CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: SAT. OCT. 31, 2009: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: CLARIFICATION RE: ANGLICANS ENTERING FULL COMMUNION -
ASIA: NEPAL: CATHOLIC YOUTH IN HINDU ENVIRONMENT -
AFRICA: UGANDA NEW CONVENTION TO PROTECT DISPLACED PERSONS-
AMERICA: USCCB SENDS PRO-LIFE INFO TO THOUSANDS OF PARISHES -
EUROPE: FAMILIES FIND ALTERNATIVES TO HALLOWEEN-
AUSTRALIA: CARDINAL PELL QUESIONS DEAL TO BUY CALVARY HOSPITAL-
VATICAN
CLARIFICATION RE: ANGLICANS ENTERING FULL COMMUNION
Vatican Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi has issued the following clarification of the announced Apostolic Constitution regarding personal ordinariates for Anglican entering into full communion with the Catholic Church:"There has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by anItalian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitutionregarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the CatholicChurch, announced on October 20, 2009, by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of theCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than “technical” reasons. Accordingto this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely,disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision.Cardinal Levada offered the following comments on this speculation: “Had I been asked Iwould happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is nosubstance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me. Thedelay is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language andreferences. The translation issues are secondary; the decision not to delay publication in orderto wait for the ‘official’ Latin text to be published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis was made some timeago.The drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through theusual process followed by the Congregation, have all included the following statement, currentlyArticle VI of the Constitution: §1 Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisitesestablished by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may beaccepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case ofmarried ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotaliscoelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement “In June” are to be observed. Unmarried ministers mustsubmit to the norm of clerical celibacy of CIC can. 277, §1.§2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, asa rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petitionthe Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to theorder of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the HolySee.This article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, inwhich married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the CatholicChurch on a case by case basis. With regard to future seminarians, it was considered purelyspeculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rulemight be petitioned. For this reason, objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. marriedseminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate andthe Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See.”Cardinal Levada said he anticipates the technical work on the Constitution and Norms willbe completed by the end of the first week of November".(SOURCE: http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=330866
ASIA
NEPAL: CATHOLIC YOUTH IN HINDU ENVIRONMENT
UCAN reports that Kathmandu is awash with Hindu and Buddhist temples. The air is often thick with incense smoke and many people’s foreheads are marked red with tika, a paste of rice and vermillion, after prayers.
Father Robin Rai celebrates Mass to conclude the youth retreat
For Catholic youths in this Himalayan Hindu country, living out their faith can often be a socially daunting task.
Mhendo Tamang, 18, a parishioner of the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, the main parish in Kathmandu, says she often joins friends whenever they visit Hindu temples to make offerings.
However, she feels hesitant when it comes to talking about her own faith.
“The last time I told my friends about my faith, they smiled and looked at me as if I were an alien,” she said.
Manaisha Shakya, 19, has the same problem. She says she would like to talk about her faith with her Hindu and Buddhist friends, but thinks twice before doing so. “They don’t seem interested in what I have to say,” she said.
“I feel Christianity is non-existent in Nepal; it is always Hinduism that people talk and hear about.”
With these youths in mind, the Church organized a retreat from Oct 23 to 25 to help boost their spiritual formation.
“It has been over two years since the last retreat,” Kishore Shrestha, the leader of the National Catholic Youth Movement (NCYM) in Kathmandu, said. “The youth movement in Nepal is beset with several problems like funding, and it didn’t have a facilitator for almost two years,” he said.
“However, this year we managed to generate funds and organize the retreat.”
The retreat in Ishalaya parish in Godavari saw 51 young people from the three parishes in Kathmandu watching movies on the lives of saints, making confessions and taking part in meditation sessions.
Participants said they enjoyed the retreat. “I liked the way we got together, prayed and shared ideas,” said Muna Ghale from Baniyatar, adding he learned how to get closer to Jesus.
Priyanka Dawadi, another participant, told UCA News, “I love retreats and the feel of being with Jesus in silence.”
Father Robin Rai, parochial vicar at the Assumption Church, explained the long gap between the two retreats.
“The youths have to take the initiative, and for the past two years they haven’t,” said the priest, the main facilitator of the recent program.
Young people in Nepal face many challenges. Lack of educational and employment opportunities are compounded by a political and religious climate not conducive to openness about one’s faith, especially if you are a Christian.
A bomb blast at Assumption Church on May 23 was a reminder of the threat posed by Hindu extremists like the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), who claimed responsibility for the attack that killed three people. NDA then ordered Christians to leave Nepal or face dire consequences.
Father Rai admits it is not easy being a Catholic in Nepal today. However, in spite of the challenges they face, Catholic youths still “need to be able to talk about things that may seem peculiar to people of other faiths and this is a challenge for all of us.”
“They need spiritual formation and getting this is again tough; most of them don’t seem serious about it,” he said.
He expressed hope that the retreat helped them realize their duties.
For youth leader Shrestha, this retreat was “more fruitful and spiritual” than the last one. “It feels good to be back with God after a long time,” he said.
(SOURCE: http://www.ucanews.com/2009/10/30/catholic-youths-strive-for-spiritual-growth-in-hindu-environment/
AFRICA
UGANDA NEW CONVENTION TO PROTECT DISPLACED PERSONS
CISA reports that African leaders meeting in the capital, Kampala, adopted a new convention on Friday that will provide legal protection and assistance to millions of people displaced within their own countries by conflicts and natural calamities on the continent.Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, chairing the two-day African Union (AU) summit on forcibly displaced people, praised the pact as a "historic agreement aimed at protecting and assisting our brothers and sisters, the internally displaced."The new African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa is the first legal instrument of its kind in the world.It defines the obligations that states, and even armed groups, have to protect and assist their own uprooted citizens.46 African nations unanimously adopted the landmark convention while 17 heads of state and government, and foreign ministers signed it. The convention still requires ratification by a minimum of 15 countries.In the official summit declaration, the AU heads of state and government vowed to take measures to "prevent and finally eliminate from our continent the occurrence of forced displacement of people arising from conflict and natural disasters”.Africa has nearly 12 million displaced people. According to figures from the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, evacuees and refugees in Africa are mainly concentrated in 8 countries: Chad, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and Sudan.The convention will be the first legally binding international instrument on IDPs with an continental scope, and UNHCR hopes that it will translate into better lives for African IDPs," the agency's spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.(SOURCE: http://www.cisanewsafrica.org/story.asp?ID=4211
AMERICA
USCCB SENDS PRO-LIFE INFO TO THOUSANDS OF PARISHES
The USCCB reports that in an extraordinary call to Catholics to prevent health care reform from being derailed by the abortion lobby, the United Sates Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent bulletin inserts to almost 19,000 parishes across the country.
"Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them," the insert states. It urges readers to contact Senate leaders so they support efforts to "incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights" in health reform legislation.
"If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed," it adds.
The insert highlights the Stupak Amendment from Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) that, it states, "addresses essential pro-life concerns on abortion funding and conscience rights."
"Help ensure that the Rule for the bill allows a vote on the amendment," the insert states. "If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed."
A dramatic ad of a pregnant woman notes that the Hyde Amendment, which passed in 1976, has prevented federal funds from paying for elective abortions, yet healthcare reform bills that are advancing violate this policy. The ad message: "Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding and Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform."
The insert also directs readers to www.usccb.org/healthcare.
Bulletin inserts were distributed to dioceses October 29, the day Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) unveiled the House health care reform bill and in expectation that they will show up in parishes in early November. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the USCCB; Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chair of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-life Activities; Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chair of the Committee on Migration; and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville, Centre, New York, chair of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development urged fellow bishops to promote this campaign in their dioceses.
"The bishops want health care reform, but they recoil at any expansion of abortion," said Helen Osman, USCCB Secretary for Communications, who helped organize the campaign. "Most Americans don’t want to pay for other people’s abortions via health care either. This impasse on the road to reform of health care can be broken if Congress writes in language that assures that the Hyde Amendment law continues to guide U.S. federal spending policy."
The Catholic bishops have a long history of support for health care reform based on its teaching that health care is essential for human life and dignity and on its experience providing health care and assisting those without coverage.
(SOURCE: http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-218.shtml
EUROPE
FAMILIES FIND ALTERNATIVES TO HALLOWEEN
CNA reports that this week, the Spanish daily “La Razon” published an article discussing the efforts of Catholics in Spain, France and Chile to offer alternatives to customary Halloween activities. According to the newspaper, Halloween “is not as innocent as dressing up as a witch and creating jack-o-lanterns with scary looking faces.” Father Joan Maria Canals of the Committee on the Liturgy of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference told La Razon that the problem with Halloween is its connection to “occultism and anti-Christianity.” Parents should “be conscious and channel the meaning of the day towards that which is good and beautiful instead of towards terror, fear and death itself,” he added. In the Spanish Diocese of Alcala de Henares, the Emmanuel Community will hold a vigil on Saturday night beginning at 10 p.m. Children and young people will be invited to participate in “music, Eucharistic adoration and dancing ‘in a Christian spirit’.” In Paris, Catholics have created something they call “Holywins.” Organizers of the activity say, “In a society that avoids the issue of death, the feast of Halloween has merit for making us focus on this issue, but it only deals with morbid and macabre rituals.” For this reason, “the young people of Paris want to take advantage of the feast of Halloween to bear witness to the faith and hope of Christians regarding death on the vigil of All Saints and All Souls,” they said. “La Razon” also noted that in Santiago, Chile, the evening of October 31 has become an occasion to celebrate a spring festival. “No monsters, ghosts or witches here. All the costumes children wear are of angels, princesses, and even saints,” the article stated, quoting one store owner who said demand has been changing for the past decade. “Before customers only wanted scary costumes. Now they want to dress up as women from ancient times, as queens, Cinderella and angels,” he added. (SOURCE: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=17537
AUSTRALIA
CARDINAL PELL QUESIONS DEAL TO BUY CALVARY HOSPITAL
Cath News reports that Sydney's Cardinal George Pell said the ACT Government deal to buy Calvary hospital is driven by ideological and anti-Christian elements against the faith in public life, ABC reports.
The Government says the sale will allow it to boost investment in the hospital, but Cardinal Pell is cited saying that the deal is part of a wider hostility towards religious participation in public life, and if it succeeds then other hospitals will be targeted.
ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher rejected Cardinal Pell's assertion, saying the deal was not influenced by any anti-religious motive.
"It's about how our community pays for future health needs," she said.
"It's never been Catholic or anti-Catholic."
"It should be something our community should decide, not necessarily outsiders from out of town with very strong views about the role of religion in public health care," she said.
(SOURCE: http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=17367
TODAY'S SAINT
St. Wolfgang
BISHOP
Feast: October 31
Information:
Fe
ast Day:October 31
Born:
924 in Swabia
Died:
31 October 994 at Pupping, Linz (modern Austria)
Canonized:
1052 by Pope Leo IX
Patron of:
apoplexy; carpenters and wood carvers; paralysis; stomach diseases; strokes
Bishop of Ratisbon (972-994), born about 934; died at the village of Pupping in upper Austria, 31 October, 994. The name Wolfgang is of early German origin. St. Wolfgang was one of the three brilliant stars of the tenth century, St. Ulrich, St. Conrad, and St. Wolfgang, which illuminated the early medieval period of Germany with the undying splendour of their acts and services. St. Wolfgang sprang from a family of Swabian counts of Pfullingen (Mon. Germ. His.: Script., X, 53). When seven years old he had an ecclesiastic as tutor at home; later he attended the celebrated monastic school on the Reichenau. Here he formed a strong friendship with Henry, brother of Bishop Poppo of Würzburg, whom he followed to Würzburg in order to attend at the cathedral school there the lectures of the noted Italian grammarian, Stephen of Novara. After Henry was made Archbishop of Trier in 956, he called his friend to Trier, where Wolfgang became a teacher in the cathedral school, and also laboured for the reform of the archdiocese, notwithstanding the enmity with which his efforts were met. Wolfgang's residence at Trier greatly influenced his monastic and ascetic tendencies, as here he came into connection with the great reformatory monastery of the tenth century, St. Maximin of Trier, where he made the acquaintance of Ramwold, the teacher of St. Adalbert of Prague. After the death (964) of Archbishop Henry of Trier, Wolfgang entered the Order of St. Benedict in the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln, Switzerland, and was ordained priest by St. Ulrich in 968.
After their defeat in the battle of the Lechfeld (955), a victory gained with the aid of St. Ulrich, the heathen Magyars settled in ancient Pannonia. As long as they were not converted to Christianity they remained a constant menace to the empire. At the request of St. Ulrich, who clearly saw the danger, and at the desire of the Emperor Otto the Great, St. Wolfgang, according to the abbey annals, was "sent to Magyars" as the most suitable man to evangelize them. He was followed by other missionaries sent by Bishop Piligrim of Nassau, under whose jurisdiction the new missionary region came. After the death of Bishop Michael of Ratisbon (23 September, 972) Bishop Piligrim obtained from the emperor the appointment of Wolfgang as Bishop of Ratisbon (Christmas, 972). Wolfgang's services in this new position were of the highest importance, not only for the diocese, but also for the cause of civilization. As Bishop of Ratisbon, Wolfgang became the tutor of Emperor St. Henry II, who learned from him the principles which governed his saintly and energetic life. Poppe, son of Margrave Luitpold, Archbishop of Trier (1016), and Tagino, Archbishop of Magdeburg (1004-1012), also had him as their teacher.
St. Wolfgang deserves credit for his disciplinary labours in his diocese. His main work in this respect was connected with the ancient and celebrated Abbey of St. Emmeram which he reformed by granting it once more abbots of its own, thus withdrawing it from the control of the bishops of Ratisbon, who for many years had been abbots in commendam, a condition of affairs that had been far from beneficial to the abbey and monastic life. In the Benedictine monk Ramwold, whom St. Wolfgang called from St. Maximin at Trier, St. Emmeram received a capable abbot (975). The saint also reformed the convents of Obermunster and Niedermunster at Ratisbon, chiefly by giving them as an example the convent of St. Paul, Mittelmunster, at Ratisbon, which he had founded in 983. He also co-operated in the reform of the ancient and celebrated Benedictine Abbey of Altach (Nieder-altach), which had been founded by the Agilolf dynasty, and which from that time took on new life. He showed genuine episcopal generosity in the liberal manner with which he met the views of the Emperor Otto II regarding the intended reduction in size of his diocese for the benefit of the new Diocese of Prague (975), to which St. Adalbert was appointed first bishop. As prince of the empire he performed his duties towards the emperor and the empire with the utmost scrupulousness and, like St. Ulrich, was one of the mainstays of the Ottonian policies. He took part in the various imperial Diets, and, in the autumn of 978, accompanied the Emperor Otto II on his campaign to Paris, and took part in the great Diet of Verona in June, 983.
St. Wolfgang withdrew as a hermit to a solitary spot, now the Lake of St. Wolfgang, apparently on account of a political dispute, but probably in the course of a journey of inspection to the monastery of Mendsee which was under the direction of the bishops of Ratisbon. He was discovered by a hunter and brought back to Ratisbon. While travelling on the Danube to Pöchlarn in Lower Austria, he fell ill at the village of Pupping, which is between Efferding and the market town of Aschach near Linz, and at his request was carried into the chapel of St. Othmar at Pupping, where he died. His body was taken up the Danube by his friends Count Aribo of Andechs and Archbishop Hartwich of Salzburg to Ratisbon, and was solemnly buried in the crypt of St. Emmeram. Many miracles were performed at his grave; in 1052 he was canonized. Soon after his death many churches chose him as their patron saint, and various towns were named after him. In Christian art he has been especially honoured by the great medieval Tyrolese painter, Michael Pacher (1430-1498), who created an imperishable memorial of him, the high altar of St. Wolfgang. In the panel pictures which are now exhibited in the Old Pinakothek at Munich are depicted in an artistic manner the chief events in the saint's life. The oldest portrait of St. Wolfgang is a miniature, painted about the year 1100 in the celebrated Evangeliary of St. Emmeram, now in the library of the castle cathedral at Cracow. A fine modern picture by Schwind is in the Schak Gallery at Munich. This painting represents the legend of Wolfgang forcing the devil to help him to build a church. In other paintings he is generally depicted in episcopal dress, an axe in the right hand and the crozier in the left, or as a hermit in the wilderness being discovered by a hunter. The axe refers to an event in the life of the saint. After having selected a solitary spot in the wilderness, he prayed and then threw his axe into the thicket; the spot on which the axe fell he regarded as the place where God intended he should build his cell. This axe is still shown in the little market town of St. Wolfgang which sprang up on the spot of the old cell. At the request of the Abbey of St. Emmeram, the life of St. Wolfgang was written by Othlo, a Benedictine monk of St. Emmeram about 1050. This life is especially important for the early medieval history both of the Church and of civilization in Bavaria and Austria, and it forms the basis of all later accounts of the saint. The oldest and best manuscript of this "Life" is in the library of the Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln in Switzerland (manuscript No. 322), and has been printed with critical notes in "Mon. Germ. His.: Script.", IV, 524-542. It has also been printed in, "Acta SS.", II November, (Brussels, 1894), 529-537; "Acta SS. O. S. Ben.", V, 812-833; and in P.L., CXLVI, 395-422.
ued to feed and defend his flock until it pleased the Supreme Pastor to recompense his fidelity and labors. (SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/W/stwolfgang.asp
TODAY'S GOSPEL
Luke 14: 1, 11
1
One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him.
11
For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
