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Saturday, March 12, 2011

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: SAT. MAR. 12, 2011











CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD: SAT. MAR. 12, 2011: HEADLINES-

VATICAN: POPE: PRAYS FOR VICTIMS OF EARTHQUAKE

ASIA: JAPAN: OVER 1000 DEAD AS PART OF NUCLEAR PLANT EXPLODES FROM QUAKE

AMERICA: CLOCKS FORWARD 1 HOUR- CHURCH SERVICES START EARLY SUNDAY

AFRICA: ETHIOPIA: 59 CHRISTIAN CHURCHES BURNT

EUROPE: SPAIN: WYD WILL BE ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY

TODAY'S GOSPEL: MAR. 12: Matthew 4: 1- 11

TODAY'S SAINT: MAR. 12: ST. THEOPHANES

2011

RADIO VATICANA REPORT: Full text of telegram sent on behalf of Pope Benedict:

The Most Reverend Leo Jun Ikenaga President
Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan

Deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic effects of the major earthquake and consequent tsunamis which have struck Japan s north-eastern coastal regions, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI assures all who have been afflicted of his closeness at this difficult time. He prays for those who have died, and upon their grieving families and friends he invokes divine blessings of strength and consolation. The Holy Father also expresses his prayerful solidarity with all those providing rescue, relief and support to the victims of this disaster.


Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone Secretary of State

ASIA: JAPAN: OVER 1000 DEAD AS PART OF NUCLEAR PLANT EXPLODES FROM QUAKE

ASIA NEWS REPORT: A reactor damaged by the earthquake overheated and blew up a building. Radioactivity registered at 1000 times the normal value around the power station. The death toll is high: 1,400 dead or missing. Over 1200 homes destroyed. Relief operations begin with Japanese and foreign military teams. The pope's condolences and prayers.

Tokyo (AsiaNews) - A building attached to a nuclear reactor in Fukushima exploded this morning, just as the Japanese government launched a massive relief operation after the "mega" earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck the north-east of the country.

The information is currently very unclear. The nuclear power plant in Fukushima Daichi (250 km from Tokyo), has been damaged by the earthquake which broke the cooling systems of the two reactors.Because of overheating all feared the possible fusion of at least one of the reactors. The Tokyo Electric Power, which manages the site, said it was trying to control the cooling system and evacuated more than 51thousand people living within 10 km of the facility were evacuated. This morning one of the two reactors blew up and it seems to have involved four workers. The radioactive values near the power station are 1000 times higher than normal.

Meanwhile, the police today updated figures of the victims: 1400 dead or missing.At least 200 bodies were recovered on the beach in Sendai, the area closest to the epicentre, overwhelmed by the tidal wave that penetrated more than 5 km inland.At least 1,200 homes were affected and there are over 700 missing and 1128 wounded.

The violent earthquake a few hundred kilometers off the coast of Miyagi prefecture, has been called "the most important earthquake" for over 100 years. Nearly 6 million households are without electricity and running water.

Rescue operations have begun, but the teams have not yet reached the most affected places. In five provinces tent cities are being prepared to house the displaced. 50 thousand soldiers have joined emergency teams to assist relief efforts.

Moreover rescue teams from neighbouring countries such as South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, should arrive later today. The United States is also directing an aircraft carrier to the area.China also said it was ready to give all necessary assistance, if requested.

Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI expressed his sympathy to the affected populations, with a telegram sent to the Bishops' Conference of Japan. In the message, the pontiff said he was "deeply saddened by the tragic and brutal effects of the severe earthquake" and that he prayed for the dead and the grieving families, invoking the strength and consolation of God's blessing. The pope expressed his sympathy to all those who are bringing "aid, comfort and support to victims of disaster."

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Tragic-death-toll-from-tsunami,-explosion-in-a-nuclear-power-plant-21011.html

AMERICA: CLOCKS FORWARD 1 HOUR- CHURCH SERVICES START EARLY SUNDAY

CBN REPORT: Get ready to "spring forward" and give up an extra hour of sleep-- daylight saving time will officially take place this weekend.

At 2 a.m. local time, Sunday, all of the U.S. except for Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas --will observe the change. It will mean trading one hour of sleep for more evening sunshine for those backyard barbecues.

The shift also serves as a reminder to install new batteries in warning devices such as smoke detectors and hazard warning radios.

A federal law signed in 2005 extends daylight saving time by one month, reportedly to save more energy. The time adjustment originally began during World War I with the same intention.

Standard time will return on Nov. 6.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/March/Remember-to-Set-Clocks-Forward-Tonight/

AFRICA: ETHIOPIA: 59 CHRISTIAN CHURCHES BURNT

ALL AFRICA REPORT: Police in Ethiopia have arrested at least 130 people who are suspected of involvement in burning down dozens of churches near Jimma town in Ethiopia's western Oromia region, where Muslims are the majority.

The arson of dozens of churches and homes in a Christian area of the Asendabo district in Jimma after a Christian allegedly desecrated a copy of Muslim holy book, the Koran, by tearing it up.

Police said it has pressed charges against the 130 suspects and said they were pursuing many others.

Over one thousand people are are said to have been engaged in the attacks which, according to sources, also has led to the burring down of 59 churches and at least 28 homes of Christians.

According to Jimma residents over 4,000 Christians have fled their homes in fear.

Ethiopia is about 60 percent Christian and 40 percent Muslim however such incidents of violence between the different religious communities are relatively rare.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201103101034.html

EUROPE: SPAIN: WYD WILL BE ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY

IND. CATH. NEWS REPORT:
World Youth Day will be 100 per cent zero-carbon | World Youth Day, 100 per cent zero-carbon

World Youth Day (WYD) in Madrid will be an environment-friendly and zero-emission event. 100% Natural is the program that will provide a framework for all the sustainable activities carried out during World Youth Day which express a commitment to holding a pollution-free WYD.

Leaving a Planet Earth in good conditions to future generations is a concern for every Christian, and therefore, for World Youth Day as well," said Eva Latonda, Director of the project 100% Natural.

Zeroemissions, the Abengoa company providing global solutions to fight climate change, will calculate and compensate the direct emissions of greenhouse gases, inevitable in the case of massive events – which will occur during World Youth Day 2011 through voluntary carbon credits. Abengoa makes this contribution in its capacity as patron of the Madrid Vivo Foundation, an institution made up of diverse individuals of social importance and the most influential Spanish companies, which has been working actively in support of WYD.

"We are delighted to collaborate with this project. This practice of voluntary offset of emissions is increasingly more common and is setting a trend in events that bring together a large number of people. For example, it has already been done at the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 and in U2 concerts," affirmed Emilio Rodríguez Izquierdo, Director of Zeroemissions.

Carbon credits are a tool referred to in the Kyoto Protocol. These credits are generated in sustainable projects that, without the financial assistance involved in the acquisition of these credits, would be impossible to carry out. In the case of WYD in Madrid, carbon credits will be purchased in five projects, each on a different continent: a field of wind energy in New Caledonia, a small hydropower plant in Honduras, a reforestation project in Uganda, and two projects for methane recovery in landfills in China and Turkey.

Other examples of sustainable initiatives under the umbrella of 100% Natural include: the launching of an online application for car pooling that will connect young people travelling to WYD by car or other transportation with others seeking a way to attend, but who do not have transportation, in order to reduce the number of vehicles; the creation of a “sustainable route” from Madrid to Cuatro Vientos, to encourage pilgrims to move from point A to point B in a pollution-free manner (walking or on bicycle); and the installation of energy-generating bicycles at Cuatro Vientos so that WYD participants can recharge their mobile phones, laptops, mp4 players, etc.

Work is also underway, with the help of the City of Madrid, on the issue of waste management through a network of collection points.

For more information see the WYD site at: http://www.madrid11.com/en

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=17834

AUSTRALIA: WORKING TOWARDS FUNDING RESOLUTION

CATH NEWS REPORT: A resolution about the funding of the ACT Calvary hospital negotiation takes this complex issue one step forward. Other noteworthy items included the appointment of a lay principal at Salesian College in Sunbury, a raft of clergy appointments in the Canberra-Goulburn diocese and sadly, the vandalising of a church in suburban Melbourne.

TODAY'S SAINT: MAR. 12: ST. THEOPHANES

St. Theophanes

CHRONICLER

Feast: March 12

Chronicler, born at Constantinople, about 758; died in Samothracia, probably 12 March, 817, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. He was the son of Isaac, imperial governor of the islands of the White Sea, and of Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. After the early death of his parents he came to the Court of Constantine Copronimus. He was married at the age of twelve, but induced his wife to lead a life of virginity, and in 799, after the death of his father-in-law, they separated with mutual consent to embrace the religious state, she choosing a convent on an island near Constantinople, while he entered the monastery called Polychronius in the district of Sigriano near Cyzicus. Later he built a monastery on his own lands on the island of Calonymus (now Calomio). After six years he returned to Sigriano, founded an abbey known by the name "of the great acre", and governed it as abbot. As such he was present at the second General Council of Nicaea, 787, and signed its decrees in defense of the sacred images. When the emperor Leo the Armenian again began his iconoclastic warfare, he ordered Theophanes to be brought to Constantinople and tried in vain to induce him to condemn what had been sanctioned by the council. Theophanes was cast into prison and for two years suffered cruel treatment; he was then banished to Samothracia, where, overwhelmed with afflictions, he lived only seventeen days and wrought many miracles after death.

At the urgent request of his friend George Syncellus (d. 810), Theophanes undertook the continuation of his chronicle, during the years 810-15 (P. G., CVIII, 55). He treated of the time from the year 284-813, and made use of material already prepared by Syncellus, probably also the extracts from the works of Socrates, Sozomenus, and Theodoret, made by Theodore Lector, and the city chronicle of Constantinople. The work consists of two parts, the first giving the history, arranged according to years, the other containing chronological tables, full of inaccuracies, and therefore of little value. It seems that Theophanes had only prepared the tables, leaving vacant spaces for the proper dates, but that these had been filled out by someone else (Hurter, "Nomencl." I, Innsbruck, 1903, 735). The first part, though lacking in historical precision and criticism, which could scarcely be expected from a man of such ascetical disposition, greatly surpasses the majority of Byzantine chronicles (Krumbacher, "Gesch. der byz. Litt., 1897, 342). The chronicle was edited at Paris in 1655 by Goar; again at Venice in 1729 with annotations and corrections by Combefis. A Latin version was made by Anastasius Bibliothecarius, and both were ably edited by de Boor (Leipzig, 1883).



SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/T/sttheophanes.asp#ixzz1GOaSzma2

TODAY'S GOSPEL: MAR. 12: Matthew 4: 1- 11

Matthew 4: 1 - 11
1Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
2And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry.
3And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."
4But he answered, "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"
5Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple,
6and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, `He will give his angels charge of you,' and `On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
7Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
8Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them;
9and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."
10Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! for it is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"
11Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him.