CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: OCT. 28, 2009

CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: OCT. 28, 2009: HEADLINES:

VATICAN: LATIN THEOLOGY FLOURISHED IN THE 12TH CENTURY
ASIA: PHILLIPINES: EXPLOSION IN CATHEDRAL -
AMERICAS: ARGENTINA: ARCHBISHOP ASKS CHILDREN TO BRING PEACE-

AFRICA: ANGOLA: THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES IN NEED OF AID -
EUROPE: ROME: KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS TO RECIEVE AWARD FOR SERVICE -
AUSTRALIA: ARCHBISHOP ASKS PRIESTS TO DISREGARD LETTER-

VATICAN

LATIN THEOLOGY FLOURISHED IN THE 12TH CENTURY

(VIS) - During this Wednesday's General Audience celebrated in St. Peter's Square the Pope spoke about a series of events that, during the twelfth century, created a renaissance in Latin theology. "During this time," he explained, "a relative peace reigned in Western Europe, which ensured society's economic development, consolidated political structures, and favored vibrant cultural activity thanks also to contact with the East. The benefits of the vast movement known as the Gregorian Reform were felt in the Church, which led to "a greater evangelical purity in the Church, above all in the clergy" and an expansion of religious life. As fruits of this development, figures such as St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure would appear in the thirteen century. Benedict XVI affirmed that in this context two different models of theology arose: that of "monastic theology" and that of "scholastic theology". Regarding the first, the monks "were devoted to the Sacred Scriptures and one of their main activities consisted in lectio divina, that is, a meditative reading of the Bible". It was precisely the 2008 Synod of Bishops on "the Word of God in the Life and the Mission of the Church" that recalled the importance of this aspect. "As monastic theology is listening to the Word of God", he said, "it is necessary to purify one's heart to welcome it and, above all, one must be full of fervor to encounter the Lord. Theology therefore becomes meditation, prayer, a song of praise, and the impetus for sincere conversion". The Holy Father emphasized that "it is important to reserve a certain time each day for meditation on the Bible so that the Word of God will be the lamp that illuminates our daily path on earth". Continuously referring to the method of "scholastic theology", the Pope pointed out that "it is not easy for modern mentality to understand. The quaestio, which consisted of a theme for discussion," was essential to its process. "The organization of the quaestiones led to the compilation of evermore extensive syntheses, the so-called summae that were vast dogmatic-theological treatises. Scholastic theology sought to present the unity and harmony of Christian Revelation with a method, called precisely 'scholastic', that grants faith in human reason". Benedict XVI concluded by emphasizing that "faith and reason, in reciprocal dialogue, tremble with joy when they are both animated by the search for intimate union with God. ... Truth is sought with humility, welcomed with wonder and gratitude: in a word, knowledge only grows if one loves the truth".AG/LATIN THEOLOGY/... VIS 091028 (410)

POPE'S PASTORAL VISIT TO BRESCIA AND CONCESIO

(VIS) - Benedict XVI will make a pastoral visit to the Italian towns of Brescia and Concesio next Sunday, 8 November, according to a communique of the Holy See Press Office. The Holy Father will take off from Ciampino Airport in Rome at 8:30 and will land an hour later at the Alfredo Fusco Military Airport in Ghedi (Brescia). He will then make a private visit to the parish church of Botticino Sera where he will venerate the mortal remains of St. Arcangelo Tadini. He will then visit the cathedral of Brescia and, at 10:30, concelebrate Holy Mass and pray the Angelus in Paul VI Square. In the afternoon he will meet with the organizers of the visit at the Paul VI Pastoral Center. At 16:45 he will go to the house in Concesio where Pope Paul VI was born and to the institute's new site dedicated to the Populorum Progressio pope. At 17:30, in the Vittorio Montini Auditorium of the Paul VI Institute in Concesio, he will give a speech during the official conference for the inauguration of the institute's new site and the presentation of the Pope Paul VI International Prize. At 18:15, the Pope will visit St. Anthony's Parish in Concesio where Giovanni Battista Montini (future Pope Paul VI) was baptized and will give an address. Benedict XVI will return at 19:00 from the Airport of Brescia and will land at Ciampino Airport one hour later where he will be then be taken back to the Vatican.BXVI-VISIT/.../BRESCIA:CONCESIO VIS 091028 (250)

PRESENTATION OF EXHIBIT DEDICATED TO MATTEO RICCI

(VIS) - A presentation of the exhibit "To the Heights of History. Matteo Ricci (1552-1610): Between Rome and Peking" was held this morning in the Holy See Press Office. Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums and organizer of the exhibit, led the presentation. The exhibit, in the Charlemagne Wing of the colonnade in St. Peter's Square (30 October 2009-24 January 2010), was organized by the Committee for the Celebration of the Fourth Centenary of Fr. Matteo Ricci in collaboration with the Vatican Museums, the General Curia of the Company of Jesus, and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Speaking at the exhibit's presentation were Bishop Claudio Giuliodori of Macerata-Tolentino-Recanati-Cingoli-Treia (Italy); Antonio Paolucci, Director of the Vatican Museums; Giovanni Morello, President of the Foundation for the Heritage and Artistic Activities of the Church; Adriano Ciaffi, President of the Committee for the Celebrations of the Fourth Centenary of the Death of Fr. Ricci; and Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., Director of the Holy See's Press Office. Matteo Ricci's "extraordinary missionary adventure", Bishop Giuliodori explained, "led him to build, for the first time in history, a true bridge of dialogue and exchange between Europe and China. (...) Besides paying homage to this giant of the faith and friendship between peoples, the exhibit seeks to provide all with an opportunity to learn about and be inspired by a model of evangelization of the Gospel culture and inculturation that, in many aspects, has no equal in the history of humanity".OP/MATTEO RICCI EXHIBIT/GIULIODORI VIS 091028 (250)

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS VATICAN CITY, 28 OCT 2009 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed: -Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck, former auxiliary bishop of Munster (Germany) as bishop of Essen (area 1,877, population 2,590,021, Catholics 909,117, priests 577, religious 555, permanent deacons 78) in Germany. -Fr. Milton Kenan Junior, pastor of the parish of "Nossa Senhora Aparecida" and diocesan co-ordinator for pastoral care in Bebedouro, Brazil, as auxiliary bishop of Sao Paulo (area 1,645, population 7,346,000, Catholics 5,363,000, priests 851, religious 2,802, permanent deacons 40) in Brazil. The bishop-elected was born in Taiuva (Brazil) in 1963 and ordained priest in 1987. -Fr. Joseph M. Siegel, pastor of the parish of the Visitation in Elmhurst (USA), as auxiliary bishop of Joliet in Illinois (area 10,920, population 1,842,000, Catholics 667,000, priests 268, religious 718, permanent deacons 199) in the United States. The bishop-elected was born in Joliet (Illinois, USA) in 1963 and ordained priest in 1988.NER:NEA/.../OVERBECK:KENAN:SIEGEL VIS 091028 (160)

ASIA

PHILLIPINES: EXPLOSION IN CATHEDRAL

UCAN reports that the bishop of Jolo has cancelled the All Saints' Day Mass at a cemetery following an explosion at his cathedral in the southern Philippines.

Bishop Angelito Lampon of Jolo
Bishop Angelito Lampon said it was a "precautionary measure."
The Jolo vicariate's justice and peace commission director said the grenade attack on Oct. 27 caused little damage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel cathedral. "The damage I saw was not that bad, mostly a few broken jalousie windows," Oblates Father Romeo Villanueva told UCA News.
The vicariate is based in the capital town of predominantly Muslim Sulu province.
The grenade exploded mid-morning at the rear of the cathedral near the bishops' cemetery. There were no reported casualties and no group has claimed responsibility for the incident.
It is the fourth explosion at the cathedral since Bishop Lampon was installed as apostolic vicar of Jolo in February 1998.
A grenade blast on July 7 killed two people and wounded 24.
In an article posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website Bishop Lampon said even though he would not celebrate Mass at the cemetery on Nov. 1, he would still go ahead with brief prayers for the dead and the blessing of graves.
Christian Filipinos traditionally visit cemeteries from the evening of Oct. 31 to show respect for their dead on the All Saints' Day as well as for All Souls' Day on Nov. 2.(SOURCE:http://www.ucanews.com/2009/10/28/bishop-cancels-mass-following-cathedral-blast/

AMERICAS

ARGENTINA: ARCHBISHOP ASKS CHILDREN TO BRING PEACE

CNA reports that during his homily for the Archdiocesan Mass for Children, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, reminded the 10,000 children present of the need to grow in faith and love. He also asked them to promise Jesus that “where there is hatred, we will bring love, where there is fighting, we will bring peace.”
According to the AICA news agency, Cardinal Bergoglio reflected on the theme for the Mass, “Let’s go to the feast, Jesus awaits us,” and underscored that “the center of the feast must be Jesus.”
“In order for there to be a feast, there must be joy, but also something else: in order for there to be a feast in the hearts of each one of us - pay attention now - we must give joy to others, we must make others joyful, and we must help others to open their hearts to Jesus' feast.”
At the conclusion of the Mass, Cardinal Bergoglio renewed the consecration of both Buenos Aires and the hearts of children to St. Therese the Little Flower.
Afterward, the children released balloons and doves while listening to a recording made by the archdiocesan mission office of the prayer intentions of children who live on the street. “May we all have enough food to eat,” prayed one child. “May all children have a warm home,” prayed another. “May we care for our grandparents,” and “may all the children of the world have a family,” prayed others.(SOURCE: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17503

AFRICA

ANGOLA: THOUSANDS OF REFUGEES IN NEED OF AID

CISA reports that 42,000 Angolans have been expelled from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and they need urgent aid.According to Bohdan Nahajlo, representative in Angola of the UNHCR, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the refugees are in urgent need of lodging, food, medicines, and medical stations. He said that there is not enough drinking water, either. Some of the people drink from the nearby rivers which are highly contaminated and there are already cases of diarrhea.“There are significant numbers of Angolan refugees among the forcibly returned and this is for us the most worrisome aspect of the situation. Some of them say they had been rounded up and taken to the border despite the fact they carried documents certifying their refugee status,” Nahajlo said in a statement.“Others said they were forced back without the chance to take their identification documents or any of their belongings. Most of them were deported from the Bas Congo Province in southern DRC,” he added.Among the registered needs are tents, cooking utensils, plastic bags, medicines, and medical attention. So far, the UNHCR has developed an assistance plan that includes the distribution of primary need items and tents.“The expulsion of Angolans from DR Congo was in retaliation to a similar expulsion of a large number of Congolese nationals from Angola since December 2008.An agreement has been signed between the governments of DR Congo and Angola to end to the cross border expulsions. However, UNHCR says Angolan authorities are preparing for further, large-scale evacuation of Angolans who feel they can no longer remain in the DRC, the UNHCR's statement said.(SOURCE: http://www.cisanewsafrica.org/story.asp?ID=4210

EUROPE

ROME: KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS TO RECIEVE AWARD FOR SERVICE

CNA reports that Supreme Knight of Columbus Carl A. Anderson on Wednesday will receive the city of Rome’s Lupa Capitolina (The Wolf of the Capital) award in honor of the nearly 90 years of service of the Knights in Rome.
Anderson will receive the award from Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno on Wednesday evening on the Campidoglio, one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
"I am honored to receive this award from the City of Rome for the great work the Knights of Columbus have done there for nearly a century,” Anderson said in a Knights of Columbus press release.
“As both the 'eternal city' and the center of the Catholic Church, Rome has a special place in the hearts of the Knights of Columbus, and we look forward to another 90 years of service in this great city.”
In 1920 a delegation of Knights led by then-Supreme Knight James Flaherty met with Pope Benedict XV. The Pope asked the Knights to expand their work in Rome.
During the 1920s the Knights opened several sports facilities for the free use of the youth of Rome. Another facility opened in the 1950s. The Knights continue to operate four of these facilities, which are regularly used by Roman youth.
The Knights also donated a new shortwave radio transmitter to the Vatican in 1966 and presently pay for the costs of a satellite uplink for major worldwide telecasts from the Vatican.
In the 1980s the Knights funded construction on several chapels and sponsored the restoration of the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica. In the 1990s the Knights provided financial support for the repair of the roof and restoration of the mosaics in St. Peter’s Blessed Sacrament Chapel, as well as the restoration of the Maderno Atrium and its massive bronze doors in preparation for the Jubilee 2000 celebration.
In the last decade the Knights have sponsored several academic conferences and other efforts in restoration work. The order also sponsored the Concert for Reconciliation between Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, held in the Vatican in 2004 in the presence of Pope John Paul II.
The Lupa Capitolina award is named for the wolf that suckled the legendary founding brothers of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The award is a miniature version of a famous statue of the wolf nursing the two infant brothers.
Last year the honor was given to Italian-American actor Al Pacino. (SOURCE: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17511

AUSTRALIA

ARCHBISHOP ASKS PRIESTS TO DISREGARD LETTER

Cath News reports that Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart is asking all parish priests in the archdiocese not to read to congregations a letter from a woman who claims nuns led her to a priest who raped her as a child.
Archbishop Hart's direction was meant to address queries from priests on how to respond to the three page letter sent by the alleged victim Jenny Tiffin's lawyer, Angela Sdrinis, The Age quotes a spokesman for the Archbishop as saying.
Ms Sdrinis sent the letter to every Catholic parish in Victoria with a request for it to be read to the congregation.
In his communication with the priests, Archbishop Hart said the alleged sexual abuse occurred in another diocese and has no connection with Melbourne, and that a complaint has been dealt with under the national protocol, Towards Healing, according to The Age.
Ms Tiffin, the alleged victim, received $12,000 compensation in 2006 from the Sisters of Nazareth who ran the Nazareth House children's home in Ballarat. But a second application to the diocese of Ballarat was rejected.
Ballarat Bishop Peter Connors told The Age yesterday he could say with certainty there was no assault.
Ms Tiffin said she had been repeatedly raped by convicted priest Gerard Ridsdale since she was seven years old, while she and her brother were in Nazareth House in 1963-64. She claims the nuns would procure children for him. She gives an account of the abuse in her letter.
Ridsdale has pleaded guilty to abusing dozens of children and is in jail, the report adds.
(SOURCE: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=17368

TODAY'S SAINT

St. Simon
APOSTLE
Feast: October 28
Information:
Feast Day:
October 28
Born:
Cana or Canaan
Died:
Abyssinians claim he was crucified in Samaria; Lipsius says he was sawn in half at Suanir, Persia; Moses of Chorene writes that he was martyred at Weriosphora in Iberia; many locations claim to have relics including Toulouse, France, and Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy
Major Shrine:
relics claimed by many places, including Toulouse; Saint Peter's Basilica
Patron of:
curriers; sawyers; tanners

St Simon is surnamed the Canaanean or Canaanite, and the Zealot, to distinguish him from St. Peter, and from St. Simeon, the brother of St. James the Less, and his successor in the see of Jerusalem. From the first of these surnames some have thought that St. Simon was born at Cana, in Galilee: certain modern Greeks pretend that it was at his marriage that our Lord turned the water into wine. It is not to be doubted but he was a Galilean. Theodoret says, of the tribe either of Zabulon or Nepthali. Hammond and Grotius think that St. Simon was called the Zealot, before his coming to Christ, because he was one of that particular sect or party among the Jews called Zealots, from a singular zeal they possessed for the honour of God and the purity of religion. A party called Zealots were famous in the war of the Jews against the Romans. They were main instruments in instigating the people to shake off the yoke of subjection; they assassinated many of the nobility and others in the streets, filled the temple itself with bloodshed and other horrible profanations, and were the chief cause of the ruin of their country. But no proof is offered by which it is made to appear that any such party existed in our Saviour's time, though some then maintained that it was not lawful for a Jew to pay taxes to the Romans At least if any then took the name Zealots, they certainly neither followed the impious conduct nor adopted the false and inhuman maxims of those mentioned by Josephus in his history of the Jewish war against the Romans.
St. Simon, after his conversion, was zealous for the honour of his Master, and exact in all the duties of the Christian religion; and showed a pious indignation toward those who professed this holy faith with their mouths, but dishonoured it by the irregularity of their lives. No further mention appears of him in the gospels than that he was adopted by Christ into the college of the apostles. With the rest he received the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, which he afterwards exercised with great zeal and fidelity. If this apostle preached in Egypt, Cyrene, and Mauritania, he returned into the East; for the Martyrologies of St. Jerome, Bede, Ado, and Usuard place his martyrdom in Persia, at a city called Suanir, possibly in the country of the Suani, a people in Colchis, or a little higher in Sarmatia, then allied with the Parthians in Persia; which may agree with a passage in the Acts of St. Andrew, that in the Cimmerian Bosphorus there was a tomb in a "rot, with an inscription importing that Simon the Zealot was interred there. His death is said in these Martyrologies to have been procured by the idolatrous priests. Those who mention the manner of his death say he was crucified. St. Peter's Church on the Vatican at Rome and the Cathedral of Toulouse are said to possess the chief portions of the relics of SS. Simon and Jude.(SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/S/stsimon.asp

St. Jude
APOSTLE
Feast: October 28
Information:
Feast Day:
October 28
Major Shrine:
Saint Peter's, Rome, Rheims, Toulouse, France
Patron of:
lost causes, desperate situations, hospitals

The apostle St. Jude is distinguished from the Iscariot by the surname of Thaddaus, which signifies in Syriac praising or confession (being of the same import with the Hebrew word Judas), also by that of Lebbaeus, which is given him in the Greek text of St. Matthew. St. Jude was brother to St. James the Less, as he styles himself in his epistle; likewise of St. Simeon of Jerusalem, and of one Joses, who are styled the brethren of our Lord, and were sons of Cleophas and Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin.
This apostle's kindred and relation to our Saviour exalted him not so much in his Master's eyes as his contempt of the world the ardour of his holy zeal and love, and his sufferings for his sake. It is not known when and by what means he became a disciple of Christ, nothing having been said of him in the gospels before we find him enumerated in the catalogue of the apostles. After the last supper, when Christ promised to manifest himself to every one who should love him, St. Jude asked him why he did not manifest himself to the world? By which question he seems to have expressed his expectation of a secular kingdom of the Messias. Christ by his answer satisfied him that the world is unqualified for divine manifestations, being a stranger and an enemy to what must fit souls for a fellowship with heaven; but that he would honour those who truly love him with his familiar converse, and would admit them to intimate communications of grace and favour.
After our Lord's ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost, St. Jude set out, with the other great conquerors of the world and hell, to pull down the prince of darkness from his usurped throne; which this little troop undertook to effect armed only with the word of God and his Spirit. Nicephorus, Isidore, and the Martyrologies tell us that St. Jude preached up and down Judea, Samaria, Idumaa, and Syria; especially in Mesopotamia. St. Paulinus says that St. Jude planted the faith in Libya. This apostle returned from his missions to Jerusalem in the year 62, after the martyrdom of his brother, St. James, and assisted at the election of St. Simeon, who was likewise his brother. He wrote a catholic or general epistle to all the churches of the East, particularly addressing himself to the Jewish converts, amongst whom he had principally laboured. St. Peter had written to the same two epistles before this, and in the second had chiefly in view to caution the faithful against the errors of the Simonians, Nicholaits, and Gnostics. The havoc which these heresies continued to make among souls stirred up the zeal of St. Jude, who sometimes copied certain expressions of St. Peter, and seems to refer to the epistles of SS. Peter and Paul as if the authors were then no more. The heretics he describes by many strong epithets and similes, and calls them wandering meteors which seem to blaze for a while but set in eternal darkness. The source of their fall he points out by saying they are murmurers, and walk after their own lusts. The apostle puts us in mind to have always before our eyes the great obligation we lie under of incessantly building up our spiritual edifice of charity, by praying in the Holy Ghost, growing in the love of God, and imploring his mercy through Christ. From Mesopotamia St. Jude travelled into Persia. Fortunatus and the western Martyrologists tell us that the apostle St. Jude suffered martyrdom in Persia; the Menology of the Emperor Basil and some other Greeks say at Arat or Ararat, in Armenia, which at that time was subject to the Parthian empire, and consequently esteemed part of Persia. Many Greeks say he was shot to death with arrows: some add whilst he was tied on across. The Armenians at this day venerate him and St. Bartholomew for the first planters of the faith among them. (SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/J/stjude.asp

TODAY'S GOSPEL

Luke 6: 12 - 16
12
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray; and all night he continued in prayer to God.
13
And when it was day, he called his disciples, and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles;
14
Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,
15
and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
16
and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.