ASIA: INDIA: HINDU EXTREMISTS ATTACK CHRISTIAN LEADERS/CHURCHES
AMERICA: USA: MAGDALEN COLLEGE JOINS ERASMUS INSTITUTE
AFRICA: LIBYA: FIGHTING CONTINUES AS GADDAFI'S EMPIRE FALLS
EUROPE: WYD: COMPLETELY SELF-FINANCED- BENEFITS FOR SPAIN'S ECONOMY
AUSTRALIA: CALLING FOR NOMINATIONS- COUNCIL FOR LAY MINISTRY
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 22: QUEENSHIP OF MARY
TODAY'S GOSPEL: AUG. 22: LUKE 1: 26- 38
Our correspondant Emer McCarthy has been following events in Madrid and reports on the concluding moments of this visit:
It was only a four day visit. But it made a world of difference. First and foremost to those millions who had answered Pope Benedict XVI’s call not to be ashamed of the Lord, to be the ‘apostles of the 21stcentury’. As they boarded buses, trains and planes for the long journey home, tired, dirty and sun burnt, they were still smiling, still chanting that call that had echoed through the storm across Madrid on Saturday night “We are the youth of the Pope!”.
“Young people readily respond when one proposes to them, in sincerity and truth, an encounter with Jesus Christ”, Pope Benedict XVI said as he prepared to board the papal plane at Barajas airport, on his journey to Rome. “Now those young people are returning home as missionaries of the Gospel…and – he added, speaking to the 800 bishops and thousands of priests and women religious who had accompanied the young people on this pilgrimage - they will need to be helped on their way”.
His last words of encouragement to that nation of youth: “There is no reason to lose heart in the face of the various obstacles we encounter in some countries. The yearning for God which the Creator has placed in the hearts of young people is more powerful than all of these”.
It was only a four day visit but it also made a world of difference to Spain, a country and a people, weary of the uncertainties born of the current economic and cultural crisis. This was visible not only in the press, which passed from front page reporting on the protests that had erupted on the eve of the Papal trip to the Pope’s call for ethics in political and social spheres to help overcome the crisis- but also among the people of Madrid, “I’ve never seen anything like this, and I probably never will again”, an elderly lady told me as we waited in line at a coffee shop.
The Pope’s parting words were of praise. “Spain is a great nation whose soundly open, pluralistic and respectful society is capable of moving forward without surrendering its profoundly religious and Catholic soul”.
And of thanks, in particular to the army of 30 thousand young volunteers: “To love means to serve, and service increases love. For me, this is one of the finest fruits of your contribution to World Youth Day”.
The 26th edition of the largest gathering of youth on the planet, for those of us who watched it unfold before our eyes, leaves indelible images in its wake. Cibeles Square, first transformed into an open air party, the sheer noise of the young people’s voices as they welcomed the Pope. And again when that street party paused for the Way of the Cross, and the only sound that moved the still evening air was the haunting notes of an ancient Spanish prayer.
The majestic El Escorial, and the smile upon the Holy Father’s face, the ‘Professor Pope’, speaking of the ideal of the University to the next generation of teachers. The Jardines del Beun Retiro and the image of hundreds of priests young and old, representing a Babylon of languages, standing beneath the shade of trees long after public security had closed down access to the confessionals in the Festival of Forgiveness, to make sure that every last pilgrim, who so desired, could reconcile themselves to the Lord, as the sun set on Madrid.
The image of the Pope, in a midsummer storm, serenaded by the BXVI generation during Saturday’s prayer Vigil, and that same congregation of nations in silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
For me, one image sums it all up: in essence, it reveals why they came in their millions to Madrid, to hear Pope Benedict’s message: that of a WYD poster with graffiti sprayed over it that read: “We are atheists”, and under this a reply, “You don’t know what you’re missing, we’ll pray for you”. This is the BXVI generation, they came, they heard and they understood, the apostles of the 21st century.
VATICAN.VA REPORT: On the occasion of 32.ma edition of the Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples , which opened yesterday in Rimini on the subject: the existence and becomes a great certainty, the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone sent - on behalf of the Holy Father Benedict XVI - Message to the organizers and participants.
The Message, which is shown below, was read yesterday morning by Emilia Guarnieri, president of the Foundation sponsoring the event, before the opening Mass celebrated by Bishop's Meeting Lambiasi Francis, Bishop of Rimini:
August 10, 2011
To His Excellency
Mons Francis Lambiasi
Bishop of Rimini
Your Excellency,
This year I am happy to convey the cordial greetings of the Holy Father to Your Excellency, the organizers and all participants in the Meeting for Friendship among Peoples , held this week in Rimini.The theme chosen for the 2011 edition - "And there becomes a huge certainty" - there are several deep questions: What is existence? What is certain? And above all: what is the foundation of certainty without which man can not live?
It would be interesting to get rich in thought and philosophy, from its very beginnings, has developed around the experience of existence, of being, leading to important conclusions, but often contradictory and incomplete. We can, however, be sent directly to the essential starting Latin etymology of the term existence: former sistere . Heidegger, interpreting it as a "non-permanence," he pointed out the dynamic character of human life. But former sistere evokes in us at least two other meanings, more descriptive of human existence and that, in a sense, are the source of dynamism analyzed by Heidegger.The particleformer makes us think of a source and at the same time, a detachment. The lifetime is then a "feel, being descended from" and at the same time, a "move beyond", a "transcend" that defines permanently the same "feel". Here we encounter the most primitive level of human life: his creature, his being structurally dependent on a source, his being wanted by someone to which, almost unconsciously, tends. The late Msgr. Luigi Giussani, who with his charisma is fruitful source of Rimini event, has repeatedly insisted on this fundamental dimension of man. And rightly so, because it is derived from the consciousness of it that the certainty with which man faces there. The recognition of its origin and the "proximity" of the same origin to all the moments of existence is the condition for a real mature man of his personality, a positive outlook towards the future and a rich historical influence. This is an anthropological fact already verified in everyday experience: a child is all the more certain and secure the more experienced the closeness of the parents. But we understand that staying on the example of the child, alone, the recognition of its origin and, consequently, of its structural dependence is not enough. Indeed it may appear - as history has amply demonstrated - that a free weight. What makes "strong" the child is the certainty of parental love. Therefore, we need to enter in the love of those who wanted us to experience the positive existence. If either is missing, the conscience and the certainty of the origin of the destination asset to which man is called, it becomes impossible to explain the dynamism and deep understanding of human existence.Already in the history of the people of Israel, especially in the experience of the Exodus described in the Old Testament, emerges as the power of hope resulting from paternal presence of God who guides his people, the living memory of his actions on the light and the promise future.
Man can not live without certainty about their fate. "Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present" (Benedict XVI, Encyclical. Spe Salvi , 2). But sure as to which man can reasonably establish its existence? What, ultimately, the hope does not disappoint ?With the advent of Christ's promise that fed the hope of the people of Israel achieves its fulfillment, takes on a staff. In Christ Jesus, man's destiny was definitively taken from the nebulosity surrounding it. Through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father has revealed definitively positive future that awaits us."The fact that this future exists changes the present and the present is touched by the future reality, and thus the things future spill over into the present and the present into the future" (ibid., 7). Risen Christ, present in his Church, the sacraments and by his Spirit, is the ultimate and definitive meaning of life, the certainty of our hope. He is the ' eschaton already present, he who does the very existence of a positive event, a story of salvation in which all circumstances reveals its true meaning in relation to the eternal. Without this consciousness is easy to fall in the risk of current events, the sensationalism of the emotions, in which everything is reduced to the phenomenon, or despair, where every circumstance seems senseless. Then life becomes a frantic search for events, new passing, that in the end, are disappointing. Only the certainty that comes from faith allows man to live in this intense way and at the same time, to transcend it, seeing in it the reflection of eternity where time is ordered. Recognized only the presence of Christ, source of life and destiny of man, is able to awaken in us the nostalgia of Paradise and thus look forward confidently into the future, without fear and without false illusions.
The dramas of the last century have amply demonstrated that when the Christian hope is lost, ie when there is less certainty of faith and the desire of the "last things", the man is lost and becomes a victim of power, began asking questions about their lives those who can not give life. A faith without hope has caused the emergence of a hope without faith, worldly.
Today more than ever, we Christians are called to account for the hope that is within us , to testify in the world that '"over" without which all is incomprehensible. But this must be "born again" as Jesus said to Nicodemus, let regenerate from the sacraments and prayer, they discover in the bed of any true certainty. The Church, making present of eternity in time the mystery of God, is the subject proper of this certainty. In the ecclesial community pro-existence of the Son of God comes to us, eternal life in it, that all life is destined, becomes palpable right now. "Immortality Christian - stated at the beginning of last century Father Festugiere - has to be character of the expansion of a friendship." For what is heaven if not the final fulfillment of friendship with Christ and with one another? In this perspective, says the French religious, "no matter where you are after. The sky is really where is the Christ. So the heart that love does not want other joy than to live always with the beloved" . The existence, therefore, is not a blind procedure, but it is an approach to him who loves us. So we know where we are going towards who we are headed and this directs all existence.
Your Excellency, I hope that these brief thoughts may be helpful for those taking part in the meeting .His Holiness Benedict XVI wishes to assure everyone, with love, your in my prayers, hoping that the reflection of these days reinforces the certainty that only Christ can fully illuminate our human existence, the heart sends to you, the leaders and organizers of the event, as well as to all present, a special Apostolic Blessing.
I join a friendly greeting and I take this opportunity to confirm with distinct treat
Your Excellency Most Reverend
the Lord dev.mo
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
Secretary of State of His Holiness
ASIA: INDIA: HINDU EXTREMISTS ATTACK CHRISTIAN LEADERS/CHURCHES
For two Sundays in a row, Mass service was disrupted. Yesterday, a clergyman was roughed up and arrested on false forced conversion charges. For Global Council of Indian Christians president Sajan K George, “The aggressors walk free. Sixty-four years since independence, religious freedom does not exist in states like Karnataka, Orissa and Gujarat. This is a serious blot on secular India.”
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Mudhol (Asia News) – In Karnataka, Rev Sangappa Hosamani Shadrak, 28, a resident of Mudhol, was attacked by 20 radical Hindu activists from the Bajrang Dal. The incident occurred yesterday when the clergyman was celebrating Sunday Mass in the home of a parishioner, Yellappa Hosamani, in the village of Rohi, some 10 kilometres from the clergyman’s own home. In recent years, he had held had regular Sunday service in the village.
When extremists attacked the small Christian community, they desecrated the bread and wine used during the celebration and badly beat up Rev Shadrak, who lost a tooth and was seriously hurt to the face. After the initial attack, he was taken to another village, Latte, where he was tied to a tree. His attackers then left him and called police in Lokapura.
Accompanied by a few agents, Inspector Choudhary freed the clergyman and took him, and some of his parishioners, to a police station. Rev Shadrak was eventually sent to Jamkotai prison for detention on unspecified charges, this despite attempts by the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) to have him released.
GCIC president Sajan K George slammed the arrest. “Attacks against Christians continue despite promises made by the new chief minister, Sadananda Gowda, who has always had good and cordial relations with the Christian community. The latter backed him but it continues to be vulnerable and suffer persecution by Hindutva extremists.”
Sajan K George said that for two Sundays in a row, Mass was disrupted. Pentecostal clergymen have been insulted and roughed up. The church has been ransacked and false charges of conversion laid against innocent people.
“The aggressors walk free. Sixty-four years since independence, religious freedom does not exist in states like Karnataka, Orissa and Gujarat. This is a serious blot on secular India.”
The GCIC is also worried about a new campaign launched by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). The Hindu extremist Hindu group has come out against a draft law on ‘Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence’.
VHP leader Pravin Togadia said the law would make police “subservient to minority communities”. He accuses the National Advisory Council chaired by Sonia Gandhi of being anti-Hindu.
In reality, the law is designed to give the central government the power to declare a state of “internal disturbance” whenever sectarian violence breaks out.
AMERICA: USA: MAGDALEN COLLEGE JOINS ERASMUS INSTITUTE
MAGDALEN COLLEGE RELEASE: The College of Saint Mary Magdalen in Warner, NH (www.Magdalen.edu) announced today that it has expanded its educational programs to include the Erasmus Institute (www.TheErasmusInstitute.com) and its Cowan Program. By establishing the Cowan Program in Warner, the College welcomes back to campus one of its founders, Dr. Peter Sampo. Sampo, the College’s first president, has been a leader in Catholic higher education for over thirty years.
The College’s president, Dr. George Harne was quoted as saying, “Dr. Sampo’s return to the College marks another significant step in the re-founding of the College. While creating a premiere liberal arts college that is at once faithful to the Church and an intellectual peer of America’s best colleges, we have also sought to renew our founding charism. Dr. Sampo’s return is an important part of this process.”
Through the addition of the Cowan Program, Magdalen’s students will now have the opportunity to spend a semester in Rome and can also choose—beginning in their Junior year—to major in Philosophy, Literature, or Political Science. By bringing the Erasmus Institute into the College, Magdalen becomes the first Liberal Arts College to offer both a Great Books Program of Studies and the Cowan Program.
Magdalen’s Vice President of Advancement and Admissions, Tim Van Damm was quoted as saying, “I’m excited that the Erasmus Institute will be joining the College of Saint Mary Magdalen. Through the addition of the Cowan Program, we are redrawing the map of Catholic higher education. I’m confident that in bringing these two institutions together we will continue to strengthen the faith of our students and to foster a culture of academic excellence.”
The College of Saint Mary Magdalen is one of only 20 colleges in the U.S. to be named to the Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College (www.TheNewmanGuide.com). The College offers a classical liberal arts education—through its Cowan Program and its Great Books Program—rooted in Catholic social teaching and loyal to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The College’s campus sits on 135 acres of land and is located on Mount Kearsarge in the Mink Hills of New Hampshire. The College is 90 miles north of Boston, MA and 20 miles north of Concord, the New Hampshire state capital.
http://www.magdalen.edu/news-events/news-details.asp?niID=25
AFRICA: LIBYA: FIGHTING CONTINUES AS GADDAFI'S EMPIRE FALLS
"We do not know how the situation is evolving because leaving the house means risking one’s life".
The Libyan capital has been attacked by the offensive of the rebels, and we do not know anything about leader Gaddafi’s fate.
Sources of Fides reconstruct the past events: "The rebels began their offensive Friday night. On Saturday, August 20 at 9 am fighting began that lasted until one o'clock. On Sunday 21 violent fighting began and lasted all day. NATO air strikes continued until yesterday. They were very violent, especially on Saturday during the early stages of ground offensive". (L.M.)
EUROPE: WYD: COMPLETELY SELF-FINANCED- BENEFITS FOR SPAIN'S ECONOMY
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The total budget for World Youth Day is around 50 million Euros and is completely self-financed. The cost is covered in full by pilgrim registrations (70%) and donations (30%). No contribution has been made towards World Youth Day by the Spanish government or the local councils in Madrid. World Youth Day costs the Spanish tax-payer nothing, while it has been estimated that World Youth Day will contribute in excess of 100 million Euros to the Spanish economy.
Income
Pilgrim registrations 31,500,000
Company sponsorship 16,500,000
Donations and other individual donations, SMS, info, product sales, etc 2,482,621
TOTAL INCOME 50,482,621
Expenditure
01 Pilgrim bag contents 4,763,655 Includes materials, production and distribution
02 General Secretariat and Welcome 5,567,511
Preparatory materials, organisation offices, welcoming costs
03 Executive directors and finance 712,594
Salaries, travelling, finance costs
04 Computer systems 2,130,837
Equipment (software and hardware)
05 Central acts (Cibeles, Recol., 4V) 12,530,746
Screens, sound systems, preparation of main acts
06 City environment 367,753
Plan of activities for environment
07 Disabled 101,746
Preparation of special spaces for the disabled
08 Infrastructure 7,253,657
Tents, installations, water, energy bills, etc
09 Security and accreditation 1,258,489
Accreditations, pilgrim passes, individual security
10 Other acts 580,233
Sound, image, etc Almudena, Escorial, Retiro, etc
11 Lodgings and catechesis 2,044,430
12 Promotion 2,627,600 Of the brand JMJ/WYD
13 Cultural prog. and pilgrim guide 4,199,989
14 Volunteers 3,983,750 Accommodation, equipment and maintenance costs
15 Communications and media 2,359,631
Press room, TV costs, signals, Press Centres, etc
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 50,482,621
AUSTRALIA: CALLING FOR NOMINATIONS- COUNCIL FOR LAY MINISTRY
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 22: QUEENSHIP OF MARY
Queenship of Mary
Feast: August 22
| The beginning of the concept that she is a Queen is found in the annunciation narrative. For the angel tells her that her Son will be King over the house of Jacob forever. So she, His Mother, would be a Queen. The Fathers of the Church soon picked up these implications. A text probably coming from Origen (died c. 254: cf. Marian Studies 4, 1953, 87) gives her the title domina, the feminine form of Latin dominus. That same title also appears in many other early writers, e.g. , St. Ephrem, St. Jerome, St. Peter Chrysologus. (cf. Marian Studies 4. 87-91. The word Queen appears abut the sixth century, and is common thereafter (Marian Studies, 4, 91-94. )
The titles of king or queen are often used loosely, for those beings that excel in some way. Thus we call the lion the king of beasts, the rose the queen of flowers. Surely Our Lady deserves the title richly for such reasons. But there is much more.
Some inadequate reasons have been suggested: She is the daughter of David. But not every child of a king becomes a king or queen. Others have pointed out that she was free from original sin. Then, since Adam and Eve had a dominion over all things (Genesis 1. 26) she should have similar dominion. But the problem is that the royalty of Adam and Eve was largely metaphorical.
The solidly theological reasons for her title of Queen are expressed splendidly by Pius XII, in his Radio message to Fatima, Bendito seja (AAS 38. 266): "He, the Son of God, reflects on His heavenly Mother the glory, the majesty and the dominion of His kingship, for, having been associated to the King of Martyrs in the unspeakable work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with a practically unlimited power, in the distribution of the graces which flow from the Redemption. Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular choice [of the Father]. And her kingdom is as vast as that of her Son and God, since nothing is excluded from her dominion."
We notice that there are two titles for the kingship of Christ: divine nature, and "right of conquest", i.e. , the Redemption. She is Queen "through Him, with Him, and subordinate to Him." The qualifications are obvious, and need no explanation. Her Queenship is basically a sharing in the royalty of her Son. We do not think of two powers, one infinite, the other finite. No, she and her Son are inseparable, and operate as a unit.
Of the four titles Pius XII gave for her Queenship , we notice that two are closely parallel to those of Jesus: (1) He is king by nature, as God, she is Queen by "divine relationship" that is, by being the Mother of God. In fact her relation to her Son is greater than that of ordinary Mothers of Kings. For she is the Mother of Him who is King by very nature, from all eternity, and the relationship is exclusive, for He had no human father. Still further, the ordinary queen-mother gives birth to a child who later will become king. The son of Mary is, as we said, eternally king, by His very nature. He is king by right of conquest. (2) She too is Queen by right of conquest. We already saw that this title for Him means that He redeemed us from the captivity of Satan. She shared in the struggle and victory. Since the Pope expressed her dependence on Him in a threefold way—something we would have known anyway—then it is clear that he did not have in mind any other restriction which he did not express. So, with subordination, "by right of conquest" means the same for her as it does for Him.
The other two titles: (3)She is Queen by grace. She is full of grace, the highest in the category of grace besides her Son. (4)She is Queen by singular choice of the Father. A mere human can become King or Queen by choice of the People. How much greater a title is the choice of the Father Himself! Pius XII added that "nothing is excluded from her dominion." As Mediatrix of all graces, who shared in earning all graces, she is, as Benedict XV said in a text already cited, "Suppliant omnipotence": she can obtain by her intercession anything that the all-powerful God can do by His own inherent power. In the OT, under some Davidic kings, the gebirah, the "Great Lady", usually the Mother of the King, held great power as advocate with the king. Cf. 1 KGB 2:20, where Solomon said to his Mother Bathsheba, seated on a throne at his right: "Make your request, Mother, for I will not refuse you." Here is a sort of type of Our Lady. SOURCE: EWTN |
Read more: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/Q/queenshipofmary.asp#ixzz1Vm0C2H2C
TODAY'S GOSPEL: AUG. 22: LUKE 1: 26- 38
| Luke 1: 26 - 38 | |
| 26 | In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, |
| 27 | to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. |
| 28 | And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" |
| 29 | But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. |
| 30 | And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. |
| 31 | And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. |
| 32 | He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, |
| 33 | and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." |
| 34 | And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" |
| 35 | And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. |
| 36 | And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. |
| 37 | For with God nothing will be impossible." |
| 38 | And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. |
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