CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: MON. JULY 26, 2010: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: POPE-PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR AUGUST FOR UNEMPLOYED/HOMELESS-
VATICAN- CARDINAL OUELLET, ENVOY TO CENTENARY MEMBERTOU BAPTISM-
POPE- ANGELUS: THOSE WHO PRAY ARE NEVER ALONE-
POPE- PRAYERS FOR 19 DUISBURG VICTIMS, AND VISIT TO SANTIAGO-
ASIA-THAILAND- BOMB BLAST KILLS 1 AND INJURES 10-
AMERICA- USA: PROFESSOR RECEIVES $100, 000 AFTER FIRING FOR COMMENTS-
ASIA: INDIA: CATHOLIC CHURCH DEMOLISHED IN VILLAGE-
EUROPE- IRELAND: 200, 000 ON ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE IN HONOR OF ST. PATRICK-
EUROPE- FRANCE ENCLOSED NUNS TO RELEASE MUSIC CD WITH UNIVERSAL-
AUSTRALIA- BISHOP'S CONFERENCE QUESTIONS POLICIES ON MIGRATION-
AFRICA- BURKINA FASO: INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC JOURNALIST CONFERENCE-
VATICAN
POPE-PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR AUGUST FOR UNEMPLOYED AND HOMELESS
Radio Vaticana report: People without work or homes or who are otherwise in serious need, will be the focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s prayer intentions this August. Each month the Holy Father issues general and missionary prayer intentions, to encourage Catholics worldwide to pray for particular intentions. In August, Pope Benedict is asking people to pray that the homeless and unemployed may find understanding and welcome, as well as concrete help in overcoming their difficulties.
His mission intention is that that the Church may be a “home” for all people, ready to open its doors to any who are suffering from racial or religious discrimination, hunger, or wars forcing them to emigrate to other countries.
source and papal images http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=410909
CARDINAL OUELLET, ENVOY TO CENTENARY MEMBERTOU BAPTISM
VATICAN CITY, 24 JUL 2010 (VIS) - Made public today was a Letter from the Holy Father, written in Latin and dated 30 June, in which he appoints Cardinal Marc Ouellet P.S.S., prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, as his special envoy to celebrations marking the fourth centenary of the baptism of Grand Chief Henri Membertou (PICTURED RIGHT) of the Mikmaq People, due to be held on Chapel Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 1 August.Cardinal Ouellet (PICTURED LEFT), who when news of the appointment was made public was still archbishop of Quebec, Canada, will be accompanied on his mission by Fr. Robert McNeil, episcopal vicar to the Mikmaq, and by Fr. Douglas J. Murphy of Holy Rosary parish. Msgr. Luca Lorusso, nunciature counsellor, will also form part of the mission.
IMAGE https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDHDc-oGjCpXnNT8p_jtIMdonHhlHhD-G_sGgplk6puAK1OUe9X8IoS4I0OaEeMPT7Ujrywz-95P9dxRniKwzQAjqpHfTmYXICFxFRDQ_Klhix_XYtf8aSnylML-LhcZP0AHSDCIgZYj3D/s320/2007_membertou_stamp%5B1%5D.jpg OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
VATICAN CITY, 24 JUL 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed as members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, penitentiary major of the Apostolic Penitentiary; Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and Bishop Antoni Stankiewicz, dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota.
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ANGELUS: THOSE WHO PRAY ARE NEVER ALONE
VATICAN CITY, 25 JUL 2010 (VIS) - At midday today, Benedict XVI appeared at the balcony overlooking the inner courtyard of the Apostolic Palace of Castelgandolfo to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered there.
"These are the first words of Sacred Scripture we learn as children. They are impressed in the memory, they mould our lives, they accompany us unto our last breath", said Benedict XVI. "This prayer also comprehends and expresses the material and spiritual requirements of human beings. ... And precisely because of our everyday needs and difficulties, Jesus exhorts us forcefully: ... 'Ask and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you'.
"This is not a request for our own desires to be satisfied, but for our friendship with God to be kept alive", the Pope added. "This was the experience of the ancient Desert Fathers, and of contemplative people in all times who, through prayer, became friends of God". In this context he quoted words of St. Teresa of Avila who encouraged her nuns to "beseech God to deliver us from these perils for ever and to keep us from all evil! And although our desire for this may not be perfect, let us strive to make the petition. What does it cost us to ask it, since we ask it of One Who is so powerful?"
"Each time we pray the Our Father", the Pope concluded, "our voice mingles with the voice of the Church, because one who prays is never alone. ... May the Virgin Mary help us rediscover the beauty and profundity of Christian prayer".
PRAYERS FOR 19 DUISBURG VICTIMS, AND VISIT TO SANTIAGO
Turning then to address Spanish-speaking faithful, Benedict XVI mentioned the Feast of James the Apostle, who has been "venerated since time immemorial at Compostela" and whose cult is "so deeply rooted in your countries. In this Compostela Holy Year", the Pope went on, "I too hope to go there to join pilgrims in the month of November, on a trip during which I will also visit Barcelona. Following the footsteps of St. James, let us continue the journey of our lives while bearing constant witness of faith, hope and charity".
ASIA
THAILAND- BOMB BLAST KILLS 1 AND INJURES 10
One person was killed and 10 others injured in the explosion at a bus stop in front of a superstore located near the main site of anti-government protests earlier this year.
The blast was the first act of violence in the heart of the Thai capital since the protests ended on May 19 leaving 90 people dead and more than 1,800 injured.
“This violent act must not distract Thais in efforts to return peace to the country,” said Bishop Phibul Visitnonthachai of Nakhon Sawan.
“We have to hope for a better future after the unprecedented violence and divisions. However, all Thais will have to help build a conducive, peaceful atmosphere in the country,” said the bishop, who heads the Thai bishops’ commission for the law and economy.
The bomb attack came on the same day as a by-election in which a candidate from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrat Party defeated the candidate of the red-shirt backed Puea Thai Party.
Sarawut Pathumrat, an adviser to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, said those responsible for the blast wanted to maintain divisions.
However, “the government must heed growing calls for an end to the state of emergency where it’s possible to lift it,” he said.
“The election gave us the opportunity to take that small first step after we hit rock bottom. The government’s task is to do everything possible to make sure all elections in the future are free and fair,” he said.
Local media quoted a senior army official saying it was unlikely the blast was connected to the by-election.
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/07/26/violence-returns-to-bangkoks-streets/
AMERICA
USA: PROFESSOR RECEIVES $100, 000 AFTER FIRING FOR COMMENTS
LifeSiteNews.com report — The San Jose/Evergreen Community College District has agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a biology professor who was fired for her answer to a student's question about homosexuality.
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing Professor June Sheldon agreed to dismiss the suit after the district agreed to remove Sheldon’s termination from her record and pay her $100,000 for lost work. The district had initially argued that its professors have no free speech rights in the classroom, but a federal court rejected that argument and determined that “a teacher’s instructional speech is protected by the First Amendment.” Sheldon is now teaching at a different college.
“Professors shouldn’t be fired simply for doing their jobs as educators. Professionally addressing both sides of an academic issue according to the class curriculum is not grounds for dismissal; it’s what a professor is supposed to do,” said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel David J. Hacker.
“This is a favorable settlement for Ms. Sheldon, but we remain concerned, for the sake of all faculty members, about the district’s view of academic freedom, as expressed in court, in contradiction to its policy.”
Sheldon, an experienced adjunct professor who taught a human heredity course at San Jose City College, answered a student’s inquiry in June 2007 about how heredity affects homosexual behavior. According to the Sheldon's account, she briefly introduced positions on both sides of the issue that was to be explored in a later class, and explained that the issue is complex and is still being debated by the scientific community. As part of her response she recited research of a well-known German scientist who had found a possible relationship between prenatal stress and male homosexuality, and concluded by noting that "homosexual behavior may be influenced by both genes and the environment."
The school launched an investigation after a student in the class lodged an informal complaint that deemed Sheldon’s comments “offensive and unscientific,” and claimed that Sheldon had said that there "aren't any real lesbians." Sheldon was recommended for removal from the adjunct seniority rehire preference list and terminated by the district’s board of trustees in February 2008.
The district’s “Academic Freedom” policy states: “The common good depends on the free search for truth and its free expression; to this end, faculty and students hold the right of full freedom of inquiry and expression.”
At the same time, the district argued in a brief that Sheldon “is an employee and does not have a First Amendment cause of action for the Defendants’ regulation of her in-class speech” and that the district “must be able to control the in class conduct and speech of those teachers.”
"So while the District promised freedom, it still wanted the right to censor and punish faculty for speech it disliked," said Hacker. "This is a dangerous position that all faculty should be concerned about, lest they fall into the same trap as Professor Sheldon."
ADF attorneys filed the lawsuit Sheldon v. Dhillon in June 2008 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.
The Alliance Defense Fund is also fighting on behalf of an Illinois professor who was fired on similar grounds by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Dr. Kenneth Howell was punished after a student complained about Howell's email to students in a Catholicism course that explained the Catholic position on homosexuality, which the student called "hate speech." http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072604.html
ASIA
INDIA: CATHOLIC CHURCH DEMOLISHED IN VILLAGE
UCAN report: Catholics in Nagaland state closed all their schools for one day in protest at the demolition of a village church, allegedly by Baptists.
“We will not react hastily as Christians, but remain patient and make decisions carefully,” said Father Carolous Neisalhou, vicar general of Kohima diocese which covers the entire northeastern Indian state.
The village inter-denominational tussle in this Christian majority state has been going on since 1973 when several villagers resisted efforts to start a Catholic church.
In 2001, the village council said “to maintain unity” the village will have only one Church – the Baptist Church.
Earlier this year, however, 17 people wrote to the village elders saying they had formed a Catholic community and had started raising funds to build a place of worship.
In April, village authorities wrote to the parish priest of nearby St. Peter’s Church opposing the construction, saying the majority of villagers have agreed “that there would be only one Church in the village.”
The priest wrote to police along with 21 other people calling themselves Catholics, declaring their right to have a church.
They then built a wooden structure.
But before it could begin services, a crowd pulled it down. Church sources said of the 20 families who had embraced Catholicism, 11 families were pressured into recanting.
The Catholic Association of Nagaland has appealed to the state governor, the chief minister and other top officials to ensure that Catholics enjoy “freedom of religion” as guaranteed in the Indian constitution.
The school protest was to show “our disappointment and hope that such events do not occur in future,” said Rocus Chasie, a Catholic leader.
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/07/26/indian-catholics-protest-church-demolition/
EUROPE
IRELAND: 200, 000 MAKE THE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE IN HONOR OF ST. PATRICK
Mayo Mountain Rescue said around 15-20 people suffered injuries, with at least 10 having to be taken from the mountain by stretcher. The bulk of the injuries consisted of sprains, lower-leg and head injuries, as well as cuts and bruises. Mayo Mountain Rescue said visibility was at 20 metres.
Peter Jordan, chairman, said: "It's very, very poor visibility. They had the Airs Corps helicopter down and they couldn't fly at all. The conditions are pretty terrible but at least it's not cold, it's quite warm up there We're not having many cases of cold or hypothermia. It's very slippy under foot."Mr Jordan said gardai had estimated around 20,000 people took part in the walk.
Civil Defence branded the conditions "desperate", but Mr Jordan said they were not as bad as last year when walkers were battered by wind and rain.
Mass was celebrated at the summit at 8am, then every half-hour until 2pm.
SOURCE http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/uk-ireland/poor-visibility-for-pilgrims-climb-14888533.html# image of croagh http://media-files.gather.com/images/d71/d634/d744/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg
patrick image http://www.sanpatricio.us/st_patrick.jpg
EUROPE
FRANCE ENCLOSED BENEDICTINE NUNS TO RELEASE MUSIC CD WITH UNIVERSAL
Cath News report: Benedictine nuns living in seclusion in southern France have beaten 70 other religious orders to a deal with Universal Music, the label that is home to artists including Lady Gaga and The Rolling Stones.
The nuns' album of Gregorian chants is set to be released in November.
The sisters are neither allowed to leave the convent or receive guests and only communicate with visitors through a grill. "I passed the contract through the grill, they signed it and passed it back," said Dickon Stainer, chief of Decca Records, a unit of Universal, in a statement.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22544
AUSTRALIA
BISHOP'S CONFERENCE QUESTIONS POLICIES ON MIGRATION
Cath News report: The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC) together with the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office (ACMRO) has slammed bipartisan policies on migration as "without foresight or hindsight."
The Coalition government yesterday announced that if elected, they would cut overseas migration from 300,000 to 170,000. The planned cuts will focus on family and student visa programs, while skilled migration would largely be quarantined.
Mr Abbott said the Coalition would keep skilled migration numbers up, but would crack down on "dubious educational and family-reunion applicants", said the bishops in a statement.
Labor leader Julia Gillard similarly announced last week that she does not believe that a "Big Australia" with a population of approximately 36 million by 2050 is desirable either; a policy which is at odds with her predecessor Kevin Rudd who announced the "Big Australia" policy as asylum seekers arrived off our shores.
Gillard maintains that already, however, the Labor government has started reducing migration, and is already on the way to arriving at 145,000 net migration.
Bishop Joseph Grech, Australian Catholic Bishops Conference delegate for Migrants and Refugees, expressed distress at both parties' ignorance of the rich contributions of migrants to Australian society in their respective policy statements and questioned why both sides of politics are bowing down to pressure at migrants' expense.
"Both parties are arguing that higher levels of migration will put strains on the country's infrastructure, however, it is the job of the Government to look to sustainable infrastructure, regardless of migration levels", he said.
"In our 2008 document, Graced by Migration, we demonstrated that Australia needs migration. The various migration movements have offset the impact of Australia's declining birth rate; they have contributed to the nation's economic well-being and they have added to our reputation as a unified nation specially committed and equipped to the creation of cultural and religious diversity."
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference believe that by cutting down the migration program that there would be no economic gain for citizens of this country, rather we would lose the valuable contribution that migration brings.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22540
AFRICA
BURKINA FASO: INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC JOURNALIST CONFERENCE IN AFRICA
All Africa report: The International Catholic Union of the Press (UCIP) will for the first time hold its world conference in Africa.
This year the organisation will discuss, "Media at the Service of Justice, Peace and Good Governance in a World of Inequalities and Poverty."
The meeting is scheduled to take place from September 12 to 19 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Organizers expect the conference to be "an excellent occasion for understanding the real life in Africa and its various aspects" and "a unique forum to debate issues that affect Africa with experts in Africa on African soil," according to Zenit.
At the same time a convention will also be held for journalists aged 35 and younger, who will participate in the International Network of Young Journalists.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201007261139.html
TODAY'S SAINTS
St. Joachim
Information:Feast Day: July 26
Patron of: Fathers, Grandparents
Joachim (whose name means Yahweh prepares), was the father of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If we were to obey the warning of St. Peter Damian, we should consider it a blameable and needless curiosity to inquire about those things that the Evangelists did not deem it advisable to relate, and, in particular, about the parents of the Blessed Virgin (Serm. iii de Nativ. B.M.V.). Tradition nevertheless, grounded on very old testimonies, very early hailed Saints Joachim and Anne as the father and mother of the Mother of God. True, this tradition seems to rest ultimately on the so-called "Gospel of James", the "Gospel of the Nativity of the Blessed Mary", and the Pseudo-Matthew, or "Book of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Childhood of the Saviour"; and this origin is likely to rouse well-founded suspicions. It should be borne in mind, however, that the apocryphal character of these writings, that is to say, their rejection from the canon, and their ungenuineness do not imply that no heed whatever should be taken of some of their assertions; side by side, indeed, with unwarranted and legendary facts, they contain some historical data borrowed from reliable traditions or documents; and difficult though it is to distinguish in them the wheat from the tares, it would be unwise and uncritical indiscriminately to reject the whole. Some commentators, who believe that the genealogy given by St. Luke is that of the Blessed Virgin, find the mention of Joachim in Heli (Luke, iii, 23; Eliachim, i.e. Jeho-achim), and explain that Joseph had, in the eyes of the law, become by his marriage the son of Joachim. That such is the purpose and the meaning of the Evangelist is very doubtful, and so is the identification proposed between the two names Heli and Joachim. Neither can it be asserted with certainty, in spite of the authority of the Bollandists, that Joachim was Heli's son and Joseph's brother; nor, as is sometimes affirmed, from sources of very doubtful value, that he had large possessions in herds and flocks. Much more interesting are the beautiful lines in which the "Gospel of James" describes how, in their old age, Joachim and Anne received the reward of their prayers to obtain issue. Tradition has it that the parents of the Blessed Virgin, who, apparently, first lived in Galilee, came later on to settle in Jerusalem; there the Blessed Virgin was born and reared; there also they died and were buried. A church, known at various epochs as St. Mary, St. Mary ubi nata est, St. Mary in Probatica, Holy Probatica, St. Anne, was built during the fourth century, possibly by St. Helena, on the site of the house of St. Joachim and St. Anne, and their tombs were there honoured until the close of the ninth century, when the church was converted into a Moslem school. The crypt which formerly contained the holy tombs was rediscovered on 18 March, 1889.
St. Joachim was honoured very early by the Greeks, who celebrate his feast on the day following the Blessed Virgin's birthday; the Latins were slow to admit it to their calendar, where it found place sometimes on 16 Sept. and sometimes on 9 Dec. Assigned by Julius II to 20 March, the solemnity was suppressed some fifty years later, restored by Gregory XV (1622), fixed by Clement XII (1738) on the Sunday after the Assumption, and finally raised to the rank of double of the second class by Leo XIII (1 Aug., 1879).
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/J/stjoachim.asp
St. Anne
Information:Feast Day: July 26
Patron of: Housewives, women in labor, cabinet-makers, and miners
Of St. Anne we have no certain knowledge. She is not mentioned in the New Testament, and we must depend on apocryphal literature, chiefly the Protoevangelium of James, which dates back only to the second century.
In this document we are told that Anne, wife of Joachim, was advanced in years and that her prayers for a child had not been answered. Once as she prayed beneath a laurel tree near her home in Galilee, an angel appeared and said to her, "Anne, the Lord hath heard thy prayer and thou shalt conceive and bring forth, and thy seed shall be spoken of in all the world." Anne replied, "As the Lord my God liveth, if I beget either male or female, I will bring it as a gift to the Lord my God; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its life " And thus Anne became the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The devotion of St. Anne was known in the East in the fifth century, but it was not diffused in the West until the thirteenth. A shrine at Douai, in northern France, was one of the early centers of the devotion. In 1382 her feast was extended to the whole Western Church, and she became very popular, especially in France. Her two most famous shrines are at St. Anne d'Auray in Brittany and at St. Anne-de Beaupre in the province of Quebec.
She is patroness of housewives, women in labor, cabinet-makers, and miners. Her emblem is a door. St. Anne has been frequently represented in art, and the lovely face depicted by Leonardo da Vinci comes first to mind in this connection. The name Anne derives from the Hebrew Hannah, meaning "grace."
SOURCE
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/A/stanne.asp
IMAGE SOURCE http://static.open.salon.com/files/rsz/crop_351x485/files/st._anne_picture1216944112.jpg
TODAY'S GOSPEL
Matthew 13: 16 - 17
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16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17 Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
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