News

The Church Around the World

Contents - May 2011 - Buy a copy now Benedict XVI: The true meaning of mature faith - Pope Benedict XVI Two million in Rome for beatification of John Paul II - Peter Westmore News: The Church Around the World Modern martytrs: Shahbaz Bhatti (1968-2011): Pakistan's contemporary martyr - Babette Francis Culture: The decline of the Christian West - Cardinal Raymond Burke Oppression: Christians under fire worldwide - Cardinal Sean Brady The Anglican Ordinariate: what impact on Catholic worship? - Shawn Tribe Interview: International Conference on Eucharistic Adoration in Rome - Father Florian Racine University Life: Australian Catholic Students' Conference 2011 a success - Br Barry Coldrey Liturgy: Welcome to the new translation of the Missal - Audrey English Literature: The 'impossible dream' of Don Quixote - Part 2 (Matthew 6:19) - Andrew Kania Letters: Climate alarmism - Peter Donald Letters: 'Spirit of Vatican II' - Fr. M. Durham Letters: Simon of Cyrene - Andrew Sholl Letters: A mixture - Arnold Jago Letters: William Wardell - Cambria M. Parkinson Poetry: One Cross - Bruce Dawe Books: CHRISTIANITY IN IRAQ, by Suha Rassam - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: SIMON, CALLED PETER, by Dom Mauro-Guissepe Lepori, O.Cist. - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Books: ELIZABETH HAYES: Pioneer Franciscan Journalist, by Pauline J. Shaw - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: DAUGHTER OF MAN, MOTHER OF GOD, by Barry M. Coldrey - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The Resurrection: ultimate meaning of our existence - Fr Dennis Byrnes

Pope's new book a best-seller

Benedict XVI's second volume on the life of Jesus Christ debuted in the number 10 slot on the 27 March New York Times Bestseller List in the hardcover non-fiction category.

Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week discusses the last week of Jesus' earthly life, from his entrance into Jerusalem to his Resurrection and appearances to his disciples and other followers. It is the second volume in a planned three-book series.

Protestant scholar Dr Craig A. Evans of Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, Canada, said the book was "a remarkable achievement."

"It's the best book I've read on Jesus in years. This is a book that I think all Christians should read, be they Protestant or Catholic."

Rabbi Jacob Neusner, Distinguished Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College in New York, said the Pope aimed to unify theology and critical history in response to the failure of critical scholarship during the last century. "And he's accomplished something that no one else has achieved in the modern study of Scripture."

Fr Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM Cap, executive director of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' secretariat for doctrine, said the book fulfilled Pope Benedict's ardent desire to be helpful to all readers who seek to encounter Jesus and to believe in him.

Catholic News Agency

Fleeing Iraqis revitalise Church in Syria

The thousands of Catholics who have fled Islamist terrorism in Iraq for Syria have revitalised the life of the Church, according to the Maronite Archbishop of Damascus in March.

"They fill our churches, invigorate our parishes and reinforce the Christian faith in Syria, offering new encouragement to our parishes," said Archbishop Samir Nassar. "Iraqi refugees take part assiduously in daily Mass despite the fact they come from far away, on foot or public transport. On asking for confession before receiving Communion, these refugees have accelerated the return to the confessional which now has waiting queues.

"Their devotion to the saints and veneration of the Virgin has relaunched the production of candles and the niches of the saints both within and outside the churches [which] are illuminated day and night. They take part in prayer vigils, Eucharistic adoration, pilgrimages and processions on the streets of Damascus during Holy Week and especially in the month of May.

"They live their more intimate moments in silence before the Most Blessed Sacrament, face-to-face with the Lord. For hours, they mourn the death of their loved ones and wonder about the future. And they try to understand the reason why."

Catholic World News

Court allows crucifixes in European schools

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italian public schools may continue to display crucifixes in classrooms, thus providing a final resolution to a case that had sparked concern about aggressive secularism on the continent.

The new ruling overturned an earlier judgement by a lower chamber of the same court, which declared in 2009 that the crosses violated students' human rights and represented a form of religious discrimination.

Seventeen judges of the Grand Chamber gave the 15-2 ruling on 18 March, holding that there had been "no violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) to the European Convention on Human Rights." The protocol requires that state schools "shall respect the right of parents to ensure �... education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions."

The decision, which cannot be appealed within the European system, concluded a five-year legal battle that began in 2006. An Italian mother of two non-Catholic students had complained to the court that the crucifix displays were a form of involuntary religious indoctrination.

The Bishops' Conference of the European Community, in their joint response, stressed that the cross was not about to lose its significance for Europeans. "The crucifix symbolises the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ," they wrote, giving their approval of the ruling. "Christians from all denominations therefore see in the cross the symbol of God's comprehensive love for all mankind."

The president of the European bishops' conference, Cardinal Peter Erdo, hailed the definitive ruling as "a sign of common sense, wisdom and freedom."

He added: "To consider the presence of the crucifix in a public space to be against human rights, would be to deny the very idea of Europe. Without the crucifix, the Europe we know today would not exist."

EWTN News

US bishop critical of Obama marriage stance

The Obama administration's refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court is "an egregious violation of the separation of powers" that "puts the future prospects of our democracy at stake," according to Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, California.

The bishop, who leads the US bishops' ad hoc committee for the defence of marriage, wrote in a diocesan newspaper column:

"It is a curious irony that in this moment of history, when people in a number of countries in the Middle East are agitating for change from dictatorship to democracy, here in our own country, the oldest democracy with a written constitution in the world, there is a movement of the ruling class toward taking more and more power into its own hands. The flashpoint for this movement? The hot-button issue of our day: marriage.

"When the City Council of Washington, DC, passed a local ordinance to allow same-sex 'marriage,' the citizens organised to put it to a vote so they could decide for themselves. The City Council obstructed them from doing so every step of the way. Bear in mind that the city of Washington has a very large African-American population. Thus �... a small group of political elites (almost all of them white), in a claim to expand rights, deny one of the most fundamental rights in a constitutional democracy - the right to vote - to the masses of black citizens."

Catholic World News

"Catholics Come Home" responds to TV attack

The founder of Catholics Come Home, Tom Peterson, last March responded to an attack by prominent TV personality Bill Maher on Real Time with Bill Maher. Peterson noted how "Maher specifically edited and perverted one of the highly-effective national commercials produced by the lay Catholic charitable outreach organisation, CatholicsComeHome.org."

The attack occurred at the start of Lent, while nine US dioceses were partnered with Catholics Come Home to "share the life-giving power of faith in God by inviting inactive Catholics home to the Church during the Lenten season."

So far the Catholics Come Home ads and interactive Website have reached 40 million viewers in the US and another 1.5 million in other countries.

According to census statistics published by participating dioceses, Catholics Come Home ads have helped more than 200,000 fallen away Catholics come home to the Church. And where the ads have aired, Mass attendance has increased by an average of 10%, and by as much as 18%.

"But despite these gentle television invitations, Bill Maher has continues to rant against all things Catholic, in an effort to 'crucify' the Catholic Church by holding it up to continual ridicule and scorn," Peterson's statement noted.

"Maher inaccurately claims that the 'Catholic Church made these ads.' False. The hierarchy of the Church did not produce these ads ... [They] were created and are supported by a group of Catholic families and individuals inspired by Pope John Paul II's call for a New Evangelisation."

Tom Peterson then reflected on the organisation's mission to reach out to Catholics.

"Most say that they are not upset with the Church nor disagree with her teachings. In fact, the vast majority, about 90%, are telling us that they just drifted away from their practice of faith due to the many secular lures of the world. When they are asked, 'Why did you come home?' the majority of returnees answer, 'Because you invited me'."

Zenit News Agency

Russian Orthodox official praises Pope Benedict

Calling for a "strategic alliance" in which Catholic and Orthodox believers act as "allies," the Russian Orthodox Church's chief ecumenical officer lauded the "real positive results in normalisation of Orthodox-Catholic relations in recent years."

"Especially significant changes in this direction have happened after the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, as he knows the Orthodox Church very well," said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. "Today, for example, we don't see aggressive proselytising activity of Catholics in our territory that took place in early 90s.

"Orthodox and Catholics face the same challenges cast by the modern epoch to the traditional life-style," he added, referring to the threats to human life, marriage, and the family. "Here it's not the matter of theological issues, but the present and future of the human community which is in question."

Catholic World News

Vatican deplores UN's anti-religious stance

A Vatican representative to the United Nations has spoken out against attacks on freedom of conscience and religion, directed against Catholics and others who hold traditional beliefs about sexual morality and human nature.

Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on 22 March, called attention to what he described as a "disturbing trend" in debates over social life and human rights. "People are being attacked for taking positions that do not support sexual behaviour between people of the same sex," Archbishop Tomasi told the council.

"When they express their moral beliefs or beliefs about human nature, which may also be expressions of religious convictions, or state opinions about scientific claims, they are stigmatised, and worse - they are vilified, and prosecuted."

The archbishop said these attempts to silence Catholics, and other critics of homosexual practice, were "a human rights violation according to the council's own standards. These attacks contradicted the fundamental principles announced in three of the Council's resolutions of this session."

The archbishop's remarks came as the council revisited the subject of "sexual orientation" as a human right, a subject that has caused tension between the Vatican and the UN in the past.

He pointed out: "For the purposes of human rights law, there is a critical difference between feelings and thoughts, on the one hand, and behaviour, on the other."

A state should never punish a person, or deprive a person of the enjoyment of any human right, based just on the person's feelings and thoughts, including sexual thoughts and feelings.

"But states can, and must, regulate behaviours, including various sexual behaviours. Throughout the world, there is a consensus between societies that certain kinds of sexual behaviours must be forbidden by law. Pedophilia and incest are two examples ... Human sexuality, like any voluntary activity, possesses a moral dimension."

Archbishop Tomasi reiterated the Catholic Church's position on human sexuality as not only an article of faith, but a universal matter of natural law: "Human sexuality is a gift that is genuinely expressed in the complete and lifelong mutual devotion of a man and a woman in marriage."

Catholic News Agency

Tie foreign aid to human rights: Cardinal O'Brien

Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien has denounced UK foreign policy as "anti-Christian" after the government announced it would double foreign aid to Pakistan.

"To increase aid to the Pakistan government when religious freedom is not upheld and those who speak up for religious freedom are gunned down is tantamount to an anti-Christian foreign policy," Cardinal O'Brien said.

"Pressure should now be put on the Pakistan government, and the governments of the Arab world as well, to ensure religious freedom is upheld. The provision of aid must require a commitment to human rights."

Catholic World News

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 24 No 4 (May 2011), p. 4