CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: SUN. JULY 11, 2010: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: POPE: CHRISTIAN SEES WHO IS IN NEED OF LOVE AND ACTS-
WORLD: SOCCER WORLD CUP WON BY SPAIN THROUGH OUR LADY´S INTERCESSION-
AMERICA: HAITI: NUNCIO- HAITI STILL NEEDS SUPPORT FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS-
AFRICA: NIGERIA: 7 PEOPLE KILLED BY ISLAMIC MILITANTS IN CHRISTIAN VILLAGE-
EUROPE: GERMANY: THOUSANDS AT PRO PAPA EVENT SUPPORTING BENEDICT XVI-
ASIA: CHINA: VATICAN APPROVED BISHOP IN TAIZHOU- ANTHONY XU JIWEI-
AUSTRALIA: CATHOLIC HEALTH HINTS PRIVATE HOSPITALS ARE IMMINENT-
VATICAN
POPE: CHRISTIAN SEES WHO IS IN NEED OF LOVE AND ACTS
Vatican Channel report: Pope Benedict XVI today celebrated his namesake, St Benedict of Nursia, as the "great patron" of his pontificate, saying the founder of Western monasticism and renewer of Western civilization was in his person the very image of incarnate teaching, who in no way could every teach differently from how he lived.
The Holy Father made his remarks at the traditional Angelus prayer with the faithful gathered in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope is spending the Summer months. BENEDICT IMAGE http://www.historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/index.php?era=700
PAPAL IMAGE http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/index.asp
WORLD
SOCCER WORLD CUP WON BY SPAIN THROUGH OUR LADY´S INTERCESSION
The 2010 Soccer World Cup was won by the Spainish team. Could Our Lady have helped?
At the training camp in Austria each Member of the Spanish team from the monastery, Gauenstein received a miraculous medal
Kath.net REPORTThe Spanish national team relies on our Lady. This reports the Austrian "crowns"-newspaper. In the run-up to the World Cup team in the Austrian Schruns had completed a training camp. Were given at the parting all members of the monastery area stone the miraculous medal with the quote "receive O Maria without sin, pray for us, the we to the you recourse". "Who seek something very special in Schruns with us or has a seher huge desire the pray at the Abbey district stone to the mother of God." "I have requested for you that ye world champion - and these consecrated medallions are designed to help you," explains Irmgard Sachs Ritter, the leader of the "Hotel lion", where the team was housed. A few days ago one of medals disappeared. Immediately the call came from South Africa to Austria, but quickly forward one to the final. This was also immediately causes so all Spanish players the relayed medal again equipped in the final of World Cup. IMAGE SOURCE http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/1007/soccer.world.cup.final.preview/content.6.html
AMERICA
HAITI: NUNCIO SAYS HAITI STILL NEEDS SUPPORT FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS
CNA report: As the six-month milestone since a devastating earthquake left the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in tatters nears, the work of rebuilding continues slowly. Apostolic Nuncio to Haiti, Archbishop Bernardito Auza, told Fides news agency that, simply put, "there is still much left to do."
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that took place on Jan. 12 severely damaged much of the city, including many Church buildings.
Referring to the still poor roads and living conditions in the capital, Archbishop Auza observed that "it seems that the earthquake just happened yesterday!"
Some people remain without shelter and "do not see a way out," he added.
The Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC), a joint Haitian and international commission led by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, was established on June 17 to oversee the rebuilding of the country.
Archbishop Auza also surveyed Church reconstruction efforts and needs.
Even though much of the funding for archdiocesan projects has come from Catholics worldwide, new building requires government permits. Despite the lack of a government "sign" to go ahead on the variety of projects to be carried out, Archbishop Auza still hopes that the "priority project" will begin by the one-year anniversary of the disaster.
This major effort consists of building two national Haitian seminaries. With the encouragement from the bishops' conferences "of our brother nations," he said, the hope of the Church of Haiti "is to lay the first stone or offer some concrete possibility on the first anniversary of the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2011."
The U.S.-based Florida Catholic reported in June that, besides this major project, other "priority long-range reconstruction sites" in the Port-au-Prince Archdiocese include rebuilding the city's Our Lady of the Assumption Cathedral, the archdiocesan-owned hospital and damaged parishes.
Asked what his appeal would be to the world at this point, the nuncio told Fides, "Simply, that everyone sees that there is still much left to do. We still need help.
"We thank the Bishops of Haiti, the Holy See, and the international community for supporting us in the reconstruction. The Catholic Church has this priority: the reconstruction of the churches and seminaries."
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/papal-nuncio-to-haiti-six-months-later-we-still-need-help/
AFRICA
NIGERIA: 7 PEOPLE KILLED BY ISLAMIC MILITANTS IN CHRISTIAN VILLAGE
Independent Catholic New report: At least seven people, including a mother of six, have been killed by Islamic militants in Nigeria's Kaduna state just four months after attacks left more than 500 dead in neighbouring Plateau.
The charity Release International, which serves persecuted Christians around the world, is calling on the new Nigerian president to ensure greater protection for vulnerable Christians of all denominations in the country.
Partners of Release say that armed men in military uniform shot dead seven Christians in Kizachi Dawai Chawai, Kaduna state, on July 3.
The gunmen surrounded the village at about 8.30pm and began shooting indiscriminately. The dead included a primary school teacher and a mother of six. Five others were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds.
The following day, assailants wielding guns and machetes attacked Ganawuri, a village near Jos, in neighbouring Plateau state. The Jos area was the scene of brutal violence against Christians in March which left 520 people dead, including many women and children.
Release sources say that the gunmen in both these latest raids were suspected Fulani militants from Kaduna.
These same sources now accuse the Nigerian military of not doing enough to protect vulnerable Christian communities. One source reports that police had withdrawn from Kizachi Dawai Chawai the day before the attack, because the government had allegedly failed to pay their salaries.
Release CEO Andy Dipper, who is currently on a fact-finding trip in Nigeria, said: "We're appalled to hear of yet more violence against Christians, who have been warning for some time now that they feared further attacks.
"We appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan and his administration to take firm action now to ensure that the military and police carry out their full responsibilities and protect Christians properly. We acknowledge it is a huge task - but enough is enough."
President Jonathan, who is from the mainly Christian south of Nigeria, was officially sworn into office in May, after the death of the previous incumbent, Umaru Yar'Adua.
Plateau is located in the centre of the country between the largely Muslim north and the south. Along with religious tensions, tribal and political differences have seen an increasing polarisation between different ethnic groups there.
Kaduna, just north of Plateau, has also been a flashpoint for conflict between Christians and Muslims, most notably during the 'Miss World riots' in 2002 when a newspaper's alleged blasphemy against Islam's prophet Mohammed sparked widespread violence against Christians.
Release's Andy Dipper urged Christians in the UK and Ireland to stand with the church in central and northern Nigeria. "Christians in Plateau and Kaduna are standing firm despite intolerable persecution - but they desperately need our prayers.
"And let's pray too for strength and wisdom for those in authority, including President Jonathan, so they can find a lasting solution to end this cycle of violence."
Release supports Christians imprisoned for their faith and their families in 30 countries. It is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections and the Evangelical Alliance.
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=16471
EUROPE
GERMANY: THOUSANDS ATTEND PRO PAPA EVENT SUPPORTING BENEDICT XVI
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ASIA
CHINA: VATICAN APPROVED BISHOP IN TAIZHOU- ANTHONY XU JIWEI
Asia News report: Approved by the Vatican. The Diocese of Taizhu was among the first to have a Chinese bishop in 1926. The newly ordained bishop has spent 25 years in hard labour. "In prison I discovered that God is close to me". No problems in the relationship between official and underground Christians. After decades the diocese is reborn.
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The ordination was presided over by bishop Li Mingshu Qingdao (Shandong). Also present were bishop Zhao Fengchang of Liaocheng (Shandong), bishop Xu Honggen of Suzhou (Jiangsu) and bishop Han Yingjin of Sanyuan (Shaanxi), who became bishop two weeks ago. All these pastors are legitimate (in communion with the Holy See) and approved by the government.
The Diocese of Taizhou is famous in the history of the Chinese Church as its first bishop, Jou Hou-shan, was among the first six Chinese bishops ordained by Pope Pius XI in October 1926. Since Taizhou became a vicariate apostolic in 1926, separated from Ningxia, the diocese has had only two bishops: bishop Hou and the current neo-ordered bishop Xu, who is 75 years old. Bishop Hou died in 1962 and since then the Episcopal see has remained vacant until now.
Bishop Xu is a native of Shanghai and worked as a priest in Ningbo. Speaking to AsiaNews, he said that since 1999 has been ready to serve the Church in the small diocese of Taizhou.
To date - said the bishop - Taizhou has 6,000 Catholics, five priests, nine nuns. The majority of the faithful come from the countryside. The diocese has 25 parishes and five chapels and places of worship.
Thanks to his roots in Shanghai and Ningbo, many believers from these dioceses - almost one thousand - took part in the ordination ceremony.
Bishop Xu told AsiaNews that he hopes to help unity mature between the priests, nuns and faithful of the diocese. He added that the official and underground communities in Taizhou are in no way marked by conflict. Xu Bishop entered the seminary in Ningbo in 1948. He later studied at the Seminary of Xujiahui (Shanghai) until 1958. From 1960 to 1985, due to political events in China, he was sentenced to five years in prison and then to long years of forced labour, including a period of six years as a high school teacher.
The period of imprisonment – he revealed - has strengthened my faith. During that period of great trial, I prayed every day ... I realized that God loves me deeply and it is with me everyday”.
In 1985, his sentence was revoked and he was sent to Shanghai, where he joined the regional seminary of Sheshan (Shanghai), with the first group of seminarians who received permission to study. Most of them were former seminarians forced to leave their studies during the Cultural Revolution. In 1985 he was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Ningbo, but remained at Sheshan to teach. In 1987 he returned to Ningbo where he worked as pastor.
In 1999 he was transferred to Taizhou, where he became apostolic administrator of the diocese, working in the parish of Jiaojiang. Bishop Xu was also able to travel abroad for studies, to Daegu (South Korea) in 2006 and Europe in 2007.
Persecution arrested the development of the diocese of Taizhou. Within a few years of receiving its first bishop in 1926 the number of priests grew from 7 to 21. In 1957, Taizhou counted 6600 faithful, but all the churches were closed and its priests were arrested. Bishop Hou, very ill in prison, was released in 1962, but died the same year. At that time there were only three priests in the diocese.
In 1984 the government reopened some churches, but the diocese had no pastor. From 1991 to '96, two priests sought to organise the community of faithful, until '99, when the present bishop Xu became apostolic administrator. Since then he has gathered together some seminarians and has also founded a female congregation of the Sisters of Charity of St. Teresa. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/New-bishop-of-Taizhou-ordained,-after-nearly-50-years-of-vacant-see-18901.html
AUSTRALIA
CATHOLIC HEALTH HINTS PRIVATE HOSPITALS ARE IMMINENT
Cath News report: Catholic Health Australia says private hospitals could be treating public patients "this calendar year" instead of waiting till July 2012, the date named by Health Minister Nicola Roxon.
Under Labor's $50 billion health reform agenda, private hospitals will be enlisted to perform Medicare-funded elective surgery if public hospitals can't meet waiting time targets, said an AAP report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said an "implementation plan" outlining the rollout of the government's national health and hospitals network states the elective surgery guarantee will have a "staged implementation commencing from July 1, 2012", said the report.
"We say you don't have to wait," said Catholic Health Australia chief executive Martin Laverty said.
"There is already demonstration as to how it can work.
"It just needs new contracting arrangements to be worked out with private hospitals."
Mr Laverty said many private hospitals were already treating public patients on an ad-hoc basis, he said.
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=22340
TODAY´S SAINT
St. Benedict of Nursia
FOUNDER OF WESTERN MONASTICISM
Born: 480, Norcia (Umbria, Italy)
Died: 21 March 547 at Monte Cassino, Italy
Canonized: 1220
Major Shrine: Monte Cassino Abbey, with his burial
Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, near Orléans, France
Sacro Speco, at Subiaco, Italy
Patron of: Against poison, Against witchcraft, Cavers, Civil engineers, Coppersmiths, Dying people, Erysipelas, Europe, Farmers, Fever, Gall stones, Inflammatory diseases, Italian architects, Kidney disease, Monks, Nettle rash, Schoolchildren, Servants who have broken their master's belongings, Speliologists, Spelunkers, Temptations
Founder of western monasticism, born at Nursia, c. 480; died at Monte Cassino, 543. The only authentic life of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of St. Gregory's "Dialogues". It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number of miraculous incidents, which, although they illustrate the life of the saint, give little help towards a chronological account of his career. St. Gregory's authorities for all that he relates were the saint's own disciples, viz. Constantinus, who succeeded him as Abbot of Monte Cassino; and Honoratus, who was Abbot of Subiaco when St. Gregory wrote his "Dialogues".
Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia, a small town near Spoleto, and a tradition, which St. Bede accepts, makes him a twin with his sister Scholastica. His boyhood was spent in Rome, where he lived with his parents and attended the schools until he had reached his higher studies. Then "giving over his books, and forsaking his father's house and wealth, with a mind only to serve God, he sought for some place where he might attain to the desire of his holy purpose; and in this sort he departed [from Rome], instructed with learned ignorance and furnished with unlearned wisdom" (Dial. St. Greg., II, Introd. in Migne, P.L. LXVI). There is much difference of opinion as to Benedict's age at the time. It has been very generally stated as fourteen, but a careful examination of St. Gregory's narrative makes it impossible to suppose him younger than nineteen or twenty. He was old enough to be in the midst of his literary studies, to understand the real meaning and worth of the dissolute and licentious lives of his companions, and to have been deeply affected himself by the love of a woman (Ibid. II, 2). He was capable of weighing all these things in comparison with the life taught in the Gospels, and chose the latter, He was at the beginning of life, and he had at his disposal the means to a career as a Roman noble; clearly he was not a child, As St. Gregory expresses it, "he was in the world and was free to enjoy the advantages which the world offers, but drew back his foot which he had, as it were, already set forth in the world" (ibid., Introd.). If we accept the date 480 for his birth, we may fix the date of his abandoning the schools and quitting home at about A.D. 500.
Benedict does not seem to have left Rome for the purpose of becoming a hermit, but only to find some place away from the life of the great city; moreover, he took his old nurse with him as a servant and they settled down to live in Enfide, near a church dedicated to St. Peter, in some kind of association with "a company of virtuous men" who were in sympathy with his feelings and his views of life. Enfide, which the tradition of Subiaco identifies with the modern Affile, is in the Simbrucini mountains, about forty miles from Rome and two from Subiaco. It stands on the crest of a ridge which rises rapidly from the valley to the higher range of mountains, and seen from the lower ground the village has the appearance of a fortress. As St. Gregory's account indicates, and as is confirmed by the remains of the old town and by the inscriptions found in the neighbourhood, Enfide was a place of greater importance than is the present town. At Enfide Benedict worked his first miracle by restoring to perfect condition an earthenware wheat-sifter (capisterium) which his old servant had accidentally broken. The notoriety which this miracle brought upon Benedict drove him to escape still farther from social life, and "he fled secretly from his nurse and sought the more retired district of Subiaco". His purpose of life had also been modified. He had fled Rome to escape the evils of a great city; he now determined to be poor and to live by his own work. "For God's sake he deliberately chose the hardships of life and the weariness of labour" (ibid., 1).
A short distance from Enfide is the entrance to a narrow, gloomy valley, penetrating the mountains and leading directly to Subiaco. Crossing the Anio and turning to the right, the path rises along the left face oft the ravine and soon reaches the site of Nero's villa and of the huge mole which formed the lower end of the middle lake; across the valley were ruins of the Roman baths, of which a few great arches and detached masses of wall still stand. Rising from the mole upon twenty five low arches, the foundations of which can even yet be traced, was the bridge from the villa to the baths, under which the waters of the middle lake poured in a wide fall into the lake below. The ruins of these vast buildings and the wide sheet of falling water closed up the entrance of the valley to St. Benedict as he came from Enfide; to-day the narrow valley lies open before us, closed only by the far off mountains. The path continues to ascend, and the side of the ravine, on which it runs, becomes steeper, until we reach a cave above which the mountain now rises almost perpendicularly; while on the right hand it strikes in a rapid descent down to where, in St. Benedict's day, five hundred feet below, lay the blue waters of the lake. The cave has a large triangular-shaped opening and is about ten feet deep. On his way from Enfide, Benedict met a monk, Romanus, whose monastery was on the mountain above the cliff overhanging the cave. Romanus had discussed with Benedict the purpose which had brought him to Subiaco, and had given him the monk's habit. By his advice Benedict became a hermit and for three years, unknown to men, lived in this cave above the lake. St. Gregory tells us little of these years, He now speaks of Benedict no longer as a youth (puer), but as a man (vir) of God. Romanus, he twice tells us, served the saint in every way he could. The monk apparently visited him frequently, and on fixed days brought him food.
During these three years of solitude, broken only by occasional communications with the outer world and by the visits of Romanus, he matured both in mind and character, in knowledge of himself and of his fellow-man, and at the same time he became not merely known to, but secured the respect of, those about him; so much so that on the death of the abbot of a monastery in the neighbourhood (identified by some with Vicovaro), the community came to him and begged him to become its abbot. Benedict was acquainted with the life and discipline of the monastery, and knew that "their manners were diverse from his and therefore that they would never agree together: yet, at length, overcome with their entreaty, he gave his consent" (ibid., 3). The experiment failed; the monks tried to poison him, and he returned to his cave. From this time his miracles seen to have become frequent, and many people, attracted by his sanctity and character, came to Subiaco to be under his guidance. For them he built in the valley twelve monasteries, in each of which he placed a superior with twelve monks. In a thirteenth he lived with "a few, such as he thought would more profit and be better instructed by his own presence" (ibid., 3). He remained, however, the father or abbot of all. With the establishment of these monasteries began the schools for children; and amongst the first to be brought were Maurus and Placid.
The remainder of St. Benedict's life was spent in realizing the ideal of monasticism which he has left us drawn out in his Rule.
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/B/stbenedictofnursia.asp
IMAGE SOURCE http://nhop.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/celebrating-all-saints-day-with-st-benedict/
TODAY´S MASS READINGS
15TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME YEAR C
Deuteronomy 30: 10 - 14
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10 if you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11 "For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, `Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, `Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?'
14 But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
Psalms 69: 14, 17, 30 - 31, 33 - 34, 36 - 37
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14 rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
17 Hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in distress, make haste to answer me.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the LORD more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
33 For the LORD hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves therein.
36 the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Colossians 1: 15 - 20
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15 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;
16 for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.
19 For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
GOSPEL
Luke 10: 25 - 37
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25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"
26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read?"
27 And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
28 And he said to him, "You have answered right; do this, and you will live."
29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30 Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side.
32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion,
34 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'
36 Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?"
37 He said, "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."
