CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD : THURS. FEB. 7, 2013 - SHARE

VATICAN : POPE : UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD IN SACRED SCRIPTURE AND OTHER NEWS CATHOLIC MOVIES - WATCH THE MOTHER TERESA - PART 4 AMERICA : BOLIVIA : TALLEST STATUE OF OUR LADY EUROPE : SCOTLAND : YEAR OF FAITH ROSARY CAMPAIGN AFRICA : KENYA : CARDINAL - LIVE CONSECRATED LIFE TO FULLEST TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : THURS. FEB. 7, 2013 TODAY'S SAINT : FEB. 7: ST. COLETTE OF CORBIE POPE: HUMAN INTELLIGENCE CAN FIND KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD IN SACRED SCRIPTURE Vatican City, 6 February 2013 (VIS) – Continuing his catechesis on the symbol of Christian faith, the Holy Father's General Audience today focused on the phrase “Creator of heaven and earth”, explained in light of the first chapter of Genesis. “God,” the Pope said, “is the source of all things and the beauty of creation reveals the omnipotence of the loving Father. As the origin of life … He cares for what has He has created with unceasing love and faithfulness. Creation, therefore, becomes the place in which to know God's omnipotence and goodness and becomes a call to faith for believers so that we might proclaim God as Creator. … In the light of faith, human intelligence can find the key to understanding the world In Sacred Scripture. Particularly … in the first chapter of Genesis, with the solemn presentation of divine creative action … The phrase 'and God saw it was good' is repeated six times. … Everything God creates is good, and beautiful, full of wisdom and love. God's creative action brings order and infuses harmony and beauty into it. In the story of Genesis, it later says that the Lord created with His word and ten times in the text the phrase 'God said' is repeated... Life springs forth, the world exists, so that everything might obey the Word of God.” “But does it still make sense to talk about creation,” the Pope wondered, “in this age of science and technology? The Bible isn't intended to be a natural science manual. Its intention is to reveal the authentic and profound truth of things. The fundamental truth revealed in the stories of Genesis is that the world isn't a collection of opposing forces, but has its origin and stability in the Logos, in God's eternal reason, which continues to sustain the universe. There is a plan for the world that springs from this reason, from the Creator Spirit.” “Men and women, human beings, the only ones capable of knowing and loving the Creator,” are the apex of all creation. “The creation stories in Genesis … help us to know God's plan for humanity. First, they say that God formed man out of the clay of the ground. … This means that we are not God; we have not made ourselves; we are clay. But it also means that we come from the good earth by an act of the Creator. … Beyond any cultural and historical distinctions, beyond any social difference, we are one humanity, formed from the one earth of God who … blew the breath of life into the body He formed from the earth. … The human being is made in the image and likeness of God. … We carry within us His life-giving breath and all human life is under God's special protection. This is the deepest reason for the inviolability of human dignity against any temptation to judge the person according to criteria of utility or power.” In the first chapters of Genesis, “there are two significant images: the garden with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the serpent. The garden tells us that the reality that God has placed the human being within is not a savage forest, but a place that protects, nourishes, and sustains. Humanity must recognize the world, not as property to plunder and exploit, but as a gift from the Creator … to cultivate and care for respectfully, following its rhythms and logic, in accordance with God's plan. The serpent is a figure derived from oriental fertility cults that fascinated Israel and that were a constant temptation to forsake the mysterious covenant with God.” That is why, “the serpent raised the suspicion that the covenant with God was a chain that … took away freedom and the most beautiful and precious things in life. The temptation becomes the building of a world of one's own without accepting the limits of being a creature, the limits of good and evil, of morality. Dependence on the love of God the Creator is seen as a burden to be overthrown. … But when our relationship with God is distorted, when we put ourselves in His place, all our other relationships are altered. Then the other becomes a rival, a threat. Adam, after have succumbed to temptation, immediately accuses Eve. … The world is no longer the garden in which to live in harmony, but a place to exploit, one in which … envy and hatred of the other enter into our hearts.” The Pope emphasized one last element of the creation stories. “Sin begets sin and all the sins of history are related. This aspect leads us to speak of what is called 'original sin'. What is the meaning of this reality, which is so difficult to understand? … First, we must keep in mind that no person is closed in upon themselves. … We receive life from others, not only at birth, but every day. The human being is relational: I am only myself in you and through you, in the loving relationship with the You of God and the you of the other. Sin alters or destroys our relationship with God … taking the place of God … Once that fundamental relationship is altered, our other relationships are also compromised or destroyed. Sin ruins everything. Now, if the relational structure of humanity is altered from the beginning, all humans enter the world characterized by the alteration of that relationship; we enter into the world changed by sin, which marks us personally. The initial sin disrupts and damages human nature. … And humanity cannot get out of this situation alone, cannot redeem itself. Only the creator can restore the correct relationships. … This takes place in Jesus Christ follows the exact opposite path of Adam. … While Adam does not recognize his being as a creature and wants to supplant the place of God, Jesus, the Son of God is in perfect filial relation to the Father. He lowers himself, becomes a servant, walks the path of love, humbling himself even to death on the cross in order to restore the relationship with God. Christ's Cross becomes the new Tree of Life.” “Living by faith,” Benedict XVI concluded, “means acknowledging God's greatness and accepting our smallness, our creatureliness, letting God fill us with His love. Evil, with its burden of pain and suffering, is a mystery that is illuminated by the light of faith, giving us the certainty of being able to be freed from it.”

BENEDICT XVI'S PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR FEBRUARY Vatican City, 6 February 2013 (VIS) - Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for February is: "That migrant families, especially the mothers, may be supported and accompanied in their difficulties". His mission intention is: "That the peoples at war and in conflict may lead the way in building a peaceful future"..

AUDIENCES Vatican City, 6 February 2013 (VIS) – After today’s General Audience, the Holy Father met with participants in the general assembly of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo.

OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS Vatican City, 6 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father: - elevated the territorial prelature of Cameta, Brazil, to the rank of diocese. He appointed Bishop Jesus Maria Cizaurre Berdonces, O.A.R., prelate of Cameta, as first bishop of the new diocese. - appointed Fr. Valdir Mamede as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Brasilia (area 5,814, population 2,246,000, Catholics 1,541,000, priests 320, permanent deacons 69, religious 674), Brazil. The bishop-elect was born in Silvianopolis, Brazil and was ordained to the priesthood in 1988. He has served as pastor in several Brazilian parishes, most recently Imaculado Coracao de Maria, and was also judicial vicar of the archdiocese.

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AMERICA : BOLIVIA : TALLEST STATUE OF OUR LADY

ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE RELEASE

Bolivia unveils world's largest statue of Our Lady

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Tueday 5 February 2012

ARCHDIOCESE OF MELBOURNE RELEASE

THE largest statue of the Virgin Mary in the world, dedicated to Our Lady of Socavon, was inaugurated at a Friday 1 February ceremony in the city of Oruro, Bolivia.

Rolando Rocha, the lead sculptor for the project, told reporters that more than simply “a work of engineering and art,” the monument “is an act of faith that strengthens our traditions.”

Towering at 149 feet, the statue is located on a 12,000-foot mountain south of La Paz, the country’s second largest city. It stands 22 feet taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue atop Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The statue’s unveiling ceremony was attended by both Bolivian president Evo Morales and Oruro mayor Rossio Pimentel.

Our Lady of Socavon is the patroness of miners. The original statue is kept at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Socavon in the city of Oruro.

The presentation of the $1.2 million statue also marked the beginning of Carnaval in Orugo. The city’s festival is the only Carnaval celebration that includes a dance in honor of the Virgin Mary.

As residents of Oruro prepared for the annual candlelight procession to the Shrine of Socavon, Bishop Cristobal Bialasik issued a letter inviting those along the procession route to decorate their homes with sacred images and to listen to the diocesan broadcast of the event.

The closing procession, which took place on the evening of Sunday 3 February, featured nearly 50 dancers making their way to the shrine, where they asked the Virgin Mary for her intercession.

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EUROPE : SCOTLAND : YEAR OF FAITH ROSARY CAMPAIGN

IND. CATH. NEWS REPORT

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Scotland’s biggest and most colourful rosary will be blessed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien on Friday 8 February 2013, as Mission Matters Scotland launches its Year of Faith Mission Rosary campaign at Cardinal Newman High School, Bellshill. The colourful, giant, five-decade Rosary, around four feet in diameter, has beads the size of tennis balls and a crucifix two feet high. It was made by staff and pupils at the North Lanarkshire secondary school as a large-scale copy of over 100,000, normal- size Mission Rosaries being sent out by Mission Matters Scotland to parishes and Catholic schools, to reintroduce the rosary as a form of daily prayer across the country. The rosaries are accompanied with easy-to -follow instruction cards for both adults and school pupils and represent Scotland’s contribution to a world-wide campaign of prayer organised by Pontifical Mission Societies and centred on the Mission Rosary. Father Tom Welsh, director of Coatbridge-based Mission Matters Scotland, which sends money collected in this country to Rome for distribution to missions across the world, said: “The Mission Rosary, which has different coloured decades, representing each of the five continents of the world, is an ideal way to raise the prayer life of Scotland and to remind people of the importance of the missions. In this Year of Faith, when the Catholic Church is reaching out through its new evangelisation, it’s a simple and ideal way of re-introducing the Rosary to Scotland at a time when the country and the world need prayer, and the benefits it brings, both at home and on the missions, as never before.” The campaign has the backing of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. He said: “This new Rosary Campaign encourages families and schools to rediscover the great prayer of the Rosary, and opens minds and hearts to the work of missionaries overseas. The Bishops are delighted to support it as a real fruit of the Year of Faith.” Cardinal Keith O’Brien said: “I am very pleased to have been invited to bless this giant rosary and copies of the small ones now being sent out to schools and parishes across Scotland. We are all called to prayer and this campaign fits in well with Mission Matters Scotland, which follows the great and proud tradition that we have as a nation of missionary work, when it invites us to pray a little every day, both for this country and for the missions.” Cardinal Newman High School head teacher Isabelle Boyd said: “We are very pleased to help launch this Rosary campaign as we have a great Rosary tradition in the school with Rosary prayed by pupils and staff every Friday in our oratory at lunchtime. We see this as a great opportunity to boost the awareness of this accessible and easy-to-say form of prayer further among pupils, staff and parents in this Year of Faith.” Source: SCMO

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AFRICA : KENYA : CARDINAL - LIVE CONSECRATED LIFE TO FULLEST

CISA NEWS REPORT

NAIROBI, February 05, 2013 (CISA) -John Cardinal Njue has urged the Catholic religious men and women to live their consecrated life to its fullest
“It is not a simple one, but we have got to prove that with God’s guidance, everything is possible,” he emphasized on February 02.
The cardinal said this while marking this year’s (2013) World Day of Consecrated life which is set aside by the Catholic Church to offer prayers for both religious men and women, world-wide.
The Mass, concelebrated by Archbishop emeritus John Njenga of Mombasa Archdiocese and Auxiliary Bishop David Kamau of Nairobi Archdiocese, was held at Nairobi’s Holy Family Minor Basilica.
It was attended by hundreds of Catholics, among them the clergy and religious women of various Orders and Congregations.
The Cardinal described religious life as a gift from God.
“God expects those of us in this life to live it to the fullest. One of the possible outcomes is that the lay people in the Church would emulate us,” stressed the Cardinal.
Meanwhile the Cardinal launched the 2013 Pastoral Guidelines for the Archdiocese Nairobi during the occasion.
The Cardinal has observed in the preface of the booklet (pastoral guidelines) that, “These guidelines are for us all. Their aim is to present essential interior values for our faith and lifestyle that serves as a witness also for non-Christians since our mission is to evangelize.”
He urged the clergy and religious men and women to assist the faithful understand and follow these pastoral guidelines.
“They are rich enough. They need to be understood and followed by all in the Catholic faith,” emphasized the Cardinal.
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TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : THURS. FEB. 7, 2013

Mark 6: 7 - 13
7	And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
8	He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
9	but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.
10	And he said to them, "Where you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.
11	And if any place will not receive you and they refuse to hear you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet for a testimony against them."
12	So they went out and preached that men should repent.
13	And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them.

TODAY'S SAINT : FEB. 7: ST. COLETTE OF CORBIE

St. Colette of Corbie

FOUNDRESS OF THE COLETTINE POOR CLARES

Feast: February 7

Information: Feast Day: February 7 or March 6 Born: 13 January 1381, at Corbie in Picardy, France Died: 6 March 1447, Ghent Canonized: 24 May 1807

Founder of Colettine Poor Clares (Clarisses), born 13 January 1381, at Corbie in Picardy, France; died at Ghent, 6 March, 1447. Her father, Robert Boellet, was the carpenter of the famous Benedictine Abbey of Corbie; her mother's name was Marguerite Moyon. Colette joined successively the Bequines, the Benedictines, and the Urbanist Poor Clares. Later she lived for a while as a recluse. Having resolved to reform the Poor Clares, she turned to the antipope, Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna), then recognized by France as the rightful pope. Benedict allowed her to enter to the order of Poor Clares and empowered her by several Bulls, dated 1406, 1407, 1408, and 1412 to found new convents and complete the reform of the order. With the approval of the Countess of Geneva and the Franciscan Henri de la Beaume, her confessor and spiritual guide, Colette began her work at Beaume, in the Diocese of Geneva. She remained there but a short time and soon opened at Besancon her first convent in an almost abandoned house of Urbanist Poor Clares. Thence her reform spread to Auxonne (1410), to Poligny, to Ghent (1412), to Heidelberg (1444), to Amiens, etc. To the seventeen convents founded during her lifetime must be added another begun by her at Pont-a-Mousson in Lorraine. She also inaugurated a reform among the Franciscan friars (the Coletani), not to be confounded with the Observants. These Coletani remained obedient to the authority of the provincial of the Franciscan convents, and never attained much importance even in France. In 1448 they had only thirteen convents, and together with other small branches of the Franciscan Order were suppressed in 1417 by Leo X. In addition to the strict rules of the Poor Clares, the Colettines follow their special constitutions sanctioned in 1434 by the General of the Franciscans, William of Casale, approved in 1448 by Nicholas V, in 1458 by Pius II, and in 1482 by Sixtus IV. St. Colette was beatified 23 January, 1740, and canonized 24 May, 1807. She was not only a woman of sincere piety, but also intelligent and energetic, and exercised a remarkable moral power over all her associates. She was very austere and mortified in her life, for which God rewarded her by supernatural favours and the gift of miracles. For the convents reformed by her she prescribed extreme poverty, to go barefooted, and the observance of perpetual fast and abstinence. The Colettine Sisters are found today, outside of France, in Belgium, Germany, Spain, England, and the United States

source: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/C/stcoletteofcorbie.asp#ixzz1lkBI6YNp

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Scotland’s biggest and most colourful rosary will be blessed by Cardinal Keith O’Brien on Friday 8 February 2013, as Mission Matters Scotland launches its Year of Faith Mission Rosary campaign at Cardinal Newman High School, Bellshill. The colourful, giant, five-decade Rosary, around four feet in diameter, has beads the size of tennis balls and a crucifix two feet high. It was made by staff and pupils at the North Lanarkshire secondary school as a large-scale copy of over 100,000, normal- size Mission Rosaries being sent out by Mission Matters Scotland to parishes and Catholic schools, to reintroduce the rosary as a form of daily prayer across the country. The rosaries are accompanied with easy-to -follow instruction cards for both adults and school pupils and represent Scotland’s contribution to a world-wide campaign of prayer organised by Pontifical Mission Societies and centred on the Mission Rosary. Father Tom Welsh, director of Coatbridge-based Mission Matters Scotland, which sends money collected in this country to Rome for distribution to missions across the world, said: “The Mission Rosary, which has different coloured decades, representing each of the five continents of the world, is an ideal way to raise the prayer life of Scotland and to remind people of the importance of the missions. In this Year of Faith, when the Catholic Church is reaching out through its new evangelisation, it’s a simple and ideal way of re-introducing the Rosary to Scotland at a time when the country and the world need prayer, and the benefits it brings, both at home and on the missions, as never before.” The campaign has the backing of Archbishop Philip Tartaglia President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. He said: “This new Rosary Campaign encourages families and schools to rediscover the great prayer of the Rosary, and opens minds and hearts to the work of missionaries overseas. The Bishops are delighted to support it as a real fruit of the Year of Faith.” Cardinal Keith O’Brien said: “I am very pleased to have been invited to bless this giant rosary and copies of the small ones now being sent out to schools and parishes across Scotland. We are all called to prayer and this campaign fits in well with Mission Matters Scotland, which follows the great and proud tradition that we have as a nation of missionary work, when it invites us

CATHOLIC NEWS WORLD : WED. FEB. 6, 2013 -SHARE

VATICAN : POPE : EMERGING YOUTH CULTURES AND OTHER NEWS CATHOLIC MOVIES - WATCH THE MOTHER TERESA - PART 3 AFRICA : EGYPT : CHRISTIANS SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS OF PRISON   ASIA : INDONESIA : NUN AND 2 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD AUSTRALIA : CARDINAL AWARDS 3 CATHOLIC ACHIEVERS WITH PAPAL HONOR TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : WED. FEB. 6, 2013 TODAY'S SAINT : FEB. 6 : ST. PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS POPE: YOUTH CONDITIONS AND CULTURE, INESCAPABLE POINT OF REFERENCE FOR PASTORAL OUTREACH Vatican City, 7 June 2013 (VIS) – This morning, Benedict XVI received participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture, which has the theme of "Emerging Youth Cultures". The Pope expressed his hopes that their work will be fruitful and contribute to "the Church's work in the lives of young people, which is a complex and articulated reality that can no longer be understood from within a homogeneous cultural basis but only in a horizon … that is made up of a plurality of viewpoints, perspectives, and strategies." The Pope then spoke of the "widespread climate of instability" that is affecting the cultural, political, and economic areas?noting in the latter, the difficulty of young persons to find employment?and that has psychological and relational repercussions. "The uncertainty and fragility that characterize so many young people often pushes them to the margins, making them almost invisible and absent from society's cultural and historical processes. … The affective and emotional sphere, … strongly affected by this climate … gives birth to apparently contradictory phenomena like the spectacularization of private life and a narcissistic selfishness. Even the religious dimension, the experience of faith and membership in the Church are often lived from an individualistic and emotional perspective." "Nevertheless, positive data are not lacking, such as volunteering, "profound and sincere faith experiences, … the efforts undertaken, in many parts of the world, to build societies capable of respecting the freedom and dignity of others, beginning with the smallest and weakest. All of this," he emphasized, "consoles us and helps us to draw a more accurate and objective picture of youth cultures. We cannot, therefore, be content with reading the cultural phenomena of the youth according to consolidated paradigms, paradigms that have become cliches. Nor can we analyse them in ways that are no longer useful, that are based on outdated and inadequate cultural categories. Ultimately, we are facing a very complex but fascinating reality that must be thoroughly understood and loved with great empathy, a reality wherein we must pay very close attention to the bottom lines and to what is to come." The Pope referred to the youth of many Third World countries that, with their cultures and needs, represent "a challenge to the global consumer society and to the culture of established privileges, which benefit a small group of the population of the Western world. Consequently, youth cultures are also 'emerging', in the sense that they demonstrate a profound need, a cry for help, or even a 'provocation' that cannot be ignored or neglected either by civil society or by the ecclesial community." Benedict XVI repeated his concerns for the so-called "educational emergency", which accompanies the other emergencies affecting the different dimensions of the human person and our fundamental relationships "as the growing difficulties in the labour market or in the effort over time to be faithful to responsibilities assumed. From this would follow, for the future of the world and of all of humanity, a not merely economic and social impoverishment, but a human and spiritual one as well. If the young no longer hope or progress, if they don't put their energy, their vitality, and their capacity for anticipating the future into the dynamic of history, then we will find ourselves a humanity that is locked in itself, lacking confidence and a positive attitude toward the future." "Although we are aware of the many problematic situations, which also touch upon the spheres of faith and membership in the Church, we wish to renew our faith in the young and reaffirm that the Church looks to their condition and their cultures as an essential and inescapable reference point for pastoral outreach. … The Church has confidence in the young. She hopes in them and in their energy. She needs their vitality in order to continue living the mission entrusted to her by Christ with renewed enthusiasm. I very much hope, therefore, that the Year of Faith will be, also for the younger generations, a precious opportunity to rediscover and strengthen the friendship with Christ from which springs the joy and enthusiasm to profoundly change cultures and societies."

TO FRATERNITY OF ST. CHARLES BORROMEO: HELP VOCATIONS GROW Vatican City, 7 June 2013 (VIS) – "Education is always fundamental for the truth to grow," the Pope said to members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo during an audience that took place yesterday in the Vatican. The Fraternity is a Society of Apostolic Life born from the Communion and Liberation movement founded, before he was ordained a priest, by Massimo Camisasca, now bishop of Reggio Emilia-Guastella, Italy. Present at the audience were the current Superior General, Fr Paolo Sottopietra, the president of the Communion and Liberation Fraternity, Julian Carron, and 18 priests from the missions to the different continents. "I knew the faith, the joy, the strength and wealth of ideas, and the creativity of the faith" of the founder of Communion and Liberation, Don Luigi Giussani," the Holy Father said. From that "grew a great friendship between us and, through him, I have also known your community better. I am glad that his successor is with us and that this great work that inspires so many people?so many lay persons, men and women, and so many priests?continues, helping to spread the Gospel and to grow the Kingdom of God." "I have also met Massimo Camisasca. We've talked of many things. I have seen his artistic creativity, his capacity to see and interpret the signs of the times and his great gift as an educator and priest. … It is nice to know that, here, a new priestly fraternity is growing in the spirit of St. Charles Borromeo, that great example of a Shepherd who is truly compelled by the love of Christ, seeking the littlest ones, loving them and thus truly building faith and making the Church grow." "Your fraternity is now large, a sign that there are vocations," he concluded. "But our openness to meeting, accompanying, guiding, and helping vocations to grow is also necessary. This is what I am grateful for to Fr. Camisasca, who has done a great job as an educator. Today, education is always fundamental for the truth to grow, so that our being as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ might grow."

AUDIENCES Vatican City, 7 February 2013 (VIS) – Today, the Holy Father received in separate audiences: Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Minister-President of the state of the Saarland, Germany, with her entourage, and Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples

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AFRICA : EGYPT : CHRISTIANS SENTENCED TO 3 YEARS OF PRISON

ASIA NEWS REPORT
Michael Farag and Michael Shaker were accused of stealing a machine gun. They were among the 30 Christians arrested on 9 October 2011 for inciting violence and destroying military vehicles. For the families of the 28 Christians killed in the incident, the verdict is an insult. So far, no military officer has been tried or convicted for the massacre.


Cairo (AsiaNews) - Sixteen months after the Maspero building massacre that left 28 people dead, a court in Cairo sentenced two Christian Copts to three years in jail for stealing a machine gun from a soldier during the incident. Michael Farag and Michael Shaker were among the 30 civilians arrested on 9 October 2011 on charges of inciting violence, destroying military vehicles and deliberately attacking soldiers. For the Coptic community, the conviction is an insult to the victims.

This Friday, the Maspero Youth Organisation, which represents victims' families, as well as pro-democracy political movements and other victims of associations plan to march from Cairo's Dawaran Shubra neighbourhood to Talaat Harb, where the Egyptian Supreme Court is located, to demand the conviction of armed forces leaders, deemed the real culprits in the massacre.

Military police chief General Hamdi Badeen and his deputy General Ibrahim Damati as well as other officers are on trial for their role in the crackdown. A number of accusations have been filed in the past few months against members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces for issuing the order to fire on the crowd.

So far, the military court has tried and convicted only three soldiers, sentencing them to three years in prison. Court papers make no mention of the attempted massacre against Copts. They also do not contain the autopsy reports showing that 12 of the victims were crushed by armed vehicles and 16 died from gunshot wounds.

The paradox is that Egyptian prosecutors claim that Christians shot at their own co-religionists even though video footage shows soldiers opening fire on peaceful demonstrators and attacking people in the square.


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ASIA : INDONESIA : NUN AND 2 CHILDREN FOUND DEAD

UCAN REPORT

Bodily remains unearthed in seminary

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta
Indonesia
2013-02-06 16:40:00

A man claiming to be responsible for the death of three people, whose remains were recently unearthed in the compound of a seminary in East Nusa Tenggara, has turned himself in to police.

A Sikka district police official and head of the criminal investigation unit said Tuesday that Herman Jumat Masan was in their custody and had confessed to being involved in the death of Yosefin Keredok Payong and her two children. Both children were fathered by him.
“He is now being held in the district’s police station for further legal action. We have strong evidence linking him to the loss of three lives,” the official said.
Yosefin, whose identity was confirmed through DNA testing, was reported missing in 2002. She was a nun with the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit at the time of her disappearance.
Her remains and those of her two children were discovered last week in the compound of a school operated by the St Peter Major Seminary in Sikka district. They have since been turned over to family members.
The district police official said Masan arrived on Monday from East Kalimantan, where the former diocesan priest – he left the priesthood in 2008 – was employed.
In a report on Wednesday, the Flores Pos – a publication operated by the Society of the Divine Word – quoted Masan as saying Yosefin had an affair with him while he was a priest and gave birth to their first child in 1999.
"The boy was born alive. Yosefin and I could not bear the social stigma of this birth. I covered his mouth. Eventually he died and I buried him in front of the house in Lela,” Masan told Flores Pos, referring to a facility operated by St Peter Major Seminary.
“The second birth took place around March 2002. The mother could not deliver safely because the placenta could not come out. So both mother and baby died,” Masan told Flores Pos.
He said he had asked Yosefin to go to hospital but that she had refused.
“I dug their graves myself while other community members were attending an event,” he said.
“From the deepest part of my heart, I deliver my apologies to the victims’ family and all related parties for the case I am now facing. I’m ready to take responsibility.”
According to Flores Pos, Masan at the time of the deaths was serving as a priest in Larantuka diocese and also held the post of associate at the seminary's school.
Related reports
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AUSTRALIA : CARDINAL AWARDS 3 CATHOLIC ACHIEVERS WITH PAPAL HONOR

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
7 Feb 2013

Gen Peter Cosgrove and his Knighthood of the Grand Cross of the Order of St Gergory the Great

General Peter Cosgrove has received many awards for his outstanding service as an army officer, as Australia's Chief of the Australian Defence Force as well as his work as Leader of the Cyclone Larry Taskforce in 2006. But for the Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University (ACU), the Papal Knighthood conferred on him today by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell is a very special honour that he says is both "humbling and unexpected."
General Cosgrove along with Charles Curran AC, a Sydney-based business man, philanthropist, former stockbroker and founder of St Vincent's Hospital's Curran Foundation at St Vincent's Campus were conferred with the Knighthood of the Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Cardinal Pell this afternoon.
Patrick Bugden, long time member of the Sydney Archdiocesan Finance Committee and inaugural Chairman of Archdiocesan Investment Committee and selfless dedicated member of the Catholic and wider Sydney community was also honoured and created a Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great.
The ceremony was held at Cathedral House and attended by the three men, their immediate families and close friends.
On hearing he would be honoured at today's ceremony, General Cosgrove admits that initially he was completely taken aback and surprised.
"But later on reflection I felt greatly honoured and my family are enormously proud," he says.
General Cosgrove who was named Australian of the Year in 2001 was created a Knight of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem and Malta the following year.
"It was an honour to receive this military award. But now I am retired from the military, to receive this very high honour is a tremendous and added joy," he says.
For General Cosgrove being created a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great was not only a great honour, but was given added significance from his understanding of the different awards the Church confers on the laity, and the great honour he has been given.
General Cosgrove who has always been proud to be known as a committed and dedicated Catholic, and who during his years with the Military was always conscious of the religious welfare of those under his command, believes the Papal honour conferred on him today should be seen in context not only of his role as Chancellor of ACU but of the University itself.
Professor Greg Craven, Vice Chancellor of ACU and who was also present at the ceremony, described the General's Papal Knighthood today as a "wonderful tribute to a wonderful Catholic and reflects its lustre on the Church as well as on the University."
Charles Curran equally modest about being singled out for the honour insisting it was not only "unexpected but undeserved."
However anyone who knows or has worked alongside this remarkable man, including members of the Board of St Vincent's Public Hospital and the Board of the Garvan Institute of Research where he was chair of both boards over many years, today's Papal award is well-deserved.

Cardinal George Pell with the three recepients of the Papal Awards

"Late last year, at the opening of the Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Darlinghurst, the Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the St Vincent's Campus as 'per square metre, perhaps the greatest concentration of medical care and research excellence in the nation'. All of us present that day took great pride in these words, but no-doubt none more so than Charles Curran. Simply put, the Campus would not be what it is today without his vision, stewardship and generosity,"says Paul Robertson AM, Chairman St Vincent's Health Australia.
"This award represents a proud day for the Curran Family and indeed the St Vincent's community as a whole."

For more than three decades Mr Curran has made extraordinarily generous contributions to the Catholic Church, the broader Australian community and St Vincent's Public Hospital and St Vincent's Campus in particular.
An endowment from his parents, Paul and Elizabeth Curran resulted in him creating the Curran Foundation in their name in 1984 to ensure a perpetual source of funding for St Vincent's Hospital and Campus and to foster advances and excellence in patient care, teaching and research.
To date the Curran Foundation has made 500 grants worth a total of more than $17 million to St Vincent's Campus for equipment, education and research. In addition the Foundation currently has $15 million in endowments.
Mr Curran remains Chairman of Trustees of the Foundation and is a former Chair not only of St Vincent's Hospital but the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. It was during his time as Chair of St Vincent's Hospital, that Mr Curran not only established the Curran Foundation but was instrumental in helping set up the groundbreaking and all-important National Heart/Lung Transplant Centre.
In addition to his work in health and his long contribution to the Archdiocese of Sydney as a long time member with Patrick Bugden of Sydney's Archdiocesan Finance Committee, Mr Curran has been Chair of the Australian Ireland Fund, the Sydney Health Service, the National Gallery of Australia Foundation and Deputy Chair of the Council of the National Gallery of Australia.
He also a former Chair of the Medical Benefits Fund of Australia, a former Vice Chair of the Australian Stock Exchange and of many other public bodies including roles as Ambassador of the Indigenous Education Foundation, Vice President of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children and a former Director of the Young Endeavour Scheme.
In 1987 Mr Curran was created an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and was elevated to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in June 2006.
Mr Bugden's achievements and selfless contribution to the Catholic community and the wider world of Sydney are also impressive and include many years giving wise accounting, financial and investment advice to the Dioceses of Parramatta and Broken Bay as well as the Sydney Archdiocese. He has worked with with Catholic Mission, Catholic Health Australia and as Director of Brown Nurses and Brown Nurses Nominees and with the Little Company of Mary where he was involved with audits and financial issues at Lewisham Hospital which was founded by the Sisters in 1887 and closed its doors more than 100 years later when the land and building was purchased by the St Vincent de Paul Society.
Mr Bugden has also had a close association with Catholic education and for nine years was Director of St Vincent's College Potts Point and St Vincent's College Foundation. For the past 30-plus years he has also been an active and dedicated member of his home parish of St Thomas More at Brighton-le-Sands where he is also Chairman of the Finance Committee.

Patrick Bugden receives his Award from Cardinal Pell

Watched by family and close friends, today's ceremony at Cathedral House was also a reunion for two of the Papal Award recipients, Charles Curran and Patrick Bugden.
"We both served on the Archdiocese Finance Committee over many years first under Cardinal James Freeman then under Cardinal Clancy and later under Cardinal Pell," Sydney's newest Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great explains.
Today also meant a much looked forward to reunion for the Bugden family with daughter Elizabeth flying in from her home in Hong Kong to be at the ceremony where she joined sisters Angela and Alison and their mother, Margaret Bugden to see her father receive this important honour.
Two sisters from the Little Company of Mary, current provincial Sister Bernadette Fitzgerald and former provincinal, Sr Jennifer Barrow who worked with Patrick Bugden over his many years on the board and as treasurer for Catholic Health Australia were also there to see him receive the award.
General Cosgrove's wife, Lynne and one of his three sons, David, also attended the ceremony. "My other son, Stephen was working and unable to come and our third son lives in Brisbane where he and his wife Lily have just given us our first grandchild, five month old Max," he says adding that his sons have all sent their congratulations and are extremely proud.
Charles Curran was also surrounded by family at the ceremony. His wife Eva was there along with four of his five children. Daughters Claudia Stahl and Sanchia Brahimi attended along with sons Charles and Bernard while third son, Joseph who works on the family property in country NSW sent his congratulations.
SHARED FROM ARCHDIOCESE OF SYDNEY

TODAY'S MASS ONLINE : WED. FEB. 6, 2013

Mark 6: 1 - 6
1	He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him.
2	And on the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue; and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands!
3	Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
4	And Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."
5	And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them.
6	And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

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TODAY'S SAINT : FEB. 6 : ST. PAUL MIKI AND COMPANIONS

St. Paul Miki & Companions

MARTYR OF JAPAN WITH TWENTY-FIVE COMPANIONS

Feast: February 6

Information: Feast Day: February 4 Born: 1562, Tsunokuni, Japan Died: 5 February 1597, Nagasaki, Japana Canonized: 8 June 1862 by Pope Pius IX

In 1592 the persecution was renewed, and several Japanese converts received the crown of martyrdom. The emperor Tagcosama, one of the proudest and most vicious of men, was worked up into rage and jealousy by a suspicion suggested by certain European merchants desirous of the monopoly of this trade, that the view of the missionaries in preaching the Christian faith was to facilitate the conquest of their country by the Portuguese or Spaniards. Three Jesuits and six Franciscans were crucified on a hill near Nangasaqui in 1597. The latter were partly Spaniards and partly Indians, and had at their head F. Peter Baptist, commissary of his order, a native of Avila, in Spain. As to the Jesuits, one was Paul Miki, a noble Japanese, and an eminent preacher, at that time thirty-three years old. The other two, John Gotto and James Kisai, were admitted into the Society in prison a little before they suffered. Several Japanese converts suffered with them. The martyrs were twenty-six in number, and among them were three boys who used to serve the friars at mass; two of them were fifteen years of age, and the third only twelve, yet each showed great joy and constancy in their sufferings. Of these martyrs, twenty-four had been brought to Meaco, where only a part of their left ears was cut off, by a mitigation of the sentence, which had commanded the amputation of their noses and both ears. They were conducted through many towns and public places, their cheeks stained with blood, for a terror to others. When the twenty-six soldiers of Christ were arrived at the place of execution near Nangasaqui, they were allowed to make their confession to two Jesuits of the convent in that town, and being fastened to crosses by cords and chains about their arm. and legs, and an iron collar about their necks, were raised into the air, the foot of each cross falling into a hole prepared for it in the ground. The crosses were planted in a row, about four feet asunder, and each martyr had an executioner near him with a spear ready to pierce his side; for such is the Japanese manner of crucifixion. As soon as all the crosses were planted, the executioners lifted up their lances, and at a signal given, all pierced the martyrs almost in the same instant; upon which they expired, and went to receive the reward of their sufferings. Their blood and garments were procured by Christians, and miracles were wrought by them. Urban VIII ranked them among the martyrs, and they are honoured on the 5th of February, the day of their triumph.

SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stpaulmiki.asp#ixzz1lf4AWK00