OLYMPICS : OFFICIAL WELCOME FROM ARCHBISHOP NICHOLS
As one of the London Church Leaders, Archbishop Vincent
Nichols of the Diocese of Westminster added his voice to those of other
Christian leaders and leaders of different faiths in the capital to welcome
athletes and officials to the 2012 Games:
"We believe every human being to be ultimately a pilgrim in search of truth, goodness and the fulfillment of potential. When this pilgrimage is lived out authentically, it opens the path to dialogue with the other, excluding no one while committing everyone to building a fraternity of peace.
Our hope, therefore, is that all people of faith, and those of none, would “pursue initiatives for peace and reconciliation in the spirit of the Ancient Games”*.
We, as Christian leaders of London, joining with our neighbours and partners from many different faiths across the city, welcome to our great city the athletes and officials of the 30th Summer Olympic Games from across the globe. May this be a time of new, and renewed, friendships where deeper peace and understanding is forged between us all as a common humanity."
"We believe every human being to be ultimately a pilgrim in search of truth, goodness and the fulfillment of potential. When this pilgrimage is lived out authentically, it opens the path to dialogue with the other, excluding no one while committing everyone to building a fraternity of peace.
Our hope, therefore, is that all people of faith, and those of none, would “pursue initiatives for peace and reconciliation in the spirit of the Ancient Games”*.
We, as Christian leaders of London, joining with our neighbours and partners from many different faiths across the city, welcome to our great city the athletes and officials of the 30th Summer Olympic Games from across the globe. May this be a time of new, and renewed, friendships where deeper peace and understanding is forged between us all as a common humanity."
Information
* The United Nations Resolution (A/RES/48/11) “Urges all
Member States to take the initiative to abide by the Truce, individually and
collectively, and to pursue in conformity with the purposes and principles of
the Charter of the United Nations the peaceful settlement of all international
conflicts.”
Links
For further information about the Catholic Church’s involvement
with the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, visit:
catholic2012.com and morethangold.org.uk,
catholic2012.com and morethangold.org.uk,
AMERICA : OLDEST SERVING PRIEST AGE 92 OF NY
The oldest serving priest in New York
in Monseignor Gerald Ryan age 92. Msgr. has worked at St. Luke's parish in Mott
Haven for 67 years.
He was born on West 141st Street in Harlem, New York City in
1920. His mother, from Co. Limerick, worked as father, from Co. Tipperary. He
took seminary training at St. Joseph’s in Yonkers, New York.
Msgr. Ryan is quoted as saying, “Real love. Not from
the mouth, but from the heart.”
ASIA : SOUTH KOREA : BLIND ARCHER AT OLYMPICS - SETS WORLD RECORDS
ASIA NEWS REPORT: Im Dong-hyun,
26, is a national hero. A two time Olympic medal winner (Athens and Beijing), he
is legally blind.
Seoul (AsiaNews) - South Korea celebrated the first two world records set in the London Olympics. In an almost empty stadium, archer Im Dong-hyun, who is visually impaired, scored a 72-arrow mark of 699 points, breaking the old world record, which he held. He also joined teammates Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin-hyek to record a new best in the team event, 216-arrow mark of 2,087.
Im Dong-hyun, 26, is a hero at home. A two-medal winner in Athens and Beijing, he has 20/100 and 20/200 vision in his right and left eyes respectively, making him legally blind.
He became involved in archery when he was ten, after a teacher gave him a toy arch. His skills and memory are such that he can hit a target the size of a grapefruit.
Although he could have surgery to improve his eyesight, he has decided to put it off until 2020 when he plans to retire from competitions.
Im said he does not need contact lenses or glasses to compete because what count is not the clarity of the target but the "feel" for it, which is something one develops with hard work.
shared FROM ASIA NEWS IS
Seoul (AsiaNews) - South Korea celebrated the first two world records set in the London Olympics. In an almost empty stadium, archer Im Dong-hyun, who is visually impaired, scored a 72-arrow mark of 699 points, breaking the old world record, which he held. He also joined teammates Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin-hyek to record a new best in the team event, 216-arrow mark of 2,087.
Im Dong-hyun, 26, is a hero at home. A two-medal winner in Athens and Beijing, he has 20/100 and 20/200 vision in his right and left eyes respectively, making him legally blind.
He became involved in archery when he was ten, after a teacher gave him a toy arch. His skills and memory are such that he can hit a target the size of a grapefruit.
Although he could have surgery to improve his eyesight, he has decided to put it off until 2020 when he plans to retire from competitions.
Im said he does not need contact lenses or glasses to compete because what count is not the clarity of the target but the "feel" for it, which is something one develops with hard work.
shared FROM ASIA NEWS IS
AUSTRALIA : INSURANCE FOR DISABLED TESTED BY GOVERNMENT
Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese
REPORT
27 Jul 2012
The Federal Government's determination to continue with
trials to test the cost and effectiveness of a future $15 billion per year
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) by using a small and
non-representative group of people with a disability is a waste of money, says
Maree Buckwalter, President of the Carers Alliance and mother and carer of a
severely disabled 26-year-old son.
Maree's comments have also been backed by many of the country's 400,000 disabled and their carers who say they have seen their pleas and submissions, promises and inquiries strangled by politics.
According to the Carers Alliance they have been totally let down by the Federal Government when all they want is a fair go - something that has been promised for years.
The proposed trials, discussed with the Prime Minister and Premiers this week, involving 10,000 people with severe dependent disabilities are set to begin in July 2013. They would be expanded to include 10,000 severely disabled the following year. The idea of the trials is to refine the scheme prior to full implementation in 2018 which would provide individual supportive care to the 400,000 severely disabled Australians and their carers.
But instead of 10,000 of those with severe disabilities taking part in the initial trials, the Government has decided to allow South Australia to trial the scheme using children with disabilities aged seven and under, even though children are not part of the NDIS and would not be eligible to be part of the scheme until they reached adolescence and adulthood.
The Federal Government
failed to secure NDIS trials this week in any of the big states when NSW,
Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland refused further funding, on top of
the $7.1billion states already spend on disability services. These states said
the Federal Government should adopt the Productivity Commission recommendation
the commonwealth should be the single funder of the NDIS through general
revenue.
Meantime the Government also decided to accept Tasmania for the trials despite the state limiting the trial to just 1,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 years of age. This also follows Tasmania being originally rejected for the trials and the NSW-Victoria model being the only model to have met the original criteria for NDIS launch sites by capturing a significant number of disabled clients and all age groups and backgrounds.
"A third place the trial is set to take place is the ACT where the sample of those with severe dependent disabilities will be far too small to be representative," Maree says.
She points out the whole purpose of the trials was to get data from a strong representative sample of Australia's severely disabled to ensure when the NDIS was implemented nationally any problems would have been identified and services to be delivered streamlined with any duplication of costs between states and the government prevented.
"But this isn't what has happened," she says and describes the Prime Minister's decision to go ahead with the non-representative trials as a meaningless publicity stunt.
"Children with disabilities have quite a few services
available to them including early intervention. It is also much easier to care
for a small child than it is once a son or daughter with severe disabilities
reaches adolescence and adulthood. And this is what the NDIS was set up to
address," she says.
Maree says she was also disheartened this morning to discover that earlier this week at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) dinner with the Prime Minister all the states were in agreement not only of the need for an National Disability Insurance Scheme, but that the scheme should be funded by a national levy, much as the Medicare levy is applied or the way last year's flood levy was introduced.
But according to reports, this was knocked back the following day by the Prime Minister who claimed introducing a levy would leave the way open for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to accuse the Government of yet another "big new tax." Instead she insisted states co-fund the trials.
The Prime Minister has not given any details as to how the $15 billion per year scheme would ultimately be funded once it was operational in 2018-19.
"I am also concerned the Government plans to set up yet another large bureaucracy to administer the scheme," Maree says.
On Wednesday this week, PM Julia Gillard admitted of the $1 billion put aside in the May budget for the NDIS, $650 million would go towards infrastructure with just $350 billion spent on the front line and the disabled men and women chosen for the trials.
"Only a small
bureaucracy would be needed and hopefully no duplication between states and the
Canberra," Maree says pointing out that once an NDIS was up and running, it
would be delivered by the states.
The scheme is designed to provide tailored individual support and with each state already having systems in place for assessments and disabled services, all that is needed is to streamline what is already there rather than build a vast new department in Canberra, she says.
But she is adamant that if the scheme does go ahead, funding must be administered from Canberra to ensure continuity and surety.
"If ultimately it is decided to fund the NDIS through a levy it is also important that the money is quarantined for disabilities and not put into general revenue to be used in ways by whichever Government is in power," she warns.
Maree and many other carers of those with dependent disabilities, are disappointed at the latest politicking by both sides over the proposed NDIS.
While the Government did not consult with the Coalition when designing the proposed NDIS, Maree is convinced if the Coalition if elected next year, the NDIS will become a reality.
"We have made submission after submission to
the Government as well as countless letters," she says. "Most often the response
has been either a standard letter rather than a personal reply, or a letter that
seems to think we are asking for more money when in fact we are simply pointing
out discrepancies resulting in unnecessary hardships and difficulties that need
to be addressed by the NDIS."
The response from the Leader of the Opposition however has not only been a personal letter from Tony Abbott but most recently one where he said that the NDIS was too important to be partisan and should be implemented not by one specific government but by both sides of Parliament as both will be involved with implementing the scheme over the next 20 or 40 years.
The Opposition leader said today the NDIS is a national reform designed to ensure people with serious disabilities is a fair go and needs "a bi-partisan approach to take the politics out of it".
The stalemate between NSW-Victoria and the Federal Government seems to have hardened with the states unwilling to sign off on the trial agreement until further discussions with the Federal Minister, Jenny Macklin and the Minister not agreeing to a meeting until the states sign off over a launch suite trial for 15,000 disabled people in the Hunter Valley of NSW and the Barwon district in Victoria.
"At
the end of April Ms Gillard told thousands of people with disabilities, family
carers and disability support workers rallying in Homebush 'You've waited long
enough' and led us to believe that the NDIS would become a reality a year
earlier," Maree Buckwalter said.
"Looks like we've all been seriously conned by a government playing wedge politics against cash-strapped states who don't toe the party line.
"The NDIS is a fair-go scheme. It would benefit all Australians and put us in the vanguard of disability service provision. But it has now been twisted and pummelled into a political football.
"It is simply unconscionable to play mean and tricky politics with the lives of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who are severely disabled and depend on help and support each and every day.
"The Gillard government made the promise to introduce the NDIS then without any collaboration or consultation set about watering it down to be barely recognizable and then demands the states pay for it," she said.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
27 Jul 2012
Maree Buckwalter, President
of the Carers Alliance
of the Carers Alliance
Maree's comments have also been backed by many of the country's 400,000 disabled and their carers who say they have seen their pleas and submissions, promises and inquiries strangled by politics.
According to the Carers Alliance they have been totally let down by the Federal Government when all they want is a fair go - something that has been promised for years.
The proposed trials, discussed with the Prime Minister and Premiers this week, involving 10,000 people with severe dependent disabilities are set to begin in July 2013. They would be expanded to include 10,000 severely disabled the following year. The idea of the trials is to refine the scheme prior to full implementation in 2018 which would provide individual supportive care to the 400,000 severely disabled Australians and their carers.
But instead of 10,000 of those with severe disabilities taking part in the initial trials, the Government has decided to allow South Australia to trial the scheme using children with disabilities aged seven and under, even though children are not part of the NDIS and would not be eligible to be part of the scheme until they reached adolescence and adulthood.
There are 400,000 severely disabled
Australians - still waiting for the NDIS
Australians - still waiting for the NDIS
Meantime the Government also decided to accept Tasmania for the trials despite the state limiting the trial to just 1,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 years of age. This also follows Tasmania being originally rejected for the trials and the NSW-Victoria model being the only model to have met the original criteria for NDIS launch sites by capturing a significant number of disabled clients and all age groups and backgrounds.
"A third place the trial is set to take place is the ACT where the sample of those with severe dependent disabilities will be far too small to be representative," Maree says.
She points out the whole purpose of the trials was to get data from a strong representative sample of Australia's severely disabled to ensure when the NDIS was implemented nationally any problems would have been identified and services to be delivered streamlined with any duplication of costs between states and the government prevented.
"But this isn't what has happened," she says and describes the Prime Minister's decision to go ahead with the non-representative trials as a meaningless publicity stunt.
The NDIS political stalemate doesn't provide
much
light for the disabled, according to Carers Alliance
light for the disabled, according to Carers Alliance
Maree says she was also disheartened this morning to discover that earlier this week at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) dinner with the Prime Minister all the states were in agreement not only of the need for an National Disability Insurance Scheme, but that the scheme should be funded by a national levy, much as the Medicare levy is applied or the way last year's flood levy was introduced.
But according to reports, this was knocked back the following day by the Prime Minister who claimed introducing a levy would leave the way open for Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to accuse the Government of yet another "big new tax." Instead she insisted states co-fund the trials.
The Prime Minister has not given any details as to how the $15 billion per year scheme would ultimately be funded once it was operational in 2018-19.
"I am also concerned the Government plans to set up yet another large bureaucracy to administer the scheme," Maree says.
On Wednesday this week, PM Julia Gillard admitted of the $1 billion put aside in the May budget for the NDIS, $650 million would go towards infrastructure with just $350 billion spent on the front line and the disabled men and women chosen for the trials.
Under 7s will be part of NDIS trials even
though children are not part of the scheme
though children are not part of the scheme
The scheme is designed to provide tailored individual support and with each state already having systems in place for assessments and disabled services, all that is needed is to streamline what is already there rather than build a vast new department in Canberra, she says.
But she is adamant that if the scheme does go ahead, funding must be administered from Canberra to ensure continuity and surety.
"If ultimately it is decided to fund the NDIS through a levy it is also important that the money is quarantined for disabilities and not put into general revenue to be used in ways by whichever Government is in power," she warns.
Maree and many other carers of those with dependent disabilities, are disappointed at the latest politicking by both sides over the proposed NDIS.
While the Government did not consult with the Coalition when designing the proposed NDIS, Maree is convinced if the Coalition if elected next year, the NDIS will become a reality.
Premier Barry O'Farrell unhappy $650
million will go on infrastructure
of NDIS and just $350 million
on supporting the severely disabled
million will go on infrastructure
of NDIS and just $350 million
on supporting the severely disabled
The response from the Leader of the Opposition however has not only been a personal letter from Tony Abbott but most recently one where he said that the NDIS was too important to be partisan and should be implemented not by one specific government but by both sides of Parliament as both will be involved with implementing the scheme over the next 20 or 40 years.
The Opposition leader said today the NDIS is a national reform designed to ensure people with serious disabilities is a fair go and needs "a bi-partisan approach to take the politics out of it".
The stalemate between NSW-Victoria and the Federal Government seems to have hardened with the states unwilling to sign off on the trial agreement until further discussions with the Federal Minister, Jenny Macklin and the Minister not agreeing to a meeting until the states sign off over a launch suite trial for 15,000 disabled people in the Hunter Valley of NSW and the Barwon district in Victoria.
Mary Lou Carter with her son Nicholas
who has a severe intellectual disability
and needs full time care
who has a severe intellectual disability
and needs full time care
"Looks like we've all been seriously conned by a government playing wedge politics against cash-strapped states who don't toe the party line.
"The NDIS is a fair-go scheme. It would benefit all Australians and put us in the vanguard of disability service provision. But it has now been twisted and pummelled into a political football.
"It is simply unconscionable to play mean and tricky politics with the lives of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who are severely disabled and depend on help and support each and every day.
"The Gillard government made the promise to introduce the NDIS then without any collaboration or consultation set about watering it down to be barely recognizable and then demands the states pay for it," she said.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
EUROPE : RELIGIOUS LEADERS CONFERENCE - INTERGENERATIONAL SOLIDARITY
COMECE REPORT: Intergenerational
Solidarity deserves full support by the EU and Member States in order to
overcome the economic and demographic crises
The European Commission maintains an open, transparent and regular dialogue with churches, religious communities according to the Lisbon Treaty, which enshrined this dialogue into primary law (Art 17 TFEU). One of the expressions of this Dialogue is the annual high-level meeting with religious leaders.
This year the EU Commission dedicated the high level meeting to 'Intergenerational Solidarity: Setting the Parameters for Tomorrow's Society in Europe', as 2012 marks the 'European year for active ageing and solidarity between generations'. The COMECE Bishops also dedicated their Spring Plenary Assembly this year to this topic and underlined that generations cannot live only for themselves but they have to rely on each other. The Dialogue and Solidarity between older and younger generation is the basis for the human development of our societies: it brings hope and personal fulfilment.
To face the critical demographic crisis in Europe, Mgr André-Joseph Leonard, Archbishop of Malines-Bruxelles, suggested in today’s meeting that among the different options - besides the reform of pension schemes and immigration - the reinforcement of families, especially stable families, is the only sustainable way out of the crisis. This implies courageous steps in the field of fiscal policy, financial support for the third or fourth child, social measures fostering work-family life balance.
In this context, Mgr Gianni Ambrosio (Italy), COMECE Vice-President, emphasised the necessity for Europe and its Member States to preserve the Sunday as a common weekly day of rest. “Especially for the family, for the spiritual life of its members and for human relations, both inside the family and with relatives and friends, the common Sunday rest is of fundamental importance”. He recalled that Churches together with major trade unions and civil society organisations have joined forces to protect a work-free Sunday in EU and in Member States’ legislation.
Referring to the dramatic situation of unemployment in Spain, Mgr Adolfo Gonzales-Montes (Spain, COMECE delegate) denounced “irresponsible and immoral political practices in Spain that led to sacrificing the younger generation” which is now hit by a 50% unemployment rate. He called on the EU to foster sound and truly effective measures to fight youth unemployment, and stressed the supporting role of EU funds, including the contribution of the EU in the area of youth policies.
In Romania, as in many Eastern European countries, families are challenged by the fact that one or both parents have to travel to work in Western Europe in order to support their families back home, explained Mgr Virgil Bercea (COMECE Vice-President). “This is causing many families to fall apart and children to grow up without one or both parents, which will create other problems for European society in the long run.” He called on the EU institutions to create specific mechanisms for countries such as Romania that will help them develop faster economically so they can provide opportunities for their own citizens. “These mechanisms should include transparency in how the public money is spent, guarantees for an independent justice system, eradication of corruption, protection of human rights and religious freedom.”
More than twenty senior representatives from Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions and from the Hindu and Bahá'í communities from all over Europe have been invited by the Commission.
Download the Speeches of:
-Mgr. Giovanni AMBROSIO, Bishop of Piacenza-Bobbio (Italy), COMECE Vice President
-Mgr. Virgil BERCEA, Bishop of Oradea Mare (Romania), COMECE Vice President
-Mgr. Adolfo GONZÁLEZ MONTES, Bishop of Almeria (Spain), COMECE Delegate
- Mgr. André-Joseph LEONARD, Archbishop of Malines-Bruxelles
Download the Programme of the Summit meeting and the list of participants
SHARED FROM COMECE
AFRICA : S SUDAN : ROBBERS BREAK IN - CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS
CISA NEWS REPORT:
MALAKAL, July 23 2012 (CISA) -Robbers broke into a
number of Catholic Church institutions last week in Malakal diocese, South Sudan
spreading fear and insecurity in the capital of Upper Nile state.
A church source told CRN that on the night of Tuesday and Wednesday, robbers broke into the Cathedral compound on Muduriya area and tried to assault the parish office and the priests’ house without success.
On the same night, there was a break-in at St Daniel Comboni Church but nothing was stolen.
On the night of Friday to Saturday robbers were particularly active in Malakal.
They raided the Comboni Sisters community, taking a laptop computer and mobile phones. They also tried to break into the Bishop’s House, but Monsignor Roko Taban shouted for help and the thieves ran away with some clothes.
On the same night, robbers broke into Christ the King parish compound, in Hai Malakal, stealing £80 from the youth office. They also took vase full of consecrated hosts from the Church.
The break-ins were reported to Malakal Police and its commissioner promised to investigate.
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
A church source told CRN that on the night of Tuesday and Wednesday, robbers broke into the Cathedral compound on Muduriya area and tried to assault the parish office and the priests’ house without success.
On the same night, there was a break-in at St Daniel Comboni Church but nothing was stolen.
On the night of Friday to Saturday robbers were particularly active in Malakal.
They raided the Comboni Sisters community, taking a laptop computer and mobile phones. They also tried to break into the Bishop’s House, but Monsignor Roko Taban shouted for help and the thieves ran away with some clothes.
On the same night, robbers broke into Christ the King parish compound, in Hai Malakal, stealing £80 from the youth office. They also took vase full of consecrated hosts from the Church.
The break-ins were reported to Malakal Police and its commissioner promised to investigate.
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE SATURDAY JULY 28, 2012
| Matthew
13: 24 - 30 | |
| 24 | Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; |
| 25 | but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. |
| 26 | So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. |
| 27 | And the servants of the householder came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?' |
| 28 | He said to them, `An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Then do you want us to go and gather them?' |
| 29 | But he said, `No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. |
| 30 | Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" |
TODAY'S SAINT: JULY 28: ST. SAMSON
St. Samson
BISHOP AND CONFESSOR
Feast: July 28
 Information:
|
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
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