ASIA: PAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN MOTHER DRUGGED AND RAPED
AMERICA: USA: RIP MR. JOSEPH FEUERHERD- EDITOR OF NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
TODAY'S GOSPEL: MAY 26: JOHN 15: 9- 11
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PAPAL TELEGRAM TO TORNADO VICTIMS IN JOPLIN
VATICAN CITY, 26 MAY 2011 (VIS REPORTS) - Yesterday afternoon, Benedict XVI sent a telegram through Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., to Bishop James Vann Johnston of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, USA after receiving news last Sunday of the tornado that devastated the city of Joplin, Missouri, killing more than 120 persons and wounding over 750 others.
(IMAGE SOURCE: RADIO VATICANA)
The text reads that "the Holy Father has followed with deep concern the aftermath of the catastrophic tornado which struck Joplin on Sunday and he asks you to convey to the entire community the assurance of his closeness in prayer. Conscious of the tragic loss of life and the immensity of the work of rebuilding that lies ahead, he asks God, the Father of Mercies, to grant eternal rest to the departed, consolation to the grieving, and strength and hope to the homeless and the injured. Upon the local civil and religious leaders, and upon all involved in the relief efforts, his holiness invokes the divine gifts of wisdom, fortitude, and perseverance in every good".
TGR/
VATICAN CITY, 26 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father received in separate audiences:
-Archbishop Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
-Cardinal Agostino Vallini, vicar general of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome.
-Seven prelates from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on their ad limina visit:
-Archbishop Francis Kallarakal of Verapoly,
-Bishop Prasad Gallela of Cuddapah,
-Bishop Paul Maipan of Khammam,
- Bishop Anthony Poola of Kurnool,
- Bishop Joji Govindu of Nalgonda,
- Bishop Bali Gali of Guntur, and
- Bishop Moses Doraboina Prakasam of Nellore.
AP:AL/
VATICAN CITY, 26 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father:
- appointed Msgr. Robert Dwayne Gruss as bishop of Rapid City (area 11,327, population 239,000, Catholics 30,700, priests 51, permanent deacons 27, religious 60), USA. The bishop-elect was born in Texarkana, Texas, USA in 1955 and was ordained a priest in 1994. He is currently the rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport.
- appointed Fr. Donald J. Hying as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee (area 12,323, population 2,315,958, Catholics 657,519, priests 651, permanent deacons 165, religious 1,660), USA. The bishop-elect was born in 1963 in West Allis, Wisconsin, USA, and was ordained a priest in 1989. He is currently rector of Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Milwaukee.
- granted the confirmation requested of him in accordance with canon 153 of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches by Bishop George Alencherry, of Thuckalay of the Syro-Malabars, canonically elected as major archbishop of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabars, India by the Synod of Bishops of the Syro-Malabar Church meeting in Mount Saint Thomas, Kakkanad-Kochi, in Kerala, India on 24 May. Bishop Alencherry was born in Thuruthy, India in 1945, was ordained a priest in 1972, and consecrated a bishop in 1997.
ASIA: PAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN MOTHER DRUGGED AND RAPED
Faisalabad (AsiaNews) – Christian tombs were recently desecrated and a young Christian woman was gang-raped for an entire night. In both cases, police refused to file a First Information Report, allowing the culprits to escape justice. These are examples of the ordinary violence visited upon Pakistan’s Christian minority. Whether it involves Christian-owned land and property or individuals who are targeted because they are defenceless, victims will not find justice with the country’s legal system. Gradually, Pakistan’s ‘Islamisation’ slowly progresses, especially in the densely populated province of Punjab.The Pakistan Christian Post reports that, in Chak Jhumra (Faisalabad), Muslim landowners destroyed and desecrated a Christian graveyard, using a tractor to plough over a number of tombs. Buried coffins were broken and the bones of the dead were brought to the surface. The local police refused to open an inquiry, whilst the landowners utter threats against local Christians to get them to stop legal proceedings.
The Faisalabad chapter of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Pakistani Catholic Church has intervened in the affair. A team sent by the commission visited the desecrated graveyard and collected evidence.
However, a local Muslim has filed a claim, saying he owned the land on which the cemetery is located. The first hearing in the case is scheduled for 13 June 2011.
Fr Joseph Jamil, a Faisalabad priest, strongly condemned the anti-Christian violence. “The Church,” he said, “is closing monitoring the issue.”
“Landowners and extremists are actively involved against the Christian minority in Punjab,” he toldAsiaNews. “Most attacks happen in the central part of the province.” The government, he said, should “take charge of the situation and defend the minority.”
As additional evidence of the prevailing atmosphere of violence, a story came to light involving a 29-year-old Christian woman who was abducted by a Muslim co-worker, roughed up, drugged and gang-raped.
Afshan Sabir is a factory worker and a mother of three. She was assaulted over night on 27 March in an unspecified area near Gojra. When she woke up, she sought help in a state of disorientation. She later tried to file a complaint with the local police station. However, instead of helping the woman, police officers helped the rapists cover their tracks.
On this occasion, the National Commission for Justice and Peace also intervened, providing the victim with legal counsel and following the case on her behalf.
(Jibran Khan contributed to the article)
AMERICA: USA: RIP MR. JOSEPH FEUERHER- EDITOR OF NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
CNA REPORT: Joseph Feuerherd, the editor-in-chief and publisher of the National Catholic Reporter, died on May 26 at a Maryland hospice facility. Feuerherd, 48, had been fighting cancer for 18 months.
Born on Long Island in 1962, Joseph was the sixth of eight children born to Victor and Lillian Feuerherd. Two of his brothers, Rick and Peter, also became journalists.
He studied history at the Catholic University of America and married Rebecca Bartron, whom he met working at a summer camp for disabled children. The couple had a daughter and two sons.
Feuerherd joined the National Catholic Reporter as an editorial intern in 1984. He worked as its Washington, D.C. bureau chief from 1988 to 1991, before leaving to join the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission.
During that time he continued to contribute to the Reporter as an author. He returned to the paper's Washington bureau in 2002, and was named publisher in 2008.
Feuerherd is survived by his wife and three children.
AFRICA: TUNISIA: PRIEST CALLS FOR INCREASED ACCEPTANCE OF LIBYA'S REFUGEES
The Chouca camp welcomes about 3,500 people in precarious conditions. Africans have fled from Libya in recent months, due to the outbreak of the civil war. These people live in tents in the desert, in terribly hot weather during the day while at night it is cold. "Initially there was a movement of solidarity on behalf of Tunisians against the refugees, but everything has a limit, because if this situation is likely to become chronic, people are not willing to accept it. I am not saying that there has been lack of interest by international bodies, but very little has been done to resolve what was to be a temporary situation " denounces the priest.
"The Tunisian authorities have asked to speed up procedures to evacuate these people, both for those who can return to their country, and for those that can be accepted by other nations because they have the status of refugee- said Father Zerai -. There must be more willingness on behalf of those countries that had declared their willingness to accept refugees (European countries, USA, Canada, Australia) to increase the quota of refugees who can be accepted. "
Father Zerai reconstructs the latest episodes of violence. "Within the camp tension increased when a group of Sudanese tried to abuse a young Eritrean. His countrymen intervened in defense of the girl, triggering the reaction of the Sudanese. In the night between Saturday 21 and Sunday, May 22 they set fire to the tents of some Eritreans, killing four boys. " The following day, May 23, a group of West Africans who were guests at the camp, blocked the road linking Tunisia to Libya, thus preventing the passage to the inhabitants of the place who had to go to work and have their businesses. So the villagers near the camp attacked, ransacked what they could and set fire to the tents of refugees.
" There are Eritreans, Ethiopians, Somalis, Sudanese, Nigerians, Ivorians, Senegalese and other West African countries in the camp - said the priest -. It was precisely the people from West Africa to hold the demonstration because they had not been granted the right to seek asylum in a host country, since they do not have the status of refugees, but so far they have not even been given the opportunity to return home. So they felt neglected by the international institutions and wanted to draw attention regarding their situation. "
AUSTRALIA: DEATH OF CATHOLIC MATHEMATICS SCHOLAR
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CATH NEWS REPORT: John O'Callaghan reached his 100th birthday, and a bit more, after a life devoted to teaching mathematics.
Born at Stockton near Newcastle in 1910, his family was poor. But John was a good student and won a scholarship to St Patrick's College, Goulburn. After teacher education, he taught in the NSW state system and also in Catholic schools.
His last last full-time teaching post was at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield and he continued coaching students well into his 80s. He was a devout Catholic and contributed to the religious lives of the parishes in Sydney where the family lived.
O'Callaghan was a great writer of letters to the Sydney Morning Herald. One of his best remembered was from December 1990, when he noted about the former British prime minister, "at one stage in John Major's career, he was rejected as a bus conductor because of his weakness in mathematics but they later made him Chancellor of the Exchequer, where, presumably, a million or two either way would not matter".
EUROPE: IRELAND: BISHOP COMMENTS ON VISIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH II
President McAleese welcomes Queen Elizabeth
For decades the narrative about Northern Ireland has been that it was an incomprehensible medieval conflict between the two warring groups - the Catholic tribe and the Protestant tribe. Foreign media reports were laced with references to religious fanatics attacking each other. The North, and especially Belfast, was portrayed as one more example of the pernicious role of religion, dividing people and even motivating them to kill one another.
But last week's State visit by Queen Elizabeth II accepted what the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 had clearly recognised - the conflict was never primarily a religious or confessional conflict but one caused by the tensions between Britishness and Irishness. It was part of the 'long, complex and ... often ... turbulent' relationships between two nations, most painfully incarnated in Northern Ireland. This was not two states trying to circumvent the results of religious fanaticism. It was two peoples accepting how their enmity and coldness had cost so much blood. And wherever armed forces fight, it is innocent civilians who suffer most. Religion was used as a weapon in the ebb and flow of that brutal tide of violence. But it was good to see civic authorities publicly acknowledging where the core problem lay.
And I'd go further. The events of last week were led by two heads of State, both women of faith. Without talking about either religion or their own personal beliefs, they had the imagination and the courage 'to bow to the past, but not be bound by it', a chance to acknowledge 'that while we cannot change the past, we have chosen to change the future'. President McAleese and Queen Elizabeth had the conviction and humility to be leaders, bringing their increasingly secular societies to a place which they could not reach on their own. They demonstrated that 'spiritual intelligence' which can take the rubble of the past and make it into foundations rather than a weapons cache. Could I even suggest that their personal faith convictions were a huge asset in developing the reflective and sacred dimension of the Dublin events at the Garden of Remembrance and the Irish National War Memorial Park. These became symbolic events which effected in many people's hearts what they proclaimed in gesture and silence. This was ritual taking us beyond the limits of language to the unchartered edges of meaning.
And there is another point. What happened last week was at least partly the result of what some people of faith had done to help the people of these islands come to terms with the 'complexity of our history' and the horrific outworkings of that fraught relationship. Those faith leaders who attended the State dinner actually represented all those who had worked tirelessly to liberate many of the political forces from the corners into which they had painted themselves. This was a tribute to those who worked to build peace while armed groups fought and politicians refused to talk. This was faith enriching the public forum, like leaven serving the common good, not intruding on someone else's business.
So what might this imply? Churches may have implicitly been removed from being identified as being responsible for past difficulties and as enemies of the future. But the visit also challenges the churches to re-examine our role in northern society.
Firstly, it generates a new sense of freedom. If the conflict was seen as religious, then it was easy to portray anyone who used the name 'Protestant' or 'Catholic' as inherently sectarian, a relic of the past, as something that had no place in modern society, a title to be avoided in company. For example, Catholic schools could be labelled as merely divisive because they dared to espouse the name of one of the warring tribes. I hope that the events of last week will enable people to be proud of their identity and contribution to a modern society, rather than having to apologise for it. The visit also gives churches an opportunity to reassert their independence from those political and economic forces that would seek to enlist them on their side.
Secondly, the rich symbolism of the visit may help us all to move beyond the stage where we thought that we could own truth - about history, about God and about ourselves. It questions comfortable narratives about our religion - or lack of it - and our politics. But that does not mean that we abandon the search for truth. It just suggests that we can move beyond the fear that hardens genuine insight into ideology. It means
journeying in trust, believing that the truth will not enslave us but set us free.
Thirdly, one of the key sources of conflict has always been those who quarry the past to promote, not pride, but a sense of injustice. The pain has to be acknowledged but the past cannot be undone. Better than most, we ought to have discovered that there is no future if we seek only to punish the perpetrators and vent our righteous fury on the enemy, the oppressor. That endless search for redemptive violence, that urge to believe that satisfying vengeance or the spilling of blood for my pain will build a future - that is a futile hope and we have lived through the effects of that inhuman heresy. Too many people have suffered when there is - as Yeats suggested - more substance in our enmities than in our love.
As one who seeks to follow Jesus, I remain intrigued so many by how many our key events - the Easter Rising, the Good Friday Agreement and now this visit by Queen Elizabeth during this Easter season - have occurred at a time of the year when Christians celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection. The early Church had to retell the Jesus story in a way that made sense of the past and generated energy for the future.
Last week's events have given us a chance to tell a new truth that strikes a balance between wallowing in the past and forgetting about it. If faith communities can help generate space to tell our stories without fear of attack, then we can craft a new story in a place where hope thrives and the past no longer threatens to overwhelm our present and our future.
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=18301
TODAY'S SAINT: THURS. MAY 26: ST. PHILIP NERI
St. Philip Neri
MISSIONARY AND FOUNDER
Feast: May 26
| Philip Neri was born in Florence in the year 1515, one of four children of the notary Francesco Neri. The mother died while the children were very young, her place being filled by a capable stepmother. From infancy Philip had a docile, merry disposition. They called him "Pippo buono," "good little Phil," for he was a dutiful, attractive, cheerful lad, popular with all who knew him. At eighteen Philip was sent to the town of San Germano, to live with a childless kinsman who had a business there and would be likely to make Philip his apprentice and heir. It is hard to imagine anyone with less aptitude for business than Philip. Soon after his arrival he had a mystical experience which in after years he spoke of as his "conversion," and which radically changed his life. He left his kinsman's house, to set out for Rome without money or plan, trusting entirely to God's providence. In Rome he found shelter under the roof of a former Florentine, one Galeotto Caccia, a customs official, who offered him an attic and the bare necessaries of life, in return for which Philip was to give lessons to Caccia's two small sons. Under his tutoring the little boys improved rapidly in all respects, according to their grateful mother. This promised well for Philip's future human relationships. Indeed, as we shall see, he had a natural talent for bringing out the best in people of all ages and conditions. Except for the hours he devoted to his pupils, Philip seems to have passed his first two years at Rome as a recluse, spending much time in prayer in his bare, uncomfortable attic. He ate frugal meals of bread, water, and a few olives or vegetables. It was a period of intense preparation, and at its dose he emerged from obscurity with his spirit strengthened, his resolve to live for God confirmed. He now took courses in philosophy and theology at the Sapienza and at St. Augustine's monastery. For three years he worked so hard that he was considered an unusually promising scholar. Then, quite suddenly, moved by some inner prompting, he put an end to classes and studying, sold most of his books, and launched on a mission to the people of Rome. Religion was at a low ebb in the papal city, which had not yet recovered from the atrocious depredations of the German and Spanish armies of 1527, a decade earlier. There were also grave abuses within the Church, and although they had long been recognized, too little was being done to cure them. Elections to the Sacred College were controlled by the Medici family, with the result that the cardinals, with a few notable exceptions, were princes of the state, worldlings who thought in terms of power and politics, rather than men dedicated to God and the Church. The enthusiasm for classical writers and the tendency towards scepticism, fostered by the humanists of the Renaissance, had gradually substituted pagan for Christian ideals in Italian intellectual circles. Indifference and luxury, if not corruption, were rife among the clergy, many of whom allowed their churches to fall into disrepair, seldom said Mass, and completely neglected their flocks. Little wonder that the laity were lapsing into cynicism and disbelief ! To fill the people of Rome with new ardor, to re-evangelize the city, became Philip Neri's life work. He began in the most direct way possible, making acquaintances on street corners and in the public squares, where people were inclined to loiter. At first he interested himself especially in the young Florentines who were employed in the banks and shops of the busy Sant'Angelo quarter near the Vatican. He has been compared to Socrates for the way he could seize on opportunities for engaging in conversation and then lead his hearers on by questions and suggestions to consider a better way of life. His warm friendliness and lively sense of humor would quickly catch the attention of passersby, and once caught, they found it difficult to break away. By this warm, personal approach he gradually prevailed on many to give up their careless way of life. His customary question, "Well, brothers, when shall we begin to do good?" soon brought a response, provided he led the way. Losing no time in converting good intentions into action, he would take them to wait on the sick in the hospitals or to pray in the Seven Churches, one of Philip's own favorite devotions. His days were wholly given up to others, but towards evening it was his habit to retire into solitude, to spend the night in a church porch or in the catacombs beside the Appian Way, gathering strength for another day's work. In one of the grottoes along the Appian Way he had an experience which affected him profoundly. He was praying on the eve of Pentecost, 1544, when there appeared to him what seemed to be a globe of fire; it entered his mouth and afterwards he felt a dilation of the heart. Immediately he was filled with such paroxysms of divine love that he fell to the ground exclaiming, "Enough, enough, Lord, I can bear no morel " When he had come to himself and risen up, he discovered a swelling over his heart, though neither then nor later did. it give him pain. From that day on, under stress of spiritual emotion, he was apt to be seized with palpitations; at such times he would ask God to mitigate His visitations lest he should die of love. In the year 1548, when Philip had been carrying out his informal mission for some ten years, he founded, with the help of his confessor, Father Persiano Rossa, a confraternity of poor laymen who met for spiritual exercises in the church of San Salvatore in Campo. He popularized the devotion of the Forty Hours, and undertook to provide for needy pilgrims, a work which led to the building of the famous hospital Santa Trinita. During the Year of Jubilee of 1575 it cared for no less than a hundred and forty-five thousand pilgrims. Later it received convalescents also. Thus by the time he was thirty-four, Philip had accomplished a great deal. His confessor, however, was convinced that as a priest his work would be even more effective. Philip's humility made him shrink from taking Holy Orders, but at last, on May 23, 1551, he was ordained. He went to live with Father Rossa and other priests at San Girolamo and thereafter carried on his mission mainly through the confessional. Starting before daybreak and continuing hour after hour, he sat in the tribunal of penance, while men and women of all ages and ranks flocked to him. Sometimes he conducted informal discussions with those who desired to lead a better life, or he would read aloud to them, choosing the lives of the saints, martyrs, and missionaries. The story of the heroic life and death of St. Francis Xavier so inspired Philip that he himself considered service in the foreign mission field: a Cistercian whom he consulted persuaded him that Rome was to be his Indies. To accommodate the increasing number of those who attended Philip's discussions, a large room was built over the nave of San Girolamo. Several other priests were appointed to assist him. The people called them "Oratorians" because they rang a little bell to summon the faithful to prayers in their "oratory." The actual foundation of the Congregation of the Priests of the Oratory was laid a few years later, when Philip presented five of his young followers for ordination and sent them to serve the church of San Giovanni, which had been put in his charge by fellow Florentines living in Rome. The future cardinal and Church historian, Caesar Baronius, was among them. Philip drew up for them some simple rules: they were to share a common table and perform spiritual exercises under his direction, but they were not to bind themselves to the life by vow or to renounce their property. The organization grew rapidly, although it met with opposition in certain quarters. In 1575, the Congregation received the formal approbation of Pope Gregory XIII, who later bestowed on it the ancient church of Santa Maria in Vellicella. The building was in a ruinous condition and far too small. Philip was not long in deciding to demolish it and rebuild on a large scale. He had no money, but contributions poured in from his friends, rich and poor. Pope Gregory and Charles Borromeo gave generously, as did other prominent men. Cardinals and princes were now among Philip's disciples, though he sometimes shocked them by his impulsiveness. His desire was always to establish a close, human bond with others, even though it meant indulging in a wine-drinking contest, practical joking, or other undignified behavior. He acted in a jocular manner to conceal his deep emotion, or to put himself on a level with those around him. Humility was the virtue he strove most of all to practice, but of course he could not conceal his extraordinary gifts or sanctity. More than once he foretold events which later came to pass. He lived in such a state of spiritual exaltation that at times it was with difficulty that he carried on his daily labors. Men declared that his face often glowed with a celestial radiance. By April, 1577, work on the Nuova Chiesa, or New Church, had advanced sufficiently for the Congregation of the Oratory to be transferred there. Philip stayed at San Girolamo for another seven years before he moved to quarters in the New Church. Although he ate his meals apart from the group, he was far from leading the life of a solitary. Not only did his spiritual sons have free access to him, but his room was constantly crowded by others. Rich and poor mounted the steps that led to his refuge at the top of the house, with its balcony looking over the roofs of Rome. The Italian people loved and venerated him, and visitors came from other countries to speak with him. Thus he continued his apostolate when the infirmities of age prevented him from leading an active life. The College of Cardinals frequently sought his advice, and although he refrained from becoming involved in political matters, he broke this rule when he persuaded Pope Clement VII to withdraw the excommunication and anathema laid on Henry IV of France. In the words of one of his biographers, "He was all things to all men.... When he was called upon to be merry, he was so; if there was a demand upon his sympathy, he was equally ready.... In consequence of his being so accessible and willing to receive all comers, many went to him every day, and some continued for the space of thirty, nay, forty years, to visit him very often both morning and evening, so that his room went by the agreeable nickname of the "Home of Christian mirth." The tradition of this genial saint was very much alive two hundred years later, when the German poet Goethe was living in Rome. He heard so much of Neri that he studied the sources and wrote a highly appreciative essay about him, entitled, "The Humorous Saint." Two years before his death Neri retired from his office of Superior in favor of his disciple, Caesar Baronius. He obtained permission from the Pope to celebrate Mass daily in a little Oratory adjoining his room. So enraptured did he become at such times that it was the practice of those who attended to retire respectfully at the One of the most famous members of the Oratorian order, Cardinal Newman, wrote of Neri nearly three hundred years after his death, "he contemplated as the idea of his mission, not the propagation of the faith, nor the exposition of doctrine, nor the catechetical schools; whatever was exact and systematic pleased him not; he put from him monastic rule and authoritative speech, as David refused the armor of his king.... He came to the Eternal City and he sat himself down there, and his home and his family gradually grew up around him, by the spontaneous accession of materials from without. He did not so much seek his own as draw them to him. He sat in his small room, and they in their gay, worldly dresses, the rich and the wellborn, as well as the simple and the illiterate, crowded into it. In the mid-heats of summer, in the frosts of winter still was he in that low and narrow cell at San Girolamo, reading the hearts of those who came to him, and curing their souls' maladies by the very touch of his hand.... And they who came remained gazing and listening till, at length, first one and then another threw off their bravery, and took his poor cassock and girdle instead; or, if they kept it, it was to put haircloth under it, or to take on them a rule of life, while to the world they looked as before." |
SOURCE: http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stphilipneri.asp#ixzz1NaROYVFP
TODAY'S GOSPEL: MAY 26: JOHN 15: 9- 11
| John 15: 9 - 11 | |
| 9 | As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. |
| 10 | If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. |
| 11 | These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. |
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