VATICAN: POPE: NEW iGPII APPLICATION FOR WYD
AMERICA: USA: PIETRO SAMBI-RIP- DIES AGE 73- NUNCIO OF USA
EUROPE: GREAT BRITAIN: OLYMPIC GAMES WILL HAVE PERPETUAL ADORATION
AUSTRALIA: BISHOPS CALL FOR CHURCH TO HELP EAST AFRICA
AFRICA: GHANA: CATHOLIC CHURCH HONORS MR. ACKON FOR GOOD WORKS
ASIA: INDIA: SISTER ALLOWED TO STAY AND CARE FOR LEPERS
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 28: ST. VICTOR I
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 28: ST. SAMSON
VATICAN: POPE: NEW iGPII APPLICATION FOR WYD
NEW "iGPII" APPLICATION FOR WORLD YOUTH DAY
VATICAN CITY, 28 JUL 2011 (VIS) - At 12.30 p.m. tomorrow in the Holy See Press Office a press conference will be held to present the new "iGPII" application for World Youth Day (WYD), which will be held next month in the Spanish capital Madrid. The application works on iPhones, iPods, iPads and devices which run the iOS operating system. (image source: Radio Vaticana)
The new application, an initiative of the John Paul II Youth Foundation, has been developed by Futurtech & Adv Production and is available in five languages (Italian, French, English, Spanish and Portuguese). A communique released today explains that it will provide WYD participants with documents relating to the history of previous World Youth Days, an events programme and timetable, GPS positioning, and information on accommodation, food and drink, etc. Although it is principally aimed at participants in WYD, it will also be very useful for journalists.
Tomorrow's presentation will be presided by Marcello Bedeschi, president of the John Paul II Youth Foundation, and by Iacopo Barberini and Giovanni Leone of Futurtech. A number of iPads and iPhones will be available for journalists to consult, and those who wish to do so may download the new application onto their own devices.
AUSTRALIA: BISHOPS CALL FOR CHURCH TO HELP EAST AFRICA
AFRICA: GHANA: CATHOLIC CHURCH HONORS MR. ACKON FOR GOOD WORKS
ALL AFRICA REPORT: THE OBUASI Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) Mr. John Alexander Ackon has been honoured by the Catholic Church for his contribution towards the growth and development of Human Life.
The church is also honouring him for the major role he played towards the growth and transformation of the Obuasi St. Cathedral Parish.
Mr. Ackon was honoured during the celebration of the Cathedral'S Feast Day in Obuasi.
A citation accompanying the honour, and signed by the Most Rev. Gabriel Yaw Anokye, Bishop of the Obuasi of the Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, and Msgr. Francis Osei Nyarko, Cathedral Administrator, stated: "On the occasion of the 2011 St Thomas Cathedral Parish Feast Day celebration, the church honours you for your exemplary model and dedicated service."The church added that though in the sight of God all men are equal, yet, "there are those who have undeservedly gone an extra mile to show their difference in terms of their commitment to the growth of human life," adding "We are proud of you, and we are grateful."
The MCE, receiving the prize, expressed his appreciation to the church for the honour, and said it would inspire him to work harder to promote the good of humanity.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2011
AMERICA: USA: PIETRO SAMBI-RIP- DIES AGE 73- NUNCIO OF USA
He started his service in the Diplomatic Corps of the Holy See in April, 1969, in Cameroon.
He was transferred to the Apostolic Nunciature in Jerusalem on July 19, 1971, and subsequently to the Apostolic Nunciatures in Cuba in 1974, in Algeria in 1978, in Nicaragua in 1979, in Belgium in 1981, and then in India in May, 1984 with the rank of Counselor.
Archbishop Sambi was consecrated as Bishop and made Titular Archbishop of Belcastro on November 9, 1985.
He was nominated Pro-Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi on October 10, 1985, Pro-Apostolic Nuncio in Indonesia on November 28, 1991, and Apostolic Nuncio in Israel and Cyprus, and Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine on June 6, 1998.
Archbishop Sambi speaks Italian, English, French and Spanish. (source: USCCB)
EUROPE: GREAT BRITAIN: OLYMPIC GAMES WILL HAVE PERPETUAL ADORATION
By DAVID V BARRETT on Wednesday, 27 July 2011
The Olympic Park in Stratford, east London (Photo: Sean Dempsey/PA Wire)
CATHOLIC HERALD REPORT: Twenty-four hour exposition of the Blessed Sacrament will be held in St Francis of Assisi’s church, Stratford, east London, throughout the Olympic Games, it has been announced.
Not just in London but throughout the country the Church is gearing up for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Priests and religious will be on hand in the Olympic Village for athletes, coaches and officials, with chaplains available for visitors to the Games. Spiritual and pastoral hospitality centres at St Francis’s church and at Westminster Cathedral will offer Masses in different languages, talks by priests, and will also provide a place for volunteers at the Games to “chill out”, according to Frank van Velzen, assistant Catholic coordinator of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Church is a leading participant in More Than Gold, an ecumenical venture to involve Christians in the Olympics, supporting competitors and visitors with “outreach”, hospitality and service. Every parish is being encouraged to become involved, providing a Gold Champion who will be a link between More Than Gold and the local Christian community.
There will be festivals both in London and around Britain, and Christian witness on the streets, with “street pastors” at stations around London. In just one of many activities being planned, four Christian theatre groups will put on plays related to the Olympics.
The Church will also be promoting Christian activity at sports fields around the country. Mr van Velzen said: “Sports mission is about taking the Church outside the building in the hope of getting people back into it. It’s meeting the people where they’re at.”
Major sporting events often lead to an increase in prostitution, and with the Olympics thousands of athletes, journalists and spectators will converge on London – as will people traffickers. More than Gold will raise awareness of this issue and provide safe havens.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2011/07/27/perpetual-adoration-planned-for-olympic-games/
ASIA: INDIA: SISTER ALLOWED TO STAY AND CARE FOR LEPERS
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Mumbai (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The "Mother Teresa" of Bangalore will remain with her leprosy sufferers in India: the Indian Minister of the Interior P. Chidambaran yesterday renewed Sister Jacqueline Jean McEwan’s visa "indefinitely". At the news, the nun said she was "overjoyed" to be able to stay with her patients, from whom she has cared for 29 years. The Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has thanked the Government Minister for having responded to the complaints of the Christian minority and patients at the Sumnahalli Society, where the religious works.Sister Jean was to leave the country within a month, because the government had denied the annual renewal of her visa. Immediate reactions of the GCIC and Fr. George Kannanthanam, director of the centre where the English missionary works (see AsiaNews, "Mother Teresa" of Bangalore, thrown out after 29 years).
Minister Chidambaran admitted that the warning to leave India issued by the Foreign Regional Registration Office (Frro), was a mistake, perhaps caused by the lack of some documents.
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 28: ST. VICTOR I
St. Victor I
POPE
Feast: July 28
| (189-198 or 199), date of birth unknown. The "Liber Pontificalis" makes him a native of Africa and gives his father the name of Felix. This authority, taking the "Liberian Catalogue" as its basis, gives the years 186-197 as the period of Victor's episcopate. The Armenian text of the "Chronicle" of Eusebius (Leipzig, 1911, p. 223) places the beginning of Victor's pontificate in the seventh year of the reign of the Emperor Commodus (180-87) and gives it a duration of twelve years; in his "Church History" (V, xxxii, ed. Schwarts, Leipzig, 1902, p. 486) Eusebius transfers the beginning of the pontificate to the tenth year of the reign of Commodus and makes it last ten years. During the closing years of the reign of Commodus (180-192) and the early years of Septimius Severus (from 193) the Roman Church enjoyed in general great external peace. The favourable opinion of the Christians held by Commodus is ascribed to the influence of a woman named Marcia. According to the testimony of Hippolytus ("Philosophumena", IX, 12) she had been brought up by the presbyter Hyacinthus, was very favourably inclined towards the Christians, perhaps even a Christian herself (Hippolytus, loc. cit., calls her philotheos God-loving). One day she summoned Pope Victor to the imperial palace and asked for a list of the Roman Christians who had been condemned to forced labour in the mines of Sardinia, so that she might obtain their freedom. The pope handed her the list and Marcia, having received from the emperor the required pardon, sent the presbyter Hyacinthus to Sardinia with an order of release for the Christian confessors. Callistus, afterwards pope, who had been among those deported, did not return to Rome, but remained at Antium, where he received a monthly pension from the Roman Christians. Irenaeus ("Adv. Haerses", IV, xxx, 1) points out that Christians were employed at this period as officials of the imperial Court. Among these officials was the imperial freedman Prosenes, whose gravestone and epitaph have been preserved (De Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romae", I, 9, no. 5). Septimius Severus, also, during the early years of his reign, regarded the Christians kindly, so that the influence of Christian officials continued. The emperor retained in his palace a Christian named Proculus who had once cured him. He protected Christian men and women of rank against the excesses of the heathen rabble, and his son Caracalla had a Christian wet nurse (Tertullian, "Ad Scapulam", IV). Christianity made great advances in the capital and also found adherents among the families who were distinguished for wealth and noble descent (Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", V, xxi). Internal dissensions during this era affected the Church at Rome. The dispute over the celebration of Easter . . . grew more acute. The Christians at Rome, who had come from the province of Asia, were accustomed to observe Easter on the 14th day of Nisan, whatever day of the week that date might happen to fall on, just as they had done at home. This difference inevitably led to trouble when it appeared in the Christian community of Rome. Pope Victor decided, therefore, to bring about unity in the observance of the Easter festival and to persuade the Quartodecimans to join in the general practice of the Church. He wrote, therefore, to Bishop Polycrates of Ephesus and induced the latter to call together the bishops of the province of Asia in order to discuss the matter with them. This was done; but in the letter sent by Polycrates to Pope Victor he declared that he firmly held to the Quartoceciman custom observed by so many celebrated and holy bishops of that region. Victor called a meeting of Italian bishops at Rome, which is the earliest Roman synod known. He also wrote to the leading bishops of the various districts, urging them to call together the bishops of their sections of the country and to take counsel with them on the question of the Easter festival. Letters came from all sides: from the synod in Palestine, at which Theophilus of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem presided; from the synod of Pontus over which Palmas as the oldest presided; from the communities in Gaul whose bishop of Irenaeus of Lyons; from the bishops of the Kingdom of Osrhoene; also from individual bishops, as Bakchylus of Corinth. These letters all unanimously reported that Easter was observed on Sunday.. Victor, who acted throughout the entire matter as the head of Catholic Christendom, now called upon the bishops of the province of Asia to abandon their custom and to accept the universally prevailing practice of always celebrating Easter on Sunday. In case they would not do this he declared they would be excluded from the fellowship of the Church. This severe procedure did not please all the bishops. Irenaeus of Lyons and others wrote to Pope Victor; they blamed his severity, urged him to maintain peace and unity with the bishops of Asia, and to entertain affectionate feelings toward them. Irenaeus reminded him that his predecessors had indeed always maintained the Sunday observance of Easter, as was right, but had not broken off friendly relations and communion with bishops because they followed another custom (Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", V, xxiii-xxv.) We have no information concerning the further course of the matter under Victor I so far as it regards the bishops of Asia. All that is known is that in the course of the third century the Roman practice in the observance of Easter became gradually universal. In Rome itself, where Pope Victor naturally enforced the observance of Easter on Sunday by all Christians in the capital, an Oriental named Blastus, with a few followers, opposed the pope and brought about a schism, which, however, did not grow in importance (Eusebius, loc. cit., B, xx). Pope Victor also had difficulties with a Roman priest named Florinus, who probably came from Asia Minor. As an official of the imperial court, Florinus had become acquainted in Asia Minor with St. Polycarp, and later was a presbyter of the Roman Church. He fell into the Gnostic heresy and defended the false learning of Valentine. St. Irenaeus wrote two treatises against him: "On the Monarchy [of God] and that God is not the Author of Evil", and "On the Ogdoad". Irenaeus also called Victor's attention to the dangerous writings of Florinus, who was probably degraded from his priestly functions by the pope and expelled from the Church (Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", V, xv, 20). During the pontificate of Victor a rich Christian, Theodotus the Leather-seller, came from Constantinople to Rome and taught false doctrines concerning Christ, Whom he declared to be merely a man endowed by the Holy Ghost, at baptism, with supernatural power. The pope condemned this heresy and excluded Theodotus from the Church. The latter, however, would not submit, but, together with his adherents, formed a schismatic party, which maintained itself for a time at Rome. Victor may also have come into contact with the Montanists. Tertullian reports ("Ad Praceam", 1) that a Roman bishop, whose name he does not give, had declared his acceptance of the prophecies of Montanus, but had been persuaded by Praxeas to withdraw. Duchesne ("Histoire ancienne de l'église", I, 278) and others think Tertullian means Pope Eleutherius, but many investigators consider it more probable that he meant Pope Victor, because the latter had had much to do with the inhabitants of Asia Minor, and because, between 190 and 200, Praceas had gone from Rome to Carthage, where he was opposed by Tertullian. The question cannot be decided positively |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/V/stvictori.asp#ixzz1TMuuCWQj
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 28: ST. SAMSON
St. Samson
BISHOP AND CONFESSOR
Feast: July 28
| Bishop and confessor, born in South Wales; died 28 July, 565 (?). The date of his birth is unknown. His parents whose names are given as Amon of Dyfed and Anna of Gwynedd, were of noble, but not royal, birth. While still an infant he was dedicated to God and entrusted to the care of St. Illtyd, by whom he was brought up in the monastery of Llantwit Major. He showed exceptional talents in his studies, and was eventually ordained deacon and priest by St. Dubric. After this he retired to another monastery, possibly after that on Caldy Island, to practise greater austerities, and some years later became it abbot. About this time some Irish monks who were returning from Rome happened to visit Samson's monastery. So struck was the abbot by their learning and sanctity that he accompanied them to Ireland, and there remained some time. During h is visit he received the submission of an Irish monastery, and, on his return to Wales, sent one of his uncles to act as its superior. His fame as a worker of miracles now attracted so much attention that he resolved to found a new monastery or cell "far from the haunts of men", and accordingly retired with a few companions to a lonely spot on the banks of the Severn. He was soon discovered, however, and forced by his fellow-countrymen to become abbot of the monastery formerly ruled by St. Germanus; here St. Dubric consecrated him bishop but without appointment to any particular see. Now, being warned by an angel, he determined to leave England and, after some delay, set sail for Brittany. He landed near Dol, and there built a monastery which became the centre of his episcopal work in the district. Business taking him to Paris, he visited King Childebert there, and was nominated by him as Bishop of Dol; Dol, however, did not become a regular episcopal see till about the middle of the ninth century. Samson attained the age of 85 years, and was buried at Dol. Several early lives of Samson exist. The oldest, printed by Mabillon in his "Acta Sanctorum" from a manuscript at Cîteaux, and again by the Bollandists, claims to be compiled from information derived from Samson's contemporaries, which would refer it to about 600. Dom Plaine in the "Analecta Bollandiana" has edited another and fuller life (from manuscript Andeg., 719), which he regards as earlier than Mabillon's. Later lives are numerous. |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/S/stsamson.asp#ixzz1TMugn8L0
