CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: SAT. MARCH 27, 2010

CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: SAT. MARCH 27, 2010: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: POPE: AUDIENCES-
EUROPE: ITALY: PRESIDENT OF SENATE SUPPORTS POPE IN CONTROVERSY-
ASIA: IRAQ: ELECTIONS SHOW ALLAWI WINS BY MARGIN-
AMERICA: USA: MIGRATION & REFUGEE SERVICES WIN AWARD-
AFRICA: KENYA: WOMEN ENCOURAGED TO GET INVOLVED-
AUSTRALIA: ARCHBISHOP GIVES APPROVAL FOR NEGOTIATIONS-

VATICAN

POPE: AUDIENCES

The Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience this morning: Em .Mo Card. Giovanni Battista re, the prefect of the Congregation for bishops; H.E. Mons. Archbishop Angelo Amato, tit. Silas, prefect of the Congregation for the causes of Saints. The Pope receives this morning at the hearing: H.E. Mons. Nikola Eterović, Archbishop tit. of Cibale, General Secretary of the Synod of Bishops; H.E. Mr.. Marius Gabriel Lazurca, Ambassador of Romania, with his wife, visiting of leave. [00423-01: 01]


http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/25330.php?index=25330&lang=en








EUROPE
ITALY: PRESIDENT OF SENATE SUPPORTS POPE IN CONTROVERSY

CNA report: "Unacceptable and unmerited" is how the president of the Italian Senate, Renato Schifani, defined the recent "attacks against the Pontiff." Calling the media blitz on Pope Benedict XVI "unprecedented," he recognized the Pope's "decisive measures against pedophilia" and said that his "very rigorous positions" deserve respect and appreciation.
"This is why I don't understand, and we don't understand, the reason for these attacks," the politician said to a group of young people on Thursday, according to a Friday article in L'Osservatore Romano.
Schifani, speaking to the youngsters on constitutional values, went on to deem as "unacceptable" the evident "attempt to overshadow a moral patrimony, of traditions, of culture and of meritorious actions such as that of the Church with the instrument of the delegitimization that doesn't distinguish that which is good and just from the individual behaviors..."
He pointed out that the "most odious" of these actions "have been condemned firmly and with the maximum authority."
The president of the senate went on to defend the fundamental value of life as "the sign of the degree of civilization of a nation" and said that its protection "without ambiguity in all of its manifestations, preserving in it always the intrinsic dignity, is the essential task of every citizen and every institution."
In a message posted on the website of the Italian government following the release of the Letter to Irish Catholics last week, on behalf of the people of Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed "all of the affection, closeness and solidarity" to the Pope, who "has often had to confront difficult situations that become motive for attacks against the Church and even the very substance of the Christian religion."http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/president_of_the_italian_senate_condemns_attacks_on_pope_benedict/

ASIA

IRAQ: ELECTIONS SHOW ALLAWI WINS BY MARGIN

Asia News report: Allawi’s secular party takes 91 seats against 89 for Maliki. The UN declares the elections "a success" and "credible." Open discussions on alliances for the majority. The security challenge: twin attack yesterday in Diyala, with 42 deaths. Withdrawal of U.S. forces by years end.
Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The secular Iyad Allawi has won the elections in Iraq only two seats ahead of Nouri al-Maliki, leader of the outgoing government, who refuses to recognize the results. Maliki can appeal until 29 March when the results will be considered definitive. The UN special envoy, Ad Melkert, has called the vote "a success" and "credible", and has asked all parties to "accept the results."

Allawi's Iraqiya bloc won 91 seats, against 89 for Maliki’s Alliance for the Rule of Law, but neither can claim a great victory, both having failed to win a large majority of the 325 seats in parliament.
Allawi - a secular Shiite backed by Sunnis and Christians - has already opened negotiations to form alliances with other groups. "Iraqiya - he said - will its heart to all political forces and all those who want to build Iraq. We will put to an end together politics based on ethnicity and religion". It is likely that in order to have a majority, Allawi will have to ally himself to the party of Moqtada al-Sadr (Iraqi National Alliance, of the Shiite religious mould), which took 70 seats and the Kurdish group, which won 43 seats.
Some observers suggest an alliance government between the Allawi and Maliki, to give stability to the country, but the ambitions of both seem to exclude this possibility.
As a reminder of the fragility of the situation yesterday, just before the announcement of the results, there were two bomb attacks in Diyala, north of the capital, which left 42 people dead and 65 wounded.

The coalition that emerges will have to resolve the issues that are being debated for some time on in Iraq: federalism and centralism, the distribution of oil revenues, the status of Kirkuk. In addition it will face the problem of security, while U.S. forces are preparing to withdraw by the end of the year.
Those of 7 March are the second elections since the fall of Saddam Hussein. 63% of voters participated. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Elections:-Allawi-wins-by-slight-margin,-al-Maliki-rejects-results-18001.html

AMERICA
USA: MIGRATION & REFUGEE SERVICES WIN AWARD

USCCB report: Migration and Refugee Services Receives Romero Human Rights Award from University of Dayton
WASHINGTON—The University of Dayton, in Ohio, has announced that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Migration and Refugee Services (USCCB/MRS) is the recipient of the 2010 Archbishop Oscar Romero Human Rights Award. The Ceremony will take place March 29, at the Immaculate Conception Chapel of the university. Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration expressed gratitude upon receiving news of the award. “I am very proud that MRS is receiving this award because it is an acknowledgment of the excellent work that the people in MRS have done for so long, often times without the recognition that they deserve,” Bishop Wester said. “I would also like to recognize the many institutions, associations, and individuals who work with us to welcome the strangers in our midst. Without their dedication and perseverance in these matters we would not be able to achieve the many successes have to date.” In its official announcement, the University of Dayton cited the reasons for conferring this honor to MRS. “Since 1975, Migration and Refugee Services has coordinated the resettlement of more than 800,000 refugees through dioceses nationwide. During the last decade, the department has advocated for laws to stiffen penalties for human traffickers and provide protection and relief to victims, and to increase Congressional appropriations for refugee protection and assistance.” Ambassador Johnny Young, Migration and Refugee Services executive director, will accept the award on behalf of the agency while Bishop Wester will deliver the Romero Human Rights Award address with a reflection on “Whatever You Did for the Least of These.” The Oscar Romero Human Rights Award was created in 2000 to honor the ministry and martyrdom of the late Salvadorean archbishop slain 30 years ago while officiating Mass at a hospital chapel, for his vocal defense of the human rights of the poor and disenfranchised and against violence. The award is presented to an individual or organization that has earned distinction for promotion of the dignity of all human beings and alleviation of the suffering of the human community in the spirit of Christian humanism.
Mark Ensalaco, the university’s human rights program director, reflected on the meaning of the award.“We are trying to honor Romero’s ministry and martyrdom by addressing the very serious human rights issues we confront here and now," Ensalaco said. "We are focusing on the rights of migrants and refugees and the awful scourge of human trafficking which we know is taking place all around us. The selection of Migration and Refugee Services as this year’s award recipient is really an expression of the University of Dayton’s recognition of the importance of its work."Past recipients of the University's Archbishop Romero Award include: Juan Méndez, president of the International Center for Transitional Justice and United Nations special representative on the prevention of genocide; Casa Alianza, which operates programs to help homeless and abandoned children in Central America, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua; Radhika Coomaraswamy, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women; Juan Guzman, the Chilean judge who prosecuted the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet; and Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Doctors Without Borders.http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-056.shtml

AFRICA
KENYA: WOMEN ENCOURAGED TO GET INVOLVED

CISA report: Kenyan women have been challenged to play a more active role in the management of the country's affairs instead of being relegated to the periphery.Speaking in Meru town, Eastern Kenya while attending the annual Catholic women thanksgiving prayers, the wife of Vice President Pauline Kalonzo said women had the capacity and numbers to make landmark contributions that could chart the destiny of the country and their potential should be recognized instead of being brushed aside.She regretted that for a long time, women have been sidelined from decision making processes in spite of having the requisite ability and acumen.The vice president’s wife said women were the pillars of the family and the society and should be accorded their rightful recognition.Kalonzo told women to use their resoluteness and their immense voting powers to bring about the necessary reforms that would assure Kenyans of stability and development. "You choose the kings of this country and through your prayers and numerical voting strength, you can be able to shape the future of this country," she said.She told hundreds of women attending the prayer meeting conducted by the Meru Catholic Bishop Salesius Mugambi that the country's destiny rested in their hands and through prayers and their unshakeable resolve.She said through the power of women’s prayer, the country will surmount the existing challenges and achieve national cohesion and lead to the enactment of a new constitution that will have broad support.She urged women to pray for the country's leadership, especially, during the current trying period when the nation is going through reforms some of which have the potential to cause hatred and divisions among Kenyans.
http://www.cisanewsafrica.org/story.asp?ID=4490








AUSTRALIA
ARCHBISHOP GIVES APPROVAL FOR NEGOTIATIONS



Cath News report: Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn Mark Coleridge has given tacit approval to further negotiations over the ACT's renewed deal to buy Calvary Public Hospital, but remains unconvinced a buy-out is necessary.
ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher said she was disappointed with Archbishop Coleridge's response to a letter outlining the new proposal, The Canberra Times reports.
"The tone of his letter was that he was happy for negotiations to continue at this early stage but that he remained unconvinced that the Government needs to purchase the hospital in order to invest in it," Ms Gallagher said.
Ms Gallagher said the Government was running out of options.
"I'm hopeful that in the next week or so we'll have a clearer indication of whether this proposal will make it all the way and if it doesn't ... the Government will withdraw."
Liberals health spokesman Jeremy Hanson says the Government is still behaving secretively about the sale, ABC reports.
"They took it behind closed doors 18 months ago before the election," he said.
The Greens are cited by the ABC saying they are frustrated the Government is still struggling to buy the hospital.
MLA Amanda Bresnan says she hopes the deal can proceed.
"We do have a company which does have significant influence from the Church which does have a big say in what goes ahead and I do hope these negotiations can go ahead in good faith and we can get a good outcome for the ACT community," she said.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=20260




TODAY'S SAINT

St. Rupert of Salzburg
BISHOP, MISSIONARY
Feast: March 27
Information:
Feast Day:
March 27
Died:
27 March 710, Salzburg, Austria
Patron of:
Salzburg, The State of Salzburg

First Bishop of Salzburg, contemporary of Childebert III, king of the Franks (695-711), date of birth unknown; d. at Salzburg, Easter Sunday, 27 March, 718. According to an old tradition, he was a scion of the Frankish Merovingian family. The assumption of 660 as the year of his birth is merely legendary. According to the oldest short biographical notices in the "Mon. Germ. Script.", XI, 1-15, Rupert was noted for simplicity, prudence, and the fear of God; he was a lover of truth in his discourse, upright in opinion, cautious in counsel, energetic in action, far-seeing in his charity, and in all his conduct a glorious model of rectitude. While he was Bishop of Worms, the fame of his learning and piety drew many from far and wide. The report of the bishop's ability reached Duke Theodo II of Bavaria, who had placed himself at the head of the current ecclesiastical movement in Bavaria. Theodo sent Rupert messengers with the request that, he should come to Bavaria to revive, confirm, and propagate the spirit of Christianity there. Despite the work of early missionaries, Bavaria was only superficially Christian; its very Christianity was indeed to some extent Arian, while heathen customs and views were most closely interwoven with the external Christianity which it had retained. St. Rupert acceded to Theodo's request, after he had by messengers made himself familiar with the land and people of Bavaria. St. Rupert was received with great honour and ceremony by Theodo in the old residential town of Ratisbon (696). He entered immediately upon his apostolic labours, which extended from the territory of the Danube to the borders of Lower Pannonia, and upon his missionary journey came to Lorch. Thence he travelled to the lonely shores of the Wallersee, where he built a church in honour of Saint Peter, thereby laying the foundation of the present market-town of Seekirchen in the Newmarket district of Salzburg. From the Roman colony there Rupert obtained an account of the ancient Roman town of Juvavum, upon the site of which there still remained many more or less dilapidated buildings, overgrown with briars and brushwood.
Having personally verified the accuracy of this account concerning the place and position, Rupert requested Theodo, in the interests of his apostolic mission to the country, to give him the territory of Juvavum (which was still a place of considerable commerce) for the erection of a monastery and an episcopal see. The duke granted this petition, bequeathing the territory of Juvavum (the modern Salzburg), two square miles in area, to St. Rupert and his successors. At the foot of the precipice of the Monchberg, where once St. Maximus, a disciple of St. Severin, had suffered martyrdom with his companions (476), St. Rupert erected the first church in Salzburg, the Church of St. Peter, in honour of the Prince of the Apostles, as well as a monastery. Upon the lofty prominences (Nonnberg) to the southeast of the town, where the old Roman fortress once towered, he established a convent of nuns which, like the monastery of the Mönchberg, he placed under the protection and Rule of St. Benedict. To set his institutions upon a solid basis, Rupert repaired home, and returned with twelve companions besides his niece Ehrentraud (Erindruda), whom he made abbess over the Benedictine Convent of Nonnberg, while he with his twelve companions formed the first congregation of the famous Benedictine Monastery of St. Peter at Salzburg, which remains to the present day. St. Rupert thenceforth devoted himself entirely to the work of salvation and conversion which he had already begun, founding in connection therewith manny churches and monasteries — e.g., Maxglan, near Salzburg, Maximilianszelle (now Bischofshofen in Pongau), Altotting, and others. After a life of extraordinarily successful activity, he died at Salzburg, aided by the prayers of his brethren in the order; his body reposed in the St. Peterskirche until 24 Sept., 774, when his disciple and successor, Abbot-Bishop St. Virgil, had a portion of his remains removed to the cathedral. On 24 Sept., 1628, these relics were interred by Archbishop Paris von Ladron (1619-54) under the high altar of the new cathedral. Since then the town and district of Salzburg solemnize the feast of St. Rupert, Apostle of Bavaria and Carlnthia, on 24 September.
In Christian art St. Rupert is portrayed with a vessel of salt in his hand, symbolizing the universal tradition according to which Rupert inaugurated salt-mining at Salzburg; this portrayal of St. Rupert is generally found upon the coins of the Duchy of Salzburg and Carinthia. St. Rupert is also represented baptizing Duke Theodo; this scene has no historical foundation. St. Rupert was the first Abbot-Bishop of Salzburg, for, as he established his foundations after the manner of the Irish monks, he combined in his own person the dignities of abbot and bishop. A similar combination of dignities existed also in Ratisbon and Freising. This twofold character of the bishop continued in Salzburg for nearly 300 years until the separation of the dignities was effected in 987 by Archbishop Friedrich I of Salzburg, Count of Chiemgau, the twenty-first Abbot of the Monastery of St. Peter. The period of St. Rupert's activity was until very lately a matter of great discussion. Formerly the opinion was held that the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries was the age of his missionary work, but, according to the most exhaustive and reliable investigations, the late seventh and early eighth centuries formed the period of his activity. This fact is established especially by the "Brevesnotitiae Salzburgenses", a catalogue of the donations made to the Church of Salzburg, with notices from the ninth century. In these latter Bishop St. Virgil, whose ministry is referred to 745-84, appears as a direct disciple of St. Rupert. It is forthwith evident that the assumption of the end of the sixth and beginning of the seventh centuries as the period of Rupert's activity is extremely doubtful, even apart from the fact that this view also involves the rejection of the catalogue of the bishops of Salzburg and of Easter Sunday as the day of Rupert's death. Many churches and places bearing Rupert's name, serve as surviving memorials of his missionary activity. A successor of St. Rupert, the present scholarly Abbot of St. Peters in Salzburg, Willibald Hauthaler, has written an interesting work upon this subject entitled "Die dem hl. Rupertus Apostel von Bayern geweihten Kirchen und Kapellen" (with map, Salzburg, 1885).
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/R/strupertofsalzburg.asp




TODAY'S GOSPEL

John 11: 45 - 56
45
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
46
but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47
So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
48
If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."
49
But one of them, Ca'iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all;
50
you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."
51
He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation,
52
and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53
So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.
54
Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called E'phraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.
55
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
56
They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"