CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: Wed. July 22, 2009

CATHOLIC NEWS: POPE DICTATES HIS WORKS

Vatican Radio reports that the Director of the Holy See Press Office said the Pope is “well” and “in a good mood”. He says the Pope is “learning how to live with a wrist in plaster and has been equipped with a small recorder to dictate his thoughts, as he is unable to use a pen with ease these days”. Fr Lombardi adds that the Pope is “also in regular communication by telephone with his brother”, with whom he has a close relationship. In a few days, his brother, Msgr Georg Ratzinger, “will be at Castelgandolfo to spend the weeks of August together with the Pope, as has been customary in past years”. . .

On Friday Pope Benedict XVI will preside over Vespers in the cathedral of the city of Aosta. Finally, on his return to Introd, he will also visit and greet guests of a local retirement home
(With files & images from: http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=304302)

VATICAN CITY

POPE'S NEW ENCYCLICAL IS PROMOTED

VIS reports that a congress organised by the Magna Charta Foundation met to study the Pope's recent Encyclical. The theme was "Beyond the ideology of crisis. Development, ethics and the market in 'Caritas in veritate'". It was held on the 21 July, in the Roman church of Santa Marta. In the St. Pius X auditorium in Rome a meeting was held on the theme "'Caritas in veritate', an Encyclical for understanding the future". (With files from VIS 090722 (180)

VIS also reports that Pope Benedict appointed Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado of Mindelo, Cape Verde, as bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde (area 1,803, population 345,000, Catholics 327,750, priests 40, religious 105), Cape Verde. He succeeds Bishop Paulino Do Livramento Evora C.S.Sp., whose resignation from the pastoral Care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit. - Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the prelature of Coari, Brazil, presented by Bishop Joercio Goncalves Pereira C.SS.R., in accordance with canon 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law. (With files from VIS 090722 (110)

ASIA

DEATH OF BISHOP IN CHINA

UCAN reports the death Bishop Damas Zhang Hanmin of Jilin in northeastern China on July 19. It is believed the 88-year-old prelate died in his sleep of a heart attack.
He was recognized by the Chinese government and approved by the Vatican.
His funeral Mass and memorial service are scheduled for July 23 at the St. Theresa's Cathedral. It was said that the Bishop, "Wherever he made pastoral visits, he asked parish priests not to be extravagant".
Father Dong, said the bishop often told him and other seminarians to be devoted to prayer. "All priests, nuns and laypeople are grieving over the loss of our good shepherd," he added.
The Bishop was born in 1922, was a native of Bajia village, regarded as the cradle of Catholicism in Jilin. He received his religious education from his parents and "the seed of priestly vocation sprouted in his heart since he was a child," according to the diocese's obituary.

He entered the minor seminary in Jilin and then went on to the major seminary in Beijing. After the seminary stopped functioning due to political turmoil in early 1950s, Bishop Zhang worked as a foreign language teacher from 1953. He was able to speak Latin, English, Japanese, Russian and French.
In 1983, he returned to Jilin diocese and was ordained a priest at the age of 61. He had served at several parishes before he was elected as diocesan administrator in 1995 and bishop of Jilin in 1997.
Bishop Zhang headed the government-sanctioned Jilin's Provincial Catholic Patriotic Association and Church Affairs Commission. He was also a member of the provincial People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body of the local government.
The diocese currently has 60 priests serving about 70,000 Catholics.

(With files & image from:http://www.ucanews.com/2009/07/21/jilin-bishop-dies-at-age-88/)

AMERICA

US BISHOPS PROMOTE PRO-LIFE HEALTH CARE

“Genuine health care reform that protects the life and dignity of all is a moral imperative and a vital national obligation,” said Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y.,in a July 17 letter to Congress. Writing on behalf of the bishops as chairman of their Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, Bishop Murphy said the bishops have advocated comprehensive health care reform for decades and recommended four criteria for fair and just health care reform: respect for human life and dignity, access for all, pluralism and equitable costs. “Two of these criteria need special attention as Congress moves forward with health care reform,” Bishop Murphy said. He said, “No health care reform plan should compel us or others to pay for the destruction of human life, whether through government funding or mandatory coverage of abortion. Any such action would be morally wrong.” “Health care reform cannot be a vehicle for abandoning this consensus which respects freedom of conscience and honors our best American traditions. Any legislation should reflect longstanding and widely supported current policies on abortion funding, mandates and conscience protections because they represent sound morality, wise policy and political reality.” “All people need and should have access to comprehensive, quality health care that they can afford, and it should not depend on their stage of life, where or whether they or their parents work, how much they earn, where they live, or where they were born. The Bishops’ Conference believes health care reform should be truly universal and it should be genuinely affordable.”

(This story was written by the USCCB & edited for JCE News:http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-161.shtml)

AFRICA

ETHIOPIANS GO HUNGRY

Allafrica.com reports that the Ethiopian government suspended 42 NGOs as hunger worsens
The organizations allegedly involved in activities that are "out of their mandate" in the Southern region of the country.
Ethiopia's Southern regional state justice office chief Mr Yilma Meresa told this writer that those NGOs were out to interrupt the peace and development of the region.
Mr Yilma refused to disclose the name of the suspended organisations. The Nation has learnt that international humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and two local gender rights organisations are among the suspended NGOs.
The Ethiopian government moved to revoke the licence of the NGOs following accusation of their alleged involvement in reporting human right abuses in the rural areas.
Ethiopian government publicly accused some NGOs of supplying "inaccurate" information to the United States' State Department, which was published in March 2009.
Meanwhile, United Nations humanitarian office in Ethiopia has warned that the number of people who need food aid in Ethiopia will increase to 6.2 million unless more food aid can be secured.
The recent number of people requiring food aid has been 4.9 million and now the country needs additional 390,000 metric tonnes of emergency food aid for the coming three months.
(With files & image from: http://allafrica.com/stories/200907210900.html)

AUSTRALIA

ANGLICANS SEEK FULL COMMUNION WITH ROME

Catholic Online reports that Archbishop John Epworth, primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion and Ordinary to the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia said: 'We do not seek unity with the Holy See because the local church is beautiful, not by our own experiences, but because it is right.'
He was speaking to the Queensland Synod (Australia). We have followed the historic efforts of members of the Traditional Anglican Communion to seek full sacramental communion with the Roman Catholic Church. That is because we believe that to be Catholic is to be authentically ecumenical and to hunger for the full communion of the One Church of Jesus Christ, with legitimate diversity, in full communion with the Chair of Peter.

“We [TAC] have grown too fast. What we have done was planned by God.” Archbishop Hepworth said, “Our major problem has been that we have grown too fast. We have not had the infrastructure and the financial resources to cope and service the demands of new churches and missions worldwide. We are experiencing the growth of God amongst his faithful people in an Anglican Catholic way. Had we designed it, our endeavours would have been much easier to manage, but what we have done was planned by God. “This is a time for deeper prayer. There are serious conversations. We do not seek unity with the Holy See because the local church is beautiful, not by our own experiences, but because it is right. "We are a church which has sought unity of the wider church and in the process we have been transformed. This is a time for deeper prayer, discernment and transformation. Of learning what it is to be catholic "Of course there are the distortions and the disobedience yet a need to be listening intently along the roadway, asking what the Church teaches. "We have done something specific and that has changed us.” Archbishop Hepworth said, “The intensity of persecution, wrongful use of Canon law continues in the Anglican Communion. "Much of what we do in Australia has changed with the introduction of women bishops, and Catholics cannot relate to bishopesses." We ask the global readers of Catholic online to pray for our brothers and sisters in the traditional Anglican Communion. We also ask for our readers to pray that those in the Church charged with discerning their request would be inspired by the Holy Spirit so that the prayer of Jesus "Ut Unum Sint" may move toward it's inevitable fulfillment.

(This article was written by Catholic Online & edited for JCE News: http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=34126)

TODAY'S SAINT

St. Mary Magdalene was from Magdala near the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus went to supper at the home of Simon, Mary came to weep at his feet. Jesus said, "Many sins are forgiven her, because she has loved much." Then to Mary he said, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." She stood at the foot of the Cross when Jesus died and she was the first to greet Him at the Resurrection St. Mary Magdalene was a sinner, yet Jesus forgave her. It is said that Mary Magdalene went to France to spread the Gospel.

SAINTLY QUOTE

Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to heaven. St. Pope Pius X.

TODAY'S GOSPEL

John 20: 1 - 2, 11 - 18
Now on the first day of the week Mary Mag'dalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb;
and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."
Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."
Mary Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.