Catholic world news: Wed. Aug. 19, 2009: headlines-
VATICAN-POPE-PRIESTLY FORMATION IMPORTANT:
AMERICA- CATHOLIC CONVERT BOB NOVAK DIES OF CANCER:
AFRICA-KENYA-BIBLE TRANSLATED INTO POKOT LANGUAGE:
EUROPE-SPAIN-MINISTER SAYS DOCTORS CANNOT OBJECT TO ABORTION:
AUSTRALIA-SOLAR PANELS ON SCHOOLS ARE OFF:
ASIA-INDIA'S 1st DALIT BISHOP DIES:
TODAY'S SAINT-ST. JOHN EUDES
VATICAN
POPE: PRIESTLY FORMATION IMPORTANT
Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
Vatican Radio reports hundreds of people including pilgrims who had come from as far a field as Nigeria and India packed the courtyard of the Papal Summer Residence at Castelgandolfo in the Roman Hills for the Holy Father’s weekly general audience. A smiling and relaxed Pope Benedict greeted those present enthusiastically even managing to lift high his arm which has been in a cast as a result of a fall for the last few weeks.The Pope’s catechesis on Wednesday turned to a Saint whose feast day is celebrated on August 19th Saint John Eudes.The Holy Father described this Saint as a man of immense courage and said he great understanding for the priests spiritual mission.“He lived in seventeenth-century France which, notwithstanding considerable trials for the faith, produced many outstanding examples of spiritual courage and insight. Saint John Eudes’ particular contribution was the foundation of a religious congregation dedicated to the task of giving solid formation to the diocesan priesthood. He encouraged seminarians to grow in holiness and to trust in God’s love revealed to humanity in the priestly heart of Jesus and in the maternal heart of Mary”. Pope Benedict again highlighted the fact 2009 is the year of the Priest and added that both St Eudes and the years patron St John Vianney were both shining examples priestly sanctity. The Pope also looked at the world in which priests live today and said that it was necessary for them to bear witness to the infinite merciful heart of Jesus:“During this year let us pray in a special way for priests and seminarians that, inspired by today’s saint, they may spiritually “enter into the heart of Jesus”, becoming men of true love, mercy, humility and patience, renewed in holiness and pastoral zeal. My dear Brothers and Sisters, upon you and your families I invoke God’s blessings of joy and peace!”(SOURCE: http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=310595
AMERICA
CATHOLIC CONVERT BOB NOVAK DIES OF CANCER
'I consider this the only one true faith, so I believe the Holy Spirit led me to it.' said Bob Novak to a New York Times interviewer concerning his Catholic Faith. He was a famous journalist and part of CNN's “Crossfire” television show. He was known inside the DC beltway as “The Prince of Darkness”. He made this term the title of his 2007 autobiographical book. In 1998,
Robert Novak, raised a secular, non-practicing Jew, surrendered to the Lord’s invitation of grace and was baptized into Christ, becoming a member of His Body, the Catholic Church. He had been attending Catholic Masses for many years with his wife. But a turning point came when someone said to him: “Mr. Novak, life is short, but eternity is forever.” He established a scholarship fund for young men from Washington, DC who could not afford to attend Thomas More College of Liberal Arts. (Edited from: http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=34267&page=2AFRICA
KENYA: BIBLE TRANSLATED INTO POKOT LANGUAGE
CISA reports that translation of the Bible into a vernacular language that began over 30 years ago has been completed, and now the Pokot people can read the Word of God in their own mother-tongue beginning this Saturday.The new Bible, translated by the Bible Society of Kenya (BSK), will be launched in Kapenguria, at a ceremony officiated by the Information and Communications Minister, Samuel Poghisio, himself a Pokot.The Pokot are still largely a pastoralist community, inhabiting the dry, remote and marginalized plains of northwestern Kenya and spreading out into Uganda.This is how they will be reading a famous verse: “Ompowolo kicham Tororot ngwiny nyoman ntokuto Werinyi nyo le akonga, atomepot chi anka tikwil nyo ghonoy nyinte, wolo tokisich sopon po kokay.”[For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. John 3:16]“Finally, a journey that began over 30 years ago has come to an end and it is time to reap the harvest of the hard work and sacrifice of the people of Pokot,” the BSK chairman Isaac Litali, said.“As we have witnessed in the past, the presence of the Bible in a community’s own language has a profound effect on the people that causes them to receive the Word in a more effective manner than before. It is said to be the Lord addressing them directly in their heart language.”Minister Poghisio, in remarks published ahead of the launch, praied the work of BSK, noting that the new Bible “is bound to make a great impact among the Pokot in many spheres, spiritually, socially and even economically.”Poghisio added that the Bible will also be a key resource in addressing the perennial problem of conflict and peace among the Pokot and their neighbours. “For the Pokot people, the launch of this Bible will also mean an increase in literacy levels as the people strive to learn how to read and write,” Poghisio said.Elizabeth Muriuki, general secretary of BSK said, “We are overjoyed to be able to bring the Word of God to Kenyan language groups and more so to the communities found in hardship and remote areas where the gospel has not fully penetrated.”According to BSK, the entire Bible is available in only 17 Kenyan languages: Borana, Dholuo, Ekegusii, Gikuyu, Kalenjin, Kidawida, Kikamba, Kimiiru, Logooli, Lunyore, Maasai, Nandi, Luhya, Swahili, Turkana, Somali and now Pokot.There are another 15 language groups with only the New Testament and another three with just a portion of the Scriptures.BSK says it costs on average KShs 480 to translate a single verse into a local language. The entire Bible contains 31, 101 verses. In addition to other expenses, it costs about KShs 20 million to translate the complete Bible.http://www.cisanewsafrica.org/story.asp?ID=4079
EUROPE
SPAIN: MINISTER SAYS DOCTORS CANNOT OBJECT TO ABORTION
CNA reports that the Collegial Medical Organization and various pro-life groups in Spain have strongly rejected statements by the country’s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, who said Thursday that “there is no room for conscientious objection” when it comes to abortion. The president of the Collegial Medical Organization, Dr. Juan Jose Rodriguez Sendin, said, “The right doctors have in Spain to conscientious objection is going to be respected, whether they like it or not, and it is better this is accepted on good rather than on bad terms.” Conscientious objection is universally recognized in the medical profession, he insisted, noting that the commitment not to kill, not to abort, not to take part in torture, not to betray patients has been part of medical practice for more than 40 centuries. “It should not seem strange to any normal person that doctors do not want to perform abortions, what ought to seem strange is the opposite,” he added. “Because it is not an ideological problem, it is simply a question of freedom. For this reason, we are going to defend the right of doctors to conscientious objection,” Rodriguez said. The Association for the Defense of Conscientious Objection issued a press release calling the statements by the Minister of Justice “sectarian, imprudent and revealing of a manifest scorn for constitutional law, which considers conscientious objection to abortion a right of doctors and other health care professionals.”
“For the vast majority of doctors, the rejection of abortion is not based on moral principles but on the conviction that it presupposes ending human life,” the association warned. It also noted that conscientious objection is the last resort for a citizen “when an obligation imposed by law causes rejection or a grave moral conflict.” “We are certain that the Minister would not want to ‘taste his own medicine’ if he found himself in other circumstances,” the group said. “We deplore the ‘crusade’ that has been launched in recent days against freedom of conscience,” the association said, calling on the Minister of Justice to publicly clarify “whether his respect for freedom of conscience is sincere or is subject to political interests.” Right to Life spokesperson, Gador Joya, warned Caamano that no minister and no government “can force a doctor to end a human life and harm the health of his patients. No matter what Mr. Caamano says, we doctors protect life and care for our patients. The vast majority does not practice abortion nor will we,” she stressed.(SOURCE:http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16852
AUSTALIA
SOLAR PANELS ON SCHOOLS ARE OFF
CathNews Australia reports that some 10 Catholic schools in Sydney's west that have had solar panels installed as part of a Federal Government program can't switch them on, because of red tape.
The units have been in place for several months, but the executive director of schools in the Parramatta diocese, Greg Whitby, says Integral Energy is refusing to connect the systems, ABC reported.
Integral Energy's Rod Howard says the delay is because the utility has no policy to deal with schools wanting to feed surplus electricity back into the grid.
"It's a shame because of a bureaucratic decision that we can't get them up and running," Greg Whitby said. "I don't know why it is taking so long, but we would encourage them to make the decision very quickly."
Mr Howard says he is hopeful the schools will be hooked up in the coming weeks.
"First of all we need to apologise to those schools. It is something that the organisation's been a bit caught out on," he said. (SOURCE: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=15839
ASIA
INDIA'S 1st DALIT BISHOP DIES
UCAN reports that the Church and political leaders were among the more than 20,000 mourners at the funeral of India’s first dalit bishop on Aug. 18 in Andhra Pradesh state.
Bishop John Mulagada of Eluru died on Aug. 16 while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Vijayawada, a major town in the southern Indian state. He had been suffering from cancer, diabetes and paralysis, and had undergone hea
rt surgery several years ago.The archbishop, 71, belonged to the dalit community (former “untouchables” in the Indian caste system) and had headed Eluru diocese for more than 32 years as its first bishop.
Fransalian Archbishop Mariadas Kagithapu of Visakhapatnam led the funeral Mass at St. Xavier’s Grounds in Eluru. Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad conducted the last rites.
More than 700 priests and about 1,500 nuns attended the funeral.
“His death is a big loss for the poor and marginalized,” said Archbishop Joji, head of the Catholic Church in Andhra Pradesh.
Archbishop Joji described Bishop Mulagada as the “people’s prelate” because he was so approachable. “People could meet him without an appointment.” The late prelate was also known as “the bishop of shrines” as he helped build several Marian shrines in the state, Archbishop Joji added.
Bishop Mulagada was born in 1937 near Visakhapatnam, a harbor town. His parents died when he was a child, and his aunt and grandfather brought him up.
Priests, bishops and lay Catholics gather aroundthe coffin of the late bishop during the funeral
He was ordained a priest in 1965 for Visakhapatnam, which was a diocese then. He served many parishes there before being appointed bishop of Eluru in 1977. Eluru was formed out of Vijayawada diocese.
Archbishop Joji said Bishop Mulagada had helped promote social awareness and literacy through the Andhra Pradesh Social Service Society of which he was chairperson for more than two decades.
He also helped rebuild houses in the coastal areas of the diocese, which are prone to natural calamities such as cyclones and floods.
Bishop Mulagada “was the first Telugu bishop,” said Jesuit Father Elango Arulanandam, who has worked in the state for decades. Telugu is the official language of Andhra Pradesh.
Father Arulanandam told UCA News that the late prelate had promoted education among his people, who are mostly dalit. “He opened schools and parishes to help his people educationally and spiritually,” he added.
(SOURCE: http://www.ucanews.com/2009/08/19/church-mourns-india%e2%80%99s-first-dalit-prelate/
TODAY'S SAINT
St. John Eudes
FOUNDER
Feast Day:
August 19
Born:
November 14, 1601, Ri, France
Died:
August 19, 1680, Caen, France
Canonized:
1925 by Pope Pius XI
French missionary and founder of the Eudists and of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity; author of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; b. at Ri, France, 14 Nov., 1601; d. at Caen, 19 Aug., 1680. At the age of fourteen he took a vow of chastity. After brilliant studies with the Jesuits at Caen, he entered the Oratory, 25 March, 1623.He was ordained priest 20 Dec., 1625, and began his sacerdotal life with heroic labours for the victims of the plague, then ravaging the country. In 1641 he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, to provide a refuge for women of ill-fame who wished to do penance. Father Eudes severed his connection with the Oratory to establish the Society of Jesus and Mary for the education of priests and for missionary work.
Father Eudes, during his long life, preached not less than one hundred and ten missions, three at Paris, one at Versailles, one at St-Germaine-en-Laye, and the others in different parts of France. He also established the Society of the Heart of the Mother Most Admirable -- which resembles the Third Orders of St. Francis and St. Dominic. This society now numbers from 20,000 to 25,000 members. Pope Leo XIII, in proclaiming his virtues heroic in 1903, gave him the title of "Author of the Liturgical Worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Holy Heart of Mary". (Edited from: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/J/stjohneudes.asp
TODAY'S GOSPEL
John 10: 11 - 16
11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12
He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13
He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
14
I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
15
as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16
And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
