Japanese Church makes commitment to peace its priority

The “Pacem in Terris” encyclical becomes the Magna Carta of Christians: The Constitution must not be changed for military purposes

The Japanese Church is focusing on two elements that are essential to the country’s evangelisation mission: dialogue and peace. With the atomic bomb disasters in Hiroshima and Nagasaki still alive in its memory, shaken by the recent Fukushima tragedy and inspired by Pope Francis’ August visit to Korea, Japan’s Christian community is focusing its attention on two key assets that are essential to its presence in the Land of the Rising Sun: dialogue between religions as an integral part of the Church’s mission and the subject of peace and disarmament which pervades political debate and unites Christians in their rejection of Constitutional change for military purposes. The Church is presenting the “Pacem in Terris” encyclical as a Magna Carta for Japanese faithful.

The Under-Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Indunil Kodithuwakku, who was a missionary in Japan, told Vatican Insider that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have left an indelible mark on the memory of Japanese people: “The memory of the over 80 thousand civilian victims in Hiroshima and the 75 thousand people who fell victim to the second bomb still makes people emotional. Not to mention the hibakusha (those exposed to atomic radiation) who still carry the scars of those two mornings of gloom.”

Myanmar celebrates 500 years of Catholicism with music, art

Celebrating 500 years since the arrival of Catholicism in Myanmar, Catholic artists have pooled together to evangelize through a new musical endeavor.

Catholic Creative Artists Association – an indigenous group of Catholic professional artists inspired by Biblical experience – has composed, developed and released a music album entitled “Revelation” in honor of the anniversary.

Earlier this year, the association premiered its first mega multi-cultural musical entitled “Jesus of Nazareth” at the National Stadium for two days in front of a fully-packed audience.

The program incorporated artists from the seven major ethnic groups with their own music and dances.

“God seems to be inspiring the Church to recognize this great potential and use it for greater benefit of the Word of God,” Fr. Leo Mang, director of social communication for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar, said.

The bishops’ conference has declared the current liturgical year “The 500th Great Jubilee Year.” Celebrations kicked off Nov. 24, 2013 and will come to close on the Solemnity of Christ the King, Nov. 23, 2014.

Pope Francis: It is Sad to See ‘Watered Down Christians’

Reflects on the Need to Be in a Constant State of Renewal During Sunday Angelus

The Gospel, the Eucharist and Prayer are the three gifts that allows to walk the path of Christ and not of the world. This was the theme of Pope Francis’ address during Sunday’s Angelus.

The Holy Father reflected on today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, where Jesus tells his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die and rise from the dead. When Peter rebukes Him, Jesus in turn reproaches him saying “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

This critical moment, the Holy Father noted, speaks to the reality of Christians today who run the risk of becoming worldly, or “watered down.”

“It is sad to find watered down Christians, who are like watered wine,” he said. “You can’t tell whether they are Christian or worldly.”

Sunday Angelus: On the Gospel, Eucharist and Prayer

At 12pm today, Pope Francis appeared at the window of the study in the Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Here below is an English translation of his words introducing the Marian prayer, and his address that followed:

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Dear brothers and sisters, Good Morning!

In the Sunday itinerary with the Gospel of Matthew, we arrive today at the crucial point in which Jesus, after confirming that Peter and the other eleven had believed in Him as the Messiah and Son of God, “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly…,and be killed and on the third day be raised.” (16,21).

It is a critical moment in which Jesus and the disciples’ way of thinking emerges. Even Peter feels compelled to reproach the Master, because he cannot attribute such a shameful end for the Messiah.

Jesus, in turn, severely reproaches Peter, He puts him “back in line” because he does not think “as God does, but as human beings do.” (v.23) and without realizing that he his playing the role of Satan, the tempter.

Greek Catholics face hostility amid unrest in Ukraine

A bishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church called for peace amid escalating conflict with pro-Russian separatists, stating that the Church there is facing increased persecution as fighting goes on.

“Even if it’s not announced – it seems like a war against Ukraine,” Monsignor Dionisio Lachovicz said. “I believe that the only hope is in the Lord, therefore we call the whole world to pray for peace.”

Msgr. Lachovicz, apostolic visitor for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Italy and in Spain, explained that in the midst of rising tensions between the Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists “a new persecution is being waged against the Greek Catholics located in the territories in Russian hands.”

These are, he clarified, the areas of “Crimea and in the territories where the Russia-friendly ‘separatists’ are seeking to impose their power.”

In Donetsk, a large city in Eastern Ukraine, “the bishop’s residence has been sacked and sealed. The cathedral’s land has been struck by separatist rockets. The bishops and almost all of the Greek-Catholics priests have been forced to leave the area of Donetsk,” the bishop explained.

“The Church has been desecrated by the rebels who blackmail the clergy, threatening reprisals on the parishioners. And only some days ago the monastery of the Servants of God was occupied by separatists.”

Panic, hunger spread among quarantined West Africans in Ebola areas

Hunger and panic are spreading among people unable to work because of restrictions aimed at containing the spread of Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone, say church workers in West Africa.

In Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, church groups “are trying to get food and distribute it to families who have asked us to help, but movement is heavily restricted and there is little we can do,” Salesian Father Jorge Crisafulli, provincial superior in West Africa, said in a telephone interview from Accra, Ghana.

Neighborhoods in Monrovia have been sealed off under terms of the government-imposed state of emergency.

The World Health Organization has estimated that more than 2,600 people in West Africa have been infected with Ebola since March. More than 1,400 people have died from the virus.

Food prices in Liberia are “rising steeply and people are hungry,” Father Crisafulli said, noting that “markets in the city that are usually bustling are now empty and no trading is happening.”

People are unable to get to work and, “while they still have to buy food, they have no money because they can’t work,” he said.

22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Reading I: Jeremiah 20:7-9
Responsorial Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
Reading II: Romans 12:1-2
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27

Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. (Gospel)

The Cross of Jesus

Among all the religious symbols in the world none is more universal than the cross. You see crosses everywhere, on walls, on hillsides, in churches, in houses, in bedrooms, on chains around peoples’ necks, on rings, on ear-rings, on old people, on young people, on believers, and on people who aren’t sure in what they believe. Not everyone can explain what the cross means or why they choose to wear one, but most everyone has an inchoate sense that it is a symbol, perhaps the ultimate symbol, for depth, love, fidelity, and faith.

And the cross is exactly that, the ultimate symbol of depth, love, fidelity, and faith. Rene Girard, an anthropologist, once commented that “the cross of Jesus is the single most revolutionary moral event in all of history.” The world measures time by it. We are in the year 2007 (roughly) since Jesus died on a cross and ever-increasing numbers of people began to organize their lives around its significance.

What is so morally revolutionary in the cross?

Precisely because it such a deep mystery, the cross is not easy to grasp intellectually. The deeper things in life, love, fidelity, morality, and faith are not mathematics, but mysteries whose unfathomable depths always leave room for more still to be understood. We never quite arrive at an adequate understanding of them.

LA Archbishop Says It’s Time to Start Praying for Fall Synod

Here is an article by Los Angeles’ Archbishop José Gomez, regarding the family. It was published in the archdiocesan news bulletin.

* * *

As the summer winds down and we move into fall, we need to turn our prayers and reflection to the meeting of the world’s bishops that Pope Francis has called for October 5-19 in Rome.

The Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will discuss the theme of “pastoral challenges to the family in the context of evangelization.”

Strengthening families and restoring the family as the natural center of society is a top priority of our Holy Father. The upcoming “extraordinary” synod will be followed in 2015 by an “ordinary” synod on the family and a World Meeting of Families, to be held in Philadelphia.

Family is the essential foundation for each of our lives.

Family is where we learn our name and where our personalities and values are formed. It is where we learn how to pray and how to share our thoughts and emotions. It is where we learn how to give love and receive love and how to make sacrifices and live with our differences. Family is where the young and the old know their dignity and worth and where they share their lives and take care of each other, especially in times of weakness and vulnerability.

US Bishops to Mark 50 Years Since Civil Rights Movement

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee on African American Affairs will release a series of resources to highlight the achievements of the Civil Rights era and its connections to the Catholic Church.

Over the next 12 months, resources will highlight the Mississippi Freedom Summer (June to August 1964); the Civil Rights Act (July 1964); the March from Selma to Montgomery (March 1965); and the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act in August 2015.

“The Civil Rights era was an important time in the history of our country. In constructive ways, many priests, religious sisters, religious brothers and lay Catholic faithful were involved in the struggle for Civil Rights,” said Bishop Shelton Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chairman of the Subcommittee. “Recalling the Catholic Church’s past participation in these important historic moments serves to challenge the faithful to work constructively today to enhance the common good for people of all races and ethnicities.”

The resources will help promote dialogue among parishes, schools, Catholic groups and others by examining how these events helped pave the way to the current multicultural relations. The project also aims to promote dialogue among generations on the meaning of the historic legacy with a look towards the future and to highlight the participation of the Catholic Church and Catholic leaders during such historic and challenging times.

The commemoration will also provide an opportunity to discuss the social teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Why We Are Reaching Out to Anglicans Longing For Unity

An Analysis by Mgr Keith Newton

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November this year will mark the 50th anniversary of the solemn promulgation of the Second Vatican Council Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio. It still remains the authoritative document of the Catholic Church setting out the principles of ecumenical dialogue, though much of its teaching was expounded by St John Paul II in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint (1995).

Its first paragraph makes clear that the restoration of unity among Christian people was one of the major concerns of the Council. But a reading of the documents of Vatican II shows clearly that the bishops meeting in Rome did not deviate from the belief that there is only One Church of Jesus Christ and identified that Church with the Catholic Church in communion with the successor of Peter. This is made clear both in the dogmatic constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, and also the decree on ecumenism. The Catholic Church is described as “God’s only flock” and it is from this “one and only Church” that other Christian communities became separated over the centuries. In a much-quoted passage Lumen Gentium described the Church in this way: “This Church constituted and organised as a society in the present world, subsists in the Catholic Church, which is governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him. Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines. Since these are gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, they are forces impelling towards Catholic unity.”

In an earlier draft of that constitution the text read “This Church is the Catholic Church” but was changed to “This Church subsists in the Catholic Church”. There have probably been hundreds of articles written about exactly what “subsists” means. It is usually taken to mean that the one Church of Jesus Christ “has concrete form” or is “concretely realised” in the Catholic Church. What it does not mean is that this one Church of Christ subsists in a number of different Christian communities of which the Catholic Church is one among many. It does mean that the Catholic Church is not totally set part from other Christian communities but recognises the active presence of the one Church in other ecclesial bodies, even if they are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church. There is already partial communion between all the baptised which should lead by God’s grace to eventual full communion.

Vatican Releases Pope’s Program for Visit to WWI Shrine in Northern Italy

The Vatican has released the program for Pope Francis’ visit to the military shrine of Redipuglia in north east Italy where, on the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, he will pray for those who have died in all wars.

On Saturday 13th September, the Pope is due to arrive at 9:15 a.m. at the Austro-Hungarian cemetery of Fogliano Redipuglia, where he will pray privately and bring flowers. At 10 a.m., he will celebrate Mass and give the homily at the municipality’s military memorial.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, a prayer will be recited for the victims of all wars.

The Pope will also present and deliver a lamp to the military ordinaries and bishops present, which will also be turned on in their respective dioceses during the course of celebrations to commemorate the First World War.

Fogliano Redipuglia lies at the eastern end of the shifting front of the Italian campaign against Austria-Hungary and Germany in World War I, and today is home to Italy’s largest war memorial on Monte Sei Busi in Redipuglia.

Washington to Be Next Visit of Pope’s Iraq Envoy

The Pope’s special envoy to Iraq is to meet the Eastern Patriarchs in Washington D.C. in the coming weeks, the Holy See’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva has said.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, speaking during a press conference at Communion and Liberation’s Rimini Meeting, said Cardinal Fernando Filoni will be meeting the patriarchs and the prefect of the Congregation of Oriental Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, in the U.S. capital.

“It will seek to involve the American bishops and so influence public opinion,” Archbishop Tomasi said. “Other initiatives will be undertaken in Geneva.”

Cardinal Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, returned last week after a seven day visit to the war-torn region of northern Iraq where many Christians and other religious minorities are being persecuted by Islamists.

Chilean lawmakers ask president to denounce Iraqi violence

The Chilean Congress has unanimously approved a measure calling on President Michelle Bachelet to condemn “the brutal persecution” of Christians in Iraq and to ask the U.N. to take measures for a “quick solution.”

Congressman Felipe De Mussy, who sponsored the measure, said, “We need to understand that there are people who are suffering greatly and although we may be hundreds of kilometers away, we have to take this one and clearly, firmly reject it.”

Brutal violence continues to plague Iraq as militants with the Islamic State, known as ISIS, have taken control of numerous cities and ordered Christians and other religious minorities to convert, pay a tax known as a jizya, or be killed.

Tens of thousands have fled the violence and are now facing harsh conditions as internally displaced persons or refugees.

The Chilean Congress agreed to ask President Bachelet “to issue an official declaration of the government of Chile through the Foreign Relations Ministry condemning the brutal persecution of which hundreds of Christian families are becoming victims in Iraq.”

In May of this year, De Mussy sponsored another measure that was adopted by Congress. It called on the government to help in finding a solution to the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by the terrorist group Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Pope: division is among greatest sins of Christian communities

During his weekly general audience Pope Francis spoke on the unity and holiness of the Church, stating that despite the fact we are sinners, we are called to live as a community centered on Christ.

“In a Christian community division is one of the most serious sins, because it does not allow God to act,” the Pope said in his Aug. 27 general audience address. “What God wants is that we be welcoming, that we forgive and love each other so as to become more and more like Him, who is communion and love.”

Addressing the thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Roman Pontiff explained that as Catholics “we affirm in the Creed that the Church is one and that she is holy.”

“One because she has her origin in the Triune God, mystery of unity and full communion. Holy since she is founded by Jesus Christ, enlivened by his Holy Spirit, and filled with his love and salvation.”

We continue to refer to the Church as “one” and “holy” despite the fact that “we know by experience that it is also composed of sinners and that there is no shortage of divisions,” he said, recalling how the night before he was arrested Jesus “asked for the unity of his disciples: ‘that all be one.’”

Pope Francis’ interfaith soccer match shows desire for peace

A priest and close friend of Pope Francis says the pontiff’s idea for an upcoming inter-religious soccer match for peace shows his keen interest in promoting the topic on all levels of society.

“The hope is that after this football match, this sports event, there will be an impact that raises awareness for peace,” Father Guillermo Karcher explained to journalists that “the Pope’s concern for peace is very great.”

“He sees in this event, this punctual message of the match for peace, a very positive element that gives a contribution, because it’s necessary to try to build peace from all sides; from the political and diplomatic point of view,” he said.

Fr. Guillermo Karcher is a close friend of Pope Francis, and was present for the Aug. 25 launch of the Inter-religious Match for Peace.

Set to take place at 8:45 p.m. local time on Sept. 1 in Rome’s Olympic Stadium, the match will draw together past soccer players who represent different cultures and religions, including Buddhists, Christians – Catholic and Protestant – Jews, Hindus, Muslims and Shintos.

The game is being organized by retired Catholic soccer star Javier “Pupi” Zanetti, who was captain of the Argentinean national team and of Inter Milan in Italy. He was chosen to organize the symbolic game, which he has stated was the “explicit wish of Pope Francis,” in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences.

The Scholas Occurrentes initiative and Italy’s Fundazione PUPI are the two key organizations assisting in the organization of the match, which is being sponsored by organizations such as Fiat, Italian tire company Firelli, FIFA and various media outlets including Italian agencies Rai, Ansa and Vatican Radio.

Explaining how the idea was born, Fr. Kracher told journalists that it came from “the knowledge that Pope Francis already had when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, with Zanetti.”

English Summary of Pope’s Audience on the Church

“While we, the members of the Church, are sinners, the unity and holiness of the Church arise from God and call us daily to conversion”

Here is the English-language summary of Pope Francis’ General Audience of today:

***

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

We affirm in the Creed that the Church is one and that she is holy. One because she has her origin in the Triune God, mystery of unity and full communion. Holy since she is founded by Jesus Christ, enlivened by his Holy Spirit, and filled with his love and salvation. While we, the members of the Church, are sinners, the unity and holiness of the Church arise from God and call us daily to conversion. We have an intercessor in Jesus, who prays, especially in his passion for our unity with him and the Father, and with each other. Unfortunately, we know well the sins against unity–jealousy, envy, antipathy–which come about when we place ourselves at the center and which occur even in our parish communities. God’s will, however, is that we grow in our capacity to welcome one another, to forgive and to love, and to resemble Jesus. This is the holiness of the Church–to recognize the image of God in one another. May we all examine our consciences and ask forgiveness for the times when we have given rise to division or misunderstanding in our communities, and may our relationships mirror more beautifully and joyfully, the unity of Jesus and the Father.

Jewish leader blasts indifference to persecuted Christians

The leader of the World Jewish Congress slammed global apathy to persecution of Christians in the Middle East and other parts of the world, saying more countries should be moved to action.

“The general indifference to ISIS, with its mass executions of Christians and its deadly preoccupation with Israel, isn’t just wrong; it’s obscene,” wrote Ronald S. Lauder in an Aug. 19 New York Times editorial.

“The Jewish people understand all too well what can happen when the world is silent,” he said. “This campaign of death must be stopped.”

Lauder stated that while the international community has rallied to defend the persecution of other minorities in other conflicts, as well as to protest Israel’s attacks against Hamas when the organization is known to be using civilians as human shields, “the barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians is met with relative indifference.”

Noting a range of offenses against “Christian communities that have lived in peace for centuries” in the Middle East and parts of Africa, he decried a lack of action.

Vatican advisor: anti-Ebola effort needs international backup

Though the Church and others are doing much to help Ebola victims, “extraordinary measures” are needed to halt the epidemic, a Vatican advisor on health issues has said.

“For example, in a health care center with a capacity of 70 patients, there is need for at least 250 health workers, and now there is a lack of them,” Monsignor Robert Vitillo said.

“The countries and the NGOs in the region are now searching for international volunteers to strengthen the professional response to the outbreak in those countries.”

Msgr. Vitillo is special advisor to the Rome-based Catholic relief organization confederation Caritas Internationalis on HIV/AIDS. He also heads Caritas’ delegation to the United Nations in Geneva and collaborates with the Holy See.

He stressed that religious congregations are “very active” in Africa, with many religious brothers and sisters hailing from different countries.

However, at present there is no structured network of volunteers.

Disgraced nuncio does not have immunity, Vatican counters

The Vatican countered media reports that it protected a former nuncio who faces sex abuse charges through diplomatic immunity, saying instead that the Holy See acted justly and swiftly in the case.

Father Federico Lombardi, director of Holy See Press Office, stated that former apostolic nuncio to the Dominican Republic Josef Wesolowski – following charges and a guilty verdict of sexual misconduct – has been removed from his post as nuncio, and thus no longer has diplomatic immunity.

The former nuncio may “be subjected to judicial procedures from the courts that could have specific jurisdiction over him” in the Dominican Republic, Fr. Lombardi said in an Aug. 25 statement.

Though there is no extradition treaty between the Vatican and the Dominican Republic, Vatican officials in September expressed their willingness to hand over Wesolowski to civil authorities in the Dominican Republic.

Fr. Lombardi added that the case is one that Pope Francis “wishes to address justly and rigorously.”

In June, 2014, Vatican officials ruled that Woesolowski was guilty of accusations that arose in late 2013 that the former nuncio had engaged in sexual misconduct,which had previously led him to resign from the position of nuncio to the Dominican Republic on Aug. 21, 2013. After the printing of the original accusations, a 13-year-old boy came forward with further allegations that Wesolowski had solicited him for sexual favors in exchange for money.

The nuncio was then taken into protective custody by Dominican Republic officials.

After the guilty verdict, the Vatican ruled that Wesolowski would be laicized, “most serious canonical sentence of a return to the lay state,” Fr. Lombardi said. He would no longer being able to celebrate the sacraments. Wesolowski has appeal against the decision.

“The appeal will be judged without delay over the course of the coming weeks, most likely in October 2014,” Fr. Lombardi added.

Pope Francis leaves Asian faithful energized after visit

Many across Asia from all ages and stages in life voiced their enthusiasm in seeing Pope Francis during his recent visit to South Korea, saying he has shown great closeness to the Asian people.

“It’s a very overwhelming experience. At first we didn’t put very high expectations, but when he’s here, personally, you have an overwhelming feeling and it feels so joyful. That joy that you have, you just don’t know how to explain it,” Matthias Rider said.

“He gives a message about people in our society (and) in the world today, so it’s a wonderful support message for all of us.”

Traveling as part of a group of 21 from Brunei, Rider, 22, was present with roughly 2,000 other Asian youth for an Aug. 15 encounter between the Pope and the participants of the sixth Asian youth day in South Korea, which was a key motive for his Aug. 14-18 apostolic visit to the country.

Rider stated that being with the pontiff “makes you feel at ease,” because it feels “like you’re talking to a parent, and when the parent gives you that support saying ‘it’s gonna be alright,’ it feels nice. It’s a wonderful experience.”

Echoing the sentiments of many who expressed their happiness at seeing the Pope throughout his visit, Rider’s voice speaks on behalf of the youth in particular, who were moved not only by the Pope’s presence, but by his encouragement and words of hope.

Sarina Song, 32 and a Seoul native, explained to CNA Aug. 15 that Pope Francis’ presence as the first pontiff to visit the Korean peninsula since St. John Paul II’s visit in 1989 shows that “Korea is blessed by God and the Virgin Mary,” and that “Rome values Korea as a Catholic country.”