CATHOLIC world news- Sat. Aug. 22, 2009- headlines:
VATICAN-POPE GIVES MONEY FOR RELIEF IN TAIWAN:
AFRICA-SOMALIA-31 KILLED IN MOGADISHU:
ASIA- PHILLIPINES: YOUTH GATHER TO PRAY FOR PEACE:
ASIA- PHILLIPINES: YOUTH GATHER TO PRAY FOR PEACE:
AUSTRALIA- DEATH OF JOHN BAKER:
AMERICAS-OKLAHOMA BISHOP CHOOSES AD ORIENTEM FOR CATHEDRAL:
EUROPE-FIRES IN ATHENS, GREECE OUT OF CONTROL :
TODAY'S SAINT-QUEENSHIP OF MARY:
EUROPE-FIRES IN ATHENS, GREECE OUT OF CONTROL :
TODAY'S SAINT-QUEENSHIP OF MARY:
VATICAN
POPE GIVES MONEY FOR RELIEF IN TAIWAN:
Pope Benedict XVI has given 50 thousand US dollars to the relief and recovery effort on the typhoon-stricken island of Taiwan. The Pontiff ordered the charitable arm, Pontifical council "Cor Unum" to deliver the sum on the 11th of August. The Holy Father's instructions to local Papal nunciature were to distribute the contribution among the affected ecclesiastical districts coordinating with local church leaders so as to be most useful to the neediest people.
3 Churches were destroyed & 80 houses were destroyed in the Taiwan due to the typhoon
The Pope was the 1st world leadter to donate to this disaster.
AFRICA
SOMALIA-31 KILLED IN MOGADISHU
AllAfrica reports that at least 31 people were killed and over 100 others wounded in a series of street battles and bombardment in the Somali capital Mogadishu since Thursday night, Radio Garowe reports.
The violence continued into Friday morning, after suspected insurgents attacked Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) based around Mogadishu's KM4 square.
"Many shells hit Bakara Market and I saw 12 dead bodies, who died inside a restaurant," said a witness at Mogadishu's Bakara, the country's largest marketplace and a notorious stronghold for insurgents.
The dead bodies of three insurgent fighters were displayed by government soldiers at Taleh intersection in Hodan district, witnesses said.
Medical sources throughout Mogadishu's hospitals and clinics reported that more than 120 wounded persons were admitted since last night.
The eruption of renewed hostilities in Mogadishu comes days after the Somali federal parliament approved the government's request to enact a state of emergency across the country. READ: Federal lawmakers approve state of emergency law
Separately, fighting in other regions of south-central Somalia continued between insurgent groups, like Al Shabaab, and government forces and their allies, including the Ethiopian-backed Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a faction.
Hardliners like Al Shabaab and another faction, Hizbul Islam, control large sections of Mogadishu and other regions of south-central Somalia. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908210836.html
ASIA
The violence continued into Friday morning, after suspected insurgents attacked Somali government forces and African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) based around Mogadishu's KM4 square.
"Many shells hit Bakara Market and I saw 12 dead bodies, who died inside a restaurant," said a witness at Mogadishu's Bakara, the country's largest marketplace and a notorious stronghold for insurgents.
The dead bodies of three insurgent fighters were displayed by government soldiers at Taleh intersection in Hodan district, witnesses said.
Medical sources throughout Mogadishu's hospitals and clinics reported that more than 120 wounded persons were admitted since last night.
The eruption of renewed hostilities in Mogadishu comes days after the Somali federal parliament approved the government's request to enact a state of emergency across the country. READ: Federal lawmakers approve state of emergency law
Separately, fighting in other regions of south-central Somalia continued between insurgent groups, like Al Shabaab, and government forces and their allies, including the Ethiopian-backed Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a faction.
Hardliners like Al Shabaab and another faction, Hizbul Islam, control large sections of Mogadishu and other regions of south-central Somalia. (SOURCE: http://allafrica.com/stories/200908210836.html
ASIA
PHILLIPINES: YOUTH GATHER TO PRAY FOR PEACE
UCAN reports that hundreds of Catholics are gathering around the Asian Youth Day (AYD) cross on its pilgrimage to churches in the southern Philippines and praying for peace in the wake of armed clashes in some areas there.
Pagadian Youth Apostolate members accept the AsianYouth Day Cross from Zamboanga diocese on Aug. 15
The pilgrimage, which began with the first AYD, held in Thailand in 1999, needs to reach "far-flung and critical areas" of the southern Philippines so these places "will be blessed," Mary Elizalyn Provido told UCA News in Pagadian City.
The 23-year-old chairs the youth ministry of Jolo vicariate in Sulu province, southwest of Pagadian. She and more than 100 other youths and youth ministry workers gathered at Holy Infant Se
minary in Pagadian City on Aug. 15 for the handover of the cross to Pagadian diocese.
When the cross visited her vicariate two days earlier, she recalled, her group prayed before it for "our wish for a peaceful Jolo to come true."
For Pringles Dumadag, chairperson of the youth ministry of Zamboanga archdiocese, between Pagadian and Sulu, "the AYD Cross is not only the symbol of suffering of Christ but a symbol of victory over sin and God's love for humanity."
Diocesan youth ministry workers, with help from AYD organizers, are bringing the bamboo cross to various Mindanao dioceses this month as part of the spiritual preparation for the Fifth AYD, scheduled Nov. 20-27. It will start in parishes around Manila and continue with events in Imus, Cavite province.
The Youth Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, part of the federation's Office of Laity and Family, the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and Imus diocese are organizing AYD 2009. Organizers hope to gather 2,000 youths, clergy, Religious and lay youth ministry workers around Asia for interaction, prayer, worship, recollection and workshops.
This year's theme is "YAsia Festival! Young Asians: Come Together, Share the Word, Live the Eucharist."
The cross started its pilgrimage in Mindanao, the southern Philippine region, on Aug. 1 in Surigao diocese, at the region's northeastern tip. It is to visit all 21 Mindanao dioceses, prelatures and vicariates. The cross stays a day and overnight in most places so people can gather around it for liturgical services and recollection on the meaning of the Eucharist in their life, and on what young people can do to build communion.
AYD is a celebration of the Catholic faith aiming at rejuvenating the church. It is held in years without an international World Youth Day celebration, which has usually been held every two years. After Thailand, it was held in Taiwan in 2001, India in 2003 and Hong Kong in 2006.
(SOURCE:
http://www.ucanews.com/2009/08/21/southern-catholics-gather-around-youth-day-cross-to-pray-for-peace/atholics-gather-around-youth-day-cross-to-pray-for-peace/
Pagadian Youth Apostolate members accept the AsianYouth Day Cross from Zamboanga diocese on Aug. 15
The pilgrimage, which began with the first AYD, held in Thailand in 1999, needs to reach "far-flung and critical areas" of the southern Philippines so these places "will be blessed," Mary Elizalyn Provido told UCA News in Pagadian City.
The 23-year-old chairs the youth ministry of Jolo vicariate in Sulu province, southwest of Pagadian. She and more than 100 other youths and youth ministry workers gathered at Holy Infant Se
minary in Pagadian City on Aug. 15 for the handover of the cross to Pagadian diocese.When the cross visited her vicariate two days earlier, she recalled, her group prayed before it for "our wish for a peaceful Jolo to come true."
For Pringles Dumadag, chairperson of the youth ministry of Zamboanga archdiocese, between Pagadian and Sulu, "the AYD Cross is not only the symbol of suffering of Christ but a symbol of victory over sin and God's love for humanity."
Diocesan youth ministry workers, with help from AYD organizers, are bringing the bamboo cross to various Mindanao dioceses this month as part of the spiritual preparation for the Fifth AYD, scheduled Nov. 20-27. It will start in parishes around Manila and continue with events in Imus, Cavite province.
The Youth Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, part of the federation's Office of Laity and Family, the Episcopal Commission on Youth of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines and Imus diocese are organizing AYD 2009. Organizers hope to gather 2,000 youths, clergy, Religious and lay youth ministry workers around Asia for interaction, prayer, worship, recollection and workshops.
This year's theme is "YAsia Festival! Young Asians: Come Together, Share the Word, Live the Eucharist."
The cross started its pilgrimage in Mindanao, the southern Philippine region, on Aug. 1 in Surigao diocese, at the region's northeastern tip. It is to visit all 21 Mindanao dioceses, prelatures and vicariates. The cross stays a day and overnight in most places so people can gather around it for liturgical services and recollection on the meaning of the Eucharist in their life, and on what young people can do to build communion.
AYD is a celebration of the Catholic faith aiming at rejuvenating the church. It is held in years without an international World Youth Day celebration, which has usually been held every two years. After Thailand, it was held in Taiwan in 2001, India in 2003 and Hong Kong in 2006.
(SOURCE:
http://www.ucanews.com/2009/08/21/southern-catholics-gather-around-youth-day-cross-to-pray-for-peace/atholics-gather-around-youth-day-cross-to-pray-for-peace/
AUSTRALIA
DEATH OF JOHN BAKER
CathNews Australia reports that John Baker's life was a remarka
ble journey. He was born in obscurity in Brisbane yet such was his joy of the high life, his wit, wisdom, capacity for fun and genius for friendship that he conquered Sydney's then very social eastern suburbs and stormed the bastions of British aristocracy. This was not a campaign, nor quest. He was simply attracted to the good things in life but at his life's centre were an enduring Catholic faith and an unerring loyalty that kept him grounded and made him widely loved.
John Joseph Patrick Baker was adopted and nurtured by Frederick Edward (''Ted'') and Alice Mary Mengel, who had three older daughters. The Mengels were Anglicans but their boy was Catholic and raised as one. This was significant in those sectarian days and John loved them for it and their care for him.
John Baker would have disabused anyone seeking to deify him. Although he wore it lightly, his Catholic faith sustained him; he went to Mass daily. His novenas for friends in illness or strife were legion. His devotion to his Sydney parish led to a friendship with the Sisters of Charity and support for the Victor Chang Cardiac Institute and St Vincent's Hospital, who nursed him in his last days.
He was still sending birthday faxes to friends from his hospital bed within a week of his death, from cancer at 80. His timing was always exquisite and he died on the great Feast of the Assumption. He wanted his obituary to say: ''He had many lovers.'' There was no evidence of this, but he was loved by many. - Mark McGinness, Sydney Morning Herald
CathNews Australia reports that John Baker's life was a remarka
ble journey. He was born in obscurity in Brisbane yet such was his joy of the high life, his wit, wisdom, capacity for fun and genius for friendship that he conquered Sydney's then very social eastern suburbs and stormed the bastions of British aristocracy. This was not a campaign, nor quest. He was simply attracted to the good things in life but at his life's centre were an enduring Catholic faith and an unerring loyalty that kept him grounded and made him widely loved.John Joseph Patrick Baker was adopted and nurtured by Frederick Edward (''Ted'') and Alice Mary Mengel, who had three older daughters. The Mengels were Anglicans but their boy was Catholic and raised as one. This was significant in those sectarian days and John loved them for it and their care for him.
John Baker would have disabused anyone seeking to deify him. Although he wore it lightly, his Catholic faith sustained him; he went to Mass daily. His novenas for friends in illness or strife were legion. His devotion to his Sydney parish led to a friendship with the Sisters of Charity and support for the Victor Chang Cardiac Institute and St Vincent's Hospital, who nursed him in his last days.
He was still sending birthday faxes to friends from his hospital bed within a week of his death, from cancer at 80. His timing was always exquisite and he died on the great Feast of the Assumption. He wanted his obituary to say: ''He had many lovers.'' There was no evidence of this, but he was loved by many. - Mark McGinness, Sydney Morning Herald
AMERICAS
OKLAHOMA BISHOP CHOOSES AD ORIENTEM FOR CATHEDRAL
CathNews reports that Bishop Edward Slattery from Tulsa, Oklahoma in the US has announced a return to the practice of celebrating the Eucharistic liturgy ad orientem in his cathedral.
Bishop Slattery explained the change in his diocesan newspaper the East Oklahoma Catholic.
He said that he recognized the advantages of the Mass celebrated with the priest facing the people.
"Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects," he wrote.
"First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church's ancient tradition.
"Secondly, it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God.
"Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of liturgical stage," Bishop Slattery wrote. (SOURCE: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=15918
Bishop Slattery explained the change in his diocesan newspaper the East Oklahoma Catholic.
He said that he recognized the advantages of the Mass celebrated with the priest facing the people.
"Unfortunately this change had a number of unforeseen and largely negative effects," he wrote.
"First of all, it was a serious rupture with the Church's ancient tradition.
"Secondly, it can give the appearance that the priest and the people were engaged in a conversation about God, rather than the worship of God.
"Thirdly, it places an inordinate importance on the personality of the celebrant by placing him on a kind of liturgical stage," Bishop Slattery wrote. (SOURCE: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=15918
EUROPE
FIRES IN ATHENS, GREECE OUT OF CONTROL
The BBC reports major wildfires north-east of the Greek capital Athens are burning out of control, officials have said.
The government has declared a state of emergency in the area as fire crews, backed up by helicopters and water-bombers, fight
to contain the blazes.Fed by strong winds, fires have reached the towns of Grammatiko and Varnavas, but no casualties have been reported.
The fires are the worst on the Greek mainland since those in 2007, when 70 people were killed.
The fires broke out late Friday and developed overnight, fed by gale-force winds that kept shifting direction, fire officials said.
By daybreak on Saturday, the fires were racing towards the town of Marathon, one of the landmarks of ancient Greek history. Olive groves and forests in the hills outside the town have already been torched.
Fire fighting authorities have urged people to evacuate their homes, but many residents have stayed to defend them. Priests with hoses have joined in the losing struggle, says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.
The Greek army was forced to move ordnance from one base in the path of the flames. Television pictures showed an army lorry gingerly towing four air defence missiles down a hillside past a wildfire.
'Stripped of trees'
"This is a difficult fire because it is a mixed area with homes and forest, meaning that firefighters are focusing their attention on protecting lives and properties," said fire department spokesman Yiannis Kapakis.
The fires are further contributing to the deforestation of the mountains around Athens. Three of the four mountains surrounding the capital have already been stripped of their trees by fire, says our correspondent.
A fire department spokeman said a total of 65 fires had broken out across Greece since late Friday, AP reported.
Other fires are burning on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, which has already been hit by fires this summer.
Dozens of fires burnt through thousands of hectares of land in Spain, France, Greece and Italy in July.
According to the conservation group Greenpeace, heat waves and drier conditions are leading to larger and more uncontrollable forest fires across the Mediterranean.
(SOURCE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8215772.stm
TODAY'S SAINT
Queenship of Mary
Feast Day:
August 22
Th
e beginning of the concept that she is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a Queen.
A text probably coming from Origen gives her the title domina, the feminine form of Latin dominus. That same title also appears in many other early writers, e.g. , St. Ephrem, St. Jerome, St. Peter Chrysologus. The word Queen appears abut the sixth century, and is common thereafter.
She is the daughter of David. She was free from original sin. Then, since Adam and Eve had a dominion over all things (Genesis 1. 26) she should have similar dominion. Pius XII, in his Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seja (AAS 38. 266): "He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice [of the Father]. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."
She is Queen "through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him." Her Queenship is basically a sharing in the royalty of her Son. We do not think of two powers, one infinite, the other finite. No, she and her Son are inseparable, and operate as a unit.
In fact her relation to her Son is greater than that of ordinary Mothers of Kings. For she is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human father. Still further, the ordinary queen-mother gives birth to a child who later will become king. The son of Mary is, as we said, eternally king, by His very nature. He is king by right of conquest. She too is Queen by right of conquest. We already saw that this title for Him means that He redeemed us from the captivity of Satan. She shared in the struggle and victory. She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace, the highest in the category of grace besides her Son. She is Queen by singular choice of the Father.
Pius XII added that "nothing is excluded from her dominion." As Mediatrix of all graces, who shared in earning all graces, she is, as Benedict XV said in a text already cited, "Suppliant omnipotence": she can obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can do by His own inherent power.
(Edited from: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/Q/queenshipofmary.asp
Feast Day:
August 22
Th
e beginning of the concept that she is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a Queen.A text probably coming from Origen gives her the title domina, the feminine form of Latin dominus. That same title also appears in many other early writers, e.g. , St. Ephrem, St. Jerome, St. Peter Chrysologus. The word Queen appears abut the sixth century, and is common thereafter.
She is the daughter of David. She was free from original sin. Then, since Adam and Eve had a dominion over all things (Genesis 1. 26) she should have similar dominion. Pius XII, in his Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seja (AAS 38. 266): "He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice [of the Father]. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."
She is Queen "through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him." Her Queenship is basically a sharing in the royalty of her Son. We do not think of two powers, one infinite, the other finite. No, she and her Son are inseparable, and operate as a unit.
In fact her relation to her Son is greater than that of ordinary Mothers of Kings. For she is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human father. Still further, the ordinary queen-mother gives birth to a child who later will become king. The son of Mary is, as we said, eternally king, by His very nature. He is king by right of conquest. She too is Queen by right of conquest. We already saw that this title for Him means that He redeemed us from the captivity of Satan. She shared in the struggle and victory. She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace, the highest in the category of grace besides her Son. She is Queen by singular choice of the Father.
Pius XII added that "nothing is excluded from her dominion." As Mediatrix of all graces, who shared in earning all graces, she is, as Benedict XV said in a text already cited, "Suppliant omnipotence": she can obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can do by His own inherent power.
(Edited from: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/Q/queenshipofmary.asp
SAINTLY QUOTE
Take care, then, to be firmly grounded in the teachings of the Lord and his apostles so that you may prosper in all your doings both in body and in soul, in faith and in love, in the Son, and in the Father and in the Spirit, in the beginning and in the end, along with your most worthy bishop and his spiritual crown, your presbyters, and with the deacons, who are men of God. St. Ignatius of Antioch
TODAY'S GOSPEL
Luke 1: 26 - 38
26
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
28
And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!"
29
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.
30
And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
33
and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34
And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?"
35
And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36
And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37
For with God nothing will be impossible."
38
And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
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