CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: THURS. JULY 22, 2010: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: THE FRIENDS OF JESUS: A NEW BOOK FOR CHILDREN BY THE POPE-
AMERICA: USA: STUDENT TOLD TO RENOUNCE HER BELIEFS OR LEAVE PROGRAM-
EUROPE: ENGLAND: DEACON LAUNCHES WEB SITE "PROTECT THE POPE.COM"-
ASIA: INDIA: 150 HINDU ACTIVISTS ATTACK A CATHOLIC SCHOOL-
AFRICA: ANGOLA: BISHOP KAMWENHO COMMENTS ON VISIT OF PRESIDENT-
AUSTRALIA: FUNERAL FOR FALLEN SOLDIER NATHAN BEWES AGE 23-
VATICAN
THE FRIENDS OF JESUS: A NEW BOOK FOR CHILDREN BY THE POPE
VATICAN CITY, 22 JUL 2010 (VIS REPORT) - "The Friends of Jesus" is the title of a new book for children by Benedict XVI in which he recounts the story of the twelve Apostles and St. Paul.
The book, forty-eight pages long and illustrated by the Italian artist Franco Vignazia , has been published by the publishing house San Giuliano Milanese. It brings together a number of passages from the Pope's catecheses in his Wednesday general audiences, according to the "Osservatore Romano" newspaper.
The prologue is by the Spanish priest Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation."One upon a time there was a small group of men who, one day two thousand years ago, met a young man who walked the roads of Galilee. Each had his own job and family but, in an instant, their lives changed. They were called Andrew and John, Peter, Matthew, Thomas, etc. They were twelve and we know them today as the 'Apostles'. ... In Jerusalem at that time everyone knew that they were Jesus' 'friends'. ... Later they were joined by St. Paul ... who from being a persecutor of Christians became the greatest witness to Jesus", writes Fr. Carron.
Fr. Carron likewise explains that in this work Benedict XVI "takes us by the hand and accompanies us as we discover who Jesus' first companions were, how they met Him and were conquered by Him to the point that they never abandoned Him".
AMERICA
USA: STUDENT KEETON TOLD TO RENOUNCE HER BELIEFS OR LEAVE PROGRAM
LifeSiteNews.com report - Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) filed suit against Augusta State University Wednesday on behalf of a counseling student who was allegedly told that her Christian beliefs are unethical and incompatible with the prevailing views of the counseling profession. The student, Jennifer Keeton, says she has been told to stop communicating her beliefs and that she must undergo "training" to accept homosexuality in order to graduate from the counseling program.
Augusta State ordered Keeton to undergo a re-education plan, in which she must attend “diversity sensitivity training,” complete additional remedial reading, and write papers to describe their impact on her beliefs. If she does not change her beliefs or agree to the plan, the university says it will expel her from the Counselor Education Program.“A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that’s exactly what’s happening here. Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform,” said ADF Senior Counsel David French.
“Abandoning one’s own religious beliefs should not be a precondition at a public university for obtaining a degree. This type of leftist zero-tolerance policy is in place at far too many universities, and it must stop."
Keeton, 24, is pursuing her master’s degree in counseling at Augusta State. Lawyers say that after her professors learned of her biblical beliefs, specifically her views on homosexual conduct, the school imposed the re-education plan. Keeton says she never denigrated anyone in communicating her beliefs but merely stated factually what they were in appropriate contexts.The plan, according to ADF lawyers, assails Keeton’s beliefs as inconsistent with the counseling profession and expresses suspicion over “Jen’s ability to be a multiculturally competent counselor, particularly with regard to working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (GLBTQ) populations.” They say the plan requires her to take steps to change her beliefs through additional assignments and additional “diversity sensitivity training" and to “work to increase exposure and interactions with gay populations. One such activity could be attending the Gay Pride Parade in Augusta.”Each month, Keeton is allegedly required to complete a report on how the “remediation” assignments have influenced her beliefs so that faculty can “decide the appropriateness of her continuation in the counseling program.” Lawyers say the plan concludes by noting that “failure to complete all elements of the remediation plan will result in dismissal from the Counselor Education Program.”
In an ADF video, Keeton said that, “While I want to stay in the school counseling program, I know that I can't honestly complete the remediation plan knowing that I would have to alter my beliefs." "I'm not willing to, and I know I can't, change my Biblical views," she said.
ADF attorneys filed the complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction in Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley with the U.S. District Court for the District of Georgia.
ADF is currently litigating a similar case involving a counseling student at Eastern Michigan University and successfully resolved a case at Missouri State University. Also in litigation is a case involving a Georgia counselor fired by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because she would not agree to affirm homosexual behavior as morally acceptable.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jul/10072207.html
ASIA
INDIA: 150 HINDU ACTIVISTS ATTACK A CATHOLIC SCHOOL
UCAN report: A group of some 150 Hindu activists has attacked a Catholic school in central Indian Madhya Pradesh state after a student attempted suicide and broke his leg.
The mob stormed St. Gabriel Senior Secondary school in Jabalpur on July 21 and started smashing windows, less than an hour after an 11th-grade student jumped from a first-floor window.
The boy, who fractured his leg, was rushed to hospital but has no life-threatening injuries.
His suicide attempt came after he was summoned to the principal’s office to answer questions about his alleged role in a prank.
In the attack that followed, the Hindu mob shouted slogans demanding the immediate closure of the school. They also accused the school of harassing students, office assistant Vivek Chauhan told ucanews.com.
He said the police managed to prevent the Hindu attackers from inflicting further damage on the school.
Principal Brother Joy Joseph said the boy was summoned over his suspected role in planting rotten eggs near the chalkboard in his class.
Christian schools in the state have become an easy target for Hindu groups to assert their socio-political dominance, he told ucanews.com. (PICTURED BISHOP A.)
Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur condemned the attack and said Hindu groups frequently attack Christian schools and damage “our properties on flimsy excuses.”
Christian schools have pioneered education in the state and continue to provide quality education, he said.
He urged the state government to put an end to such attacks.
The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party has ruled the state since December 2003. Since then, Christians and their institutions have suffered more than 150 violent incidents, Church people say.
source http://www.ucanews.com/2010/07/22/catholic-school-attacked-after-student-attempts-suicide/
EUROPE
ENGLAND: DEACON LAUNCHES WEB SITE "PROTECT THE POPE.COM"
Independent Catholic news report. A permanent deacon from the Diocese of Lancaster, has launched a website this week, called: 'Protect the Pope' - in response to groups such as 'Protest the Pope' which have been gaining publicity since the announcement of Pope Benedict's visit to the UK.
Protect the Pope.com also seeks to record incidents of anti-Catholicism in the media and internet as a way of raising awareness among Catholics and the wider community of this prejudice.
Deacon Nick Donnelly told ICN: "I think we have to challenge the assumption that anti-Catholicism is acceptable. Not in a hysterical fashion, but with information and reason. If we shine the light of publicity and truth on this prejudice it will gradually wither away. Bullies don't like being exposed.
"Since 2006 we’ve had the legal right to protect ourselves from religious hatred. Of course people in this country have freedom of expression, but this does not mean they have the right to create a climate of hostility and fear. It’s a question of protecting our human rights to freedom of belief and freedom of worship."
To visit the site see: http://www.protectthepope.com/
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16544
AFRICA
ANGOLA: BISHOP KAMWENHO COMMENTS ON VISIT OF PORTUGUESE PRESIDENT
These benefits, he said, will be represented by the existing friendship and brotherhood between Portugal and Angola.
He said he believes that with this visit, various projects will be signed upon, from the perspective of establishment and reinforcement of existing protection protocols between both sides, adding that Huila has been facing difficulty in the education sector, mainly in the teaching of Portuguese language.
"I am satisfied with the visit of the Portuguese statesman to Huila province, as it shows that Portugal is a country that has not forgotten Angola and we must remain united so that the two countries develop mutually", he added.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201007221055.html
IMAGE http://www.europarl.europa.eu/multimedia/img/news/cont/20090126PHT47156/pict_20090126PHT47156.jpg
AUSTRALIA
FUNERAL FOR FALLEN SOLDIER NATHAN BEWES AGE 23
(CASKET AND FRIENDS PICTURED)
A slouch hat and native Australian flowers adorned his casket, which was draped in the Australian flag, says a report by AAP in the Sydney Morning Herald. His parents Gary and Kay placed a Bible and cross next to the hat.
Private Bewes was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in the Chora Valley region of Afghanistan's Oruzgan Province on July 9.
Born in Kogarah in Sydney, Private Bewes joined army cadets as a 13-year-old and by 15 was a cadet under-officer. His commander Brigadier Paul McLachlan said the young soldier was a leadership prospect.
"He was not your average 23-year-old Australian," he said. "He was a modern day Anzac warrior.
"He never missed a patrol ... He would go to the end of the earth for his mates and wouldn't expect anything in return."
He joined the army in 2005 and was on his second deployment in Afghanistan, serving with the first mentoring task force. He served in East Timor in 2006.
Private Bewes was the 17th Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22532
http://www.smh.com.au/national/tribute-to-fallen-digger-nathan-bewes-20100722-10lug.html?autostart=1
TODAY´S SAINT
St. Mary Magdalene
Information:Feast Day: July 22
Born: 1st century AD, Magdala
Died: 1st century AD, Ephesus, Asia Minor or Marseilles, France
Patron of: apothecaries; contemplative life; converts; glove makers; hairdressers; penitent sinners; people ridiculed for their piety; perfumeries; pharmacists; reformed prostitutes; sexual temptation; tanners; women
Mary Magdalen was so called either from Magdala near Tiberias, on the west shore of Galilee, or possibly from a Talmudic expression meaning "curling women's hair," which the Talmud explains as of an adulteress.
In the New Testament she is mentioned among the women who accompanied Christ and ministered to Him (Luke 8:2-3), where it is also said that seven devils had been cast out of her (Mark 16:9). She is next named as standing at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:40; Matthew 27:56; John 19:25; Luke 23:49). She saw Christ laid in the tomb, and she was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection.
The Greek Fathers, as a whole, distinguish the three persons:
* the "sinner" of Luke 7:36-50;
* the sister of Martha and Lazarus, Luke 10:38-42 and John 11; and
* Mary Magdalen.
On the other hand most of the Latins hold that these three were one and the same. Protestant critics, however, believe there were two, if not three, distinct persons. It is impossible to demonstrate the identity of the three; but those commentators undoubtedly go too far who assert, as does Westcott (on John 11:1), "that the identity of Mary with Mary Magdalene is a mere conjecture supported by no direct evidence, and opposed to the general tenour of the gospels." It is the identification of Mary of Bethany with the "sinner" of Luke 7:37, which is most combatted by Protestants. It almost seems as if this reluctance to identify the "sinner" with the sister of Martha were due to a failure to grasp the full significance of the forgiveness of sin. The harmonizing tendencies of so many modern critics, too, are responsible for much of the existing confusion.
The first fact, mentioned in the Gospel relating to the question under discussion is the anointing of Christ's feet by a woman, a "sinner" in the city (Luke 7:37-50). This belongs to the Galilean ministry, it precedes the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and the third Passover. Immediately afterwards St. Luke describes a missionary circuit in Galilee and tells us of the women who ministered to Christ, among them being "Mary who is called Magdalen, out of whom seven devils were gone forth" (Luke 8:2); but he does not tell us that she is to be identified with the "sinner" of the previous chapter. In 10:38-42, he tells us of Christ's visit to Martha and Mary "in a certain town"; it is impossible to identify this town, but it is clear from 9:53, that Christ had definitively left Galilee, and it is quite possible that this "town" was Bethany. This seems confirmed by the preceding parable of the good Samaritan, which must almost certainly have been spoken on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. But here again we note that there is no suggestion of an identification of the three persons (the "sinner", Mary Magdalen, and Mary of Bethany), and if we had only St. Luke to guide us we should certainly have no grounds for so identifying them. St. John, however, clearly identifies Mary of Bethany with the woman who anointed Christ's feet (12; cf. Matthew 26 and Mark 14). It is remarkable that already in 11:2, St. John has spoken of Mary as "she that anointed the Lord's feet", he aleipsasa; It is commonly said that he refers to the subsequent anointing which he himself describes in 12:3-8; but it may be questioned whether he would have used he aleipsasa if another woman, and she a "sinner" in the city, had done the same. It is conceivable that St. John, just because he is writing so long after the event and at a time when Mary was dead, wishes to point out to us that she was really the same as the "sinner." In the same way St. Luke may have veiled her identity precisely because he did not wish to defame one who was yet living; he certainly does something similar in the case of St. Matthew whose identity with Levi the publican (5:7) he conceals.
If the foregoing argument holds good, Mary of Bethany and the "sinner" are one and the same. But an examination of St. John's Gospel makes it almost impossible to deny the identity of Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalen. From St. John we learn the name of the "woman" who anointed Christ's feet previous to the last supper. We may remark here that it seems unnecessary to hold that because St. Matthew and St. Mark say "two days before the Passover", while St. John says "six days" there were, therefore, two distinct anointings following one another. St. John does not necessarily mean that the supper and the anointing took place six days before, but only that Christ came to Bethany six days before the Passover. At that supper, then, Mary received the glorious encomium, "she hath wrought a good work upon Me . . . in pouring this ointment upon My body she hath done it for My burial . . . wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached . . . that also which she hath done shall be told for a memory of her." Is it credible, in view of all this, that this Mary should have no place at the foot of the cross, nor at the tomb of Christ? Yet it is Mary Magdalen who, according to all the Evangelists, stood at the foot of the cross and assisted at the entombment and was the first recorded witness of the Resurrection. And while St. John calls her "Mary Magdalen" in 19:25, 20:1, and 20:18, he calls her simply "Mary" in 20:11 and 20:16.
In the view we have advocated the series of events forms a consistent whole; the "sinner" comes early in the ministry to seek for pardon; she is described immediately afterwards as Mary Magdalen "out of whom seven devils were gone forth"; shortly after, we find her "sitting at the Lord's feet and hearing His words." To the Catholic mind it all seems fitting and natural. At a later period Mary and Martha turn to "the Christ, the Son of the Living God", and He restores to them their brother Lazarus; a short time afterwards they make Him a supper and Mary once more repeats the act she had performed when a penitent. At the Passion she stands near by; she sees Him laid in the tomb; and she is the first witness of His Resurrection--excepting always His Mother, to whom He must needs have appeared first, though the New Testament is silent on this point. In our view, then, there were two anointings of Christ's feet--it should surely be no difficulty that St. Matthew and St. Mark speak of His head--the first (Luke 7) took place at a comparatively early date; the second, two days before the last Passover. But it was one and the same woman who performed this pious act on each occasion.
The Greek Church maintains that the saint retired to Ephesus with the Blessed Virgin and there died, that her relics were transferred to Constantinople in 886 and are there preserved. Gregory of Tours (De miraculis, I, xxx) supports the statement that she went to Ephesus. However, according to a French tradition , Mary, Lazarus, and some companions came to Marseilles and converted the whole of Provence. Magdalen is said to have retired to a hill, La Sainte-Baume, near by, where she gave herself up to a life of penance for thirty years. When the time of her death arrived she was carried by angels to Aix and into the oratory of St. Maximinus, where she received the viaticum; her body was then laid in an oratory constructed by St. Maximinus at Villa Lata, afterwards called St. Maximin. History is silent about these relics till 745, when according to the chronicler Sigebert, they were removed to Vézelay through fear of the Saracens. No record is preserved of their return, but in 1279, when Charles II, King of Naples, erected a convent at La Sainte-Baume for the Dominicans, the shrine was found intact, with an inscription stating why they were hidden. In 1600 the relics were placed in a sarcophagus sent by Clement VIII, the head being placed in a separate vessel. In 1814 the church of La Sainte-Baume, wrecked during the Revolution, was restored, and in 1822 the grotto was consecrated afresh. The head of the saint now lies there, where it has lain so long, and where it has been the centre of so many pilgrimages.
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmarymagdalen.asp
TODAY´S GOSPEL
John 20: 1 - 2, 11 - 18
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1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Mag'dalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
2 So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb;
12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
18 Mary Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
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