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Thursday, December 6, 2012

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD : THURS. DEC. 6, 2012 - SHARE











VATICAN : FAIRY TALE GARDENS OF CASTELGANDOLFO AND OTHER NEWS 
CATHOLIC MOVIES - WATCH ST. JOHN BOSCO- PART 11
EUROPE : POLAND : PRAYER VIGIL FOR EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD
ASIA : PHILIPPINES : CATHOLIC GROUPS HELPING TYPHOON VICTIMS
AFRICA : SOUTH SUDAN : VIOLENCE CONTINUES
 TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : THURS. DEC. 6, 2012 
TODAY'S SAINT: DEC. 6: ST. NICHOLAS
(Vatican Radio IMAGE/SHARE)
HOLY SEE AND GERMANY REFLECT UPON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS
Vatican City, 6 December 2012 (VIS) - This morning in the Vatican Apostolic Palace the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Joachim Gauck, who subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., accompanied by Msgr. Ettore Balastrero, under secretary for Relations with States.
The discussions highlighted the cordial nature of bilateral relations; attention was given to the Christian view of the person, as well as to the challenges currently posed by globalisation and the secularisation of society.
This was followed by a fruitful exchange of opinions on the international situation and the current economic crisis, especially in relation to its consequences in Europe, and the contribution that the Catholic Church may offer.
THE GARDENS OF CASTELGANDOLFO INSPIRE A FAIRY TALE
Vatican City, 6 December 2012 (VIS) - On 11 December at the "Augustinianum" Patristic Institute the Vatican Publishing House will present a book by the Russian artist Natalia Tsarkova, "Il mistero di un piccolo stagno" ("The mystery of a little pond").
Msgr. Georg Ganswein, personal secretary to the Holy Father Benedict XVI, Professor Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, Saverio Petrillo, director of the Pontifical Villas at Castelgandolfo, and Fr. Giuseppe Costa S.D.B., director of the Vatican Publishing House, will participate in the presentation.
The author is the official portrait artist to the pontiff, and her book was inspired by a visit to the gardens of the apostolic palace at Castelgandolfo. According to a communique from the Vatican Publishing House, it is "a fairy tale which offers a message of love, faith and hope, especially to children".
In "Il mistero del piccolo stagno" is the author's first work in which she communicates using words as well as images.
AUDIENCES
Vatican City, 6 December 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in audience:
- Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, Spain.
- Archbishop Diego Causero, apostolic nuncio in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS
Vatican City, 6 December 2012 (VIS) - The Holy Father appointed:
- Fr. Rudolf Voderholzer of the clergy of Munich and Freising, Germany, as bishop of Regensburg (area 12,081, population 3,588,232, Catholics 1,772,434, priests 1,244, permanent deacons 243, religious 2,878), Germany.
The bishop-elect was born in Munich, Germany in 1959 and ordained a priest in 1987. He obtained his doctorate in dogmatic theology from the University of Munich in 1997, and in 2004 became president of the Department of Faith and Science of Religions and Philosophy of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Since 2005 he has been professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Trier, Germany, and since 2008, director of the "Pope Benedict XVI" Institute at Regensburg.
- Bishop Murray Chatlain of Mackenzie-Fort Smith as archbishop of Keewatin-Le Pas (area 430,000, population 123,900, Catholics 46,490, priests 14, religious 18), Canada, and as apostolic administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the diocese of Mackenzie Fort-Smith.
IN MEMORIAM
Vatican City, 6 December 2012 (VIS) - The following prelates died in recent weeks:
- Bishop Pedro N. Bantigue, emeritus of San Pablo, Philippines on 20 November at the age of 92.
- Bishop Jose Song Sui-Wan S.D.B., emeritus of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira, Brazil on 13 November at the age of 71.

CATHOLIC MOVIES - WATCH ST. JOHN BOSCO- PART 11

EUROPE : POLAND : PRAYER VIGIL FOR EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD

Agenzia Fides REPORT- About 500 people attended the vigil of prayer at the Shrine of Jasna Góra, in Poland, for the evangelization of the world (see Fides 30/11/2012), which was held on December 1. Thousands of people, including the sick, were able to join in this prayer through radio and television.
According to information sent to Fides Agency, during the appeal of Jasna Góra, Mgr. Tomas Atlas, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Poland, in response to the Holy Father's request for an intense prayer for the mission during the Year of Faith, prayed in order to obtain renewed zeal and a greater commitment in the Christian proclamation of the Good News in the contemporary world. He also underlined the need to support, materially and spiritually, our brothers and sisters in mission countries, so that they can get to know Jesus Christ, strengthen their faith and develop a local Church.
His Exc. Mgr. Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for the Health Pastoral Care, presided at the midnight Mass. In his homily he stressed the value of suffering in the life of the Church, especially for missionary service: "I was happy to learn that the sick and disabled were invited to participate in the vigil." He also noted that they constitute a particularly creative missionary activity of the Church.
The prayer for the evangelization of the world was accompanied by the testimonies of missionaries from different continents. The Vigil ended with the solemn act of entrustment of the missionary work of the Church to Our Lady of Jasna Góra. The Prayer Vigil in Jasna Gora, organized by the Pontifical Missionary Union on the occasion of the feast of St. Francis Xavier, started 22 years ago. For the first time group members of the Living Rosary and the sick participated in this year's event. (SL)

ASIA : PHILIPPINES : CATHOLIC GROUPS HELPING TYPHOON VICTIMS

UCAN REPORT
More than 200,000 people affected by Typhoon Bopha
Catholic Church News Image of
Rescuers carry a rubber boat on their way to help stranded residents in a village in Cagayan de Oro City
Five teams from the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) have gone to Mindanao to assess damage caused by Typhoon Bopha, which left at least 325 people dead and hundreds more missing as of today.
Rescuers continue to struggle to reach areas cut off by floods and mudslides brought about by heavy rains in the wake of the typhoon.
CRS will prioritize the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, which were among the areas worst hit by the disaster, the relief agency said in a statement.
"There is no electricity and poor communications in those provinces, and while some families have taken shelter in evacuation centers, others are sleeping outside," the organization said in an update today.
"Hardest hit were the coastal, farming and mining towns in the southern region of Mindanao, where Bopha caused severe flash flooding and landslides. Raging waters and mud from the mountains swept through school buildings, covered courts, town halls and health centers," it said.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the typhoon affected 231,630 people in 513 villages in 25 provinces. Of these, 179,169 people have sought shelter in 417 evacuation centers.
The government has already called for donations for victims.
"Filipino solidarity is at its most potent amidst testing times. We call on our countrymen to give generously for the relief and well-being of our brethren in the Visayas and Mindanao," a statement from the presidential palace said.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS

AFRICA : SOUTH SUDAN : VIOLENCE CONTINUES

Agenzia Fides REPORT- For more than a year there has been humanitarian emergency in South Sudan. War, epidemics, malnutrition are some of the scourges that the population faces every day. In July, an epidemiological survey conducted by the organization Doctors Without Borders (DWB) in the refugee camps near the border with Sudan, had highlighted a mortality rate twice the emergency threshold. Every day 5 children died. Today violence in Jonglei State also affect DWB structures impeding access to health care assistance to an already vulnerable population. In the report "South Sudan, a forgotten crisis. Violence against civilians is devastating communities and preventing access to life-saving treatment in Jonglei, " recently published, DWB operators highlight the devastating impact of violence on the lives and health of civilians in the State. Among the victims there are many women and children. Other clashes between a group of militia and south Sudanese armed forces have increased violence and caused a mass exodus during the peak of the malaria season. More than 50% of gunshot wounds treated by DWB after an attack in January 2012 had been inflicted on women and children. Entire communities have fled to save their lives in the woods. Without shelter, food or drinking water, they are vulnerable to malaria, pneumonia, malnutrition and diarrhea. (AP)

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : THURS. DEC. 6, 2012


Matthew 7:
21, 24 - 27

21 "Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
24 "Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;
25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26 And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;
27 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it."

TODAY'S SAINT: DEC. 6: ST. NICHOLAS

St. Nicholas
BISHOP, PATRON OF CHILDREN
Feast: December 6


Information:
Feast Day: December 6
Born: 270, Patara, Lycia
Died: 6 December 343, Myra, Lycia
Major Shrine: Basilica di San Nicola, Bari, Italy.
Patron of: Children, sailors, fishermen, merchants, the falsely accused, pawnbrokers, prostitutes, repentant thieves, many cities.

The great veneration with which this saint has been honoured, both in the Greek and Latin churches for many ages, and the great number of altars and churches which have been everywhere erected in his memory, are proofs of his extraordinary sanctity and of the glory which he enjoys with God. The Emperor Justinian built a church in his honour at Constantinople, in the quarter called Blaquernae, about the year 430, and he was titular saint of four churches in Constantanople. All accounts agree that he was a native of Patara, in Lycia. We are told that in his infancy he observed the fasts of Wednesdays and Fridays, refusing to suck the breasts on those days. Happy are they who, from their infancy and innocent age, are inured to the exercises of devotion, penance, and perfect obedience. St. Nicholas increased his fervour in these and all other virtues with his years, especially when he had devoted himself to a religious life in the monastery of Holy Sion, near Myra, of which house he was made abbot by the archbishop, its founder. Charity in comforting and relieving the distressed seemed his characteristical virtue. Amongst many other instances, it is related that when three young virgins were exposed through distress to the danger of falling into vicious courses, he, for three successive nights, conveyed to them through the window a competent sum of money for a fortune for one of them, so that they were all portioned and afterwards happily married. Lycia was a large ancient province of Asia, in which St. Paul had planted the faith. Myra, the capital, three miles from Patara and from the sea, was an archiepiscopal see, founded by St. Nicander, of so great dignity that in later ages, thirty-six suffragan bishoprics were subject to it. This metropolitan church falling vacant, the holy abbot Nicholas was chosen archbishop, and in that exalted station became famous by his extraordinary piety and zeal, and an incredible number of stupendous miracles. The Greek histories of his life agree that he suffered imprisonment for the faith, and made a glorious confession in the latter part of the persecution raised by Diocletian: and that he was present at the great council of Nice, and there condemned Arianism. The silence of other authors make many justly suspect these circumstances.
The history of the translation of his relics place his death in 342. He died at Myra and was buried in his own cathedral. The relics of St. Nicholas were kept with great honour at Myra, till they were translated into Italy. Certain merchants of Bari, a seaport in the kingdom of Naples situated on the Adriatic Gulf, sailed in three ships to the coast of Lycia; and watching an opportunity when no Mohammedans were near the place, went to the church in which the relics of St. Nicholas were kept, which stood in a desert place three miles from the sea, and was guarded by a small community of monks. They broke open the marble coffin in which the sacred bones lay, and carried them off to their ships; the inhabitants, upon the alarm given, pursued them to the shore with horrible outcries, but the Europeans were got safe on board. They landed at Bari on the 9th of May 1087, and the sacred treasure was deposited by the archbishop in the Church of St. Stephen. On the first day, thirty persons were cured of various distempers, imploring the intercession of St. Nicholas, and from that time the tomb of St. Nicholas of Bari has been famous for pilgrimages. The authentic history of this translation, written by John, at that time archdeacon of Bari, by order of the archbishop, is extant in Surius.

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