PHONE
VATICAN: POPE: MET WITH MISSIONS SOCIETY AND APPLICATION OF MOTU PROPRIO
RADIO VATICANA REPORT: On Saturday Pope Benedict XVI welcomed participants at the Pontifical Missions Society (PMS) General Assembly to the Vatican, led by the newly appointed head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Archbishop Fernando Filoni.
VATICAN: POPE: MET WITH MISSIONS SOCIETY AND APPLICATION OF MOTU PROPRIO
RADIO VATICANA REPORT: On Saturday Pope Benedict XVI welcomed participants at the Pontifical Missions Society (PMS) General Assembly to the Vatican, led by the newly appointed head of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Archbishop Fernando Filoni.
Today, this "family" of mission societies is the Church's primary means to inform Catholics about her worldwide missionary work and encourage their active participation in those efforts - is through prayer and sacrifice.
Describing their work as “invaluable” Pope Benedict asked them to bring a light of hope to a world suffering from ‘new forms of slavery’. He spoke of the so-called first world, wealthy and rich but uncertain about his future, and of emerging countries, where a profit driven globalisation has increased the mass of the poor, the immigrant and the oppressed – two different realities - both in need of the ‘big hope’, the God with the human face
The Church continued the Pope must constantly renew its commitment to mission, to
proclaiming the Word of God, which ‘is the duty of all disciples of Christ’. Pope Benedict said everyone must be involved in themissio ad gentes: Bishops, priests, religious and laity. He said special care must be taken to ensure that all areas of pastoral care, catechesis, charity are characterized by the missionary dimension: the Church is mission.
The Gospel messenger, he continued “must remain under the rule of the Word and nourish himself with the Sacraments: this is the lifeblood on which his existence and missionary ministry depends. Only deeply rooted in Christ and his Word are we able to resist the temptation to reduce evangelization to a purely human or social project, hiding or silencing the transcendent dimension of salvation offered by God in Christ. It 's a Word that should be explicitly witnessed and proclaimed, because without a consistent witness it is less understandable and believable. Although we often feel inadequate, poor, incapable, we must always retain confidence in the power of God, who puts his treasure in “jars of clay" , so that it is He who to act through us.
The Instruction on the application of the Motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum (July 7, 2007, entered into force September 14, 2007) was approved by Pope Benedict XVI on April 8 last and is dated April 30, the Memorial feast of St. Pius V, Pope
The Instruction, based on the first words of the Latin text, has been called “Universae Ecclesiae” and is by the Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", to whom the Pope had entrusted - among other things - the task of supervising the observance and application of the Motu proprio. So it bears the signature of its President, Cardinal W. Levada, and Secretary, Msgr. G. Pozzo.
The document was sent to all bishops in recent weeks. We must remember that "Instructions clarify the prescripts of laws and elaborate and determine the methods to be observed in fulfilling them" (CIC, can.34). As indicated in n.12, the instruction is issued “to ensure the correct interpretation and proper application" of the Motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum".
It is only natural that the law contained in the in the Motu proprio be followed by an Instruction on its application. The fact that this should happen now, three years on, is easily explained by recalling that in the letter accompanying the motu proprio the Pope explicitly said to the Bishops: "I invite you to write to the Holy See, three years after the entry into force of this motu proprio. If truly serious difficulties come to light, ways to remedy them can be sought”.
Therefore this instruction also contains within it the fruits of the triennial examination of the application of the law, which had been planned from the outset.
The document is written in a simple language and is easy to read. The introduction (nn.1-8) briefly recalls the history of the Roman Missal until the last edition of John XXIII in 1962, and the new Missal approved by Pope Paul VI in 1970, following the liturgical reform of Vatican II, and reaffirms the fundamental principle that these are "two forms of the Roman Liturgy, defined respectivelyordinaryand extraordinary: they are two usages of the Roman Rite, one alongside the other. Both are the expression of the samelex orandi of the Church. On account of its venerable and ancient usage, theextraordinary form is to be maintained with appropriate honor". (No. 6).
It also reaffirms the purpose of the motu proprio, divided into the following three points: a) To offer all faithful, the Roman Liturgy in its most ancient usage, considered a precious treasure to be preserved; b) to achieve and really ensure the use of the forma extraordinaria to those who request it c) to favour reconciliation within the Church. (ref. n. 8).
A brief Section of the document (nn.9-11) recalls the duties and powers of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, upon whom the Pope has “conferred ordinary vicarious power" in the matter. This implies two very important consequences, among others. First, the Commission may decide on appeals that are filed against any action by bishops or other ordinary, which seem contrary to the provisions of the Motu proprio (subject to the possibility of further appeal against the Commission’s decisions at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura ). In addition, the Commission must, with the approval of the Congregation for Divine Worship, edit any eventual edition of liturgical texts for the forma extraordinaria of the Roman Rite (in the document hope is expressed for the inclusion of new saints and new prefaces, for example).
The normative part of the document (nn.12-35) contains 23 brief points on various arguments. It reaffirms the competence of the diocesan bishops in implementing the Motu proprio, recalling that in the event of a dispute about the celebration in forma extraordinaria judgement falls to the Ecclesia Dei Commission.
It clarifies the concept of coetus fidelium (in short "group of faithful") stabiliter existens ("stable") whose desire to participate in the celebration of the forma extraordinaria must be welcomed and accepted by pastors. While leaving the assessment of the number of people required for its establishment to the wise judgement of pastors, it states that the group does not necessarily have to be composed of persons belonging to a single parish, but may result from people who come together from different parishes or even from other dioceses. While always taking into account compliance with wider pastoral needs, the Instruction proposes a spirit of "generous welcome" towards groups of faithful who request the forma extraordinaria or priests who request to occasionally celebrate in such a form with some of the faithful.
The clarification (n.19) according to which the faithful who request the celebration in forma extraordinaria "must not in any way support or belong to groups that show themselves to be contrary to the validity or legitimacy of forma ordinaria " and / or authority of the Pope as Supreme Pastor of the universal Church, is most important. This would be in flagrant contradiction to the the motu proprio’s very aim of "reconciliation".
Important indications are also given with regards “priests suitable” to celebrating in forma extraordinaria. Of course he should have no impediments in canonical terms, he must have a sufficient knowledge of Latin and know the rite to be celebrated. Bishops are therefore encouraged to make proper formation for this purpose available in seminaries, and the possibility of recourse, if there are no other suitable priests, to the collaboration of priests from the Institutes set up by the "Ecclesia Dei" Commission (which normally use the forma extraordinaria) is also indicated.
The Instruction stresses how each priest whether secular or religious has license to celebrate the Mass "without the assembly" in the forma extraordinaria if desired. So if it is not a celebration with the assembly , the individual religious do not need permission from their superiors.
This is followed - again, with regards the forma extraordinaria - liturgical rules and regulations relating to the use of liturgical books (such as Roman Ritual, the Roman Pontifical and the Ceremonial of Bishops), the possibility of using the vernacular for the readings (in addition to Latin, or alternatively in the "read Masses"), the possibility of clergy using the Breviary from before the liturgical reform, the possibility of celebrating the Easter Triduum in Holy Week for the groups of faithful who request the ancient rite. With regard to sacred orders, the use of older liturgical books is permitted only in Institutions that depend from the Ecclesia Dei Commission.
Once read the impression remain of a very balanced text, which seeks to promote – as the has Popes intended - the peaceful use of the liturgy that predates the reform by those priests and faithful who feel a sincere desire for their own spiritual good, indeed, which aims to ensure the legitimacy and effectiveness of such use as much as reasonably possible. At the same time the text is animated by faith in the bishops' pastoral wisdom, and insists very strongly on the spirit of ecclesial communion which must be present in everyone - faithful, priests, bishops – so that the purpose of reconciliation, as it is present in the Holy Father's decision, is not impeded or frustrated, but encouraged and achieved.
AMERICA: COLOMBIA: PRIEST KILLED ON STREETS FOR MOBILE PHONE
Father Gustavo Garcia was born on September 21, 1976 in Bogotá. After participating in prayer groups, he had entered the Congregation of Jesus and Mary on April 16, 2005. He studied philosophy at the 'University' Minuto de Dios " and theology at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. He was ordained a priest on March 31, 2007. Between 2007 and 2010 he was vicar of the parish of St. John Eudes, in Quito, Ecuador. Since July 2010 he was engaged with the Association "El Minuto de Dios": he exercised his ministry of preaching with the groups of the same association, in parish communities and through media. He was chaplain of the University Minuto de Dios in Bogotá and assistant to the youth community of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.
Even the President of the Republic of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, during the ceremony of inauguration of a part of the port of Buenaventura, recalled this tragic event: "A murder has been committed that has deeply affected all of us Colombians: the killing of the Chaplain of the University Minuto de Dios (Father Gustavo Garcia Bohorquez), which occurred in Bogota. Apparently he was killed for a cell phone. I of course condemn this murder. Father (Diego) Jaramillo, who is the director of El Minuto de Dios, this morning, in an act of spiritual nobility, said that he has forgiven the murderers. I admire the noble spirit and I know that it belongs to the divine law, but I am subject to the Colombian law and the law of the land. So I want to announce that these murderers must feel the full weight of the law. I have already told the police to offer a reward and to look into the matter so as to bring the Chaplain's murderer or murderers to trial. "
After the funeral, in the parish of San Juan Eudes in Bogota, the priest's body will be buried at the cemetery of eudista in Valmara.
ASIA: INDIA: MOTHER KILLED BY HUSBAND FOR REFUSAL TO ABORT 3RD CHILD
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – A man has been accused of beating to death his six-month pregnant wife after finding out she was carrying another girl. The crime took place in Shankarmut, C Bellagal Mandal, in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh.
The couple already had two daughters. After tests revealed she would have another one, Prakash Chari told his wife last Tuesday to have an abortion. When she refused, he beat her.
Neighbours rushed the seriously injured woman to a nearby hospital, but she died of her injuries the next day.
The two were married six years ago, police said. A first information report has been filed and an investigation is underway. Prakash has been arrested, but he denies ever approaching a hospital to determine the sex of the foetus.
“This is very disturbing and is a matter of grave concern,” Dr Pascoal Carvalho, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told AsiaNews.
“Despite a ban on ultra-sounds for the sole purpose of determining a foetus’ sex, in India the problem is spreading,” he explained. “The deep-rooted social evil of gender prejudice in India leaves 600,000 Indian girls missing every year,” if a normal sex ratio prevailed.
For Dr Carvalho, who is also a member of the Diocesan Human Life Committee, “Women have been under tremendous pressure to produce male heirs,” because boys “are seen as wage-earners and future family leaders and traditional inheritor, while the threat of the infamous dowry system adds to the belief that baby girls are a financial burden.”
“In the 2011 census, statistics reveal that among children six and under, there are only 914 girls counted for every 1,000 boys. The gender imbalance is at its highest level since they started keeping records at the time of the country’s independence in 1947.”
AFRICA: EGYPT: BISHOP CALLS FOR INCREASED SECURITY
Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina of Guizeh (Giza) said the Egyptian police and army were "frightened" and "slow" to act as violence erupted on Saturday, 7th May in the Cairo suburb of Imbaba.
Speaking in an interview yesterday (Monday, 9th May) with Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Aziz called for those responsible to be brought to justice, accusing fanatics of wanting civil war.
Bishop Aziz said: "The police need to say clearly to those who have done this: 'You cannot do this. It is not allowed.' Without action from the police and the army, it will be chaos, complete anarchy."
Amid reports that it took several hours for the police to restore calm, Bishop Aziz said: "The army will not stand up against the people who do this sort of thing. They want to stay neutral.
"The police appear but very slowly. They are frightened. They have not been strong enough."
The Coptic Catholic bishop described how one of his faithful, 60-year-old Catholic grandfather Naashaat Rateeb, 60, had died in the violence.
He paid tribute to Mr Rateeb's faith and courage, describing him as "the right-hand man" of the local Coptic Catholic priest.
The churches coming under fire included Imbaba's Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary.
Acording to witnesses, the violence began after 500 Selafist Muslim extremists amassed outside the nearby Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Mina, where the fanatics alleged that Christian leaders were detaining a would-be convert from Christianity to Islam.
The woman, an Orthodox priest's wife, later appeared on television defending her Christian faith but the fanatics responded by saying they were also in search of another woman in similar circumstances.
Reports described gun shots as well as stones and grenades being thrown.
The Egyptian army have said that 200 people were arrested after the violence and will face military trials in a bid to deter further unrest.
According to latest reports, the military has increased security around churches in Cairo.
Bishop Aziz said that restoring law and order was not enough. "We cannot make peace and reconciliation without first bringing people to justice," he said. "Otherwise, the reconciliation is just theatre and the problems will remain."
He said the violence was "too much for Christians to bear", describing heightened anxiety following New Year's Day violence at a Coptic Orthodox church in Alexandria where 20 people died and at least 70 others were injured.
Bishop Aziz's comments follow remarks to Aid to the Church in Need by Cardinal Antonios Naguib, Patriarch of Alexandria, warning of "a very serious situation".
Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina
He went on to express grounds for hope, saying that the military-led government was beginning to take the problem of extremist violence seriously.
Fellow Coptic Catholic Bishop Joannes Zakaria of Luxor described how the faithful refused to be intimidated by threats against them.
Speaking yesterday to Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Zakaria said: "Last weekend I was celebrating Masses in our villages and I expected that they would be afraid and that it would be necessary to encourage the faithful.
"But it was they who encouraged me. It is not our character to give up. Next day, we pick up the pieces and start again.
"People are determined to bear witness to Christ in the lands where he lived."
Amid reports of growing hostility towards Christians in Egypt, Aid to the Church in Need is stepping up project work including help for priests and sisters and Christian education as well as multi-purpose parish centres.
EUROPE: ITALY: PRIEST SHELTERED JEWS IN WWII NOW HONORED
- An Italian priest was posthumously awarded with a top honor for protecting a Jewish family from Nazi persecution in World War II.
Father Martino Michelone, who died in 1979, was declared “Righteous Among Nations” by Jewish leaders on May 8 for hiding four members of a family for nearly two years.
Fr. Machelone sheltered a young boy named Luciano Segre – as well as Segre's father, mother and aunt – between 1943 and 1945 in the town of Moransengo in northwest Italy.
The “Righteous Among the Nations” recognition honors those who helped save Jews during the Holocaust.
According to Canadian paper The Edmonton Journal, the priest once went into hiding himself during the war to escape a patrol on the move.
Israel's ambassador to Italy Ghideon Meir gave the medal for the award to Fr. Michelone's surviving relatives at a ceremony Sunday in Moransengo.
Luciano Segre, who was a child at the time of the war, went on to become a leading financier. Fr. Michelone often hid Segre's identity by having him dress as an altar boy and accompany him to bless people's homes.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/italian-priest-honored-for-sheltering-jews-during-wwii/
AUSTRALIA: MACKILLOP MIRACLE SURVIVOR TELLS STORY
CATH NEWS REPORT:
Cancer survivor Kathleen Evans at the chapel in Kensington erected by Mary MacKillop and opened in 1876. Photo: Stephen Gray
---
In a 1997 Commodore station-wagon, towing a 33-year-old caravan, sit Kathleen and Barry Evans travelling south from New South Wales to Penola, and then on to Adelaide, reports Rebecca Digirolamo in Southern Cross.
The Newcastle couple seem ordinary enough – grey nomads on the open road. But theirs is a very special journey, one which both husband and wife had never planned but have fully embraced despite the many sacrifices they have had to make along the way.
“I’m just a very ordinary person,” says Kath. Her miracle cure in 1993 from untreatable and aggressive lung cancer, which had spread through to her glands and brain, is Mary MacKillop’s story, not her own, says the 67-year-old grandmother.
“I really was just that last piece of the jigsaw.” Kathleen’s dramatic recovery from cancer without medical treatment after praying for divine intercession through Mary MacKillop was the second miracle recognised by the Vatican in December 2009 and which delivered Australia its first saint.
The first miracle attributed to Mary MacKillop was that of a woman cured of terminal leukaemia in 1961.
Kath is now in Adelaide re-tracing the steps of Mary MacKillop in the very early years of the saint’s pioneering establishment of the Sisters of Saint Joseph in South Australia. Kathleen and Barry want to share their experience of Mary MacKillop with as many people as possible.
“We are just taking our story further afield and it is a good story,” says Kathleen. “People want to hear good stories; they are looking for them and my story helps people because I’m just an ordinary person that they can relate to.”
The couple will be holding public sessions at the Sisters of St Joseph Province Centre, in Kensington this month following similar talks in parishes and schools in New South Wales and Victoria and most recently in Penola, where Mary MacKillop and Father Tenison Woods started the Jospehite order and their first school.
TODAY'S SAINT: MAY 14: ST. MATTHIAS
St. Matthias
APOSTLE
Feast: May 14
| The Greek Matthias (or, in some manuscripts, Maththias), is a name derived from Mattathias, Heb. Mattithiah, signifying "gift of Yahweh." Matthias was one of the seventy disciples of Jesus, and had been with Him from His baptism by John to the Ascension (Acts i, 21, 22). It is related (Acts, i, 15-26) that in the days following the Ascension, Peter proposed to the assembled brethren, who numbered one hundred and twenty, that they choose one to fill the place of the traitor Judas in the Apostolate. Two disciples, Joseph, called Barsabas, and Matthias were selected, and lots were drawn, with the result in favour of Matthias, who thus became associated with the eleven Apostles. Zeller has declared this narrative unhistoric, on the plea that the Apostles were in Galilee after the death of Jesus. As a matter of fact they did return to Galilee, but the Acts of the Apostles clearly state that about the feast of Pentecost they went back to Jerusalem. All further information concerning the life and death of Matthias is vague and contradictory. According to Nicephorus (Hist. eccl., 2, 40), he first preached the Gospel in Judea, then in Ethiopia (that is to say, Colchis) and was crucified. The Synopsis of Dorotheus contains this tradition: Matthias in interiore AEthiopia, ubi Hyssus maris portus et Phasis fluvius est, hominibus barbaris et carnivoris praedicavit Evangelium. Mortuus est autem in Sebastopoli, ibique prope templum Solis sepultus (Matthias preached the Gospel to barbarians and cannibals in the interior of Ethiopia, at the harbour of the sea of Hyssus, at the mouth of the river Phasis. He died at Sebastopolis, and was buried there, near the Temple of the Sun). Still another tradition maintains that Matthias was stoned at Jerusalem by the Jews, and then beheaded (cf. Tillemont, "Memoires pour servir a l'histoire eccl. des six premiers siècles", I, 406-7). It is said that St. Helena brought the relics of St. Matthias to Rome, and that a portion of them was at Trier. Bollandus (Acta SS., May, III) doubts if the relics that are in Rome are not rather those of the St. Matthias who was Bishop of Jerusalem about the year 120, and whose history would seem to have been confounded with that of the Apostle. The Latin Church celebrates the feast of St. Matthias on 24 February and the Greek Church on 9 August. Clement of Alexandria (Strom., III, 4) records a sentence that the Nicolaitans ascribe to Matthias: "we must combat our flesh, set no value upon it, and concede to it nothing that can flatter it, but rather increase the growth of our soul by faith and knowledge". This teaching was probably found in the Gospel of Matthias which was mentioned by Origen (Hom. i in Lucam); by Eusebius (Hist. eccl., III, 25), who attributes it to heretics; by St. Jerome (Praef. in Matth.), and in the Decree of Gelasius (VI, 8) which declares it apocryphal. It is at the end of the list of the Codex Barrocciamus (206). This Gospel is probably the document whence Clement of Alexandria quoted several passages, saying that they were borrowed from the traditions of Matthias, Paradoseis, the testimony of which he claimed to have been invoked by the heretics Valentinus, Marcion, and Basilides (Strom., VII, 17). According to the Philosophoumena, VII, 20, Basilides quoted apocryphal discourses, which he attributed to Matthias. These three writings: the gospel, the Traditions, and the Apocryphal Discourses were identified by Zahn (Gesch. des N. T. Kanon, II, 751), but Harnack (Chron. der altchrist. Litteratur, 597) denies this identification. Tischendorf ("Acta apostolorum apocrypha", Leipzig, l85I) published after Thilo, 1846, "Acta Andreae et Matthiae in urbe anthropophagarum ", which, according to Lipsius, belonged to the middle of the second century. This apocrypha relates that Matthias went among the cannibals and, being cast into prison, was delivered by Andrew. Needless to say, the entire narrative is without historical value. Moreover, it should be remembered that, in the apocryphal writings, Matthew and Matthias have sometimes been confounded. |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmatthias.asp#ixzz1MNfsbJQi
TODAY'S GOSPEL: MAY 14: JOHN 15: 9- 17
| John 15: 9 - 17 | |
| 9 | As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. |
| 10 | If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. |
| 11 | These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. |
| 12 | "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. |
| 13 | Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. |
| 14 | You are my friends if you do what I command you. |
| 15 | No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. |
| 16 | You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. |
| 17 | This I command you, to love one another. |
No comments:
Post a Comment