2013
Vatican Radio REPORT A Christian who constantly complains, fails to be a good Christian: they become whiners. Christians should endure their difficulties in silence, in patience to bear witness to the joy of Christ. This was the message at the heart of Pope Francis’ homily Tuesday morning, during Mass with staff from the Fabric of St. Peter.
Commenting on the first reading of the day, Acts chapter 16, Pope Francis said even in troubling times, Christians are full of joy and never sad, like Paul and Silas who were persecuted and imprisoned for witnessing to the Gospel. They were joyful, he said, because they followed Jesus in on the path of his passion. A path the Lord travelled with patience: "Being patient: that is the path that Jesus also teaches us Christians. Being patient ... This does not mean being sad. No, no, it's another thing! This means bearing, carrying the weight of difficulties, the weight of contradictions, the weight of tribulations on our shoulders. This Christian attitude of bearing up: of being patient. That which is described in the Bible by a Greek word, that is so complete, Hypomoné, in life bearing ever day tasks; contradictions; tribulations, all of this. These - Paul and Silas - bear their tribulations, endure the humiliation: Jesus bore them, he was patience. This is a process - allow me this word 'process' - a process of Christian maturity, through the path of patience. A process that takes some time, that you cannot undergo from one day to another: it evolves over a lifetime arriving at Christian maturity. It is like a good wine. " The Pope recalled that so many martyrs were joyful, such as the martyrs of Nagasaki who helped each other, as they "waited for the moment of death." Pope Francis recalled it was of some martyrs that "they went to martyrdom" as if they were going to a "wedding party". This attitude of endurance, he added, is a Christian’s normal attitude, but it is not a masochistic attitude. It is an attitude that leads them "along the path of Jesus": "When the difficulties arrive, so do temptations. For example, the complaint: 'Look what I have to deal with ... a complaint. And a Christian who constantly complains, fails to be a good Christian: they become Mr. or Mrs. Whiner, no? Because they always complain about everything, right? Silence in endurance, silence in patience. That silence of Jesus: Jesus in His Passion did not speak much, only two or three necessary words ... But it is not a sad silence: the silence of bearing the Cross is not a sad silence. It is painful, often very painful, but it is not sad. The heart is at peace. Paul and Silas were praying in peace. They were in pain, because then it is said that the jailer washed their wounds while they were in prison – they had wounds - but endured in peace. This journey of endurance helps us deepen Christian peace, it makes us stronger in Jesus. " Thus, concluded Pope Francis, a Christian is called to endure their troubles just like Jesus, "without complaint, endure in peace." This patience, “renews our youth and makes us younger". "The patient is the one that, in the long run, is younger! Just think of those elderly people in the hospices, those who have endured so much in life: Look at their eyes, young eyes, they have a youthful spirit and a renewed youth. And the Lord invites us to this: to be rejuvenated Easter people on a journey of love, patience, enduring our tribulations and also - I would say – putting up with one another. We must also do this with charity and love, because if I have to put up with you, I'm sure you will put up with me and in this way we will move forward on our journey on the path of Jesus. Let us ask the Lord for the grace of Christian endurance that gives us peace, this bearing things with a good heart, this joyful bearing to become younger and younger, like good wine: younger with this renewed Easter youth of the spirit. So be it. "
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
SCHEDULE OF POPE'S TRIP TO RIO DE JANEIRO FOR WORLD YOUTH DAY
Vatican City, 7 May 2013 (VIS) – Pope Francis will make an apostolic trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 22 to 29 July of this year on the occasion of the 28th World Youth Day (WYD).
The Pope will depart from Rome's Ciampino Airport at 8:45am on 22 July and will arrive in Rio de Janeiro around 4:00pm (local time). The welcoming ceremony will take place an hour later in the gardens of the Guanabara Palace, seat of the state's government, where the Pope will be received by the president of the Brazilian Republic.
Until Wednesday, 24 July, the Holy Father will reside at the Sumare Residence in Rio de Janeiro. That morning, at 8:15am he will travel by helicopter to the Shrine of our Lady of Aparecida where he will celebrate Mass. After lunching with the bishops and seminarians of the province at the Bom Jesus Missionary Seminary, he will return to Rio de Janeiro by helicopter. That evening he will visit the St. Francis of Assisi of the Providence of God Hospital.
On Thursday, 25 July, the Pope will receive the keys to the city of Rio de Janeiro and will bless the Olympic flags at the City Palace. That same morning he will visit a community in Varginha (in the Manguinhos neighbourhood of north Rio de Janeiro). That evening there will be a welcoming ceremony by the youth along the Copacabana beachfront.
On Friday, 26 July, the Pope will hear the confession of some youth participating in the WYD at the Quinta da Boa Vista Park at 10:00am. At 11:30am he will meet with some juvenile detainees in the St. Joaquim Palace of the Archbishop. From the central balcony of that palace, the Pope will pray the Angelus at noon. At 12:15pm he will greet the organization committee and patrons of the 28th WYD and then will have lunch, still at the Archbishop's Palace, with a group of youth. At 6:00pm a Via Crucis will be held with the youth along the Copacabana beachfront.
On Saturday, 27 July, the 28th WYD will open with Mass celebrated with the bishops and with priests, religious, and seminarians in Rio de Janeiro's St. Sebastian Cathedral. After that, the Pope will meet with Brazil's leaders at the Municipal Theatre. Upon that meeting's conclusion he will have lunch with Brazil's cardinals, the presidency of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil, bishops from the region, and the papal entourage in the refectory of the Sumare Study Centre. At 7:30 pm a prayer vigil will be held with the youth at the Campus Fidei of Guaratiba.
On Sunday, 28 July, the Pope will celebrate Mass for the 28th WYD at the Campus Fidei. That afternoon he will meet with CELAM's (the Latin American Episcopal Council) coordination committee at the Sumare Study Centre. The Holy Father will leave Sumare shortly before 5:00pm to meet with the WYD volunteers and, at 6:30pm, the pontiff's farewell ceremony will take place at the Galeao–Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport. The Pope will take off from Rio de Janeiro at 7:00pm and his plane will land in Rome on Monday, 29 July, at around 11:30am.
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| PRESS OFFICE COMMUNIQUE ON COLLABORATION BETWEEN CONGREGATION FOR DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH AND CONGREGATION FOR INSTITUTES OF CONSECRATED LIFE Vatican City, 7 May 2013 (VIS) – “The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life have for some time been collaborating on a renewed theological vision of Religious Life in the Church. The concern of the Holy See, expressed partially in the Doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States, is motivated by a desire to support the noble and beautiful vocation of Religious so that the eloquent witness of Religious Life may prosper in the Church to the benefit of future generations.” “The initiatives of the Holy See in this area are concerned primarily with the faith of the Church and its expression in Religious Life. The Church’s faith—in the loving plan of the Father who sent his Son to be our Saviour, in the inspiration of Sacred Scripture, in the gift of grace through the Sacraments, in the nature of the Church guided by the Holy Spirit—this faith is at the heart of the Evangelical Counsels. It motivates the passion for justice shared by so many Religious women and men, and it seeks ever to be expressed in active charity towards those most in need.” “Recent media commentary on remarks made on Sunday, 5 May, during the General Assembly of the International Union of Superiors General by Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, has suggested a divergence between the CDF and the Congregation for Religious in their approach to the renewal of Religious Life. Such an interpretation of the cardinal’s remarks is not justified. The prefects of these two Congregations work closely together according to their specific responsibilities and have collaborated throughout the process of the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR. Archbishop Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Braz de Aviz met yesterday and reaffirmed their common commitment to the renewal of Religious Life, and particularly to the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR and the program of reform it requires, in accordance with the wishes of the Holy Father.” |
| TELEGRAM ON DEATH OF SENATOR GIULIO ANDREOTTI Vatican City, 7 May 2013 (VIS) - Today, Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., sent a telegram of condolence on behalf of the Holy Father to Livia Danese Andreotti, widow of Senator Giulio Andreotti who died yesterday at the age of 94. “Having learned the news of the death, at the end of a long and fruitful life, of your beloved husband, Senator Giulio Andreotti, I would like to express to you and your family my heartfelt participation in your mourning for the loss of such an authoritative protagonist in Italian political life, such a valued servant of institutions, such a man of faith and devout son of the Church. I assure you of his fervent remembrance in my prayers and I invoke the comfort of Christian hope for all who are mourning his demise.” |
| OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS Vatican City, 7 May 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father: - appointed Fr. Denis Nulty as bishop of Kildare and Leighlin (area 4,170, population 255,400, Catholics 239,400, priests 171, religious 369), Ireland. The bishop-elect was born in Slane, County Meath, Ireland in 1963 and was ordained a priest in 1988. Since election he has served in several pastoral and administrative roles, most recently as vicar forane for the Duleek Deanery, chairperson of the Council of Priests in the Diocese of Meath, and pastor of St. Mary's a Drogheda. - appointed Fr. Antoine Kambanda as the bishop of Kibungo (area 2,670, population 1,047,000, Catholics 505,000, priests 59, religious 117), Rwanda. The bishop-elect was born in the Archdiocese of Kigali in 1958 and was ordained a priest in 1990 by Blessed John Paul II on the occasion of his pastoral visit to Rwanda. Since his ordination he has served in several academic, pastoral, and administrative roles, including: director of Caritas in the Diocese of Kigali; director of the Diocesan Commission on Justice and Peace; professor of Moral Theology in the Major Seminary of Nyakibanda, Butare; and spiritual director of the Major Seminary of Rutongo, Kigali. Most recently, since 2006, he has served as rector of the St. Charles of Nyakibanda Major Seminary in the Diocese of Butare. |
EASTER CELEBRATED BY OVER 4 MILLION ORTHODOX IN RUSSIA
ASIA NEWS REPORT
The Saturday liturgy at Cathedral of Christ the Savior attended by Putin and Medvedev. Patriarch Kirill prays for peace in the Holy Land.
Moscow (AsiaNews) - More than 4 million Orthodox believers took part in the Easter Vigil liturgy May 4 in Moscow, celebrated in more than 10 thousand churches and monasteries scattered throughout the territory of the Russian capital. Between 4 and 5 May, when the Orthodox Easter fell this year, over 70 thousand police officers and soldiers were deployed in the capital to ensure order and security, it was reported by the Ministry of the Interior.
"Easter gives millions of people joy and hope and inspires good actions and intentions," reads the message to the faithful released by the Kremlin. "It directs people to long-standing spiritual values that have played a special role in Russian history and nourish the national culture," adds the message.
The President, Vladimir Putin, together with Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, and the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, participated in the Easter Vigil in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, celebrated by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill. "I want to thank you for your work and the great personal contribution to preserve social peace and harmony among ethnic groups and religions," Interfax news agency reported Putin saying in an address to the Patriarch.
Shortly before Easter, Kirill himself had sent his message to all the dioceses, inviting the faithful to "embrace this feast, which is the celebration of victory and freedom." "Life without Christ is slavery. It is He who has freed us from darkness," said the Orthodox leader in his televised Easter address.
During the Saturday liturgy, the Patriarch also prayed for peace in the Holy Land and urged everyone to intensify their prayers to pray for peace in the Middle East, said the spokesman of the Patriarchate, the proto-deacon Aleksandr Volkov. (N.A.)
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
The Saturday liturgy at Cathedral of Christ the Savior attended by Putin and Medvedev. Patriarch Kirill prays for peace in the Holy Land.
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Moscow (AsiaNews) - More than 4 million Orthodox believers took part in the Easter Vigil liturgy May 4 in Moscow, celebrated in more than 10 thousand churches and monasteries scattered throughout the territory of the Russian capital. Between 4 and 5 May, when the Orthodox Easter fell this year, over 70 thousand police officers and soldiers were deployed in the capital to ensure order and security, it was reported by the Ministry of the Interior.
"Easter gives millions of people joy and hope and inspires good actions and intentions," reads the message to the faithful released by the Kremlin. "It directs people to long-standing spiritual values that have played a special role in Russian history and nourish the national culture," adds the message.
The President, Vladimir Putin, together with Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev, and the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, participated in the Easter Vigil in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, celebrated by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill. "I want to thank you for your work and the great personal contribution to preserve social peace and harmony among ethnic groups and religions," Interfax news agency reported Putin saying in an address to the Patriarch.
Shortly before Easter, Kirill himself had sent his message to all the dioceses, inviting the faithful to "embrace this feast, which is the celebration of victory and freedom." "Life without Christ is slavery. It is He who has freed us from darkness," said the Orthodox leader in his televised Easter address.
During the Saturday liturgy, the Patriarch also prayed for peace in the Holy Land and urged everyone to intensify their prayers to pray for peace in the Middle East, said the spokesman of the Patriarchate, the proto-deacon Aleksandr Volkov. (N.A.)
SHARED FROM ASIA NEWS IT
CARDINAL O'BRIEN TOLD BY VATICAN TO LEAVE COUNTRY IN SCOTLAND
UCAN REPORT
(Picture: Herald Scotland)
Friends of O'Brien allege the order came from the Vatican
(Picture: Herald Scotland)- Gerry Braiden for Herald Scotland
- United Kingdom
- CARDINAL Keith O'Brien has been told by the Vatican to leave the UK amid concerns of wreaking further damage on the Catholic Church in Scotland.
Friends of the cleric have said he has been told by Rome to shelve his plans to retire to a church-owned cottage in East Lothian and instead leave the country.
The Herald understands Cardinal O'Brien was given the news yesterday afternoon [on Friday May 3], three days after being photographed moving his personal belongings from his official residence in Edinburgh to the residence in Dunbar where he had been spending regular weekends over the past few years.
Friends of the cleric have said he has been told by Rome to shelve his plans to retire to a church-owned cottage in East Lothian and instead leave the country.
The parish priest in Dunbar, Canon John Creanor, is understood to have voiced upset at the Vatican's move against his "dear friend".
It is the clearest indication yet of the Vatican's unwillingness to let the matter drift and concern that the Cardinal's admission of gay activity over decades and allegations of abuse towards trainee priests continues to damage the Church.
Investigations also continue into claims made by a serving priest in Lanarkshire of a "gay mafia" running seminaries in the 1980s and naming leading Catholic figures.
The Herald revealed on Thursday Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia was behind an appeal to the Vatican to intervene after Cardinal O'Brien's re-emergence in Scotland this week.
Cardinal O'Brien remains the only cardinal in Britain and Scotland's most senior Catholic churchman, leaving UK clergy powerless to act. However, he is not without support. One source last night said: "The cardinal has been advised not to relocate to the parish in Dunbar and has been told he should leave the country. That's extremely disappointing and not a Christian way to treat someone. There's clearly pressure from within and outwith the Church and no show of unity.
"People expect some sort of jail sentence for Keith O'Brien or at least a desire to see him retired to monastic life. It would certainly be convenient for them. Personally, I find it an atrocious way to treat someone who has been facing up to their responsibilities."
A recent petition organised by the parishioners of Our Lady of The Waves in Dunbar saw more than 90% of those attending the Saturday vigil and Sunday mass signing a statement declaring "our support and affection for Cardinal Keith O'Brien".
But, while leading historian Professor Tom Devine said the cardinal should be left alone, senior figures in the Church said he was "still causing immense damage".
Yesterday, Cardinal O'Brien, 75, was reported to have admitted the scandal had been difficult and humbling. The former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh was forced by Pope Benedict XVI to retire after admitting "inappropriate behaviour" with four priests and a seminarian.
He was quoted as saying: "I'm just trying to do my best to live a good Christian life myself now. Many people have been helping me to go back on the right path and that's what I have to do. But I haven't always managed to live that in my own life.
"I have been supported by many good Christian people and many people of no religion at all who realise I have said sorry for anyone I have offended. If Christianity is about anything at all, it's about forgiveness. That's what I have to do as a cardinal priest – just forgive the wrongdoer and help them go back on to the right path.
"It's been quite a difficult, quite a humbling experience for me. It's very difficult for them [the men whose complaints led to his retirement]. That is why I have apologised for being a teacher who has not been able to live up to the teaching of the Church.
"We know what's against God's law. Consequently, we should try to live by God's law. I've apologised for my failures in that respect."
Asked about any Vatican investigation, he said: "It's up to those who are responsible in Rome for me to answer that sort of question."
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
BISHOPS MESSAGE TO REJECT EUTHANASIA BILL IN AUSTRALIA
Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
7 May 2013
7 May 2013
Compassion is not expressed by killing those who are suffering
Dignity is not served by telling the old and dying, through laws, that they would be better off dead.
That is the strong message the Catholic Bishops of NSW have sent to all the State's parliamentarians following the introduction of the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill 2013 into the Upper House last week which would legalise euthanasia in this State.
While supporters of the Bill claim it is all about "compassionate death", the Bishops say compassion is not expressed by killing those who are suffering.
True compassion should drive us to do all we can to express people's pain, loneliness or fear.
The Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill was introduced by Greens MP Cate Faehrmann and it calls for voluntary assisted suicide for the terminally ill.
The NSW Bishops' letter follows a call last week by the Hon Greg Donnelly MLC to all Australians to write to every member of the State's Legislative Council calling on them to reject "the Greens Culture of Death".
The Bishops of NSW are convinced more positive ways of dealing with terminal illness can be found other than offering lethal injections to already vulnerable people.
For the full message from the Catholic Bishops of NSW click here
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY
TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : TUES. MAY 7, 2013
John 16: 5 - 11
5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?'6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.7Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.8And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:9concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;10concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more;11concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
5But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?'6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.7Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.8And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:9concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;10concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more;11concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
TODAY'S SAINT : MAY 7 : ST. JOHN OF BEVERLEY
St. John of Beverley
BISHOP
Feast: May 7
 Information:
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This illustrious saint was born at Harpham, a village in the province of the Deiri, which comprised Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the rest of the kingdom of the Northumbers, on the south side of the Tyne; what lay beyond it being called Bernicia.
An earnest desire of qualifying himself for the service of God drew him young into Kent, where he made great progress in learning and piety, in the famous school of St. Theodorus, the archbishop, under the direction of the holy abbot Adrian.
Afterwards returning into his own country, he pursued the exercises of piety in the monastery of men under St. Hilda at Whithy; till in the beginning of the reign of king Alfred, upon the death of Eata, he was made bishop of Hagulstad, or Hexam. What time he had to spare from his functions he consecrated to heavenly contemplation; retiring for that purpose into the churchyard of St. Michael's, beyond the river Tyne, about a mile and a half from Hagulstad, especially during the forty days of Lent. He was accustomed to take with him some poor person, whom he served during that time.
Once in the beginning of a Lent, he took with him a dumb youth, who never had been able to utter one word, and whose head was covered with hideous scabs and scales, without any hair. The saint caused a mansion to be built for this sick youth within his enclosure, and often admitted him into his own cell. On the second Sunday he made the sign of the cross upon his tongue, and loosed it. Then. he taught him to say
Moreover, by the saint's blessing the remedies prescribed by a physician whom he employed, his head was entirely healed, and became covered with hair. When St. Wilfred returned from banishment, St. John yielded up to him the see of Hagulstad: but some time after, upon the death of Bosa, a man of great sanctity and humility, as Bede testifies, he was placed in the archiepiscopal chair of York. Venerable Bede, who received the holy orders of deacon and priest at his hands, gives ample testimony to his sanctity; and relates the instantaneous cure of the sick wife of a neighboring thane or lord, by holy water, and several other miracles performed by him, from the testimony of Bercthun, abbot of Beverley, and Herebald, abbot of Tinmouth, who had been eye-witnesses to several of them. St. John made frequent retirement his delight, to renew thereby his spirit of devotion, lest the dissipation of exterior employs should extinguish it.
He chose for his retreat a monastery which he had built at Beverley, then a forest, now a market-town, twenty-seven miles from York. This monastery, according to the custom of those times, he erected for the use of both sexes, and put it under the government of his disciple, Bercthun, or Brithun, first abbot of Beverley, then called Endeirwood, or wood of the Deiri. In 717, being much broken with age and fatigues, he resigned his bishopric to his chaplain, St. Wilfrid the, younger, and having ordained him bishop of York, he retired to Beverley, where he spent the remaining four years of his life in the punctual performance of all monastic duties. He died there the death of the just, on the 7th of May, 721. His successor governed the see of York fifteen years, was a great lover of the beauty of God's house and is named among the saints, April the 29th. The monastery of Beverley having been destroyed by the Danes, king Athelstan, who had obtained a great victory over the Scots by the intercession of St. John, founded in his honor, in the same place, a rich collegiate church of canons.
King Henry V. attributed to the intercession of this saint the glorious victory of Agincourt, on which occasion a synod, in 1416, ordered his festival to be solemnly kept over all England. Henschenius the Bollandist, in the second tome of May, has published four books of the miracles wrought at the relics of Saint John of Beverley, written by eye-witnesses. His sacred bones were honorably translated into the church by Alfric, archbishop of York, in 1037: a feast in honor of which translation was kept at York on the 25th of October.
On the 13th of September, (not the 24th, as Mr. Stevens says,) in 1664, the sexton, digging a grave in the church of Beverley, discovered a vault of freestone, in which was a box of lead, containing several pieces of bones, with some dust, yielding a sweet smell; with inscriptions, by which it appeared that these were the mortal remains of St. John of Beverley, as we read in Dugdale's History of the Collegiate Church of Beverley, who has transcribed them, p. 57. These relics had been hid in the beginning of the reign of king Edward VI. Dugdale and Stevens testify, that they were all reinterred in the middle-alley of the same church.
Alcuin had an extraordinary devotion to St. John of Beverley, and in his poem on the saints of York, published by Thomas Gale gives a long history of the miracles wrought by him from verse 1085 to 1215. Rabanus Maurus has placed Alcuin in his Martyrology on the 19th of May, and Henschenius on that day gives his life, and mentions several private Martyrologies in which his name is found, though he has never been anywhere honored in the office of the church.
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source: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/J/stjohnofbeverley.asp#ixzz1uEl8sX85
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