AMERICA: USA: OFFICIAL USCCB RELEASE ON DEATH OF NUNCIO SAMBI
AFRICA: LIBYA: BOMBINGS CONTINUE: INTENSIFIED EXPLOSIONS
ASIA: INDIA: CHARITY REBUILDS MONSOON DAMAGED CHAPELS
EUROPE: SCOTLAND: FIRST PRIEST OF ORDINARIATE ORDAINED
AUSTRALIA: THOUSANDS OF PILGRIMS PACK FOR WYD 2011
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 29: ST. MARTHA
TODAY'S GOSPE: JULY 29: JOHN 11: 19-27
BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR AUGUST
VATICAN CITY, 29 JUL 2011 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for August is: "That World Youth Day in Madrid may encourage young people throughout the world to have their lives rooted and built up in Christ".
His mission intention is: "That Western Christians may be open to the action of the Holy Spirit and rediscover the freshness and enthusiasm of their faith". (IMAGE SOURCE: RADIO VATICANA)
POPE DONATES SIGNATURE FOR AFRICA
ROME REPORTS: Benedict XVI has donated a signed photograph of himself for a charity auction this September. The proceeds will help save children in the Darfur region of Sudan.Works of art created by 100 celebrities will be auctioned off in London. Contributions are being made by politicians and celebrities such as Prince Charles, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and actress Anne Heche.
The Horn of Africa is currently experiencing what aid agencies are calling the worst drought in 60 years. It has forced thousands to flee their homes in search of food and water.
AMERICA: USA: OFFICIAL USCCB RELEASE ON DEATH OF NUNCIO SAMBI
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Archbishop Sambi was a friend of the United States.
“As the personal representative of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop Sambi enjoyed the highest respect and deepest affection of the bishops of the United States and of our Catholic people,” Archbishop Dolan said in a July 28 statement.
Archbishop Sambi was appointed U.S. nuncio, or ambassador, in December 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI. Prior to the U.S. appointment, Pope John Paul II had named him nuncio to Israel and Cyprus and apostolic delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine in 1998. The appointment made him only the second Vatican ambassador to Israel, after the Vatican and Israel established diplomatic relations in 1994.
Archbishop Sambi was a native of central Italy and was ordained a priest in 1964. He was named an archbishop and nuncio to Burundi in 1985, a position he held for six years until being named nuncio to Indonesia.
During Pope Benedict’s April 2008 visit to the United States, Archbishop Sambi accompanied the pope and hosted him at the nunciature, where the pope held a historic private meeting with five victims of clergy sexual abuse.
Before the pope’s arrival, the archbishop said Pope Benedict was coming to “strengthen the faith, the hope and love of the Catholic Church in the United States,” adding that he hoped the pope’s visit would “bring a new wind of Pentecost … a new springtime” to the U.S. church.
Archbishop Sambi recognized the global role of the United States and the U.S. church and told the bishops in 2006 an anecdote from his time as Vatican representative to Indonesia. He recalled a Christmas he spent in a remote village in Indonesia where in street shops, he said, “I found Coca-Cola and Marlboros.”
“I think the United States and the church of the United States has something more to bring to the world than Marlboros and Coca-Cola,” he told the bishops.
Shortly after being named U.S. nuncio, Archbishop Sambi told Catholic News Service, the official news service of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, of the reach of the church in the United States.
“I travel a lot throughout the world. It is difficult to find a part of the world where the charity of U.S. Catholics did not reach the poor or sick people,” he said.
Archbishop Sambi received many honors, including an honorary doctorate in public and ecclesial service, May 8, from Regis University in Denver. In 2009, he received the Living Stones Solidarity Award, which honors those who have made “a sustained and extraordinary effort to love, support and stand in solidarity with the Christians in the Holy Land.” It is bestowed by the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation.
Last September he was the principal celebrant of a Mass marking the 13th anniversary of the death of Blessed Teresa of Kolkata, which coincided with the U.S. Postal Service’s issuance of a stamp bearing her likeness.
“This stamp looks almost like a holy card. I pray it may serve in some small way as a reminder of Mother Teresa,” Archbishop Sambi said. “May Jesus stamp upon our hearts the same spirit as Mother’s to love God, the church and the poorest of the poor more than ourselves.”
At a 10th anniversary observance in 2009 of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed by Catholics and Lutherans, Archbishop Sambi told a Washington audience that today’s disciples of Jesus, like the first disciples, should be recognized by how they love each other and, guided by Jesus, they should walk together in a spirit of unity, mutual respect and brotherhood.
“Each act of unity is a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus,” said the archbishop.
At the 2007 convention of the National Catholic Educational Association, he called teachers “the greatest artists of the world … because you sculpt the best of what you are, not in a piece of marble but in human beings who are the glory of God.”
“Each of us has forgotten a lot of what we were told in school,” he added, “but a lot of what’s inside is from the example of teachers.”
Archbishop Sambi had not yet been appointed to the U.S. until when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, but a year after the storm, he took what locals call a “misery tour” of New Orleans. It was only then, he said, he realized the extent of the damage. “You cannot measure the extent of it until you come on the spot,” he said.
AFRICA: LIBYA: BOMBINGS CONTINUE: INTENSIFIED EXPLOSIONS
"Bombings are being intensified, I do not know why. Maybe some decision from Tripoli is expected, but I do not think the leader will surrender so easily. Gaddafi still seems to be strong and I do not think the bombs will make him give in", said Mgr. Martinelli.
Meanwhile the circumstances of Abdel Fattah Younes’ death, the chief of staff of the Libyan insurgents, killed in an ambush yesterday, by a group apparently sent from Tripoli, still remain unclear. Younes, former Interior Minister of Gaddafi’s regime, had sided with the rebels in Benghazi, taking over the command of military operations of the insurgents. His leadership, however, was disputed between Hifter Khalifa, another military leader of the insurgents. (L.M.)
ASIA: INDIA: CHARITY REBUILDS MONSOON DAMAGED CHAPELS
A British Catholic charity is helping the Indian diocese of Port Blair, which covers the Andaman and Nicobar islands, to build 15 chapels doubling as schools and parish meeting places.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has provided £12,500 (US$20,442) to provide roofs for the chapels, replacing thatched bamboo buildings which needed constant repair because of heavy monsoon rains.
This has become difficult because of a ruling by the Indian supreme court to prevent deforestation which makes cutting bamboo and taking leaves for thatch illegal.
Local people are building the chapels, part brick and part wood, themselves. But ACN is providing aluminum sheeting for the roofs.
The chapels are essential, ACN said, because the islands’ 40,000 Catholics – 10 percent of the population — are spread out in rural areas.
There are 18 priests in 14 parishes but each parish has 15-30 sub-stations, which in some places cater for more than 200 families.
http://www.ucanews.com/2011/07/29/charity-helps-to-build-chapels/
EUROPE: SCOTLAND: FIRST PRIEST OF ORDINARIATE ORDAINED
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AUSTRALIA: THOUSANDS OF PILGRIMS PACK FOR WYD 2011
Sydney Archdiocese report-
29 Jul 2011
Aussie pilgrims get together before leaving for WYD Madrid
Around Australia thousands of young people are packing their bags for the experience of a lifetime.
Next week they are heading off on various pilgrimages with Archbishops, Bishops, priests and seminarians from every diocese. Some are heading to Italy and France or Spain.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell will lead a group through Egypt and the Holy Land on the "Exodus Encounter" but all will meet up in Madrid for World Youth Day 21011 which starts on 16 August.
Pope Benedict XV1 will meet youth from around the world in what has become the biggest gathering of young people at any one time. Up to two million people are expected in Madrid for the highlight of the week, the Papal Closing Mass.
Nearly four thousand young and not-so-young people from Australia will gather in the Spanish city. Hundreds will be attending from Catholic schools in the Sydney Archdiocese.
Apart from the "Big Events" like the Papal Arrival, Stations of the Cross, the Vigil and the Closing Mass, there will be special times for prayer and reflection with catecheses sessions and times for fun with youth festivals.
However one of the biggest moments for the Aussie pilgrims will be the Australian Gathering on the Tuesday 16 August from 12noon to 2pm at the Palacio de Deportes. The entire Australian contingent will get together for prayer and performances. There will be testimonies and music. Organised by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference it will be a great start to the week.
The Archdiocese of Sydney social network xt3.com is covering WYD including LIVE webcasts of the key events. However starting next week xt3.com will also be following the pilgrims through Egypt and the Holy Land with our "Harvest Video Blog". You will be able to follow the pilgrimage every day as they visit the historical and holy sites with special messages and comments.
For all you need to know on the "Exodus Encounter" and WYD Madrid Visitwww.xt3.com/wyd.
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2011
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 29: ST. MARTHA
St. Martha
SISTER OF ST. LAZARUS AND MARY
Feast: July 29
| Mentioned only in Luke, x, 38-42; and John, xi; xii, sqq. The Aramaic form occurs in a Nabatfan inscription found at Puteoli, and now in the Naples Museum; it is dated A.D. 5 (Corpus Inscr. Semit., 158); also in a Palmyrene inscription, where the Greek translation has the form Marthein, A.D. 179. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are represented by St. John as living at Bethania, but St. Luke would seem to imply that they were, at least at one time, living in Galilee; he does not mention the name of the town, but it may have been Magdala, and we should thus, supposing Mary of Bethania and Mary Magdalene to be the same person, understand the appellative "Magdalene". The words of St. John (xi, 1) seem to imply a change of residence for the family. It is possible, too, that St. Luke has displaced the incident referred to in c. x. The likeness between the pictures of Martha presented by Luke and John is very remarkable. The familiar intercourse between the Saviour of the world and the humble family which St. Luke depicts is dwelt on by St. John when he tells us that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus" (xi, 5). Again the picture of Martha's anxiety (John, xi, 20-21, 39) accords with the picture of her who was "busy about much serving" (Luke, x, 40); so also in John, xii, 2: "They made him a supper there: and Martha served." But St. John has given us a glimpse of the other and deeper side of her character when he depicts her growing faith in Christ's Divinity (xi, 20-27), a faith which was the occasion of the words: "I am the resurrection and the life." The Evangelist has beautifully indicated the change that came over Martha after that interview: "When she had said these things, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is Difficulties have been raised about the last supper at Bethania. St. John seems to put it six days before the Pasch, and, so some conclude, in the house of Martha; while the Synoptic account puts it two days before the Pasch, and in the house of Simon the Leper. We need not try to avoid this difficulty by asserting that there were two suppers; for St. John does not say that the supper took place six days before, but only that Christ arrived in Bethania six days before the Pasch; nor does he say that it was in the house of Martha. We are surely justified in arguing that, since St. Matthew and St. Mark place the scene in the house of Simon, St. John must be understood to say the same; it remains to be |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/M/stmartha.asp#ixzz1TSrIwLqo
TODAY'S GOSPE: JULY 29: JOHN 11: 19-27
19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house.21Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.22And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."24Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,26and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"27She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."
