EUROPE: WORLD YOUTH DAY BRINGS OVER 160 MILLION TO SPANISH ECONOMY
AMERICA: USA: EARTHQUAKE DAMAGES CHURCHES- 5.8 MAG.
AMERICA: NICARAGUA: PRIEST- FR. GARCIA- KILLED
ASIA: CHINA: UNDERGROUND PRIEST AND LAITY ARRESTED
AFRICA: SOUTH SUDAN: 600 DEATHS IN RECENT CLASHES
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 20: ST. BARTHOLOMEW: APOSTLE
TODAY'S GOSPEL: AUG. 24: JOHN 1: 45-51
Pope Benedict XVI announced the themes during his weekly General Audience in Castel Gandolfo.
Before announcing the themes of the upcoming World Youth Day celebrations to pilgrims gathered this Wednesday in the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace at Castel Gandolfo for his weekly General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI looked back on recently completed visit to Madrid for World Youth Day.
Speaking to the faithful at the Papal Summer residence in the hills outside Rome, Pope Benedict reminisced about 4-day trip to Spain, during which he met with seminarians and young women religious, young university professors, young people with disabilities, and young volunteers, along with over a million young people from every part of the globe who heard the Pope’s call for “resolute, but prudent” witness to Christ’s Gospel for the transformation of societies and the salvation of the world, on Thursday shortly after his arrival, and again at the concluding Mass on Sunday.
“The gathering at Madrid was,” he said, “a stupendous manifestation of faith for Spain and for the whole world.”
The Pope went on to greet pilgrims in many languages, including English:
I warmly greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors here today. Having just returned from Madrid, I greet affectionately the young people present, especially those who were with me for the unforgettable celebration of World Youth Day. I also welcome those present from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and the United States. May God bless all of you and remain with you for ever!
World Youth Day in Rio is scheduled to take place from July 8th to July 13th, 2013.
EUROPE: WORLD YOUTH DAY BRINGS OVER 160 MILLION TO SPANISH ECONOMY
It has been reported by Europa press that the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid and the Madrid Business Confederation (CISM), Arturo Fernandez, estimated at 160 million benefits that have been the hotels, transport and trade in Madrid on the occasion of World Youth Day (WYD). Also millions of jobs were created for members of the society during the week.
This, he said, data "positive" for Spain and Madrid. "We have 800 million viewers worldwide and have been in the spotlight of the whole universe. We have to congratulate the success they have been these days," he stressed, and thanked the Pope Benedict XVI his decision to chose Madrid as the venue for WYD 2011.
Fernandez stressed that two million have been pilgrims who visited the country, without having produced "not a single incident" from the Pope's arrival in Madrid.
"Young people have been wonderful, and they are the future of the world and this country. For once we were all together to make this a success and to our image in the world is the image that corresponds to Madrid and Spain "he ruled.
AMERICA: USA: EARTHQUAKE DAMAGES CHURCHES- 5.8 MAG.
CNS REPORT -- Historic churches in Washington, Maryland and Virginia were among buildings with the most serious damage after the unusual Aug. 23 magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook the region.
The temblor could be felt as far away as Detroit, north of Toronto and into Florida.
The archdioceses of Washington and Baltimore each reported damage to several churches. But in the Diocese of Richmond, Va., where the quake was centered near the town of Mineral, that town's St. Jude Church had the only reported damage in the diocese, and that was relatively minor, according to its pastor, Father Michael Duffy.
He told Catholic News Service a couple of hours after the quake that some pictures fell off the walls and smashed and holy oils fell out of the ambry. He said also said there were cracks in the plaster, a broken water pipe and some damaged light fixtures.
Father Duffy said he felt the quake in the rectory, while he was meeting with an insurance adjuster about another matter. "The whole house shook," he said.
He said there appeared to be no structural damage, but "a lot of messy damage" at the church and rectory. He said that the area's older mission church, Immaculate Conception in Bumpass, also appeared to be fine. It was built in 1876.
Mineral itself is a tiny town, with a population of only a few hundred people. Thirty-six miles away in more sizable Culpeper, damage around town included toppled chimneys, cracked walls and bricks knocked out of walls. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church there had the walls of its narthex separate from the nave. The building was condemned, according to the Episcopal News Service.
In Baltimore, 110 miles away from the epicenter, 113-year-old St. Patrick's Church in the Fells Point neighborhood, suffered enough damage to its steeple and other high parts of the building that the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced it was deemed unsafe to occupy and would be closed for a month or more. Parishioners will be shuttled to nearby Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, said Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien.
St. Patrick's was founded in 1792, but the current church was completed in 1898.
There was slight damage at two other parishes, reported the Catholic Review, the archdiocesan newspaper.
In Washington, about 80 miles from the epicenter, several Catholic parish properties suffered damage ranging from a toppled chimney at the rectory of Holy Name Church fell on two cars, to the cross on the roof of St. Peter's on Capitol Hill falling off, making a hole in the roof. The Catholic Standard, newspaper of the Washington Archdiocese, reported that Mount Calvary Church in Forestville, Md., also had some damage to its steeple and at its school.
The Standard reported that many of the city's older, stone churches suffered minor damage to masonry and would require repairs.
St. Thomas Church in Wilmington, Del., also had some stones of its tower knocked out.
Nobody was injured at any of the churches.
More dramatic was the damage to the Washington National Cathedral, the massive Episcopalian-run gothic church that sits on one of the city's highest hills. Three of the four pinnacles, the ornamental stone pieces that sit on the corners of the cathedral's central tower, broke, the cathedral staff reported. Several smaller flying buttresses also were cracked.
A memorial service planned at the cathedral for Aug. 27 as part of the dedication of a new Martin Luther King Memorial would have to be moved elsewhere, cathedral spokesman Richard Weinberg said at an Aug. 23 news conference. He cited ongoing evaluation of damage as the reason, noting that the structure of the cathedral remained safe.
Other damage reported in the region included a crack in the top of the Washington Monument. Schools across the region closed for at least a day while damage was evaluated.
In Mineral, Father Duffy said he was surprised to learn that his town was the epicenter of the quake.
"Why are we having earthquakes here," he said he asked himself. "Nothing happens in Mineral, Virginia. No one even knows we exist here.... Now they'll know."
A lingering concern for Father Duffy was the nearby North Anna Power Station, a nuclear plant -- especially after this year's devastating earthquake in Japan.
"Both our churches are near a nuclear power plant and many parishioners work there. This is a big concern."
The plant's two nuclear reactors automatically shut down by automatic systems, as were reactors at nuclear plants throughout the region. No damage was reported at any of the plants. A press release from Dominion Power in Virginia Aug. 24 said the alert was called off after inspections of the North Anna plant.
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Contributing to this story were Nancy Wiechec and Patricia Zapor.
AMERICA: NICARAGUA: PRIEST- FR. GARCIA- KILLED
Fr. Marlon had disappeared on Aug. 20 in circumstances not yet known. José Ignacio Moraga Sánchez, the parish sacristan of the priest killed, told the local press that every morning Fr. Marlon came on time to open the Church. On the morning of August 20 not seeing him arrive, the sacristan walked along the road without meeting him.
In a note sent to Fides by the press office of the Archdiocese of Managua said that the priest's body was brought to La Purisima Parish, in the municipality of La Concepcion, Masaya (La Concha) where the Metropolitan Archbishop himself and the auxiliary Bishop, Monsignor Silvio Baez and the clergy of the Archdiocese celebrated the Eucharist. The funeral will be held today in Ticuantepe. Mgr. Brenes explained that the remains of Father Pupiro Garcia will be buried beside his mother who died a few years ago. His Exc. Mgr. Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solórzano, Archbishop of Managua, said that the news of Don Marlon’s killing shocked everyone, and that at the moment there are no official statements about how he was killed.
(CE)http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=29677&lan=eng
ASIA: CHINA: UNDERGROUND PRIEST AND LAITY ARRESTED
The United Front wants to prevent the election of a bishop who from the underground community. Three underground apostolic administrators are under police control. The Church of Tianshui launches a campaign of prayer for the liberation of their priests and faithful.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - A group of priests and laity from the underground community of Tianshui (Gansu) were arrested by the security forces last weekend. Among them are the administrator of the underground diocese, Fr. John Baptist Wang Ruohan; retired Bishop Casmir Wang Milu; Father John Wang Ruowang; as well as several other priests and dozens of parish lay leaders. Bishop Wang and the two fathers Wang are brothers. They are being held in different places and subjected to political sessions.
So far, the underground diocese of Tianshui had maintained a comfortable relationship with the police and government authorities. The two communities, the official and underground, have a total of 20 thousand faithful and 27 priests, 15 of which belong to the underground community. In 2003, Msgr. Wang Milu retired and the official bishop, Msgr. Jinglong Augustine Zhao died in 2004. The official administrator of the diocese is Fr. Zhao Jianzhang Woods, nephew of Bishop. Zhao. He was also nominated to become bishop.
According to observers, the arrests aim to forcibly convince members of the underground - with more priests than the official church - to accept the candidate wanted by the Patriotic Association (PA) and prevent an underground priest being elected bishop. Already in its program last year, the United Front highlighted the urgency of electing a "friendly" bishop.
The PA has been practicing the policy of preventing the election of underground priests for some time, arresting several diocesan administrators. In recent months, two other priests were arrested, possible candidates for the episcopate.
In early August, Fr. Chen Hailong, underground priest of the diocese of Xuanhua (Hebei) was released after his arrest in April. During his 4 months detention he was abused and brainwashed to push to him to join the Patriotic Association and reject his bonds with the pope (see p. 05/08/2011 Fr. Chen Hailong, sequestered for four months to deny the pope, is freed).
In early August, was arrested Fr Wang Chengli, underground priest of 48 years, administrator of the diocese of Heze (Canzhou, Shandong). Under pressure to deny the link with the Pope and was left for days without eating and drinking (see 06/08/2011 Four priests arrested in Shandong, appeal to the Holy See and Church).
For several years now the PA has been struggling against the Vatican to appoint bishops compliant with the regime. In fact since last November, it has supported the ordination of three bishops without Papal mandate.
The Catholic Diocese of Tianshui have launched a prayer campaign for the liberation of their priests and faithful.
AFRICA: SOUTH SUDAN: 600 DEATHS IN RECENT CLASHES
Caretaker Information Minister Barnabas Marial Benjamin said that the National Assembly contributed ideas on how to stop cattle rustling that has always resulted in vicious revenge killings and feuds between different populations in the State of Jonglei.
According to the UN Mission in southern Sudan (UNMISS) more than 600 people were killed, 750 others were injured in the recent clashes in the state, while the continuing insecurity in the area has forced some 250,000 people to flee. Southern Sudan, independent since July 9, sees the proliferation of unrest in various areas of its territory. In addition to disputes over the control of pastures and cattle rustling, there are political tensions due to the presence of some armed groups. The Juba government accuses that of Khartoum (north) to feed the violence to exert pressure on the new State, which owns most of the oil reserves of the old Sudan unitary (LM)
TODAY'S SAINT: AUG. 20: ST. BARTHOLOMEW: APOSTLE
St. Bartholomew
APOSTLE
Feast: August 24
| One of the Twelve Apostles, mentioned sixth in the three Gospel lists (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14), and seventh in the list of Acts (1:13).
The name (Bartholomaios) means "son of Talmai" (or Tholmai) which was an ancient Hebrew name, borne, e.g. by the King of Gessur whose daughter was a wife of David (2 Samuel 3:3). It shows, at least, that Bartholomew was of Hebrew descent; it may have been his genuine proper name or simply added to distinguish him as the son of Talmai. Outside the instances referred to, no other mention of the name occurs in the New Testament.
Nothing further is known of him for certain. Many scholars, however, identify him with Nathaniel (John 1:45-51; 21:2). The reasons for this are that Bartholomew is not the proper name of the Apostle; that the name never occurs in the Fourth Gospel, while Nathaniel is not mentioned in the synoptics; that Bartholomew's name is coupled with Philip's in the lists of Matthew and Luke, and found next to it in Mark, which agrees well with the fact shown by St. John that Philip was an old friend of Nathaniel's and brought him to Jesus; that the call of Nathaniel, mentioned with the call of several Apostles, seems to mark him for the apostolate, especially since the rather full and beautiful narrative leads one to expect some important development; that Nathaniel was of Galilee where Jesus found most, if not all, of the Twelve; finally, that on the occasion of the appearance of the risen Savior on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, Nathaniel is found present, together with several Apostles who are named and two unnamed Disciples who were, almost certainly, likewise Apostles (the word "apostle" not occurring in the Fourth Gospel and "disciple" of Jesus ordinarily meaning Apostle) and so, presumably, was one of the Twelve. This chain of circumstantial evidence is ingenious and pretty strong; the weak link is that, after all, Nathaniel may have been another personage in whom, for some reason, the author of the Fourth Gospel may have been particularly interested, as he was in Nicodemus, who is likewise not named in the synoptics.
No mention of St. Bartholomew occurs in ecclesiastical literature before Eusebius, who mentions that Pantaenus, the master of Origen, while evangelizing India, was told that the Apostle had preached there before him and had given to his converts the Gospel of St. Matthew written in Hebrew, which was still treasured by the Church. "India" was a name covering a very wide area, including even Arabia Felix. Other traditions represent St. Bartholomew as preaching in Mesopotamia, Persia, Egypt, Armenia, Lycaonia, Phrygia, and on the shores of the Black Sea; one legend, it is interesting to note, identifies him with Nathaniel.
The manner of his death, said to have occurred at Albanopolis in Armenia, is equally uncertain; according to some, he was beheaded, according to others, flayed alive and crucified, head downward, by order of Astyages, for having converted his brother, Polymius, King of Armenia. On account of this latter legend, he is often represented in art (e.g. in Michelangelo's Last Judgment) as flayed and holding in his hand his own skin. His relics are thought by some to be preserved in the church of St. Bartholomew-in-the-Island, at Rome. His feast is celebrated on 24 August. An apocryphal gospel of Bartholomew existed in the early ages. source EWTN |
Read more: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/B/stbartholomew.asp#ixzz1Vx1BTaUB
TODAY'S GOSPEL: AUG. 24: JOHN 1: 45-51
| John 1: 45 - 51 | |
| 45 | Philip found Nathan'a-el, and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." |
| 46 | Nathan'a-el said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." |
| 47 | Jesus saw Nathan'a-el coming to him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" |
| 48 | Nathan'a-el said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." |
| 49 | Nathan'a-el answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" |
| 50 | Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these." |
| 51 | And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." |
