tweet, it would be “Gated communities are over,” not because someone has pushed the gate down, but because “people are saying we cannot go on living like this.”

In his Sunday Angelus address Pope Francis himself spoke about the document, saying that “this encyclical is addressed to all.”

He invited the world to participate in its June 18 publication “with a renewed attention to environmental degradation, but also to recovery” of one’s own territory.

He prayed that everyone “may receive its message and grow in responsibility toward the common home God has entrusted to us.”

In a recent editorial, the Rome-based, Jesuit-published magazine La Civilta Cattolica reflected on the encyclical’s importance and on the challenges facing the Pope in the area of scientific consensus, including climate change.

Debates about environmental responsibilities have consequences for the well-being of humanity, La Civilta Cattolica said. They are not simply campaigns to save a rare animal or plant, though these can be important. Rather, the debate is about how to ensure that “hundreds of millions of people have clean water to drink and clean air to breathe.”

“This is a serious moral responsibility which we can no longer remove ourselves from. Failure to respond would be a sin of omission,” the editorial said.

On the topic of climate change, La Civilta Cattolica said it is “not contested” that the planet is warming. It cited the “very stark” November 2014 Synthesis Report of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Just like most of us, Pope Francis faces the challenge, in preparing his encyclical, of properly appreciating the scientific consensus about climate change, its causes and consequences, and the needed remedies,” the magazine continued.

At the same time, it said that even when those in environmental debates do not agree on some research findings, there are problems that are “obvious and need the attention of the faithful.” These include water pollution, “monocultures” that harm the ground and people’s livelihoods, and the extinction of plant and animal species.

The editorial countered the vision of “a moment of doom” in which human greed, stupidity, carelessness and pride have caused irreversible damage leading to self-destruction.

Rather, it suggested that this moment is an opportunity.

“For the first time, in a mature way, we have to exercise a common responsibility for the earth, our common home,” La Civilta Cattolica said.

With all global eyes turned toward Francis to set a moral tone on the topic of the environment, “the world’s leading religious leader will draw upon his faith, upon the teaching of the Church, and upon the best information and advice available, demonstrating how each of us can manage, gather and sift the information, to judge, to decide and, finally, to act,” the editorial said.

“His goal is not to speculate nor to support this or that theory, but to invite people of goodwill to consider thoroughly their responsibility for future generations, and to act accordingly.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

In Vatican trial, former archbishop faces sex abuse charges

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2015

A view of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, Jan. 25, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Former papal nuncio Josef Wesolowski will be tried by the Vatican’s criminal court for sexual abuse of minors and for possession of child pornography.

The Vatican has said that Pope Francis “wishes to address (the case) justly and rigorously.”

Fr. Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said last year that “from the very first moments that this case was made known to them, moved without delay and correctly in light of the fact that former nuncio Wesolowski held the position of a diplomatic representative of the Holy See,” particularly in recalling the former nuncio to Rome for canonical trial.

Wesolowski, a Polish-born laicized archbishop, was papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic from 2008 until he resigned in August 2013 due to allegations that he had paid for sexual relations with minors.

He was recalled to Rome, after which he was put on trial by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In June 2014, the tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found him guilty of sexual abuses. In response to the verdict, the Vatican ruled that Wesolowski would be laicized — the most serious canonical penalty for the archbishop.

Wesolowski was also criminally charged by the Vatican’s penal court. The first hearing of the criminal trial will take place July 11.

The Promoter of Justice, the Vatican’s public prosecutor, has investigated his conduct. The former nuncio was kept under house arrest in the Vatican, rather than being jailed in Vatican City’s prison, due to poor health.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the former nuncio is “accused of a number of offenses committed both during his stay in Rome from August 2013 until his arrest and in the period he spent in the Dominican Republic, during the five years in which he held the office of apostolic nuncio.”

The criminal charges against Wesolowski include abuse of minors while he was nuncio to the Dominican Republic. The allegations are based on evidence from the judicial authorities of Santo Domingo, the country’s capital.

The Vatican press office statement stressed “these serious allegations will be scrutinized by the competent judicial body.” The trial will be assisted by technical appraisals of the IT systems Wesolowski used. If necessary, the trial will include international legal cooperation to assist in evaluating the testimony of competent authorities in Santo Domingo.

Fr. Lombardi told journalists that no international request has yet been submitted by Vatican authorities with regard to the Wesolowski case.

Concerning the alleged crimes committed in Rome, Wesolowski is being charged with possession of child pornography under a 2013 law introduced by Pope Francis.

That law reformed the Vatican penal code and extended its effect. The reform applied the law to papal nuncios and Holy See diplomats, as well as to the employees of bodies or institutions linked to the Holy See, whether or not they are located in Vatican City State territory.

Previously, the penal code applied only to all the employees and officials of the Roman Curia.

After the original accusations against Wesolowski became public, a 13-year-old boy came forward with further allegations that he had solicited him for sexual favors in exchange for money.

The nuncio was taken into protective custody by Dominican Republic officials. The Vatican Secretary of State then recalled the nuncio to Rome for further investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In September 2013, Vatican officials voiced willingness to hand over Wesolowski to civil authorities in the Dominican Republic, though there is no extradition treaty between the Holy See and the Dominican Republic.

In August 2014, Fr. Lombardi clarified that because the nuncio had been removed from his post, he no longer had diplomatic immunity.

Wesolowski served as nuncio to Bolivia and several countries in Central Asia before becoming nuncio to the Dominican Republic.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Benedict XVI’s summer plans – rare public events and a visit to Castel Gandolfo

by Alan Holdren (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2015

Pope Benedict XVI. (Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk)

Vatican City — Benedict XVI’s summer is set to be the most active since he stepped down from the pontificate in 2013, with plans for participation in at least two public events and a two-week stay at the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo.

“Pope Francis invited Benedict XVI to spend some time in Castel Gandolfo in the month of July and Benedict accepted,” Fr. Lombardi told journalists on June 15. Benedict XVI is expected to be there for two weeks, although no official dates have been disclosed.

Castel Gandolfo, which lies about 15 miles southeast of Rome, has not been officially used as a papal residence since Benedict XVI – who now goes by “Fr. Benedict” – spent just over two months there following his Feb. 28, 2013 resignation from the See of Peter. He currently lives in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican Gardens.

Pope Francis is not expected to join his predecessor this summer, according to Fr. Lombardi.

In his first two summers, the Argentinian Pope has remained at the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence where he resides the rest of the year.

While in Castel Gandolfo on July 3, Benedict XVI is also set to receive an honorary doctorate from the Krakow, Poland-based Pontifical University of John Paul II and its music academy.

The honor specifically recognizes Benedict’s “great respect for musical tradition of the Church” and “special concern for the noble beauty of sacred music and its proper place in the celebration of the sacred liturgical rites of the Church,” according to a press release from the university.

Back at the Vatican at the end of August, Benedict XVI will also take part in the inauguration of the “Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI Roman Library” at the Pontifical Teutonic College on August 30.

The Ratzinger Foundation confirmed to CNA that he will first celebrate Mass at the College for this year’s meeting of his former theology students called the “Schulerkreis.” Following Mass, he will take part in an inauguration ceremony at the library.

The library section dedicated to his life and thought is currently in the process of being catalogued. It includes books by or about him and his studies, many donated by Benedict XVI himself.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis: Receive new encyclical with ‘open heart’

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2015

Pope Francis gives the homily at Mass for the Solemnity of All Saints in Rome’s Verano cemetery on Nov. 1, 2014. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Vatican City — Speaking one day before its official release to the public, Pope Francis is asking for people to have an “open heart” when they read his latest encyclical dedicated to the environment.

“Our ‘home’ is being ruined, and this hurts everyone, especially the poorest among us,” the pontiff said at the conclusion of his weekly general audience on June 17.

The Pope’s second encyclical will be released June 18. It will deal with creation and the human ecology, examining man’s responsibility in caring for the earth.

The document is entitled “Laudato Si” – meaning “Praised be You.” It is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

“My appeal, therefore, is for responsibility,” he said, which is “based on the task which God gave to man in creation: ‘to till and protect’ the ‘garden’ in which he has been placed.”

“I invite everyone to receive this new document with an open heart, which places itself along the lines of the Church’s social doctrine.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Don’t blame God when someone dies – trust in the resurrection, Pope says

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2015

Pope Francis at the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 20, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Instead of blaming God when a parent loses a child – or vice versa – families should remember that because of Christ’s resurrection death does not have the final say, Pope Francis said.

“For parents, outliving their own children is especially devastating, (as it) goes against the basic nature of the relationship which gives meaning to the family itself,” the Pope said during his Wednesday general audience.

Losing one’s child is like “stopping time,” he said, since it “opens a chasm which swallows the past as well as the future.”

The Pope’s June 17 reflection was the latest in a series of catecheses on the family delivered each week at the Wednesday general audience in the Vatican. Since last Fall, the Pope has been focusing on this theme as part of the lead up to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September, and the Synod on the Family in October.

The death of a son or daughter, is an “insult” to all the promises, gifts, and sacrifices “of joyful love” which a parent gives their child. Similarly, children who have lost one or both parents likewise suffer, he said.

“The emptiness of abandonment which opens within him is all the more distressing because he lacks the the experience necessary to ‘give a name’ to what has happened.”

Because of this “black hole” brought about by a death in the family, the reasons for which are not known, we sometimes “blame God,” he said.

Pope Francis based his address on the Gospel reading delivered during the audience, in which Saint Luke gives an account of Jesus raising the widow’s son from the dead. This scene demonstrates both Jesus’ compassion for those who suffer, and His power over death, he said.

All families, “without exception,” experience death, the pontiff said. Nonetheless, when it strikes a beloved family member, death never seems natural.

However, the Pope said to be aware of other “accomplices” to physical death – “hate, envy, pride, greed” – which add to the agony and sense of injustice.

“We think of the absurd ‘normality’ with which, in certain times and places, events which add to the horror of death are caused by hatred and indifference for other human beings,” he said.

In contrast, many families who are counted among God’s people have demonstrated that death does not have the final word. “This is a true act of faith,” Pope Francis said.

Whenever a family who is in mourning “finds the strength to protect the faith and the love which unites as to all those we love,” he added, “this prevents death from taking everything. The darkness of death is confronted with a more intense work of love.”

Citing the words of Saint Paul, the Pope reminded the faithful that Christ’s Resurrection has removed from death its “sting.”

“In this faith, we can comfort one another, knowing that the Lord has defeated death once and for all,” he said.

“Our loved ones are not lost in the darkness of oblivion: hope assures us that they are in the benevolent and powerful hands of God. Love is stronger than death.”

The Pope added that, in maintaining this faith, the experience of mourning acts to strengthen solidarity within ones own family, and promotes an awareness of the suffering of other families.

“This faith, this hope, protects us from a nihilistic vision of death, as well as the false consolations of the world,” he said.

Pope Francis concluded his address by stressing it is important for pastors and Christians to communicate more concretely “the meaning of the faith with regard to the experience of mourning in the family.”

He drew attention to the “simple and strong” witness of many families who grasp, through their faith in the Lord’s crucifixion and death, the “irrevocable promise of the resurrection of the dead.”

“God’s work of love is stronger than the work of death.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

A meeting to remember: seminarians chat with Benedict XVI

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2015

Pope emeritus Benedict XVI meets with seminarians from the diocese of Faensa-Modigliana, Italy on June 16, 2015 at the seminary of Faensa-Modigliana. (Diocese of Faenza-Modigliana)

Vatican City — Several enthusiastic seminarians met with Benedict XVI at the Vatican Gardens on Tuesday – even though it is their exam time, they did not want to miss the chance to meet the Pope emeritus.

“It lasted two minutes, but I will always remember it,” one seminarian told CNA about the meeting. He added: “the Pope emeritus was so kind, and asked me some personal information about my life.”

The seminarian has an ontology exam on June 18.

The seminarians come from the Diocese of Faenza-Modigliana, headed by Bishop Mario Toso. The diocese has 12 seminarians.

“The seminarians really wished to meet with the Pope emeritus, whom they really esteem and love,” Bishop Toso told CNA.

The bishop had forwarded the seminarians’ request to meet Benedict XVI, who jumped at the chance for a short meeting.

Each day, Benedict XVI walks through the Vatican Gardens praying the rosary with Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, his personal secretary who is also Prefect of the Papal Household.

After his prayers Tuesday, the seminarians and Bishop Toso met with Benedict XVI for about 15 minutes. The Pope emeritus then returned to his residence at Mater Ecclesiae monastery, driven in an electric car of the Vatican Gendarmes Corps.

Bishop Toso recounted the meeting.

“After a welcome and a general address, the Pope wanted to meet the seminarians one by one, and asked each of them about their course of studies, as well as some personal information,” the bishop said.

The Pope emeritus also chatted with Bishop Toso, who served a five-year term as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace before becoming bishop of his diocese in January.

Benedict asked the bishop if he was still collaborating with the pontifical council, and then emphasized: “You worked a lot at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.”

Though the Pope emeritus does not live a public life, this summer is expected to be quite busy for him. On July 1, the Pope emeritus is scheduled to accompany Pope Francis to Castel Gandolfo. Pope Francis will go back and forth from the Vatican that same day to prepare for his trip to South America.

As for Benedict XVI, he will spent his time at Castel Gandolfo until July 14.

During his stay, Benedict XVI will receive honorary degrees from the Pontifical University of John Paul II and from the Academy of Music of Krakow, Archbishop of Krakow Stanislaw Dziwisz has said. The Pope emeritus will take part in the public ceremony of the bestowal of the degrees at Castel Gandolfo July 3.

Benedict XVI has yet another summer appointment. A special section of the library named after him and sponsored by the Pontifical Foundation Joseph Ratzinger will open Aug. 30 in the German College, within the Vatican Walls. Benedict XVI has confirmed he will be at the opening.

The same day, it is likely he will celebrate the Mass for the Ratzinger Schulerkreis, a group of his former students. They will gather for their annual meeting in Castel Gandolfo during the last week of August.

When staying at Castel Gandolfo, Benedict XVI always took part in the meeting of his former students. He also made his own contributions to the discussions. Since his resignation, the members of the student circle gather as usual. On their gathering’s final day they move to the Vatican, where Benedict XVI celebrates Mass for them.

The chairman of the Ratzinger Schulerkreis, Fr. Stephan Otto Horn, is a Salvatorian who served as an assistant to Ratzinger in the 1970s.

Fr. Horn confirmed in an email to CNA June 17 that “even this time, we would be pleased to have a Mass with Benedict XVI Sunday morning – if his health conditions are normal and stable – and we hope to be able to have a personal meeting with him after the Mass as we did over the last two years.”

The Schulerkreis theme this year is “How to speak about God today.” The gathering’s special guest will be Monsignor Tomas Halik, a Czech priest and theologian who was awarded the prestigious Templeton Prize in 2014 for his interreligious work.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Environment encyclical takes bold stance on controversial issues

by CNA/EWTN News • June 18, 2015

(Unsplash)

Vatican City — In his newly released encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis did not hesitate to wade into controversial topics, making statements on global warming, pollution, species extinction and global inequality’s impact on natural resources.

“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” the Pope said in his new encyclical “Laudato Si.”

He cited “a constant rise in the sea level” and an apparent increase in extreme weather events.

“Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it.”

While acknowledging other factors behind global warming, the encyclical said that a number of scientific studies indicate that “most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases … released mainly as a result of human activity.”

Pope Francis’ second encyclical was released June 18. Its title is taken from Saint Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Sun,” which reflects on the Earth as a sister and mother.

“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will,” he said. “The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.”

In his typical fashion, the Pope did not shy away from controversial issues. He cited studies supporting the theory of global warming and stated that human activity is the primary driving force behind the phenomenon, as well as the main cause of species extinction. He also spoke of developed nations’ obligations involving renewable resources and the development of poorer countries.

Saying that the earth “is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth,” the encyclical states, “Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years.”

The Pope lamented that “(f)requently no measures are taken (to address industrial waste and chemical byproducts) until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected.”

He connected the problem of waste to a “throwaway culture,” saying that the industrial cycle of production and consumption “has not developed the capacity to absorb and reuse waste and byproducts.”

In contrast to the “exemplary” workings of natural ecosystems, he said, “(w)e have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them.”

Pope Francis said it is urgent to develop policies and programs so that emissions of carbon dioxide and other polluting gases can be “drastically reduced,” such as by substituting sources of renewable energy for fossil fuel use.

The Pope’s encyclical reflected on the depletion of natural resources in the context of local and global inequality.

“We all know that it is not possible to sustain the present level of consumption in developed countries and wealthier sectors of society, where the habit of wasting and discarding has reached unprecedented levels. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty,” he said.

The resources of the earth are “being plundered because of short-sighted approaches to the economy, commerce and production.”

The encyclical said that developing countries fuel richer countries’ development “at the cost of their own present and future.”

“The land of the southern poor is rich and mostly unpolluted, yet access to ownership of goods and resources for meeting vital needs is inhibited by a system of commercial relations and ownership which is structurally perverse.”

Developed countries ought to significantly limit their consumption of non-renewable energy and assist poorer countries’ support for sustainable development policies and programs, the document said.

“It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been,” the Pope remarked, attributing the failure of global environmental summits to the subjection of politics to “technology and finance.”

“There are too many special interests, and economic interests easily end up trumping the common good and manipulating information so that their own plans will not be affected,” he said.

The Pope also spoke on behalf of the world’s animal and plant life. Habitat loss, he said, “entails the loss of species which may constitute extremely important resources in the future.”

“Each year sees the disappearance of thousands of plant and animal species which we will never know, which our children will never see, because they have been lost forever.”

The encyclical attributed the “great majority” of these extinctions to human activity.

“Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right,” it said.

The Pope’s encyclical acknowledged that there are some environmental issues “where it is not easy to achieve a broad consensus.”

“Here I would state once more that the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics,” Pope Francis said. “But I am concerned to encourage an honest and open debate so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Pope Francis blasts abortion, population control in new encyclical

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 18, 2015

Pope Francis meets with President Park Geun-hye of South Korea at the Vatican on Oct. 17, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)

Vatican City — In his new encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis slams attacks against human life such as abortion, embryonic experimentation and population control – saying that respect for creation and human dignity go hand in hand.

The Pope explained that “a sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion and concern for our fellow human beings.”

“At times we see an obsession with denying any pre-eminence to the human person; more zeal is shown in protecting other species than in defending the dignity which all human beings share in equal measure,” he said.

The Pope’s encyclical “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published Thursday, June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

In early 2014, the Vatican announced the Pope’s plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was previously used by retired pontiff Benedict XVI.

While the 184-page encyclical wades into controversial topics such as climate change, it also aggressively argues that it is not possible to effectively care for the environment without first working to defend human life.

It is “clearly inconsistent” to combat the trafficking of endangered species while remaining indifferent toward the trafficking of persons, to the poor and to the decision of many “to destroy another human being deemed unwanted,” the Pope stated.

To have this attitude, he said, “compromises the very meaning of our struggle for the sake of the environment.”

Francis also highlighted that concern for the protection of nature is “incompatible with the justification of abortion.”

“How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties?” he asked.

Once the ability to welcome a new life is lost on the part of individuals and society, other forms of acceptance also “wither away,” he said, warning against a “culture of relativism” that sees an absence of any objective truth outside of our own immediate wants and needs.

The Pope also addressed the highly-debated topic of population control, a proposed solution to problems stemming from poverty and maintaining a sustainable consumption of the earth’s resources.

“Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking of how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate,” Francis lamented.

He denounced the fact that developing countries often receive pressure from international organizations who make economic assistance “contingent on certain policies of ‘reproductive health.’”

Even though an unequal distribution of population and available resources presents obstacles to development and environmental sustainability, “it must nonetheless be recognized that demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development,” he stressed.

To blame a growing population for these problems rather than the “extreme and selective consumerism on the part of some, is one way of refusing to face the issues.”

Such scapegoating “is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to consume in a way which can never be universalized, since the planet could not even contain the waste products of such consumption,” the Pope said, calling for an end to food waste.

Francis also rejected some ecological movements’ discontinuity in calling for limitations to be placed on environmental scientific research, while at the same time failing to apply the same principals to human life.

As an example, he noted that within science, there is “a tendency to justify transgressing all boundaries when experimentation is carried out on living human embryos.”

“We forget that the inalienable worth of a human being transcends his or her degree of development,” he said, adding that once technology disregards ethical principles, “it ends up considering any practice whatsoever as licit.”

“When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected.”

Once the human being seeks absolute dominion, the foundations of our life “begin to crumble,” the Pope said, so that instead of cooperating with God, man puts himself in God’s place “and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature.”

In the encyclical, Pope Francis also spoke of the importance of accepting and caring for one’s body, since it is through the body that man relates to the environment and to other living things.

He cautioned against seeking to exercise “absolute power” over our bodies as if they were something that we own, saying that “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will.”

Accepting and caring for our bodies in their truest nature is essential for human ecology, he said, and stressed that this acceptance includes “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity.”

In acknowledging differences, “we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment,” the Pope observed.

An attitude which seeks “to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it” is unhealthy, he said.

The pontiff also pointed to the important role families play in educating on a true integral human and environmental ecology since they are the place where life is welcomed and protected, and where human growth is developed.

“In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life,” he said.

Family life is where children first learn how “to show love and respect for life; we are taught the proper use of things, order and cleanliness, respect for the local ecosystem and care for all creatures,” as well as how to be grateful for what they’ve been given and to ask for forgiveness when they’ve caused harm, he explained.

“These simple gestures of heartfelt courtesy help to create a culture of shared life and respect for our surroundings.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

The Pope’s take on transgender issues? Accept the body God gave you

by CNA/EWTN News • June 18, 2015

Pope Francis at the Wednesday General Audience in St Peter’s Square on May 20, 2015. (Daniel Ibanez/CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis’ new encyclical on the environment calls for men and women to acknowledge their bodies as a gift from God which should not be manipulated.

“The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home,” the Pope wrote, “whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation.”

The Pope’s encyclical “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published Thursday, June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

In early 2014, the Vatican announced the Pope’s plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was previously used by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI.

While the 184-page encyclical wades into controversial topics such as climate change, it also aggressively argues that it is not possible to effectively care for the environment without first working to defend human life and dignity.

The Pope wrote that human ecology implies the profound reality of “the relationship between human life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment.”

Pope Francis quoted from his predecessor, Benedict XVI, saying that there is an “ecology of man” because “man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will.”

Benedict’s words came from his Sept. 22, 2011 address to the German parliament on the foundations of law. He had discussed the importance of the ecological movement for its realization that “the earth has a dignity of its own and that we must follow its directives.” Man, he added, “does not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly ordered if he respects his nature, listens to it and accepts himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself.”

After quoting Benedict, Pope Francis said that “our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings,” and that the acceptance of one’s body helps one to accept and honor the entire world as a gift.

“Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology.”

He then turned to the importance of sexual complementarity, adding that “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment.”

Pope Francis referred to his own General Audience address of April 15, saying that “It is not a healthy attitude which would seek ‘to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it.’”

In that address, on the complementarity of man and woman, he had touched on the importance of the two sexes and their reciprocal needs.

He lamented that contemporary culture has introduced doubt and skepticism over sexual complementarity: “For example, I ask myself, if the so-called gender theory is not, at the same time, an expression of frustration and resignation, which seeks to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it … the removal of difference in fact creates a problem, not a solution.”

Pope Francis’ jab at gender theory – which gives a basis for transgender identification – in his encyclical came in the context of a discussion on the “ecology of daily life,” during which he also discussed integral improvement in the quality of human life; creativity in responding to one’s environment; the brutality arising from poverty; urban planning; lack of housing; public transportation; and rural life.

The larger context of the Pope’s words on the ecology of daily life came in his chapter on integral ecology, during which he also mentioned environmental, economic, and social ecology; cultural ecology; the common good; and inter-generational justice.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Link to full text of the Pope’s new encyclical, Laudato Si

by CNA/EWTN News • June 18, 2015

(CNA)

Vatican City — Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Laudato Si, was published today. The full text can be accessed at the Vatican website:

w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Magisterium, not secret authors, had final say on encyclical

by Andrea Gagliarducci (CNA/EWTN News) • June 18, 2015

The facade of St. Peter’s Basilica, as seen from the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. (Lauren Cater/CNA)

Vatican City — Despite many claiming they helped to draft Pope Francis’ new encyclical, the final text cannot be attributed to any ‘hidden’ advisors, says a former Vatican official.

The proof, he says, is shown by the fact that the encyclical stands on the shoulders of previous magisterial teachings.

The encyclical, “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s “The Canticle of the Sun.”

In early 2014, the Vatican announced the Pope’s plans to write on the theme of “human ecology” – a phrase that was originally coined by Benedict XVI.

While the encyclical wades into controversial topics such as climate change, it also aggressively argues that it isn’t possible to effectively care for the environment without first working to defend human life.

Bishop Mario Toso of Faenza-Modigliana previously served as secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, from 2009 until this January, when he was transferred to the small diocese in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region.

While at the pontifical council, Bishop Toso was able to examine the encyclical’s first draft.

“There is no doubt that many contributions, many suggestions, have been forwarded for the drafting of the encyclical,” Bishop Toso noted to CNA June 17.

On the other hand, he added, “any single contribution, if accepted, has been used in a framework that could not be provided by these single contributions – while it is provided from the continuity with the foregoing Magisterium.”

Following the first rumors about the contents of the encyclical, the controversial Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff – one of the fathers of Liberation Theology, who has recently refocused his reflections onto the environment – said he had contributed to drafting the encyclical.

Even the Brazilian theologians Frei Betto and Fr. Pedro Casaldiga allegedly gave their contribution in drafting the encyclical.

Among the other alleged contributions to the encyclical, that of the former governor of Colorado, Bill Ritter. A member of the board of the Energy Foundation, he told “The Colorado Statesman” June 12 that he “did spend time in Rome meeting with the Vatican’s policy team drafting the Papal Encyclical.”

The ‘team’ Bill Ritter referred to is probably one of the informal meetings set up by the Pontifical Academy for Sciences. These meetings provided suggestions for the much awaited encyclical, while many companies also sent to the Vatican materials on the way they protected environment, hoping for a papal endorsement.

Despite there having been so many contributions, Bishop Toso maintained that the “ground framework of the encyclical is given by the continuity of the tradition of Catholic social teaching and by the work of the perhaps more invisible and less outspoken hands of people who work within the Vatican and who know quite well the social teaching of the Church.”

“Only these people can talk about ecological issues standing on a theological, anthropological, and ethical point of view,” Bishop Toso maintained.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Vatican: Encyclical aims to promote common good, not take sides

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 18, 2015

Press conference on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si on June 18, 2015 in Paul VI Hall. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — The Vatican’s presentation of Pope Francis’ new encyclical said the intent behind the document goes beyond political debates, aiming for something more essential: the well-being of all creation.

At the June 18 launch of the highly-anticipated encyclical “Laudato Si,” Cardinal Peter Turkson acknowledged a critique that the Church is taking sides on scientifically still-debatable topics such as global warming, pollution, species extinction and global inequality’s impact on natural resources.

“The aim of the Encyclical is not to intervene in this debate, which is the responsibility of scientists, and even less to establish exactly in which ways the climate changes are a consequence of human action” he said.

Instead, the goal of the document is to promote the well-being of all creation and “to develop an integral ecology, which in its diverse dimensions comprehends ‘our unique place as human beings in this world and our relationship to our surroundings,” the cardinal said, quoting the encyclical.

“Science is the best tool by which we can listen to the cry of the earth,” Cardinal Turkson said, noting that regardless of the various positions, studies tells us that “today the earth, our sister, mistreated and abused.”

A true integral ecology seeks to address all of the various aspects of our lives, including the human person itself, the environment in which we live, in the economy and politics and in various cultures of the world, particularly those most at risk.

Cardinal Turkson is the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He was joined in presenting the encyclical by a wide variety of voices, including Orthodox Bishop John Zizioulas of Pergamon, who was there as a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Constantinople, headed by Bartholomew I, whom Francis’ frequently quotes in the encyclical.

Also present was Prof. John Schellnhuber, founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a new appointee to the Pontifical Academy for the Sciences. Dr. Carolyn Woo, CEO and President of Catholic Relief Services, was also present.

The Vatican announced the Pope’s plans to write “Laudato Si” in early 2014, and at Pope Francis’ request, Cardinal Turkson was involved in the drafting process.

In comments to CNA, the cardinal stressed the importance of an integral approach to the topic of ecology which links caring for the environment and caring for the human person.

“You cannot believe in and love God without respecting or caring for what he has created, without caring for the work of his hands,” he said.

He noted that “work of God’s hands” includes two things: the human person and the world in which they live.

“The two things we’re talking about are so closely related, the one doesn’t have sense without the other. The garden doesn’t have sense without the man to be brought into the garden, and man doesn’t make sense if he wasn’t the one to till and keep the land,” the cardinal said.

What the encyclical’s concern is has been “just that: to promote the well-being not of one over the other, but to promote the well-being of the two jointly. That’s the point of the encyclical.”

Pope Francis’ concern for the common good – a term he uses 30 times in the encyclical – is what leads him to find answers to the question “what kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us?”

In response to a question regarding American Catholic presidential candidates who have said that they are willing to listen to the Pope’s advice on matters of theology in the encyclical but not those of science, Cardinal Turkson said the attitude is “strange” since science is a broad domain.

“We all talk about subject matters not because we’re experts in those matters. We talk about them because we’re concerned and they impact our lives,” he said.

“The Pope is not a scientist but he can consult scientists” and draw conclusions based from their research and advice, the cardinal observed, and warned against a growing temptation to “de-emphasize the artificial split that has been introduced between religion and public life.”

In his speech, Cardinal Turkson pointed to the Pope’s concern for finding effective proposals on international, national and local politics, as well as the decision-making processes in the public and business sectors, highlighting that are not “ideological.”

Laudato Si, he said, “can and must have an impact on important and urgent decisions to be made in this area.”

Prof. John Schellnhuber also spoke to attendees at the presentation, saying that in front of the “great challenge” of global warming, the encyclical’s urgency to act on the issue “mirrors the scientific findings which have accumulated into an overwhelming body of evidence.”

He spoke along the same lines that Pope Francis takes in his encyclical and warned against the harmful affects of the over-use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions.

“If we fail to strongly reduce these emissions and to bend the warming curve, we, our neighbors and children will be exposed to intolerable risks,” he said.

He noted that the large-scale production of fossil-fuels has led to many important human developments, but only “for a minority,” and that although vast amounts of wealth have also been generated, on the other side of the cash “stand the poor and the poorest of the poor.”

Schellnhuber said he wanted to break the myth that 85 of the world’s richest people own the same amount of wealth as 3.5 billion of global poor population. “It’s actually 60” people, he said.

His speech culminated by noting that a stable climate, which is “our common good,” is being destroyed not by the many, but by the few.

“The Encyclical confirms this assessment which scientists and moral philosophers have claimed in the context of climate policy: ‘The climate is a global commons of all and for all.’”

He said that technologically speaking, all the resources necessary for developing clean energy are abundantly available. “All we have to do is develop the means to properly harvest it and responsibly manage our consumption.”

Bishop John Zizioulas also addressed the gathering on behalf of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Orthodox Church.

He thanked the Pope and Cardinal Turkson for the invitation to be there, and said that the encyclical “comes at a critical moment in human history and will undoubtedly have a worldwide effect on people’s consciousness.”

“There is in its pages food for thought for all: the scientist, the economist, the sociologist and above all the faithful of the Church.”

Zizioulas said the publication of the document is only a call to evaluate the effect our actions will have on future generations, but is also a call for ecumenical communion.

“I believe that the significance of the Papal Encyclical Laudato Si’ is not limited to the subject of ecology as such,” he said.

Rather, for him it is also “an important ecumenical dimension in that it brings the divided Christians before a common task which they must face together,” the bishop noted, explaining that Christian unity today, particularly in the Middle East, “is de facto realized by persecution and blood – an ecumenism of martyrdom.”

He noted how Sept. 1 is a day dedicated to the environment in the Orthodox Church, and suggested it become a date that all Christians share in common.

Carolyn Woo spoke from the business perspective of the “one complex crisis” the world is facing, which in her opinion can’t be divided into two separate categories, but is rather one overall problem with both social and environmental consequences.

At the end of the day, “business is a human enterprise and must strive for true human development and the common good,” she noted.

If businesses invest in sustainability, then it is “another win-win” opportunity, Woo said.

Quoting the Pope’s encyclical, she explained that “efforts to promote a sustainable use of natural resources are not a waste of money, but rather an investment capable of providing other economic benefits in the medium term.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Saint Francis and his star role in the Pope’s new encyclical

by Elise Harris (CNA/EWTN News) • June 18, 2015

St. Francis of Assisi. (Dome Poon via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Vatican City — Pope Francis’ new encyclical is filled with references to his namesake, whom the Pope says is a model of how an integral ecology goes beyond matters of science and leads humanity to find God in creation.

“I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically,” the Pope wrote.

The saint, he said, “helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human.”

St. Francis of Assisi is an Italian friar and preacher who founded the Order of Friars Minor, known more commonly as the Franciscans, in the early 1200s. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology, and is much loved by the faithful and non-Christians.

Pope Francis’ new encyclical was published June 18. It’s title “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

Pope Francis revealed shortly after his 2013 election as Bishop of Rome that he had chosen his papal name in honor of the saint due to his emphasis on the poor. In the encyclical, the Pope says that we are called to embrace the same sense of wonder that St. Francis did when we encounter creation.

“Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever (St. Francis) would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise,” the Pope wrote.

Without this openness to “awe and wonder” when approaching nature and the environment, “our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs,” he said.

“By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously,” he added, explaining that St. Francis’ poverty and austerity were “no mere veneer of asceticism,” but rather “something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.”

The Pope reflected that, with scripture as a basis, St. Francis extends a universal invitation “to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness.”

Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a “joyful mystery” which ought to be contemplated with gladness and praise to God as the saint shows us, he said.

In the encyclical Pope Francis also pointed to the human person as being unique from the rest of creation since man is a being created in the image and likeness of God.

Human beings, he said, “possess a uniqueness which cannot be fully explained by the evolution of other open systems.”

The unique personal identity of each person as well as man’s ability to reason, develop arguments, interpret reality and create art as well as other “yet undiscovered capacities” are all signs that humanity possesses a uniqueness “which transcends the spheres of physics and biology.”

Although humanity is unique within creation, it doesn’t mean that others beings are “superfluous,” he said, explaining that the whole material universe is an expression of God’s love.

Everything from the soil, water and the mountains are like “a caress” from God and they show us the “boundless affection” God has for his creatures.

However, Francis cautioned that this doesn’t “put all living beings on the same level,” and nor does it “deprive human beings of their unique worth and the tremendous responsibility it entails.”

Neither is it “a divinization of the earth,” which the Pope said “would prevent us from working on it and protecting it in its fragility.”

Pope Francis also speaks of the personal conversion needed on the part of each individual if we are to care for creation and the environment in an effective way.

Christians in particular, he said, must realize “that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith.”

Again turning to the figure of St. Francis of Assisi, the Pope says that in looking to him we realize that “a healthy relationship with creation is one dimension of overall personal conversion, which entails the recognition of our errors, sins, faults and failures, and leads to heartfelt repentance and desire to change.”

This conversion calls for attitudes which foster a spirit of generous and tender care, he notes, saying that this first of all requires both “gratitude and gratuitousness.”

Christian spirituality, he said, “proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption.”

Such sobriety is “liberating” when lived both freely and consciously, the Pope says, observing that to live soberly doesn’t mean one has a “lesser life” or that their life is lived with less intensity.

“On the contrary, it is a way of living life to the full. In reality, those who enjoy more and live better each moment are those who have given up dipping here and there, always on the look-out for what they do not have.”

The Pope also noted that having inner peace is closely tied to care for the environment and the common good.

When lived with authenticity, this peace is reflected in a balanced lifestyle, which together with “a capacity for wonder,” leads to a greater understanding of life, Francis said.

“An integral ecology includes taking time to recover a serene harmony with creation, reflecting on our lifestyle and our ideals, and contemplating the Creator who lives among us and surrounds us, whose presence must not be contrived but found, uncovered.”

Because the universe reaches full fruition in God, a “mystical meaning” can be found in simple objects of nature, such as a leaf, a trail in the mountains, a dewdrop or even in “a poor person’s face,” Francis observed.

“The ideal is not only to pass from the exterior to the interior to discover the action of God in the soul, but also to discover God in all things.”

At the end of the document, Pope Francis pointed to the sacraments as a concrete way in which God uses nature as a means of leading us to the supernatural life.

He noted how water, oil and fire are used in the sacraments as symbols of a spiritual reality.

“The hand that blesses is an instrument of God’s love and a reflection of the closeness of Jesus Christ, who came to accompany us on the journey of life. Water poured over the body of a child in Baptism is a sign of new life,” he said. He added that to encounter God doesn’t mean running away from the world or “turning our back” on nature.

He noted how in the Eucharist God gives himself as food for the creatures he has saved, and has chosen to reach “our intimate depths” through a “fragment of matter,” which is the bread and wine.

God, the Pope said, “comes not from above, but from within, he comes that we might find him in this world of ours.”

Francis also drew attention to the role of Mary, who having cared for Jesus, now watches over “this wounded world” with pain and motherly affection.

“Just as her pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus, so now she grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power,” he said.

The Pope concluded his encyclical with an encouragement to imitate St. Francis and to “sing as we go,” never letting our struggle and concern for the planet overshadow “the joy of our hope.”

“God, who calls us to generous commitment and to give him our all, offers us the light and the strength needed to continue on our way.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

The first encyclical wholly from Francis overturns expectations

by Angela Ambrogetti (CNA/EWTN News) • June 19, 2015

Pope Francis speaks to the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus, June 14, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — ‘Laudato si’ is not only an example of the Magisterium’s social teaching: it also represents the birth of a new literary genre among papal documents.

Normally in the modern epoch, Popes have included in encyclicals doctrinal themes. But ‘Laudato si’ is not a doctrinal text — it is rather a pastoral letter based on the classical Latin American method: see, judge, act.

Pope Francis begins his encyclical by inviting readers to marvel, like St. Francis of Assisi, before creation, which he says is the only path toward an integrated ecology. He then explains what his encyclical will do.

“I will begin,” the Pope writes, “by briefly reviewing several aspects of the present ecological crisis, with the aim of drawing on the results of the best scientific research available today, letting them touch us deeply and provide a concrete foundation for the ethical and spiritual itinerary that follows. I will then consider some principles drawn from the Judaeo-Christian tradition which can render our commitment to the environment more coherent. I will then attempt to get to the roots of the present situation, so as to consider not only its symptoms but also its deepest causes.”

“In light of this reflection, I will advance some broader proposals for dialogue and action which would involve each of us as individuals, and also affect international policy. Finally … I will offer some inspired guidelines for human development to be found in the treasure of Christian spiritual experience.”

There is no better synthesis. The Pope’s aim is to give people information that they might become conscious of the necessity of an “ecological conversion,” an expression borrowed from St. John Paul II.

Thus the Pope chose to cite not only Church Fathers and Scripture, but bishops conferences and some modern thinkers. He made room also for the thought of the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, and even cited, though merely in a footnote, a Sufi thinker, Ali al-Khawas.

It is the same method as in ‘Evangelii gaudium’, though an apostolic exhortation certainly has a different magisterial value than does an encyclical. In ‘Evangelii gaudium’ the Pope had suggested that bishops conferences could be given a doctrinal power they do not have at the moment. The last papal document on the subject was St. John Paul II’s 1998 motu proprio ‘Apostolos Suos’, and his post-synodal apostolic exhortation ‘Pastores gregis’.

But Pope Francis seems to want to go farther. In this sense, the “green” encyclical of the Pope seems to be a manual, a text to use in catechesis, and in international policy forums to combat lobbies and powers.

The practical directives which dot the text of the encyclical are a radical change in style.

Public transportation, air conditioning, and recycled paper seem, a first glance, of little importance in a magisterial text. But for Francis, they are the very purpose of the text – a purpose principally pastoral, as pastoral as the directives to pray at meals, or to “adopt” city monuments and to care for them, for the benefit of all.

And pastoral care is the central idea of integral ecology, which is the care of both the earth and of mankind.

It is not only directives, however. The Pope inserts in the text all the classic themes of “human ecology,” while adding in such directions.

Moreover, the encyclical, as are all encyclicals of recent decades, is aimed at all men of good will. Thus the choice of the two prayers at the encyclical’s closing: one shared “with all who believe in a God who is the all-powerful Creator,” and the other a uniquely Christian prayer.

Bergoglio’s method, with many dramatic descriptions of reality which leave one to think in the end that the Christian faith is an invitation to joy: “Let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Will Pope Francis change the date of Easter?

by CNA/EWTN News • June 19, 2015

Pope Francis prays on Easter Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square on April 5, 2015. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Speaking to a global gathering of priests, Pope Francis signaled an openness to changing the date of Easter in the West so that all Christians around the world could celebrate the feast on the same day.

The Pope on June 12 said “we have to come to an agreement” for a common date on Easter.

His comments came in remarks to the World Retreat of Priests at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. The event drew priests from five continents.

Noting jokingly that Christians could say to one another: “When did Christ rise from the dead? My Christ rose today, and yours next week,” he said that this disunity is a scandal.

The Orthodox churches normally celebrate Easter a week after the Catholics. Some Orthodox leaders have also reflected on the dating of the Christian holy day. In May, Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II wrote to the papal nuncio in Egypt suggesting a common date for Easter.

Historian Lucetta Scaraffia, writing in the Vatican daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, said the Pope is offering this initiative to change the date of Easter “as a gift of unity with the other Christian churches.”

A common date for Easter, she said, would encourage “reconciliation between the Christian churches and … a sort of making sense out of the calendar.”

She noted that the proposal could help reinforce the identity of persecuted Christians, particularly those in the Eastern churches that are at risk of disappearing.

Scaraffia wrote that the simultaneous celebration of the Resurrection by all Christians “would increase the importance of the central feast of the faith in a moment when changes seem to be suddenly coming throughout the world.”

“The Pope’s remarks implicitly underscore an important fact: in the countries where Christian identity is being overshadowed, the marking of time continues to be tied to the life of Jesus,” she added. “We also know also that the calendar is not only a convention but also something profound and symbolically relevant.”

Scaraffia said Easter and related feasts “constitute a distinct aspect of the liturgical year because they are connected with a cycle of time that repeats every year and marks the returns of the seasons.”

She also pointed out that the date of Easter is established based on the cycle of the moon, just as the Muslims and Jews establish their important feasts with the lunar calendar.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

VATICAN NEWS

Love life, have fun – a Pope Francis pep talk to Special Olympians

by CNA/EWTN News • June 19, 2015

Pope Francis meets with Italian special Olympians on June 19, 2015 in Vatican City. (L’Osservatore Romano)

Vatican City — Pope Francis met with Italy’s top Special Olympics athletes on Friday, encouraging them and all athletes to make sports a place for loyalty, human dignity and joy.

“It is my hope that you all might live the upcoming games in a joyful, passionate, serene manner: have fun,” he said.

The Pope held a June 19 audience for Italy’s 150 delegates to the Special Olympics 2015 World Games. The event will be held in Los Angeles, Calif. July 25 to August 2.

During his remarks, Pope Francis reflected on the promise of sports. “It is beautiful and meaningful that young people and adults find in sport and participation in competitions, including at an international level, an incentive to live their life fully,” he said. “It is a challenge, and you have accepted it and ‘taken the field’.”

“I encourage you to continue in your efforts to help each other to discover your potential and to love life, to appreciate it in all its limits and above all, its beautiful sides.”

The Pope also encouraged the Special Olympians to make friends from around the world.

The Special Olympics were founded in the U.S. in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to provide sports and athletic opportunities for the mentally disabled. Over 4.4 million athletes in 177 countries take part in over 81,000 games and competitions each year, according to the website of the Special Olympics’ 2015 world games.

Pope Francis said the athletes had chosen sports as “an experience of development and growth, in the presence of a condition of fragility and limitation.”

He told them that sports is a way to learn “to participate, to outdo oneself, to strive together.”

“All this helps you to become active members of society and also of the Church; and it helps society itself and the Church to overcome all forms of discrimination and exclusion.”

He encouraged the athletes to be faithful to this ideal of sports.

“Do not let yourself be contaminated by a false sporting culture, that of economic success, victory at any cost, and individualism,” he continued. He praised amateur sports’ culture of “gratuity” and of “sport for sport’s sake.”

“We must protect and defend sport as an experience of human values: competition yes, but in loyalty and solidarity. Dignity for every person: always! No one must feel excluded from sport,” said Pope Francis.

He said the world of sports and the Church can work together to restore the “true meaning” of sports in its “educational, playful and recreational” aspects and to restore its cultural and social dignity.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

Mosul archbishop’s plea to the West: Save us from ISIS

by John Pontifex (Aid to the Church in Need) • June 13, 2015

Refugees who have fled from ISIS and arrived in Ankawa, in the northern part of Erbil, Iraq. (ankawa.com)

New York City, N.Y. — A leading Iraqi prelate has called on world governments to increase their efforts to defeat ISIS and restore land and property to some 120,000 exiled Iraqi Christians.

Marking the first anniversary of ISIS’s capture of Mosul, Syrian Catholic Archbishop Yohanna Mouche called on “people who have the responsibility” to come to the rescue of the ousted Christian communities, whose people, he added, long to go home.

In an interview with international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the archbishop said that military action is the “best solution.”

“We ask everyone to put pressure on the people who have the responsibility to free the [towns and villages] as soon as possible so the people can come back and live in peace in their homes and continue their lives there,” he said.

The archbishop’s comments reflect ongoing frustration felt by a number of senior Middle East clergy about what they perceive as the West’s reluctance to commit to a full-scale intervention to confront and overcome extremism in the region – a move many Church leaders opposed until very recently.

Archbishop Mouche also said that if the West is unable to redouble its efforts in the fight against ISIS, it should open its doors to Christians and other minorities seeking asylum.

“I am calling on the international community: if they cannot protect us, then they must open their doors and help us start a new life elsewhere,” he said, adding, however that “we would prefer to remain in Iraq and be protected here.”

Speaking of his own hardship, the prelate said: “I am like someone who is dreaming or drunk. I can’t understand what is going on around me. It is a nightmare.”

Asked about widespread reports of destruction of religious artifacts and Churches buildings in Mosul, he said his contacts with the city had been severed. But he confirmed that “all our heritage is in Mosul, and in Qaraqosh,” on the Nineveh Plain. He singled out the monastery of St. Behnam, which dates back to the fourth century AD. The monastery is rumored to have been partially destroyed by ISIS.

“We have no news about our churches and monasteries, because we have no-one left in Mosul to report on it,” the archbishop concluded.

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

For Pakistan Catholics, Mary is protector and bridge for dialogue

by Antonio Anup Gonsalves (CNA/EWTN News) • June 13, 2015

May Crowning at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Gujranwala, Pakistan May 30, 2015. (Antonio Anup Gonsalves)

Lahore, Pakistan — Thousands of faithful gathered to crown Mary at a parish of the Lahore archdiocese last month, bringing prayers for peace, forgiveness and restored cultural harmony in a region where some churches have suffered violent attacks.

Archbishop Sebastian Francis Shaw of Lahore presided at the May 30 Coronation Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in the city of Gujranwala, about 50 miles west of Lahore.

The May Crowning drew a congregation of over 2,500 faithful, including several priests and religious.

Asif Nazir, a catechist and a member of the parish choir, reflected on the event.

“When a part of the region is battling a constant fight between goodness and evil, terror and hatred, it is our strong faith and devotion that draws us to our dear Mother Mary the Queen of Peace, our protector to bring peace in our land,” Nazir told CNA June 11.

“Whatever the situation in which we find ourselves, hardship, disappointment, confusion, God has a solution, an answer that is right for us,” he said.

Fr. Francis Chaman, the parish priest of St. Joseph’s Church, welcomed Archbishop Shaw.

The archbishop in his homily thanked God for the gift of faith and for the devotion of the people. He underlined the virtues of the Virgin Mary and noted her obedience in saying “Yes” to God and accepting God’s will.

Archbishop Shaw said Mary’s religious upbringing and her faithfulness to God have set an example for all humanity.

He told congregants “it is our responsibility to educate and bring up our children with the same faith and help them follow the footsteps of Mary, so that they may always be willing to serve God and fulfill his mission.”

Archbishop Shaw praised the unity of faith. He urged the parishioners not to cultivate hatred or envy. Rather, they should practice virtue of forgiveness and “learn how to say sorry to others.”

“Today, I’m sure that God will give us courage to change ourselves and our environment in our homes … which will surely bring joy, not only to us but to our future generations,” the archbishop continued.

At the end of Mass, a group of school children, with help from several Sisters of Charity, presented the life of the Virgin Mary with hymns inspired by the Gospels.

Fr. Chaman and Fr. Jahanzeb Iqbal, an assistant priest at the parish, led the parishioners by preparing the catechesis, the choir and the recitation of the rosary.

Fr. Chaman praised the parishioners’ efforts and voiced thanks for support from parish workers, the Dominican Sisters, the Sisters of Charity, and catechists who helped prepare for the liturgy and decorate the altar.

Pakistan is no stranger to religious violence. Several Christian churches have been bombed in the past. During the May Crowning, officers from the Punjab police kept watch and maintained security.

St. Joseph’s Catholic Church is one of the 26 parishes in the Archdiocese of Lahore and one of its oldest mission stations. It was founded by Capuchin Franciscan missionaries from Belgium in 1953. It draws from urban and rural communities.

Nazir pointed out that the Blessed Virgin Mary is also respected by the Islamic community and she is mentioned in Muslim scriptures. Locally, she is called “Hazrat Maryam.”

This respect is evident at the Lahore archdiocese’s National Marian Shrine at Mariamabad. The major pilgrimage center draws thousands of devotees of all religions and has become a hub for interreligious dialogue.

Pilgrims line up in processions at the shrine to pray, light candles and leave flowers, while many miracles are attributed to prayers at the shrine.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

What happens when an entire country becomes infested with demons?

by David Ramos (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2015

(Estitxu Carton via Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0)

Vatican City — Can a country with deep Christian roots like Mexico find itself at the mercy of demons? Some in the Church fear so.

And as a result, they called for a nation-wide exorcism of Mexico, carried out quietly last month in the cathedral of San Luis Potosí.

High levels of violence, as well as drug cartels and abortion in the country, were the motivation behind the special rite of exorcism, known as “Exorcismo Magno.”

Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, the archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara, presided at the closed doors ceremony, the first ever in the history of Mexico.

Also participating were Archbishop Jesús Carlos Cabrero of San Luis Potosí, Spanish demonologist and exorcist Father José Antonio Fortea, and a smaller group of priests and lay people.

The event was not made known to the general public beforehand. According to Archbishop Cabrero, the reserved character of the May 20 ceremony was intended to avoid any misguided interpretations of the ritual.

But how can an entire country become infested by demons to the point that it’s necessary to resort to an Exorcismo Magno?

“To the extent sin increases more and more in a country, to that extent it becomes easier for the demons to tempt (people),” Fr. Fortea told CNA.

The Spanish exorcist warned that “to the extent there is more witchcraft and Satanism going on in a country, to that extent there will be more extraordinary manifestations of those powers of darkness.”

Fr. Fortea said that “the exorcism performed in San Luís Potosí is the first ever carried out in Mexico in which the exorcists came from different parts of the country and gathered together to exorcise the powers of darkness, not from a person, but from the whole country.”

“This rite of exorcism, beautiful and liturgical, had never before taken place in any part of the world. Although it had taken place in a private manner as when Saint Francis (exorcised) the Italian city of Arezzo,” he stated.

The Spanish exorcist explained, however, that the celebration of this ritual will not automatically change the difficult situation Mexico is going through in a single day.

“It would be a big mistake to think that by performing a full scale exorcism of the country everything would automatically change right away.”

Nevertheless, he emphasized that “if with the power we’ve received from Christ we expel the demons from a country, this will certainly have positive repercussions, because we’ll make a great number of the tempters flee, even if this exorcism is partial.”

“We don’t drive out all the evil spirits from a country with just one ceremony. But even though all will not be expelled, those that were removed are not there anymore.”

Fr. Fortea emphasized that “when the exorcists of a country drive out its demons, it has to be done in faith. You’re not going to see anything, feel anything, there’s not going to be any extraordinary phenomenon. We have to have faith that God conferred on the apostles a power, and that we can use this power.”

“In any case, if this ritual were to be carried out in more countries once year, before or after, this would put an end to any extraordinary manifestations which would show us the rage of the devil. Because, without a doubt, the demons hate to be driven out of a place or to be bound with the power of Christ.”

The Spanish exorcist said that “it would be very desirable that when there’s an annual meeting of exorcists in a country, a ritual such as this exorcismo magno that took place in Mexico be performed.”

He also emphasized that a bishop “can authorize its occurrence once a year with his priests in the cathedral.”

“The bishop is the shepherd and he can use the power he has received to drive away the invisible wolves from the sheep, since Satan is like a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour, and the shepherds can drive away the predator from the victim,” he concluded.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

Muslim leaders in Lebanon condemn persecution of Christians in the Middle East

by CNA/EWTN News • June 17, 2015

St. George Maronite cathedral beside the Mohammad Al-Amin mosque in Beirut, the Lebanese capital. (Patrick Donovan via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0)

Beirut, Lebanon — The leaders of four branches of Islam in Lebanon gathered earlier this month to issue a joint statement in the face of sectarianism and the rise of the Islamic State, denouncing attacks against Christians in the region.

“In the name of religious, humanitarian and national principles, the summit condemns religiously motivated attacks against Eastern Christians, including attacks against their homes, villages, property and places of worship, when in fact the Prophet had recommended that they be respected, protected and defended,” the participants said in a June 2 statement.

Such attacks, “like those suffered by other Muslims and non-Muslims belonging to other faiths and cultures, like the Yazidis, are tantamount to aggression against Islam itself,” they added, according to abouna.org, a site edited by Fr. Rif’at Bader, a priest of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The June summit included representatives of the Sunni, Shia, Druze, and Alawite communities.

The event’s coordinator, Mohammad Sammak, is co-chair of Lebanon’s National Committee for Islamic-Christian dialogue, and the Muslim leaders recommended that “the right way for intra-Muslim and Islamic-Christian relations involves justice, moderation, respect for diversity and differences among men.”

The gathering also “reiterated its faith in respect for human dignity, private and public freedoms, especially religious freedom, and its rejection of any coercion in religion or in the name of religion.”

The Muslim leaders are concerned by rising sectarianism and violence in their country, which has experienced pressure from the more than four-year civil war in its neighbor Syria: Hezbollah, a Shia militant group in Lebanon, has joined the fighting there; and more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees have flooded into Lebanon.

The Islamic State, which has established a Sunni caliphate across portions of Syria and Iraq, has persecuted all non-Sunnis – including Shia Muslims – and several of the Lebanese summit’s recommendations regard practices it has adopted.

The Muslims leaders urged their followers “to see no differences among themselves. This does not mean the absence of disagreements, but it does mean the acceptance of differences and respect for others, based on the rule of faith according to which ‘believers are brothers’. The variety of schools and interpretations does not abolish nor weaken this sense of brotherhood.”

They also noted that the Quran banns the killing of one Muslim by another and condemned “all forms of extremism and judgments of apostasy (takfir) pronounced against other believers in a God, a practice that is also a deviation from the tolerance that characterises Islam … and twists or distorts its image.”

The group also denounced terroristic behavior, and invited “Muslims from all schools in Lebanon and the Arab and Islamic world to focus on the fundamentals of faith of the Muslim doctrine and avoid misinterpretations that make Islam say what it does not say.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

In Thailand, Catholic seminary marks eight vibrant decades

by Antonio Anup Gonsalves (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2015

Bishop Silvio Siripong Charatsri celebrating Mass at Sacred Heart Seminary, Sriracha in Chantaburi Diocese in Thailand on June 13, 2015. (Antonio Anup Gonsalves/CNA)

Bangkok, Thailand — The Sacred Heart of Jesus Minor Seminary in Thailand’s Chantaburi diocese has spent 80 years forming young men to be priests.

“The seminary is the heart of a diocese,” Bishop emeritus Lawrence Thienchai of Chanthaburi told CNA June 13.

He was one of the thousands of Catholics who marked the seminary anniversary with a Mass that witnessed the ordination of a new priest.

The bishop compared the minor seminary to a plant nursery. The seminary educates young boys in “holistic formation to become a holy priest.”

He said the seminarians are “formed with an academic discipline and helped to arrive a human maturity and maturity of faith” so that they can witness to Christ.

Even for boys who do not have a calling to the priesthood, the seminary formation imprints a distinct personality. The bishop said that these boys grow up to be laymen who radiate Christian teachings and accept responsibility for the mission of the Church. They also help their own children to discern a vocation to priesthood or religious life.

Bishop Silvio Siripong Charatsri, the current head of the Diocese of Chanthaburi, presided at the seminary’s June 13 thanksgiving Mass with Cardinal Michael Michai Kitbunchu, the Archbishop emeritus of Bangkok.

Two other bishops and over 100 priests concelebrated the Mass at a packed indoor stadium at the diocese’s Darasamutr School in the town of Si Racha on the east coast of the Bay of Bangkok. The Mass drew over 3,000 faithful including 150 nuns and 300 seminarians and novices from various religious congregations.

Bishop Silvio reminded the faithful of Pope Francis’ message for World Mission Day 2014: “Wherever there is joy, enthusiasm and a desire to bring Christ to others, genuine vocations arise.”

During the Mass, Bishop Silvio ordained a new priest for the Chanthaburi diocese.

“It is a great occasion of joy for us to celebrate and reflect over this walk of 80 years and we are raising our prayers to God in thanks for this gift of priestly ministry,” Father Francis Xavier Kritsada Sukkaphat, the rector of Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, told CNA.

Since the permanent establishment of the seminary at Si Racha in 1935, the seminary has educated over 1,159 students. Its alumni include 164 priests, seven bishops and a cardinal. Many of the students who left the seminary continue to help in teaching and in various other ministries.

The seminary now houses 85 seminarians.

“I am grateful to all the bishops, priests, formators, the seminarians, parents, parishes and the benefactors who have stood with us in the past and in the present and continue their prayerful support even in the future,” Fr. Sukkaphat said.

Although the seminary has been at its current location for only about 80 years, it was founded in Bang Chang, the eastern region of Thailand, in 1872. It was permanently relocated to Si Racha, Thailand in 1934.

Bishop Silvio concluded the celebrations by thanking everyone for their respective roles in the pastoral mission of the Church and the seminary. He encouraged the faithful to pray for vocations and to be active in the mission of new evangelization.

After Mass, congregants sought a blessing from the newly ordained priest. The diocese also served lunch with traditional cuisines to all the faithful who had joined in the liturgy, helping to build friendship among the parishioners from various dioceses.

Thailand has 10 Catholic dioceses, many of which have their own minor seminaries. Older seminarians attend the country’s major seminary Lux Mundi in Sam Phran, north of Bangkok.

Less than one percent of Thailand’s population is Catholic. However, the Church plays a leading role in education and palliative health care. The Church also plays a role in promoting human dignity and self-empowerment, especially in the tribal and hilly terrains of the country’s peripheries.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

A new church is consecrated in United Arab Emirates amid hope for peace, dialogue

by Antonio Anup Gonsalves (CNA/EWTN News) • June 18, 2015

(L-R) Cardinal Parolin, Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, and Bishop Hinder assist in the ribbon cutting at the inauguration of St. Paul parish in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi, UAE, June 11, 2015. (AVOSA)

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — The inauguration and blessing of a new parish in the capital of the United Arab Emirates last week was met with jubilation, as the church will be a boon to the thousands of migrant Catholics working and living on the outskirts of the city.

“We thank the rulers for providing an attractive environment where Christians feel accepted and are able to live their own identity and to practice their religious beliefs,” said Bishop Paul Hinder, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, at the June 11 consecration.

“The mission of the Church is to do everything possible to foster the human capital of the Christian faithful and to make them strong in the pursuit of truth and moral behaviour and thus able to better serve the country.”

St. Paul parish was consecrated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, in the presence of Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the UAE’s minister for culture, youth, and community development.

The following day, more than 5,000 faithful gathered for a Mass of Thanksgiving. The parish is located in Mussafah, a satellite town of Abu Dhabi, nearly 19 miles from the city center.

St. Paul’s can accommodate 1,200 faithful, and was constructed on land donated by the government of Abu Dhabi. It spans more than 49,000 square feet. The complex also includes within its premises a three-story building that houses a multipurpose hall, a residence for priests, and meeting rooms.

The church is expected to serve the approximately 60,000 to 70,000 faithful who live in the surrounding industrial area. Many of the Catholics in the area are guest workers from Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, though some are local Arabs.

Along with daily Masses in English, St. Paul will also have weekly Masses in Arabic, Konkani, Malayalam, and Tagalog; fortnightly Masses in Tamil; and monthly Masses in Konkani.

Speaking at the inauguration, Cardinal Parolin said: “I think Christians who live in this country need opportunities to give witness of faith and to grow in their faith … they may be strengthened in their efforts to grow in their faith, and be charitable to others.”

Cardinal Parolin also noted that “The number of Christian faithful in the UAE is growing, and even though they come from many national and ethnic groups, languages, and cultures, yet they are brought together in unity by their Catholic faith.”

Cardinal Parolin emphasized that “Our lives are closely linked to people of other religions and we seek to promote peaceful coexistence of peoples as we endeavour to become a global fraternity of nations with the common goal of building human society upon the noble principles of justice, peace, prosperity, and equality for all.”

Bishop Hinder thanked the president of the UAE, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the UAE government for their generosity and graciousness in granting the land and necessary permits, and for the stability, security, and peace enjoyed in the country.

Bishop Hinder noted, “Wealth is only a blessing when it is administered with a high sense of responsibility by well-qualified and dedicated leaders.”

“The Catholic Church is not simply a praying community but forms its followers in respect for life, care for the environment, honesty and dedication,” Bishop Hinder continued. “Working together in mutual respect, we can all contribute to the prosperity and peace of the country.”

Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan observed that the opening of St. Paul’s highlights the religious tolerance of the UAE’s leaders. He praised the leadership of Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the previous president and father of the current president, saying he was guided by wisdom, courage, prudence, temperance, loyalty, justice, and generosity.

He also referred to Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s declaration that the UAE has, and will continue, to rely on the diversity of its people, voicing hope that the parishioners of St. Paul’s would bring unique identities and commitments to the country’s cosmopolitan society.

“Our leadership knows its true wealth and accepts the obligation to respect and understand the many religious beliefs of the people living in this country,” Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan further said. “I believe that each of you can provide evidence that the leaders of the UAE are fulfilling that obligation.”

Around 76 percent of the population of the UAE is Muslim, while Christians constitute around nine percent. There are also sizable minorities of Hindus and Buddhists.

St. Paul’s is the second parish in Abu Dhabi, following St. Joseph’s Cathedral in the city’s center. Its lot was granted by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi, with construction starting in 2013.

The Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Arabia serves the more than 2 million Catholics in the UAE, Oman, and Yemen.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

Summorum Pontificum Conference celebrates Benedict XVI’s liturgical legacy

by Jan Bentz (CNA/EWTN News) • June 19, 2015

Cardinal Walter Brandmüller leads Benediction during the Summorum Pontificum Conference, at the Church of Ss. Dominic and Sixtus in Rome, June 13, 2015. (Bohumil Petrik/CNA)

Rome, Italy — The fourth annual Summorum Pontificum Conference was held last Saturday in Rome to promote the understanding and use of the extraordinary form of the Roman rite, and to discuss the liturgical heritage of Benedict XVI.

Benedict issued the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in 2007, acknowledging clearly the right of all priests of the Roman rite to say Mass using the Roman Missal of 1962 – the form of the Mass used prior to the reforms which followed the Second Vatican Council.

The fourth annual conference to celebrate the document was held June 13 and centered on the theme, “A Treasure for the Whole Church.”

“In this moment of theological reflection we wanted to make the liturgical treasures of the Church known, eight years after the publication of Benedict XVI’s document,” explained Fr. Vincenzo Nuara, OP, in an interview with CNA June 13.

“In the past years, as this year, we have tried to deepen theological and liturgical topics which attain to the Latin Gregorian liturgy. We wanted to create a basis of study, of research, and of debate for young theologians, and to make known the treasure of this liturgy.”

The conference took place in Rome’s Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, commonly called the Angelicum.

To close the meeting, a solemn pontifical Mass was said the following day by Cardinal Velasio De Paolis in the Holy Sacrament chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica.

More than 200 participants of the conference listened to speakers, among them the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller.

“The two forms of the liturgy, the ordinary and extraordinary, should enrich each other,” he told CNA in an interview, “especially in the understanding of what liturgy is, that it is first and foremost the worship of God, and not just an inter-social human gathering.”

Benedict’s motu proprio was a milestone, because “those who had struggles with the renewed liturgy … have gained full right of being included in the Church,” he added.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, was also present, and spoke on “Tradition as the foundation of the Catholic liturgy”.

He expressed hope that the hermeneutic of continuity – Benedict’s understanding of Vatican II as being in line with the previous Magisterium – would be advanced by the conference’s day of study.

“I want to express my desire that these reflections contribute in a small way to the liturgical renewal that the Second Vatican Council and the intention of the Council Fathers had, expressed by Pope Paul VI on the day of the publication of Sacrosanctum Concilium,” he said.

The head of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, the Vatican department in charge of the extraordinary form, explained to CNA the necessary conditions for mutual enrichment.

“It can only happen where there are no ideological predispositions from either side. Where there is an ideological prejudice it is more difficult, or almost impossible, to perceive the harmony of the unity of the two forms of the Roman Rite,” Archbishop Guido Pozzo said.

Summorum Pontificum was promulgated July 7, 2007 and enabled the Missal of 1962 to be used freely in the liturgy of the Church, after it had been de facto prohibited after the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council.

Archbishop Pozzo pointed out that the document is not dated, but remains relevant: “I would say that the motu proprio is always actual in the liturgy of the Church, since the liturgy is timeless, and therefore always actual.”

“There needs to be more awareness in the Church that the two forms are not competing, they are not contradictory, but they complete each other mutually,” he added.

Another topic that was touched on was the role of the bishop in relation to the extraordinary form.

Bishop Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Maria Santissima in Astana, emphasized that it is not just the duty of a bishop to enable his flock to profit from the treasure of the extraordinary form, but should be cause for joy.

“It is for me very logical that every diocesan bishop has to have a joy when he states and sees that a group of his faithful – even when this group is small – desires to have this form of the liturgy which the universal Church desires for all faithful.”

The conference was in its fourth edition, and is co-organized by the “Priestly Friends of Summorum Pontificum” and “Youth and Tradition,” both Italian associations which arouse after the publication of Summorum Pontificum.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

WORLD NEWS

Catholics in Holy Land aggrieved by arson attack on monastery in Israel

by CNA/EWTN News • June 19, 2015

Devastation from an arson attack on the Catholic Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha, Israel, suspected to have been carried out by Jewish extremists. (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)

Jerusalem, Israel — Catholic leaders have been joined by Israeli leaders in their concerned reaction to Thursday’s attack on a church located on the Sea of Galilee, which has hospitalized two persons and caused extensive damage.

In the early hours of June 18, the attackers started a fire at the Church of the Multiplication in Tabgha, located 120 miles north of Jerusalem. The church is built on the site where Christ fed the 5,000 through the multiplication of loaves and fish, and is joined to a Benedictine monastery. As a result of the arson, a monk and a staff member were hospitalized and treated for smoke inhalation.

“There is a real escalation in anti-Christian violence: from a small fire which leaves little damage, to a bigger fire, and finally to an arson attack which is intended to produce major damage and even killing,” lamented Bishop William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in an interview with the Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need.

“We are allowed to ask: what will come next?”

The attackers left Hebrew graffiti on the walls, reading “all idols will be smashed”, which suggests they were Jewish extremists. According to The Times of Israel, the graffiti is a quote from the “Aleinu” prayer, which is prayed three times each day in Jewish services.

Bishop Shomali commented, “I am still inclined to think that the act is perpetrated by a very small and aggressive group. I cannot put all Israelis in the same basket, since there are the liberal and tolerant Jews, those who are less, and finally those who hate the non-Jews. My fear is that these radicals are increasing in number and in the degree of intolerance.”

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the arson “an attack on us all,” adding that “in Israel freedom of worship is one of our core values and is guaranteed under the law. Those responsible for this despicable crime will face the full force of the law. Hate and intolerance have no place in our society.”

Israeli president Reuven Rivlin commented that “such terrible desecration of an ancient and holy place of prayer, is an attack on the very fabric of life in our country – Israel, as a state and a society, is obligated to protect and preserve the holy sites, for all faiths.”

The arson did extensive damage to the monastery, the church entrance, an office for pilgrims, and a book storage room.

“Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have visited here, have prayed here, have had Mass at this Holy Site. In many ways it was a haven of peace and tranquility which has now been disfigured by misguided zealots who have no respect for the religious beliefs of others,” Fr. Peter Vasko, OFM, president of the Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land, stated.

“It is indeed a sad day here in the Holy Land, in Israel for all the people living here, Jews, Christians and Muslims. There is a great need on the part of all religious leaders in this country to stress the value

of tolerance and respect among their adherents.”

He added that “At this moment all we can do is to forgive those who committed this crime and to somehow rebuild again as we try to practice the gospel values that our Lord taught us.”

Fr. Vasko reported that the Benedictine community who operate the monastery have said, “We will not permit a small group of fanatics to divide the people of this land. The injury will always be there as it was a terrible thing for us – but we will overcome it.”

The Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land said, “Given the severity of the crime, we demand a rapid investigation, and that the perpetrators of this act of vandalism are brought to justice.”

The Church of the Multiplication had been vandalized previously, in April, when Jewish extremists destroyed crosses in the monastery’s outdoor prayer area, and threw stones at worshippers.

Fr. Jamal Khader, rector of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s seminary in Beit Jala, lamented that the arsonists could have been enabled by officials’ lax reactions to similar attacks in the past.

“We had incidents including at Tabgha and Dormition Abbey where Israeli authorities didn’t do enough to stop them, so we expected such a crime and this may continue if the authorities don’t take concrete steps to stop it, to show they are serious in protecting the holy places in the Holy Land,” he told The Independent.

In 2014, Jewish extremists vandalized a Romanian Orthodox church, the Abbey of the Dormition, and Catholic offices in Jerusalem, and a monastery in Beit Shemesh. The year before, more than 20 Christian sites of the Latin Patriarchate were attacked by vandals. And in 2012, a Trappist monastery in Latroun was subject to arson and graffiti, and the Convent of St. Francis on Mt. Zion was vandalized.

The present Church of the Multiplication was built in the 20th century, though a church was built on the site by at least the mid-fourth century. The present church includes mosaic floors from the fifth century, which were not destroyed in the arson.

The Benedictine monastery attached to the church was founded in the 20th century. The current building was opened in 2012, including a private oratory for the monks which was financed with support from Aid to the Church in Need.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

Married couples to Catholic Church: Give us clear, positive teaching on marriage

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 14, 2015

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

St. Louis, MO — Alice Heinzen was with her dad and siblings on a ski trip when she froze on top of what looked like a treacherous mountain path. Her dad was waiting at the bottom, and so were her other siblings – who had all fallen down along the way.

After several attempts at coaxing her down, something Alice’s dad said finally clicked: “Stop looking at the rocks! Look at the snow!”

Now, Alice and her husband, Jeff, recall that story as an analogy for the way that married couples need to draw strength and courage by focusing on the positives.

“Inspiring confidence in marriage is much like Alice’s story on skiing,” Jeff said. “A clear, affirmative message on the beauty of matrimony makes us see the snow rather than the rocks surrounding us.”

The rocks are plenty – the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether to redefine marriage later this month, young people are delaying marriage if marrying at all, and gender ideology threatens the idea of men and women as distinct and complimentary.

“Assure us that taking the risk to go against the culture will bring us joy,” Jeff said. “Talk with us frankly that marriage is hard but worth the effort.”

That’s the message Alice and Jeff left with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at their General Assembly in St. Louis June 11.

The Heinzen family offered insights as auditors at last year’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family in Rome, as well as from the experience of 35 years of marriage and three grown children who are now all married themselves.

Preaching about the beauty of marriage was one of three suggestions the Heinzens had for the bishops. They also recommended better formation for couples before and during married life, as well as an increase in the celebration of marriage as a vocation.

Their recommendations resonated with much of what was discussed at the assembly leading up the Synod of Bishops on the family, which will take place in October in Rome. Besides the Heinzens, the bishops heard from two other married couples and examined the general results of the polls on marriage and family that were taken throughout the country at the parish level.

“There was a strong endorsement that we as pastors have much ground to cover in sharing the good news of the Gospel of the family among our people,” said Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, who presented the findings from the polls.

“Specifically, we need to be more effective in our communication of the meaning of marriage as one man and one woman, on married couples’ call to be open to life, and on the dignity and responsibility of the vocation of marriage,” he added. “That was a common theme; we need to be better at communicating.”

Lucia and Ricardo Luzondo help married couples and families through full-time ministry in the apostolate they co-founded, called Renovacion Familiar.

In their insights and suggestions to the bishops on Thursday, the Luzondos asked that there be better formation for priests and seminarians on how to guide married couples and families, and that newly engaged and married couples be encouraged to become more active members of parishes.

They also asked for increased attention to the specific needs of Hispanic couples and families in the Church.

“Many times parishes do not offer many or any resources or events for them. And if they do, oftentimes they are very limited versions of the programs and resources available in English,” Ricardo said.

“This is particularly worrisome, because as you well know, Hispanics comprise almost 50 percent of Catholics in the United States,” he added, “and studies show that in less than a decade, Hispanics will likely be the majority group of Catholics in our country.”

Claire and John Grabowski, Ph.D., are members of the Pontifical Council for the Family. They spoke of the beauty of the complimentary of men and women in marriage, and on the graces that come from the sacrament.

“Marriage is unique as a sacrament because it is a hinge between the orders of nature and grace,” John said. “The opening chapters of the book of Genesis bear witness to the integral nature of marriage as part of God’s good creation, and the goodness of the sexually differentiated body created in the image likeness of God.”

In their work preparing couples for marriage, Claire said she always tries to help the couples understand the graces that they will receive throughout their life through the sacrament of marriage. She also gives them some practical advice.

“There are two things I tell them to remember: the importance of going to Mass together, and making the family dinner a priority,” she said. “It is here that we come to know our children and to form them to become children of God.”

John explained that their brief reflections on the beauty of marriage are fleshed out much more fully in St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” and the Church’s catechesis on marriage and family.

“It’s important to understand that we cannot supersede a Theology of the Body with a Theology of Love,” John said. “The Theology of the Body is already a Theology of Love. To articulate a Theology of Love, we need to articulate the Theology of the Body.”

The bishops have a few more months to study and pray about the issues involved in marriage and family life before the Ordinary Synod takes place Oct. 4-25. The theme of the Synod will be: “The vocation and mission of the family in the church and the modern world.”

The elected U.S. Bishop delegates to the synod are: Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, U.S. bishops’ conference president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, and conference vice president Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

Minnesota archbishop resigns with ‘clear conscience’ amid sex abuse charges

by Ann Schneible (CNA/EWTN News) • June 15, 2015

Archbishop John C. Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis. (CNA)

St. Paul, MN — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the archbishop and an auxiliary bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, less than two weeks after the archdiocese was charged with mishandling sexual abuse cases.

However, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt says although he is stepping down, his conscience is clear with regard to the protection of minors and vulnerable adults from sexual abuse.

“My leadership has unfortunately drawn attention away from the good works of His Church and those who perform them,” said Archbishop Nienstedt in a June 15 statement on the archdiocese website, explaining his reasons for stepping down.

The prelate explained that he submitted his resignation to allow the archdiocese to have “a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.”

The Holy See issued a statement on Monday announcing that the resignations of Archbishop Nienstedt and auxiliary bishop Lee A. Piché had been accepted.

On June 5, the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis was charged with six counts of failing to protect minors, specifically with regard to the actions of the now-former priest Curtis Wehmeyer, who is currently serving a five year prison sentence for sexually abusing two minors and possession of child pornography. In March, Pope Francis issued a decree to permanently bar Wehmeyer from exercising priestly ministry and from presenting himself as a priest.

Despite the charges facing the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Archbishop Nienstedt maintained that he and others worked to prevent sexual abuse.

“I leave with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults,” he writes.

Archbishop Nienstedt served as the leading prelate of the “Twin Cities” archdiocese for seven years.

“The Catholic Church is not our Church, but Christ’s Church, and we are merely stewards for a time,” he said.

In order to temporarily fill the vacant position of archbishop, the Pope has appointed Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda as Apostolic administrator.

Echoing the words of Archbishop Nienstedt in a statement, Archbishop Hebda, who until now had served as coadjunctor archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, reiterated that the Church belongs to Christ.

“Our loving God frequently finds ways to remind us that even those who exercise leadership in the Church do so as laborers and not as the Master Builder: the Church is not ours but Christ’s,” he said.

Archbishop Hebda also cited the upcoming Year of Mercy as he embarks on his new position in the archdiocese.

“I look forward to getting to know this local Church and experiencing in a new context the marvelous ways in which the Lord works through His people to make His grace and healing presence known and felt, even in the most challenging of times,” he said.

Bishop Piché also issued a statement on the website of the archdiocese.

“The people of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis need healing and hope. I was getting in the way of that, and so I had to resign,” he said.

“I submitted my resignation willingly, after consultation with others in and outside the Archdiocese.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

For Archbishop Gomez, assisted suicide bill is empty compassion

by CNA/EWTN News • June 16, 2015

(ashley rose via Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Los Angeles, CA — People suffering from terminal illness deserve true compassion and care – not violence, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles said as the California legislature’s assisted suicide bill advances.

“It is a failure of public leadership and moral imagination to respond to human suffering by making it easier for people to kill themselves,” he said in his June 9 column for The Tidings.

Assisted suicide offers a “hollow” compassion, Archbishop Gomez said.

“Helping someone to die – even if that person asks for that help – is still killing. And killing is not compassion, it is killing,” he said. “It is responding to the needs of our neighbors with indifference, with the cold comfort of death.”

He called for California to become “a vanguard of true compassion for the dying.”

Archbishop Gomez spoke after the California Senate passed SB 128, “The End of Life Options Act” by a vote of 23-14. The legislation is modeled on Oregon’s law. It would allow doctors to prescribe lethal prescriptions to patients who have six months or less to live.

The legislation requires approval by the California Assembly. A similar bill failed to pass the California legislature in 2007.

The archbishop acknowledged that some people fear being unable to control pain or illnesses, especially the afflictions of old age.

“They are worried about becoming dependent or dying alone in a hospital, attached to all sorts of medical devices,” he said.

The archbishop noted trends in health like living longer means more age-related frailties like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

“We need to have an honest public conversation about these issues and what they mean for how we try to provide health care to all our people,” Archbishop Gomez continued.

He said the assisted suicide bill’s sponsors mean well and want to return compassion and personal freedom to the health care system.

However, he said the proposed legislation has “dangerous implications,” especially for the poor and vulnerable.

Archbishop Gomez warned that the assisted suicide bill is “pushing us into a quick-fix ‘solution’ that involves killing the people we find too difficult, too burdensome or too expensive to care for. ”

He warned that financial concerns will create pressure on the poor, elderly and handicapped, as well as on immigrants and minorities.

“In a state like California, where we have millions of people receiving government subsidized health care, the cost pressures to choose suicide over treatment will become even more urgent.”

The archbishop noted a case in Oregon where an insurance company denied cancer treatment for a woman. She was encouraged to take suicide pills and her insurance company said it would pay for them.

Legal assisted suicide may not be limited to the terminally ill. Rather, further advocacy could extend it to anyone suffering chronic and intolerable pain.

Archbishop Gomez warned that more and more people could decide they are “better off dead.” He cited an overall suicide rate increase of 50 percent in Oregon since the state legalized doctor-assisted suicide.

He encouraged people to support and learn from those who work in hospices, geriatrics and palliative care.

“Death will always be a mystery and death will never be easy – for those who are dying or for those who love them. But we can make death less painful, less frightening and we can even make it a time of beauty, mercy and reconciliation.”

He encouraged people to praye for one another and asked the Virgin Mary to help Catholics “grow in true compassion.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

How the U.S. bishops believe America can overcome racial violence

by CNA/EWTN News • June 16, 2015

Activisits hold hands during rally lead by faith leaders in front of Baltimore City Hall on May 3, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

St. Louis, MO — The head of the U.S. bishops’ conference pledged support for reconciliation and healing efforts in areas around the country that have been the site of racial tension and violent clashes between police and citizens.

“Promoting peace and reconciliation is the only way forward. And we must constantly strive to achieve these goals, trusting in the Lord to lead and guide us, accompanied by his merciful love,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Bishops Conference, in a June 10 statement.

Noting the racial tension and violence that has plagued cities including Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, where the U.S. bishops gathered last week for their general assembly, and Baltimore, where the bishops gather annually for their fall assembly, he said that the Church must take up the cause of promoting healing along with other civic and religious leaders.

“We mourn those tragic events in which African Americans and others have lost their lives in altercations with law enforcement officials. These deaths have led to peaceful demonstrations, as well as violent conflicts in the streets of our cities,” he said.

The archbishop first proposed that Catholics pray for peace and healing, followed by the study of scripture and Catholic social teaching “in order to gain a deeper appreciation of the dignity of all persons.”

Building on these steps, Catholics should strive to “encounter more fully” all those of different racial backgrounds, he continued. Similarly, Catholic parishes and neighborhoods should seek ways to “be truly welcoming of families of different racial and religious backgrounds.”

Finally, Archbishop Kurtz encouraged people to get to know local law enforcement officers, saying that unfortunately in many communities, there exists “an alienation of communities from those sworn to protect them.”

“Let them know of our support and gratitude,” he said. “And encourage young people to respect all legitimate authority.”

Recalling the late Archbishop of St. Louis, Cardinal Joseph Ritter’s integration of Catholic schools years before the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Archbishop Kurtz said the Church has long been “at the forefront of promoting justice in racial tensions”.

Overall efforts for reconciliation must address the roots of racially charged violence in cities, he said.

“A violent, sorrowful history of racial injustice, accompanied by a lack of educational, employment and housing opportunities, has destroyed communities and broken down families, especially those who live in distressed urban communities.”

Last summer, protests and heavy police action followed the death of Michael Brown, an 18 year-old African American of Ferguson, Mo., who was shot by Ferguson police officer after a confrontation.

This year, demonstrations followed the April 19 death of Baltimore resident, Freddie Gray, from injuries sustained while being transported following an arrest by Baltimore police. While hundreds of people protested the 25 year-old African American’s death peacefully, some turned violent resulting in the arrest of more than 200 people across the city.

Archbishop Kurtz said that today, the words of the U.S. Bishop’s 1979 pastoral letter “Brothers and Sister to Us” still hold true when it named racism as “a grave sin that denies the truth and meaning of the Incarnation of the Word of God in Jesus Christ.”

“Let us again call upon our Catholic people to pray frequently in their homes and in their churches for the cause of peace and racial reconciliation,” he said.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

Ahead of Supreme Court marriage decision, states act to protect religious freedom

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 16, 2015

U.S. Supreme Court. (CNA)

Washington, D.C. — As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to deliver a ruling that could lead to sweeping changes in the definition of marriage nationwide, two states have enacted new legal protections for those with religious objections to recognizing same-sex ‘marriages.’

“It’s important that people not feel as though they have to check their faith at the door,” a spokesman for the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., told CNA.

A new law in North Carolina allows state magistrates to opt out of performing all civil marriages if they establish a “sincerely held religious objection” to doing so.

The law comes after a top court administrator said in a memo that those who declined to serve as marriage officials for same-sex couples could be punished, terminated or face legal charges, the ABC television affiliate WTVD reports.

Meanwhile, new Michigan laws protect the religious freedom of adoption agencies that for place children only with a mother and a father. The laws say that any agency refusing to place children in a certain instance must inform clients of other agencies that could fulfill their request.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed the adoption laws June 11.

“The state has made significant progress in finding more ‘forever homes’ for Michigan kids in recent years and that wouldn’t be possible without the public-private partnerships that facilitate the adoption process,” he explained.

The Michigan Catholic Conference called the laws “critically important” to maintain the state’s “long-standing partnership” with religious adoption agencies.

There are currently more than 100 total adoption agencies in the state of Michigan. Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan alone served over 400 children in its adoption and foster care programs in 2013, according to the agency’s website.

The Michigan Catholic Conference said the adoption bills are a victory against discrimination, saying that they “will ensure the state does not discriminate against social service agencies that serve the poor and vulnerable while providing foster care and adoption services to the general public.”

The governors of Michigan and North Carolina are both Republican, but they took different stances on the bills.

On the same day Gov. Snyder signed the Michigan bills into law, the North Carolina state house successfully overrode Gov. Pat McCrory’s veto of Senate Bill 2 to protect state magistrates with objections to conducting same-sex “marriages.”

The state legislation comes shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule whether there is a federal right to same-sex “marriage.” If such a right is recognized by the court, persons and organizations with religious and moral objections to recognizing same-sex unions could become more vulnerable to lawsuits and other discrimination charges.

Catholic adoption agencies in Massachusetts, the District of Columbia and Illinois that could not in good conscience place children with same-sex couples have already been forced to close by law or by the denial of government funding. Their policies ran afoul of local anti-discrimination laws and growing demands that all institutions and individuals approve of state-recognized same-sex unions.

The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the Michigan and North Carolina laws, deeming them “two stains on our nation.”

Religious freedom questions were raised during Supreme Court arguments on the future of civil marriage.

During the April 28 oral arguments before the Supreme Court in the marriage case Obergefell v. Hodges, U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verilli admitted the possibility of a religious freedom conflict if the Court rules in favor of same-sex ‘marriage.’

Verilli, who argued in favor of redefining marriage on behalf of the Obama administration, also admitted the high court’s approval of a legal right to same-sex “marriage” would mean problems for the tax-exempt status of colleges with objections to recognizing the unions.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

Top U.S. bishops unwavering in support of traditional marriage ahead of Synod

by Mary Rezac (CNA/EWTN News) • June 17, 2015

(Scott Webb via Unsplash)

St. Louis, MO — In their spring general assembly held last week, just four months before the Synod on the Family in Rome, top U.S. bishops took a united stand in support of marriage and family life as the Church has always understood it.

“We need to be more effective in our communication of the meaning of marriage as one man and one woman, on married couples’ call to be open to life, and on the dignity and responsibility of the vocation of marriage,” Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. bishop’s conference, told the assembly June 11.

An incorrectly translated relatio document, as well as skewed media coverage and news of the “Kasper proposal“ during last year’s Extraordinary Synod led to confusion among some Catholics about the purpose and practical effects of the Synod on the Family.

This year, speculation and anticipation about the outcome of the synod has been rampant, causing Pope Francis himself to call for more prayer and less “gossip” about the upcoming meeting.

In an interview with CNA, Archbishop Kurtz said that while he is glad that there is so much excitement leading up to the synod, he would ask Catholics to become students of the process of the synod in order to best understand what is happening.

“I tell anyone who asks: please read the materials, because the work of the synod will be based on how we ended the last synod,” he said. “If someone really wants to follow the process, they really need to become students of that.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York told EWTN News Nightly he sees many reasons to hope that the upcoming synod will be just what the Church needs in terms of better serving married couples and families.

“The good news is the Holy Father has emphasized the importance of marriage and family as an extraordinarily high priority as a pastor for him and for the Church,” he said.

Those who are expecting the synod to bring about radical changes in Church teaching and practice will be disappointed, Cardinal Dolan added.

“(The bishops) are a little afraid that sometimes this is coming across as some type of … committee meeting to think about a change in the biblical understanding of marriage, which is impossible, and which is anything but the Holy Father’s intent,” he said.

“And so it’ll be fine, it always is. Pope Francis is inspiring us and reminding us that the Holy Spirit is in charge,” he explained. “The Holy Spirit can work through confusion, discussion, even arguments, even sometimes misunderstandings, he can bring focus and clarity out, and that’s what the bishops expect from the synod.

When asked what he thought the biggest threat to marriage and the family is in the Church today, Cardinal Dolan told CNA that he believes it is sin.

“Sin is our desire to redefine marriage to how we’d like it to be instead of redefining ourselves to be in consonant with God’s will,” he said. “So the threat is to prefer our way to God’s way, but God is the creator. God has given us marriage, it’s one of the first things he gave us in the Garden of Eden. So he’s told us what marriage is about, he’s told us it’s forever, it’s life-giving, it’s loving, it’s faithful, and if we attempt to chip away at that, and to change those divinely given qualities, we’re in big trouble.”

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ subcommittee for the promotion of marriage, knows first-hand how difficult it can be to stand in support of traditional marriage in today’s culture.

Recently in his own diocese, Archbishop Cordileone’s attempts to clarify Church teaching on marriage and family in diocesan school handbooks caused vehement uproars among school staff, students and many lay faithful, some of whom even petitioned the Pope for the archbishop’s removal.

Despite the emphatic opposition from many in his own diocese, Archbishop Cordileone has been unwavering in his support of Catholic teaching regarding marriage and family.

“We support marriage because of the great good marriage does in bringing men and women together, two halves of humanity coming together to procreate and raise the next generation of children,” he told EWTN News Nightly.

“So the basic question is, does society need an institution that connects children to the men and the women that bring them into the world, or not? Is that a good thing for children or not? If it is a good thing, then we have to support marriage as it’s always been understood … because it’s the only institution that does that.”

Archbishop Cordileone said in his address to the bishops that he saw the events leading up to the synod – such as the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the definition of marriage, the World Meeting of Families, and the Fortnight for Freedom – as teaching moments of which the Church should take advantage.

“We must publicize and demonstrate the beauty of marriage and family life, support those families who are struggling, and uphold strong families as examples.”

Strengthening the vocation of marriage as the source of the family must be a priority for Catholic clergy leading up to the synod, Cardinal Dolan said.

“That’s what God intends, and that’s what we should be working for; not wasting our time trying to redefine it.”

The upcoming Ordinary Synod on the Family is set to take place Oct. 4-25, with the theme “Jesus Christ reveals the mystery and vocation of the family.” The conclusions of the gathering will be used by Pope Francis to draft his post-synodal apostolic exhortation, which can be expected in 2016.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

After mass shooting horror, S.C. Catholics mourn with Charleston church

by CNA/EWTN News • June 18, 2015

Members of Congress hold a prayer circle for Charleston shooting victims outside the White House, June 18, 2015. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Charleston, S.C. — A mass shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston, S.C. drew prayers and sympathy from the state’s Catholics, aghast at the horror of the crime which may have had racial motivations.

“The inside of any church is a sanctuary. When a person enters, he or she has the right to worship, pray and learn in a safe and secure environment,” Bishop Robert Guglielmone of Charleston said June 18. “For anyone to murder nine individuals is upsetting, but to kill them inside of a church during a Bible study class is devastating to any faith community.”

Bishop Guglielmone offered his deepest sympathies on behalf of all Catholics in South Carolina to the families of the victims and the church members of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

“I pray that everyone affected by this horror will feel the comforting presence of our Lord surrounding them during this difficult time.”

Bishop Michael Burbidge of Raleigh tweeted: “We pray for those killed in the violent church shooting in Charleston. We also pray for their families and all those who mourn their death.”

A white gunman fatally shot three men and six women at the historic black church June 17 after an evening prayer meeting and Bible study. Three people survived.

The shooter sat in the church for almost an hour before he stood up and opened fire.

Local authorities have not publicly identified the victims. Church members, friends, and family told the Charleston Post and Courier that the dead include Pastor Clementa Pinckney, 41, who was also a state senator.

Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of Pinckney, told NBC News that an eyewitness said the gunman sat next to the pastor during the Bible study.

The gunman reportedly told one woman who survived that he was letting her live to tell everyone what had happened, Dot Scott, president of the Charleston NAACP, told the Charleston Post and Courier.

James Johnson, who had become friends with Pinckney through civil rights activism, said the feeling after the shooting was “very numb; it’s sad.”

“No one expects to go to church to worship their God and be shot dead,” said Johnson, a chapter president of the National Action Network civil rights organization.

The alleged shooter, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, was arrested in North Carolina on Thursday.

He had been jailed twice previously on a trespassing charge and a separate controlled substance charge. His Facebook page shows him wearing a jacket with the apartheid-era South African flag and the flag of Rhodesia, USA Today reports.

Local law enforcement and federal authorities are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

According to Sylvia Johnson, the gunman told the church members “I have to do it. You rape our women, and you’re taking over our country.”

Hundreds of people gathered at another Charleston African Methodist Episcopal church for a June 18 prayer vigil.

African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister was among the speakers.

“What crime did they commit? They were guilty of believing because they were in a holy place, no such thing could occur,” he said.

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest African Methodist Episcopal church in the South.

The church community dates back to before 1816. A founding member, Denmark Vesey, led a slave rebellion in 1822 that resulted in the burning of the church and drove its members underground. The church reorganized in 1865, and hosted a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. in April, 1962.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

U.S. bishops on ‘Laudato Si’ – it’s about conversion

by Matt Hadro (CNA/EWTN News) • June 18, 2015

(Unsplash)

Washington, D.C. — Several leading U.S. bishops praised the new papal encyclical as an invitation to turn away from sin and grow closer to God through a relationship to the created world.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, described the document as fundamentally an invitation to deeper conversion.

“It’s about our Holy Father saying everyone should take responsibility, and sin is not taking responsibility for the truth,” he told CNA June 18. “Sin is both individual and social,” he added, “one does not negate the other. And so personal decisions that we make are important.”

“We understand that it is as he said in communion with everyone, that we seek the common good. And that is a very forceful call. It is a call for conversion.”

The archbishop spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning. He was joined by Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington.

They discussed Pope Francis’ new encyclical, which was officially published June 18. The 184-page document is entitled “Laudato Si,” taken from the Canticle of St. Francis praising God for his creation.

“We not only receive this message with joy, but we seek to be responsible in caring for our common home, a home that God has entrusted to us,” Archbishop Kurtz told reporters.

The encyclical applies faith to today’s issues in “reading the signs of the times,” said Cardinal Wuerl.

He added that the encyclical’s use of empirical data “shows his [Pope Francis’] and the Church’s deep respect for the world of science and the understanding that it is a domain of its own.”

While focused on the environment, “Laudato Si” also addresses the broader relationship of humans to nature, to each other, and to God. It discusses the connection between sin and the degradation of the environment, condemning the overconsumption of natural resources as well as a similar disregard for God’s creation through abortion and population control.

While the document is addressed to the whole world, Archbishop Kurtz told CNA that the United States has a specific role to play in promoting its teachings.

“We in the United States, I think we do have a special responsibility to look for the ways in which we can care for others and not be concerned only about self-interest,” he said.

The archbishop also warned people not to tailor the encyclical to their own narrow interests.

“When it becomes simply an economic or a political policy paper,” he said of selective readers, “they miss the message. It’s that important. Because the message is much more profound.”

Pope Francis makes this point in the encyclical, he noted, dismissing a narrow “biocentrism” that shows concern only for the earth and not for human persons. Francis also criticizes a “technocratic approach” that values technological progress while ignoring its effect on people and the environment, Archbishop Kurtz added.

While citing scientific studies on climate change and its causes, Pope Francis still leaves room for “dialogue” on the matter, and this is clear at the end of the document, the archbishop affirmed.

“He also says at the end that in calling for dialogue, he does not in any way give the impression that the Church is settling questions of science,” he said. “[Pope Francis] knows that in dialogue with others, there’s a great respect for that human person, for our creativity.”

Other bishops throughout the U.S. also issued statements reflecting on “Laudato Si.”

Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles said in his weekly column for The Tidings that what struck him most about the encyclical was “the sense of urgency and the personal tone.”

“Laudato Si is not so much a work of politics or economics – it is a moral and spiritual reflection on our times,” he said.

Inviting all the members of his archdiocese to read the encyclical and reflect on ways to put it into practice, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta reflected that “The Holy Father wants us all to take seriously the issues that face our planet – not only from an economic perspective, but out of genuine ethical concern for all of the people with whom we share it.”

Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha echoed this notion, also saying that the Pope is calling “individuals, families, communities, corporations and nations to a fresh way of thinking and acting.”

“As previous popes have done, he urges us to reject a utilitarian consumerism that does not preserve the environment for future generations and that shows a harsh disregard for the poor today, the archbishop said.

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, whose city will host Pope Francis during his visit to the United States this September, also welcomed the encyclical, which he described as “a deep and complex appeal to conscience, a challenge to all of us to reexamine our stewardship of the environment and our love for the global poor.”

“As Philadelphians prepare for the World Meeting of Families this fall, Pope Francis reminds us that the family is a school of love and responsibility, the seed of a ‘culture of life’ that includes the dignity of the earth and the needs of all its peoples,” the archbishop added.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

U.S. NEWS

Infallible? Informal? How binding is the new encyclical on Catholics?

by Adelaide Mena (CNA/EWTN News) • June 19, 2015

(CC0 1.0)

Washington, D.C. — With the release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment this week came a wave of controversy over the Pope’s statements about climate change, species extinction and other scientific topics.

Alongside the debate came a resounding question: what is the Catholic obligation to respond?

One theologian offered an answer: Catholics should respect and listen to Pope Francis in his new encyclical, even if they may disagree with some of its scientific and political statements.

“I think people need to accept that with an open and docile heart,” offered Fr. Thomas Petri, vice president and academic dean of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.

“In the Church’s teaching, even in areas where we are allowed to disagree with the Pope, we are still expected to respect and to give it a fair hearing and to be docile to it. It doesn’t mean blindly accepting it, but it does mean not just outright dismissing it.”

He told CNA that while Catholics may prudentially disagree with a specific policy guidance or factual explanation, they must respectfully consider the Pope’s words and are obliged to follow the Pope’s moral counsel – such as the moral guidelines for the social issues addressed in “Laudato Si.”

“Even if it is true that science disproves some of what the Holy Father claims as erroneous, for example, about the causes of climate change, that does not negate from the obligation to be moral with regard to how we treat the climate, how we treat nature, and how we treat the excluded,” Fr. Petri said.

The Pope’s encyclical “Laudato Si,” meaning “Praise be to You,” was published Thursday, June 18. Its name is taken from St. Francis of Assisi’s medieval Italian prayer “Canticle of the Sun,” which praises God through elements of creation like Brother Sun, Sister Moon, and “our sister Mother Earth.”

The Vatican had first announced in January 2014 that Pope Francis intended to write an encyclical on “human ecology,” or the relationship of man to the environment, to his fellow man, and to God.

Some commenters have objected to some parts of the encyclical, including statements about climate change and its causes.

While Catholics may prudentially come to different conclusions than the Pope on some matters of policy or science, Fr. Petri said, the Holy Father has the authority – and the duty – to speak to the Church and the world on a broad range of pressing moral concerns, including the environment.

Papal encyclicals are letters addressed to all the Church faithful as an “authoritative way” for a pope to state his “magisterial teaching,” he explained.

Encyclicals “help focus the eyes of the Church on a particular theme or a particularly pressing issue,” added Fr. David Endres, assistant professor of Church History and Historical Theology at the Athenaeum of Ohio.

The subject matter could be “something that the Holy Father just feels prompted to kind of remind the faithful about and almost to present a kind of a Scripture-tradition, almost a little mini-Catechism lesson for the faithful, on a particular theme or topic,” he continued.

Encyclicals are timely documents, addressed to problems of the age. They also contain timeless truths, he clarified, but they are foremost timely. “Whenever there’s a modern threat to humanity, the Church can’t be silent.”

Examples of past encyclicals that dealt with relevant and timely issues include “Rerum Novarum,” the landmark social encyclical published in 1891 about “capital and labor” which Pope St. Leo XIII saw as a pressing matter that needed the voice of the Church. Although addressed to the problems of that day, the encyclical is still read for its explanation of Church social teaching.

Two encyclicals written by Pope Pius XI – “Mit Brennender Sorge” and “Divini Redemptoris” – specifically addressed Nazism and Atheistic Communism, evils of the day.

“Humanae Vitae,” the 1968 encyclical by Pope Paul VI on married love and human life also addressed the timely subject of birth control, reiterating the Church’s teaching against artificial contraception.

In the case of “Humanae Vitae,” the Church teaching on contraception is a clear-cut moral issue and binding on the consciences of Catholics. “Laudato Si” is some 5 times longer than “Humanae Vitae” and addresses a much broader array of topics – both moral and scientific – which, Fr. Petri said, do not all carry the same weight.

While some object to the Church authoritatively addressing issues that are not explicitly theological, Fr. Endres insisted the Church has a duty to respond to problems it deems as affecting the common good of humanity.

The Pope can readily address “anything that deals with human concerns, with creating an authentic human society imbued with the values of the Gospel,” he said.

Despite the media hype about scientific arguments, Pope Francis’ new encyclical largely addresses moral concerns – and has the authority to do so, said Fr. Petri.

“He’s raising the concern, the real concern, of how we treat the environment, of inequality in the global economy, of how we treat those who are excluded from mainstream society,” he said.

“His authority extends to faith and morals. It extends to these environmental issues inasmuch as he says at one point, the environment or the climate is part of the ‘common good.’ That’s morals. That’s part of morality.”

He has a right and “Catholics have an obligation to hear him and respect his teaching, what he has to say about that,” Fr. Petri reinforced.

However, he clarified, Catholics are able to prudentially and respectfully disagree with the Pope on specific policies or scientific assertions.

Because the Pope lacks specific expertise in, for instance, science or economics, the Pope may not have “every possible scientific solution” in mind for a given issue. As an example, the theologian continued, someone could legitimately disagree with the Pope on the causes of climate changes or specific facts surrounding it, although “a Catholic would want to make sure that he or she was on scientifically good ground to dispute that, first.”

Additionally, Catholics could find “legitimate disagreement” over how to address some of the concerns the Pope discusses – a fact that Pope Francis acknowledges in the document.

In “Laudato Si,” Pope Francis notes that on “many concrete questions, the Church has no reason to offer a definitive opinion” and encourages discussion between experts. The Pope also encourages a variety of responses to the issues at hand, rejecting the pursuit of “uniform recipes” and elaborating that there are a number of solutions for the specific questions facing each country and region.

While there can be legitimate variations in the kind of actions Catholics take, Fr. Petri said, “they do, I think, really need to take the problems that he’s identifying seriously to form their conscience.”

And while the faithful can disagree on matters of science and policy, they cannot do so on the elemental and moral truths the Pope calls to light, he said.

“You really can’t disagree with the basic principles that we have to take care of the environment, take care of the poor,” he added.

Overall, Catholics should bring away from the encyclical an understanding of the moral concerns Pope Francis asks the faithful to consider, he underscored.

“I think they have to believe that we are stewards of creation, that we have a responsibility to protect the gift of creation, we have a responsibility to love the least among us, and excluded among us.”

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

FEATURES

Love, Tolerance, and the Making of Distinctions

by Very Rev. Robert Barron • June 16, 2015

Last week, I wrote a piece on Bruce Jenner’s transformation into Caitlyn Jenner. I argued that the manner in which Jenner spoke of his transition reflected a Gnostic anthropology, which is repugnant to a Biblical view of the human being. I didn’t say a word about Jenner personally; I urged no violence against him/her; I didn’t question his/her motives. I simply made an observation that the moral and spiritual context for transgenderism is, from a classically Christian standpoint, problematic.

Not surprisingly, the article garnered a fair amount of attention and inspired a lot of commentary, both positive and negative. Among the negative remarks were a number that criticized me for fomenting “hatred” against Jenner and against the transgender community. Though I’ve come to expect this sort of reaction, I find it discouraging and the fruit of some pretty fundamental confusions.

My great mentor Robert Sokolowski long ago taught me — in one of those lapidary remarks that strikes you immediately as right and important — that philosophy is the art of making distinctions. He meant that what brings together Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Kant, Hegel, and Wittgenstein is a gift for clarifying how this differs from that, how one aspect of an idea profiles itself against another, how seemingly similar concepts are in fact distinct. In executing these moves, the great philosophers made muddy water clear. What strikes me so often as I listen to the public conversation regarding moral issues is the incapacity of so many to make the right distinctions.

Some of the muddiest water surrounds the concepts of love/hate and tolerance/intolerance. In the spirit of Sokolowski, I would like to make what I hope are some clarifying differentiations. For the mainstream of the Catholic intellectual tradition, love is not primarily an emotion, but an act of the will. To love, Thomas Aquinas says, is to want the good of the other. Consequently, hatred is not primarily a feeling, but desiring evil for another, positively wanting what is bad for someone else. Given this, when is hatred called for? When is hatred morally permissible? The simple answer: never. God is nothing but love, and Jesus said that we are to be perfect, as our heavenly father is perfect. This is precisely why he told us to love even our enemies, to bless even those who curse us, to pray even for those who maltreat us. Does this mean that our forebears were obliged to love Hitler and that we are obliged to love ISIS murderers? Yes. Period. Does it mean that we are to will the good of those who, we are convinced, are walking a dangerous moral path? Yes. Period. Should everyone love Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner? Absolutely, completely, unconditionally.

But here is where a crucial distinction has to be made: to criticize someone for engaging in immoral activity is not to “hate” that person. In point of fact, it is an act of love, for it is tantamount to willing good for him or her. Once the sense that there is objective good and evil has been attenuated, as it largely has been in our society, the only categories we have left are psychological ones. And this is why, in the minds of many, to question the moral legitimacy of transgenderism is, perforce, to “attack” or “hate” transgendered people. A very real danger that flows from the failure to make the right distinction in this regard is that moral argument evanesces. If someone who disagrees with you on an ethical matter is simply a “hater,” then you don’t have to listen to his argument or engage it critically. You are permitted, in fact, to censor him, to shut him down. Sadly, this is what obtains in much of the public arena today: the impugning of motives, the questioning of character, and the imposition of censorship. Just a few weeks ago, two Princeton faculty members, Cornel West and Robert George, had a public debate regarding same-sex marriage, West arguing for and George against. What was so refreshing was that both men, who are good friends, actually argued, that is to say, marshalled evidence, drew reasoned conclusions from premises, answered objections, etc., and neither one accused the other of “hating” advocates of the rival position. May their tribe increase.

Distinctions are called for, furthermore, regarding the word “tolerance,” which is bandied about constantly today. Typically, it has come to mean acceptance and even celebration. Thus, if one is anything shy of ecstatic about gay marriage or transgenderism, one is insufficiently “tolerant.” In point of fact, the term implies the willingness to countenance a view or activity that one does not agree with. Hence, in the context of our wise political system, each citizen is required to tolerate a range of opinions that he finds puzzling, erroneous, repugnant or even bizarre. There are lots of good reasons for this toleration, the most important of which are respect for the integrity of the individual and the avoidance of unnecessary civil strife, but it by no means implies that one is obliged to accept or celebrate those perspectives. Thus, one should certainly tolerate the right of a person to become transgendered without feeling, at the same time, obliged to exult in that person’s choice.

The ethical conversation has become, in the last fifty years, extraordinarily roiled. It would serve all of us to adopt an intellectual instinct of Thomas Aquinas. When he was confronted with a thorny question, he would typically begin his response with the comment “distinguo“ (I distinguish).

Father Robert Barron is the founder of the global ministry Word on Fire (wordonfire.org) and the Rector/President of Mundelein Seminary. He is the creator of two award-winning documentary series, Catholicism and Catholicism: The New Evangelization.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

FEATURES

Fathers and Their Families

by Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. • June 17, 2015

From the time of Aristotle, men have reflected on the role of fathers and their family relationships. The philosopher writes that the family is society’s basic social unit.

Data about Fatherhood

The National Center for Fathering, a non-partisan agency, reports some appalling facts about fatherlessness in America. More than twenty million children live in a home without the physical presence of a father — four out of ten. Half of these children do not see them.

Millions more have fathers who are physically present but emotionally absent. These numbers have increased with the growing number of premarital births and a continuing high divorce rate. Divorce is no longer the main reason that children do not grow up with both of their parents. In recent years, divorce has declined, but single parenthood has increased.

As yet, we do not have firm numbers on those fathers who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or pornography. Today there are more idle or unemployed men than at any time since the Great Depression. This is partly due to issues in the work place.

If fatherlessness were classified as a disease, it would be an epidemic and a national emergency. Given President Obama’s own family background, having grown up without his father, Mr. Obama is the pre-eminent person who can address this issue.

Men with Women and Children

While “super-Dads” exceed our expectations, derelict fathers degrade their vocation. In more than sixty-per cent of TV’s programming, fathers are portrayed as uninvolved, incompetent, stupid, and unnecessary. Discussions about women having it all are a fallacy. At least not all at once. Most women cannot conceive children, give birth to them, raise them, and work outside the home without the presence of a loving father in the home. It must be said however that single mothers try doing it all the time.

Studies show that fathers who put family first are usually good husbands and fathers.

The Odyssey: Telemachus

In Homer’s Odyssey, there is a touching moment between Odysseus (Lat. Ulysses) and his son Telemachus, who is determined to find out what has happened to his father who left home to fight in the Trojan War when his son was still a baby. Telemachus has longed for a lifelong relationship with his father.

In Crisis of Manliness by Walter Newell observes that too many boys today are like Telemachus who long for a father who will nurture and guide them through a hard world.

Many boys are from broken homes and are forced at a very early age to be their mother’s protector from oppressive men. At the same time, they struggle to bring themselves up in a way that would make their absent fathers proud of them. Each year Newell tells his students the story of Telemachus and his father in Homer’s Odyssey. As the narrative advances, the classroom grows silent because his students realize that they are Telemachus. Part of the dialogue is given below:

“Sir,” said Telemachus, “as regards your question, so long as my father was here it was well with us and with the house, but the gods, in their displeasure, have willed it otherwise and have hidden him away more closely than mortal man was ever yet hidden … .”

“And Ulysses said, “I am no god; why should you take me for one? I am your father on whose account you grieve and suffer so much at the hands of lawless men.”

As Telemachus spoke, Ulysses kissed his son, and a tear fell from his cheek on to the ground, for he had restrained all tears till now. But Telemachus could not yet believe that it was his father, and said:

“You are not my father. You are some god who is flattering me with vain hopes that I may grieve the more hereafter. No mortal man could of himself contrive to do as you have been doing and make yourself old and young at a moment’s notice, unless a god were with him. A second ago, you were old and all in rags, and now you are like some god come down from heaven.” (Ulysses has changed cleaned himself up and changed his clothes to make himself look presentable).

Ulysses answered, “Telemachus, you ought not to be so immeasurably astonished at my being really here. There is no other Ulysses who will come hereafter. Such as I am, it is I, your father], who after long wandering and much hardship have got home in the twentieth year to my own country. I will tell you the truth, my son.”

As Ulysses spoke, he sat down, and Telemachus threw his arms about his father and wept.

(William Bennett’s, The Book of Man: Readings on the Path to Manhood, pp. 365-68)

Thomas Jefferson to His Son, Thomas Jefferson Smith: “A Decalogue of Canons for Observations in Practical Life”

1. Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

3. Never spend your money before you have it.

4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold.

6. We never repent of having eaten too little.

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

8. How much pain have those evils cost us which have never happened.

9. Take things always by their smooth handle.

10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.

(The Book of Man, p. 425).

Charles Sykes, Writer and Journalist: Things to Tell Your Children or Grandchildren

Rule 1: Life is not fair — get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will not make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it’s not your parents’ fault, so don’t whine about your mistakes; learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So, before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as many times you want to get the right answer. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers off, and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one!

(The Book of Man, p. 379)

My Cousin Peter

Some years ago, before my cousin Peter became an architect, he taught boys in three of New York City’s trade and technical high schools, two of them located in the ghetto. The boys, who came from lower income families, were mostly African American. One thread linked them together: There was no sign of fathers anywhere in their lives.

The worst Friday in the year for the boys was anticipating the upcoming Father’s Day. Without their fathers, they were like orphans. The boys’ mothers were the bread winners; grandmothers raised the children. When a boy was absent from class, in most cases, he was caring for a sick grandmother. Mothers couldn’t afford to get sick.

Peter taught his students the basics of trade, architecture and building construction, drawing, drafting, and reading blueprints, but more importantly, they learned from him self-discipline and self-respect. He loved his boys with a firm yet understanding heart, gave them direction for the future, and often served as in loco parentis. Peter was a hero to those boys. To this day, he is the much-loved patriarch of his family.

From Scripture

“A wise child makes a glad father but a foolish child is a mother’s grief” (Proverbs 10:1) ”Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice. He who begets a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice” (Proverbs 23:ff).

“After chaos, confusion, and turmoil, after a frantic search for him all over, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. “After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. … When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him: ‘Why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety’” (Luke 3: 41ff).

Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. Today and every day, give us what we need.

”To our sons, John and Joseph, who are becoming the kind of men we hoped, prayed, and worked for. Know that others will say of each of you, following Homer, that the son is far better than the father, and that he makes glad the heart of his mother.” This dedication appears at the beginning of William J. Bennett’s The Book of Man.

A Happy Father’s Day to All Fathers and Expectant Fathers.

Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph, Brentwood, NY, holds degrees in philosophy (Ph.L), musicology (Ph.D.), theology (M.A.), and liturgical studies (Ph.D). She has taught at all levels of Catholic education and writes with a particular focus on a theology of beauty and the sacred arts. Her e-mail address is jroccasalvo@optonline.net.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

FEATURES

Unsympathetic confessors abuse the sacrament and turn people off

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion • June 18, 2015

Recently, I had a conversation with a woman who had not been to Confession for ten years because the last time she went the priest bawled her out. I assured her that the vast majority of priests do not act like that, and I advised her to muster enough courage to go to the sacrament again.

I told the woman of my own experience with a priest in Confession in a major Roman basilica. The priest was quite contentious, and we quickly began to argue (He started it!). I told the priest thanks but no thanks and I left half way through the Confession. (I have thought many times since then that had I been a “fallen-away” Catholic who, while in Rome, was inspired to go to Confession for the first time in years, and had a bad experience with a confessor, I would possibly never darken the door of a church again.)

While there are few bad eggs among confessors (from what I hear, some Roman basilicas have more than a few), I think most priests try hard to be kind and generous in celebrating the sacrament. It is certainly the mind of the church that confessors act lovingly in the model of Jesus when they hear confessions.

I mailed the lady with whom I was taking the following description of the good confessor from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “When he celebrates the sacrament of Penance, the priest is fulfilling the ministry of the Good Shepherd who seeks the lost sheep, of the Good Samaritan who binds up wounds, of the Father who awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return, and of the just and impartial judge whose judgment is both just and merciful. The priest is the sign and the instrument of God’s merciful love for the sinner” (no.1465).

The Catechism states elsewhere: “The confessor is not the master of God’s forgiveness, but its servant. The minister of this sacrament should unite himself to the intention and charity of Christ. He should have a proven knowledge of Christian behavior, experience of human affairs, respect and sensitivity toward the one who has fallen; he must love the truth, be faithful to the Magisterium of the Church, and lead the penitent with patience towardhealing and full maturity. He must pray and do penance for his penitent entrusting him to the Lord’s mercy” (no.1466).

I know a confessor (not in my diocese) who gives himself the same penance as he gives every penitent, and carries it through as an act of solidarity with penitents. Every week, he gives all the penitents the same penance, and he tells each one that he is taking on the same penance himself. I asked him how the penitents react; he said they are always moved and most appreciative.

That is a powerful and positive approach to the role of the priest in Confession. Not every priest can go to heroic lengths to express solidarity with penitents, but a priest could take on some penance at the end of Confession period.

Pope Francis, who recently announced a Year of Mercy, has constantly spoken about the need for priests to be ministers of mercy committed to seeking out and bringing back the lost sheep, and demonstrating compassionate solidarity with people. Priests are called to go out to the margins, where people with all kinds of spiritual maladies are struggling to find direction, bind their wounds, and lead them back to the experience of a merciful God.

Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Salt Lake City. He holds a Ph.D. in sacramental theology from The Catholic University of America. He was founding president of The Society for Catholic Liturgy in 1995 and the founding editor of the Society’s journal, Antiphon. At the invitation of Cardinal Francis George of Chicago he founded the Mundelein Liturgical Institute in 2000.

Share this article

Link to original article with sharing options:  catholicnewsagency.com

FEATURES

Double movie review: ‘Inside Out’ and ‘Love and Mercy’

by Carl Kozlowski • June 18, 2015

The life of the mind - that inner voice that guides us all, that either perks our days up or drags us down into doubt and despair – is an intriguing one that movies have rarely managed to fully explore. “A Beautiful Mind” won a Best Picture Oscar for providing a tragic depiction of genius gone awry, and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” also took home top honors for its surreal portrait of life in an insane asylum.

But neither of those put their entire focus on what goes on in the highly sensitive tissues and nerves that steer every aspect of our existence. But two new movies – “Inside Out”, which opens Friday, and “Love and Mercy,” which is slowly expanding nationwide – take distinctly different looks at what goes on between our ears, and each has its own rewards.

“Inside Out” is the more inventive of the pair, the latest creation to come out of the magic Disney Pixar movie factory. The problem is that, despite its frequently funny moments and a heart-tugging finale, most of this animated wonder feels like it was factory-assembled rather than sprung from creative passion.

The story follows the life of Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias), an 11 year old girl whose parents (Diane Lane and Kyle McLachlan) relocate from middle America to San Francisco. What originally was an exciting trip for the young girl quickly turns sour, when she finds that her new house is tiny and has no yard to play in, that the furniture has been mis-routed by the moving trucks and won’t arrive for several days, and that she cries while introducing herself to new classmates, seemingly dooming her to a life of social failure.

But inside her mind, a storm of feelings is constantly brewing with the glowing Joy (Amy Poehler) trying to keep her as happy as possible for as long as she can. Competing with Joy for emotional control of Riley are Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Fear (Bill Hader): in other words, perfect casting on all fronts.

At first, the struggle for control is relatively normal, as Joy prevails enough to keep Riley generally smiling, and the other emotions are kept in check enough to emerge only sporadically. But when glowing orbs representing Riley’s core memories – the biggest moments of her life so far, which influence her entire future actions – go missing, Joy has to break free and search through the treacherous outer landscape inside Riley’s mind but beyond her usually used terrain in order to get the memories back and put her life back in balance.

This may sound complex and cool, offering an entirely fresh and mostly funny take on how the human mind works. But the long middle portion of the film in which Joy has to endure and overcome one bad break after another is so extended that it often feels exhausting and might prove too smart for young children.

Thus, “Inside Out” doesn’t have the universal, undeniable magic that cast a spell on audiences worldwide in the “Toy Story” films and some of their other creations, but it’s still worth a viewing for those intrigued by its premise and lured by Pixar’s always inventive visuals. Being a Disney Pixar movie, it’s obviously fine for kids, with no moral improprieties to be found, but it is a bit scary in places for young ones.

A decidedly different, and more adult, take on mental issues comes from “Love and Mercy”, which uses the unique tactic of having two different acclaimed actors portray legendary pop songwriter Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame at two distinct stages of his life. Paul Dano of “There Will Be Blood” fame plays Wilson as a young man descending into drug addiction and madness even as he’s creating some of the most gorgeous music the rock era has ever had to offer, while John Cusack plays him as the older, borderline insane man he became in his 40s before the love of a good woman (Elizabeth Banks in a career-best role) helped set him free from manipulative psychotherapist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti).

Writers Oren Moverman and Michael A. Lerner use the dual time-frame approach to brilliant effect, showing us both the highs and lows of Wilson’s rollercoaster life and career in stirring fashion. Director Bill Pohlad masterfully finds a way to guide the performances of each of his leads, Dano and Cusack, into one indelible portrait of a man for whom both his genius and his madness stemmed from the sound and voices in his head.

“Love and Mercy” is a mostly gentle film, with nothing that any older teen or adult can’t handle morally. The film does feature the fact that Wilson experimented with illegal drugs in an attempt to heighten his creativity, but also shows the fact that he had profound negative consequences as a result. Wilson’s psychotherapist also screams at and threatens him in several scenes, and the film cuts away from an implied shot of Wilson and his girlfriend/eventual wife starting to kiss in a shower (strictly showing their heads) and then lying in bed together under sheets.

As a near-documentary look at the creative process behind “Pet Sounds,” one of the most magical albums of the past 50 years, combined with a frightening yet ultimately exhilarating look at a deeply wronged man getting his life back together, “Love and Mercy” is two movies in one. And both work in perfect harmony to give viewers an experience they won’t easily forget – just like Brian Wilson’s music.

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

SUNDAY • JUNE 21, 2015

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Jb 38:1, 8-11; NRSVCE)

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:

“Who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb? —

when I made the clouds its garment,

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

and prescribed bounds for it,

and set bars and doors,

and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?”

Second Reading (2 Cor 5:14-17; NRSVCE)

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Gospel Reading (Mk 4:35-41; NRSVCE)

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

MONDAY • JUNE 22, 2015

Monday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 12:1-9; NRSVCE)

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.

Gospel Reading (Mt 7:1-5; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

TUESDAY • JUNE 23, 2015

Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 13:2, 5-18; NRSVCE)

Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them living together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together, and there was strife between the herders of Abram’s livestock and the herders of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land.

Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward; thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Gospel Reading (Mt 7:6, 12-14; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.

“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

WEDNESDAY • JUNE 24, 2015

Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

First Reading (Is 49:1-6; NRSVCE)

Listen to me, O coastlands,

pay attention, you peoples from far away!

The Lord called me before I was born,

while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword,

in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

he made me a polished arrow,

in his quiver he hid me away.

And he said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

But I said, “I have labored in vain,

I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

yet surely my cause is with the Lord,

and my reward with my God.”

And now the Lord says,

who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

to bring Jacob back to him,

and that Israel might be gathered to him,

for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

and my God has become my strength —

he says,

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the survivors of Israel;

I will give you as a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Second Reading (Acts 13:22-26; NRSVCE)

Paul said, “When Samuel had removed Saul, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.’

“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent.”

Gospel Reading (Lk 1:57-66, 80; NRSVCE)

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, “No; he is to be called John.” They said to her, “None of your relatives has this name.” Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, “What then will this child become?” For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.

THURSDAY • JUNE 25, 2015

Thursday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 16:1-12, 15-16; NRSVCE)

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.

The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.” The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Now you have conceived and shall bear a son;

you shall call him Ishmael,

for the Lord has given heed to your affliction.

He shall be a wild ass of a man,

with his hand against everyone,

and everyone’s hand against him;

and he shall live at odds with all his kin.”

Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

Gospel Reading (Mt 7:21-29; NRSVCE)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!”

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

FRIDAY • JUNE 26, 2015

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22; NRSVCE)

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless.”

God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.”

God further said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

Gospel Reading (Mt 8:1-4; NRSVCE)

When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

SATURDAY • JUNE 27, 2015

Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading (Gn 18:1-15; NRSVCE)

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

Gospel Reading (Mt 8:5-17; NRSVCE)

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you according to your faith.” And the servant was healed in that hour.

When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”