Daily Archives: June 19, 2012

To Die of Hope

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

2012-06-20 Vatican Radio

To coincide with the World Day for Refugees on June 20

th

, a prayer vigil takes place in Rome for all the refugees who have lost their lives trying to get into Europe.

Since 1990 over 18,500 people are known to have died on the dangerous journey from North Africa to Italy, Spain and Malta. The current crises in North Africa and in the Middle East has led many more people to embark on the risky sea crossing in dilapidated and overloaded boats. The true death toll is probably higher.

Many of the refugees originally come from subSaharan Africa, and would have made the long overland journey to north Africa on foot or by bus, to find work.

The evening prayer vigil at the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere is organised every year by the Community of Sant’Egidio in collaboration with the Astalli Centre Association, the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, the Migrantes Foundation, Italian Caritas and ACLI.

The vigil, entitled “To die of hope” is lead by Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People.

Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni spoke to St. Egidio’s Cecilia Pani about the prayer vigil and about the scenario behind it…

listen…

Cecilia explains that St. Egidio has been collecting news about the people who have died, mainly in the Mediterranean Sea because “we were struck about so many people dying, but no one knew their names or their stories”. The newspapers, she says, carry numbers and statistics conveying the idea that “some sort of invasion of Italy is taking place. That’s why we started to collect names and stories. On this occasion we remember the people who disappeared”.

These people are men, women, children – even babies – entire families have disappeared in the waters, coming from all over the world.

Cecilia says these are people who fled their countries, many of them wanting to ask for asylum, most of them fleeing dire economic situations. She remembers that Pope Paul VIth called them “economic refugees” – people escaping not only bhecause of political problems but because their land gave them no possibility to live.

Cecilia says the ones who manage to reach our countries are the strongest. “You need money, courage, strength and good health to undertake this trip”.

These people, she points out, allow us to open our mentality and open our eyes on the future of the world. Our future in Europe is with other people, she says, in particular with people from Africa. “The future of Europe is with Africa” – and she refers to the global aging of the European population and the need we have of young people to work. And she speaks of cultural awareness, “of course Europe is a continent with a long history, but in the globalised world we can only develop if we open our borders”.

Cecilia says these people are aware of the dangers they are about to face when they undertake their journey of hope. Many of them travel for months by all sorts of means.

She remembers the tragic fate of 2 young boys from Guinea Conacr’ in 1999 who hid in the belly of an airoplane in the attempt to reach Europe to study. Their bodies were discovered in Brussels many days later…

She says we can do much to avoid this kind of tragedy. But also, she says “there is place for these people: we need them”. We must not be afraid of “invasions”, we must help them cross the borders in a safe way “because the danger is not for us Europeans, it is for them – for their lives…”.

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To Die of Hope

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Peace and reconciliation in Nigeria

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

2012-06-20 L’Osservatore Romano

The full collaboration of all the members of Nigerian society” is necessary
in order to abandon “the path of revenge” and collaborate “in building a
peaceful and reconciled society in which the right to freely profess their faith
is fully protected”.

The scene of a suicide attack against a place of Christian worship in Bauchi on 3 June (ANSA)

The
Pope said this at the General Audience of Wednesday, 20 June in the Paul VI
Hall, expressing his “deep concern” about the plight of the African country,
caught up in a spiral of violence directed mainly against Christians. “While I
raise my prayers for the victims and for all who are suffering, I appeal to
those responsible for the violence to put an immediate end to the bloodshed of
so many innocent people”.

 The Pontiff had just concluded his Catechesis on the hymn of blessing with
which St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians opens, underlining the need to pray not
only in order to  “ask for help in need”, but also to give praise and thanks for
the “many good things received” and for the “goodness that God shows in his
creation”. God, he said, “called us to existence, to holiness. And this choice
even precedes the world’s creation. We have always been in his plan and in his
mind”. And God “did not choose us so that we might be good but because he is
good”, the Pope added. “God is goodness, he is a communication of goodness, he
wants to communicate, he creates because he wants to communicate his goodness to
us and to make us good and holy”. Human beings for their part, facing “the way
of redemption”, are required  to choose it, because “God wants free creatures
who say ‘yes’ freely”.

Each one of us, the Pope recalled, must be attentive “to the beauty of
creation and to seeing the face of God shine out in this beauty ”. In this
sense, prayer “brings into being men and women who are not motivated by
selfishness, by the desire to possess or by the thirst for power, but by
gratuitousness, by the desire to love, by the thirst to serve, in other words
who are enlivened by God”. And God, he concluded, “has made himself close to us
and patiently waits for us to take our time, he understands our infidelities, he
encourages our commitment and he guides us”.

Continued: 

Peace and reconciliation in Nigeria

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HOLY FATHER RECEIVES THE PRIME MINISTER OF LATVIA

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Vatican City, 20 June 2012 (VIS) – The Holy See Press Office released the following communique at midday today:

“Today 20 June, following his general audience, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received in audience Valdis Dombrovskis, prime minister of the Republic of Latvia. The prime minister subsequently went on to meet with Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. who was accompanied by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, secretary for Relations with States.

“During their cordial discussions the parties highlighted the good relations that exist between the Holy See and the Republic of Latvia, and the valuable contribution the Catholic Church makes to society, in particular on questions concerning the family and the promotion of a humanism open to spiritual and transcendental values.

“The conversation also focused on questions of mutual interest, with particularly emphasis on the serious economic and financial crisis which is affecting the lives of European peoples”.

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HOLY FATHER RECEIVES THE PRIME MINISTER OF LATVIA

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PRAYER OPENS THE WAY TO THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S PLAN

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Vatican City, 20 June 2012 (VIS) – During his general audience, held this morning in the Paul VI Hall, Benedict XVI continued his ongoing series of catecheses on the subject of prayer in the Letters of St. Paul.

“Our prayers are often a request for help in our hour of need”, he said. “That is natural because we need help, the help of other people and of God. We must also bear in mind that the prayer Christ taught us, the Our Father, is just such a petition. With that prayer the Lord teaches us our priorities. Yet, although it is natural to ask for things in prayer, that is not the only reason to pray. There is also cause to give thanks, … because we receive so many good things from God. Thus prayer should also be praise and, if we open our hearts, we come to realise that, despite all problems, creation is beautiful and good”.

In chapter one of his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul praises God “because ‘he has made known to us the mystery of his will’. … For believers ‘mystery’ does not so much mean the unknown as the merciful will of God, His plan of love which was fully revealed in Jesus Christ and offers us the chance ‘to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth … and depth’ of that love”. The unknown mystery of God has been revealed and it is that God, ever since the beginning and for all eternity, loves us.

The Pope noted how the Apostle reflects on the reasons for praising God by presenting the fundamental elements and the various stages of the divine plan. “Firstly we must bless God the Father because He … called us into existence, He called us to sanctity, … and we have been in His plan and His thoughts forever. … The vocation to sanctity and communion with God is part of His eternal plan, a plan which stretches over history and which includes all the men and women of the world, because the call is universal. God excludes no one, His plan is exclusively a plan of love. … The Apostle highlights the gratuitous nature of this marvellous design for humankind”, the Holy Father said.

At the heart of prayer of praise St. Paul shows us the form in which the Father’s plan of salvation is realised in Christ. “Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was the unique and unrepeatable event by which the Father demonstrated … His love for us, not just in words, but in concrete terms. God is so tangible that His love entered history, it became man to experience life and sensation in this world. So tangible is His love that it shares not only in our life, but also in our suffering and in our death. The sacrifice of the cross makes us ‘the property of God’. The blood of Christ … washes us of all evil and removes us from the slavery of sin and death”.

Finally the divine blessing closes with a reference to the Holy Spirit which has been suffused in our hearts. “Redemption is not yet concluded. … It will reach fullness when those whom God has acquired will be completely saved. We are all journeying towards redemption. … God wants us to be free, He wants our ‘yes’ to be free. We travel this road of redemption together with Christ and thus redemption is fulfilled”.

“In prayer we learn to see the signs of this merciful plan in the journey of the Church”, the Holy Father concluded. “Thus do we grow in the love of God, opening the door for the Blessed Trinity to come and dwell among us, bringing us light and warmth and guiding our lives. … Prayer generates men and women not animated by egoism, desire to posses and thirst for power, but by gratuitousness, the desire to love and serve. In other words, they are animated by God, and only in this way can we bring light into the darkness of the world”.

See the article here - 

PRAYER OPENS THE WAY TO THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S PLAN

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The new evangelization is the call of the Church to its original missionary goal: the instrumentum laboris of the Synod

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – “New methods and new forms of expression are needed to convey to the people of today the perennial truth of Jesus Christ, forever new and the source of all newness… This renewed dynamism in the Christian community will lead to renewed missionary activity (missio ad gentes), now more urgent than ever, given the large number of people who do not know Jesus Christ in not only far-off countries, but also those already evangelized.” This is what His Exc. Mgr. Nikola Eterovic, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops writes in the Preface to the Instrumentum Laboris of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme: “The new evangelization for the transmission of the Christian faith” (7 – 28 October, 2012). In addition to the Preface, the Instrumentum laboris consists of an introduction of four chapters and a Conclusion.
The Introduction presents the structure of the Instrumentum laboris, it indicates the reference points of the Synod (50th anniversary of II Vatican Council, the 20th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Year of Faith; also the teachings of II Vatican Council, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, the Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio and the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennium Ineunte), to discuss the significance of the synod topic and expectations on behalf of particular Churches.
The first chapter, entitled “Jesus Christ, God the Father’s Gospel to humanity”, reiterates the experience of Christian faith: the encounter with Jesus, “the first and greatest evangelizer”, and the fundamental vocation of the Church – to proclaim to the people of our time, the Good News received. “We can therefore understand, how every one of the Church’s actions has an essential evangelizing character and must never be separated from the duty to help others to encounter Christ in faith, the primary goal of evangelization.” The mission of the Apostles and the Church is often marked by martyrdom: “Martyrdom gives credibility to those who bear witness; they do not seek power or gain, but give their very lives for Christ.” However, erroneous beliefs unfortunately exist which “limit the duty to proclaim the Good News” believing that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom
In the second chapter of the document – “Time for a new evangelization” – describes the current world (cultural, phenomenon of migration, the economy, politics, scientific research and technology, religious aspect, civic life) and the resulting new social situations that challenge the Church and believers demand appropriate responses. “Today the proclamation of the Gospel is much more complicated than in the past, but the task entrusted to the Church remains the same as its beginning. Since the mission has not changed, it is fair to consider that even today we can show our enthusiasm and courage that moved the Apostles and early disciples.” Some numbers are specifically dedicated to the theme of “Missio Ad Gentes, Pastoral Care, New Evangelization”, which emphasizes how “the evangelizing work of the Church is in deep transformation. The traditional and established figures – which are conventionally denoted by the term ‘ Ancient Christian Countries ‘ and ‘mission lands’ – are showing their limitations. ” The geographical space within which the new evangelization develops, without being exclusive, concerns primarily Western Christian, and its recipients are baptized people who are living a new life and a new cultural context in which in fact their faith and their witness is conmpromised . However, the new evangelization also cover “young Churches” in Africa, America, Asia and Oceania. (1) (SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2012)

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The new evangelization is the call of the Church to its original missionary goal: the instrumentum laboris of the Synod

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Pope to travel to Italy’s earthquake-struck region

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

2012-06-20 Vatican Radio

Pope Benedict XVI will visit the earthquake zone of Emilia Romagna on Tuesday 26 June.

The Vatican press office announced the Pope will travel by helicopter and he is scheduled to land
in San Marino di Carpi near Modena where he will be greeted by the Prefect Franco Gabrielli, Head of the Department of Civil Protection.

By bus Benedict will then visit Rovereto in Novi, where a parish priest died in the collapse of his church.

Civil authorities, bishops, priests, local businessmen and the faithful will welcome him.

Pope Benedict is also scheduled to address those present before returning to the Vatican shortly after 1pm.

Two strong earthquakes struck Emilia Romagna last month killing 27 people, and leaving thousands homeless as well as causing billions of euros in damage.

Aftershocks have continued to rock the region.

Pope Benedict XVIth has sent messages and words of comfort and prayer to the earthquake victims on various occasions since the first quake. He has made a donation of 500,000 euros.

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Pope to travel to Italy’s earthquake-struck region

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11th Sunday of Ordinary Time ("B") – Statio Orbis at Croke Park Today – More Pix of the IEC

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Image DSC05191.JPG



O God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously hear our pleas, and, since without you mortal frailty can do nothing, grant us always the help of your grace, that in following your commands we may please you by our resolve and our deeds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

* * * * * *

STATIO ORBIS AT CROKE PARK


Statio Orbis is the Liturgy on the final day of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress that will take place on Sunday 17th June 2012 in Croke Park, a soccer stadium in Dublin, Ireland.


The Mass will be celebrated by the Papal Legate, Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

It is a time of pause (statio) and come to terms with what it means to celebrate, receive and live the Eucharist.

In February 2008, the Holy Father had a Q & A with his priests in Rome and one of them expressed his lack of comfort with a Mass celebrated outdoors during a large gathering of Youth at Loreto. In his reply, Pope Benedict attributed the development of the concept of statio orbis to the great Jesuit liturgical scholar Jozef Jungmann:

A great problem, however, is that of the liturgies in which masses of people participate. I remember in 1960, during the great International Eucharistic Congress of Munich, there was an endeavour to give a new physiognomy to the eucharistic congresses, which up to that point had solely been acts of adoration. The intent was to put the celebration of the Eucharist at the centre as the act of presence of the mystery being celebrated. But immediately the question arose how that would be possible.

To adore, it was said, is possible also at a distance; but to celebrate, a limited community is necessary which can interact with the mystery, therefore a community which must be the assembly around the celebration of the mystery. Many were opposed to the public celebration of the Eucharist with hundreds of thousands of people. They said it was not possible precisely because of the very structure of the Eucharist, which requires the community for the communion.

There were also great personalities, very much respected, who objected to this solution. Then professor Jungmann, a great liturgist, one of the great architects of the liturgical reform, created the concept of statio orbis, namely reverting to the statio Romae where even in the time of Lent the faithful assembled at a point, the statio: there they are in statio as soldiers for Christ, and then they go together to the Eucharist. If that, he said, was the statio of the city of Rome, where the city of Rome came together, then this is the statio orbis [statio of the world].

And from that moment on we have the eucharistic celebrations with the participation of masses. To me, I must say, this remains a problem, because the concrete communion in the celebration is fundamental, and therefore I do not find that the definitive answer has been found. Also in the last Synod [of Bishops on the Eucharist, in 2005] I have made this question emerge, which has not, however, found an answer. I have also made another question be raised, regarding concelebrations en masse: because if there are concelebrating, e.g., a thousand priests, one does not know if this is still the structure willed by the Lord. In any case, these are questions.

And so, you encountered a problem with participating in an en masse celebration in which it is not possible for everyone to be equally involved. Therefore, one must choose a certain style to preserve that dignity that is always necessary for the Eucharist, and hence the community is not uniform and the experience of participation in the event is diverse; for some it is certainly insufficient. But this did not depend on me; rather on those who have taken care of the preparations.

Hence it must be reflected well on what to do in such situations, how to respond to the challenges of such situations. In Loreto, if I am not mistaken, it was an orchestra of handicapped people who performed the music, and perhaps the idea was just to demonstrate that handicapped persons can contribute to the sacred celebration, in which not only are they not excluded but become primary agents. And this way, loving them, everyone does not feel excluded, but even involved. This seems to me a very respectable consideration which I share. Of course, the fundamental problem [of en masse celebrations] remains.

But it seems to me that also in this regard, knowing what the Eucharist is, even if one does not have the opportunity of an external activity as one might wish in order to feel one is fully participating, we should be in it with the heart, as the ancient imperative of the Church says, created perhaps precisely for those who were at the back of the basilica: “Lift up your hearts! Now, let us all go out of ourselves, so that we all are with the Lord and are together.”

As I said, I don’t deny the problem, but if we really follow this word “Lift up our hearts”, we will all find, even in difficult and sometimes questionable situations, true and active participation.

* * * * * *

When we celebrated the

Statio Orbis Mass

in

Quebec City

in 2008, a torrential rain just at Communion time caused great havoc. Some of that was present yesterday when a downpour (not torrential but substantial) occurred just before Communion, but stopped as people were communicating, and this was the case on several other occasions this week, requiring concelebrating bishops and priests to make use of plastic ponchos (in Quebec, all the Masses except the closing one were indoors in an arena, which meant all the liturgies were quite fine, even if we too suffered from rain almost every day of the ICE).

The forecast for today is rain again, but I’m hoping the skies will remain shut during the Mass.

* * * * * *

MORE PHOTOS FROM DUBLIN;

CLOSING STAGES OF THE IEC

Rainwear was standard attire this week



Father Kevin Doran, CEO of the ICE receives Congress texts in Swahili from a Tanzanian bishop




Lunch with Communion and Liberation members from Dublin, Rome



Irish writer and Commentator John Waters (Lapsed Agnostic, Beyond Consolation: On How We Became Too Clever for God…and Our Own Good)



Irish seminarians include Thomas on the left who will be ordained a priest by Cardinal Brady in Armagh on July 1



Saturday evening supper with Irish Jesuits



Fathers Alan McGuckian (left) with the Jesuits in Belfast and Tom Layden, Jesuit Provincial



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11th Sunday of Ordinary Time ("B") – Statio Orbis at Croke Park Today – More Pix of the IEC

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Ireland, the Eucharistic Congress, and Catechesis

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
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For a few days last week, and over the weekend, I was at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin (I know, I’ve been getting around a bit recently…) So much has been written and said about this Congress, so I won’t give you too many thoughts… simply that I was glad to be there, at such a fundamental moment for the Church in Ireland. I’ve heard how wounded the Church is: not only by the abuse scandals, but, it seems, by a decades-long crisis of faith, and of priesthood. Despite all of this, the Congress, along with other recent events such as the appointment of the new apostolic nuncio, are signs of hope: that despite the wounds caused by the Church upon herself, the only thing for her to do is to cling more closely to Christ, her Spouse, and willingly accept this purification.

One thing that strikes me as important: for too long, it seems, parishes, priests, bishops and lay people themselves, have underestimated the extent that people have fallen away. Being among Irish people at the closing Mass in Croke Park – beautiful as it was – made me realise how far from faith many people are. While they are indeed receiving the sacraments, they seem far away from an understanding of what they receive. Close to the means of grace, far from grace. We returned to our seats from receiving Holy Communion (in a dingy corridor, with stewards shouting at the lay extraordinary ministers while 1,000 priests sat in the arena), to find everyone around us, who had also just received Communion, chatting and laughing and even passing around sweets (…at a Eucharistic Congress!) This seems to be a country where to be Catholic has for too many decades simply been a part of being Irish, rather than involving any real assent of faith. I thought of some of our parishioners who were received into the Church at Easter, I thought of those who have just finished the precatechumenate, and even those who are contemplating beginning the precatechumenate – in terms of exhibiting ‘signs of faith’, they are far ahead of these supposedly fully-fledged Catholics.

So, in the process of renewal, priests and lay catechists need to have a full awareness of the reality of the vast majority of Catholics. It is almost as if parishes need to stop the ‘hollow ritualism’ of dispensing sacraments and start right from scratch with basic evangelisation, like a completely new mission territory…

Maybe I’m being too drastic – tell me in the comments if you think so! I am aware that England has more than its fair share of cultural Catholics. And don’t worry, I’m not all doom and gloom. I actually enjoyed the Congress. I am praying more fervently for the Church in Ireland, for the new appointments of bishops which we hope will happen before long. While I was there, I had a great desire to help. Ireland has an eye-wateringly huge need for catechetical leaders to begin the renewal of catechesis in parishes. Naturally, I felt a great longing to give some catechesis. Something on the Real Presence would have been good, for a Eucharistic Congress. Ireland – if you ever need someone to give some catechesis or train some catechists, I’m there!

About transformedinchrist

I live in London and have a big love for the Church and for the mission of catechesis. Currently studying for an MA in catechetics, I work for a wonderful south London parish where I coordinate, plan and deliver catechesis.


View all posts by transformedinchrist

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Ireland, the Eucharistic Congress, and Catechesis

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A Few thoughts on Eucharistic Prayers

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A load of old rubbish gets talked about the 2nd Eucharistic Prayer.

Joe Shaw wrote

about it recently, far from being ancient it was the construction of Annibale Bugnini. The truth is we don’t know whether it was a “Eucharistic Prayer” or a liturgical text at all, or if was actually Catholic or belonged to an heretical sect, it probably wasn’t by

Hyppolytus

the martyred (anti-pope). When I was at the seminary we were told it was ancient and Roman. Joe quotes Mgr Bugnini who himself says it is really a 1960s invention with ancient borrowings, with the addition of a Sanctus (if it is used it should be used with its Preface – otherwise it doesn’t make much sense) and the words of consecration. It is useful for Masses with primary school children and I like the reference to the Holy Spirit coming like dew that is brought out in the new translations – rather than a roaring wind, or fire.

However the authentic Roman experience is gained from the Roman Canon, it is this which witnesses to the ancient Catholic faith. Its antiquity is demonstrated by its rather foreshortened Trinitarian theology – presumably from the time before the early Trinitarian Councils had been absorbed by the Church. It has certainly been tampered with; the addition of the epiclesis, for example, which incidentally was moved by Bugnini . Without the invocation of the Holy Spirit that is in the Extraordinary Form Offertory Prayers, it is open to the charge of tending towards the slightly heretical.

I love it because just meditating on it is an archaeological dig into the theology of the Roman Church of the first quarter of the first millennium. That clunky precision about who is doing the offering and who it is offered for, which was scratched out of the old vernacular translation. What it shows so clearly is how the Roman Church was dominated by the memory of the saints, the twenty-four that are commemorated reflect how authentic Catholicism is about the cherishing of their memory who in every age and state of life witness to the sacrifice of Christ, making up in their own bodies whatever is lacking in the sacrifice of Christ (Colossians 1:24). Without the saints it seems Catholicism is stripped of authenticity. This is perhaps a major deficiency of the other Eucharistic Prayers. It would be too drastic to suggest that they are not an authentic expression of the faith believed always and everywhere by Catholics but as the Prefect of the CDF has recently suggested concelebration, at least by priests without a presiding bishop, is not an authentic part of our Tradition can we not say this about the other Eucharist Prayers?

Just being controversial, tomorrow I will probably us No 3.

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A Few thoughts on Eucharistic Prayers

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Call for Papers: Shakespeare and the Memory of a Lost Religion

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

To follow up on the the recent call for papers we posted, a friend recently sent us a second call that may be of interest to some of our readers:

2012 SAMLA CONFERENCE CALLS FOR PAPERS November 9-11, 2012 Research Triangle, North Carolina Special Focus: Text as Memoir: Tales of Travel, Immigration, and Exile.

Panel: Shakespeare and the Memory of a Lost Religion.

Recent scholarship has drawn attention to the critical trend of the past dozen years commonly referred to as “the turn to religion in Shakespeare criticism.” An important element of this “turn” has included attempts to uncover the remnants of a forgotten Catholicism in Shakespeare’s oeuvre, e.g., Stephen Greenblatt’s Hamlet in Purgatory (2001) and Eamon Duffy’s “Bare Ruined Choirs: Remembering Catholicism in Shakespeare’s England” (2003). This panel is not intended as a forum for arguments about Shakespeare’s own personal religious predilections, but instead, papers should address the ways in which the Bard employs Catholic motifs in his writings, effectively creating texts of religious memory, a memory that may be defined as historical, critical, nostalgic, a dramatic tool—the list goes on. Special attention can also be given to the conference themes of travel, immigration, and exile as they lend themselves to Shakespeare’s efforts at remembering a lost English Catholicism. By June 30, 2012, please submit abstracts of 300 words to Paul Stapleton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, stapleton@unc.edu.

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Call for Papers: Shakespeare and the Memory of a Lost Religion

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156. Hey Canada! by Vivien Bowers

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Hey Canada!

by Vivien Bowers. Illustrations by Milan Pavlovic (

US

) –

(Canada)

Pages: 68
Ages:
7+
Finished: May 30, 2012
First Published: May 8, 2012
Publisher: Tundra Books
Genre: children, nonfiction, geography, Canada
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:
“I’m Alice, nine years old, reporting from the backseat of the car.”

Publisher’s Summary:

Gran has decided that she is taking nine-year-old Alice and eight-year-old Cal on a road trip across Canada “before she’s old and creaky.” With a sparkling combination of poems, silly songs, tweets and blogs, the trio records the trip for readers everywhere to share. Starting in St. John’s Newfoundland, where they have a “find-it” list that includes a moose and an iceberg and going all the way to the Pacific Ocean, the gang in Hey Canada! offers a delightful way to learn about vast, varied, and surprising Canada.

The book combines narrative, poems, photos, comics about historical events such as the battle at Fortress Louisburg, maps (including provincial flags, birds, and flowers), in a lively, easily accessible format. Not only great fun to read, this is a valuable resource for young Canadians and for visitors across the country.

Acquired: Received a review copy from

Tundra Books

.

Reason for Reading: Always on the lookout for good books about Canadian geography. There are plenty around these days, but not many I’d label much better than just OK. This book’s format and artwork attracted me.

I’ve read several children’s Canadian geography books and while they get the job done, dull is usually the optimum word. Either that, or they become pages of factoids with no narrative to carry the book. Bowers’ “Hey Canada!” manages to avoid these pitfalls and brings to elementary children and interesting, entertaining and educational tour of our country province by province. Divided into chapters which each are devoted to a province or territory, the story is told in a narrative from the girl, Alice’s point of view. She is purportedly recording all this on a blog of their adventure. Her cousin Cal, who is younger than her, but also the brainy one, will come up with interesting factoids to Tweet as he is the official Twitter poster of the group. In this way the journey across each province is told in a fictional story of the family, with humour, Gran is a fun young grandmother and they’ve got their pet hamster traveling with them by supposed accident.

As the story is told the facts are presented about each province and area concentrating on all things a tourist would like to know about: the wildlife, the land, the history, the peoples, the customs and specifics unusual to each area. Some provinces are given more page space than others; of course Ontario has the most pages devoted to it and Saskatchewan is lucky to get three but I think a fair shake has been given to all the p’s and t’s outside of over-represented Ontario and Quebec. Plenty of interesting, positive information has been given leaving the reader with a sense of wanting to really visit these places. While the main characters are 8 and 9, I think the book will hold the interest across the elementary grades of 1-6, certainly as an introduction to Canada as a whole and the provinces/territories singularly. I’d recommend this as a quick brush through the topic or as a starting point, using other books to branch out into deeper study. The most entertaining Canadian geography book out there at the moment, that I’ve seen.

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156. Hey Canada! by Vivien Bowers

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Happy 1st birthday!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
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On June 17th we celebrated your 1st birthday my sweet sweet smiling little Leo!

We spent the day at a friend’s wedding, so no cake for you, only cards that day, which your big brother was only too happy to open for you!

You also got an extra special 1st birthday present (…a shared present for both you boys)…..a play house for the garden!

Needless to say Joseph absolutely loves it and as do you!

My precious little Leo, here are some little details about you as you are on your 1st birthday…

* you have 3 teeth (all on the bottom row), and very little hair!
* you only take one (45minute) nap a day
* you have the best grin and smile
* your eyes are so bright and have an amazing natural sparkle
* you are adventurous
* you are as sharp as a button and nothing gets by you. You notice everything
* you like getting stuck in straight away to whatever is going on
* you love being in my arms and being up so you can see the world (like your bro)
* you are cuddly and snuggly; I especially love it when you wrap your arms round my neck and bury your face in!
* you like to know your mamma is nearby, and get very panicked when I leave the room without you

You are a gem, and we thank God for the sparkling joy and light that you are in our life!

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Visit To The Venerable English College…

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

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I was fortunate enough to be invited to dinner at the

Venerable English College

during my holiday in Rome. I say that “I” was invited… actually Fr. Charles Briggs and

Fr. Tim Finigan

, (former students, and friends with the Rector) were invited for dinner, and I got to tag along…

Wednesday evening is “Guest Night.” We arrived just before the pre-dinner drinks and Fr. Tim and Fr. Charles showed me the Martyrs’ Chapel and the garden, and they promised to try and show me a little more of the College after dinner, particularly the Church.

The thing about places in Rome, I have decided, is that one has to remember to look up. The ceilings are usually just as beautiful as the rooms, and sometimes even more so! The Refectory was dominated by a huge painting of Christ visiting the Pharisee (with the woman who poured ointment over Christ’s feet) and I completely forgot to look up, so missed the ceiling painting of St. George by Pozzo. It seems that there are one or two readers of my blog over at the English College – several people were keen to point out the presence of the cat sitting by Christ’s chair. The cat was the spitting image of Monsignor Miaowrini! It seems that the cat has only recently been revealed, when the painting was cleaned up.

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Dinner was delicious, and for once I did more listening than talking, as I listened avidly to the reminiscences of Fr. Tim and Fr. Charles as they chatted to Monsignor Nicholas Hudson (the Rector), Monsignor Mark Langham (who was visiting) and a few other people who drifted over to say hallo.

After dinner, Monsignor Hudson asked if I would like to see the College Church. I was very keen to do so, but I have to say that I was absolutely amazed when he sat me down on a pew and personally proceeded to tell me the full history of the College, right from its foundation as a pilgrim hospice in the 14th Century. It was fascinating stuff, and I was pretty overwhelmed, first by his generosity in taking the time to recount the history, and secondly by the sheer volume of information. We then went upstairs to the Tribune of the church – the walkway goes around three sides of the church, allowing an amazing view of the nave and the Martyrs’ Picture…

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The Martyrs’ Picture, showing the Blessed Trinity with St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Edmund (the patrons of the two medieval English hospices) became an icon of the College Martyrs: whenever news of a martyrdom of former students reached Rome, the College students would gather together by the picture to sing a

Te Deum

in thanksgiving.

IMG_20120606_210858On the walls of the Tribune are copies of paintings showing the sufferings of the students of the English College who were martyred during the Reformation when they returned to England. The paintings, by Pomerancio, were of considerable importance when the cause for the beatification and canonisation of the English and Welsh martyrs was being examined. The pictures quite take your breath away, as they’re rather graphic in detail! There are also many pictures of saints associated with bringing the Catholic faith to England, whether in legend (such as St. Joseph of Arimathea’s visit to Glastonbury) or in fact (St. Alban’s martyrdom.)

IMG_20120606_213853Monsignor Hudson then asked if I’d like to see the libraries.There were some scrapbooks out in the Third Library, and we were encouraged to look through these while Monsignor Hudson went to fetch some “treasures” from the Archives. And what treasures they proved to be! I actually got to see (and touch) the Liber Ruber – the book which recorded the Missionary Oath taken by the students in which they promised to return to England on completion of their studies for the priesthood. The names (and in some cases, signatures) of the students, and what they said and did are all recorded. The first martyr of the College, St. Ralph Sherwin is recorded as having said that he was ready to return to England “rather today than tomorrow” in order to restore the Catholic faith to England.

IMG_20120606_215031I also got to see the letter from St. Charles Borromeo in which he records the visit of St. Ralph Sherwinand his companions to Milan en route to England, in which the Bishop of Milan offered hospitality to any other students on their way back to England and probable martyrdom, and a book of maps from the 16th century which were probably used by the students of the College when trying to work out where they would go in England once they arrived. We were very edified to see that Chislehurst (Fr. Charles’ parish), Eltham Palace, Bexley and Welling all featured (Blackfen parish was formed out of a part of Welling.)

IMG_20120606_215742We finished up in the Salon for coffee – this was part of the palazzo which had been built in 1654 to replace the prison next door to the College, and the only part of the buildings not completely trashed by Napoleon’s troops – apparently they liked living in style! As a parting gift, Monsignor Hudson gave me a copy of Monsignor Mark Langham’s book on the history of the English College. The Venerable English College, Rome: a short history and guide is an excellent book, and has lots of pictures (though I’m delighted to see that I have all the important ones myself, and some of mine are, IMHO, better…) I note that one second-hand copy of the book is available from Amazon (not mine, I hasten to add!!), but I suspect that it would be cheaper to buy it directly from the College itself.

I would just like to thank Monsignor Nicholas Hudson once again for the very great kindness and hospitality he showed me.

This post is getting to be almost as long as the book, so I shall end here, but I took quite a few photos, and you can see them in the Flickr set for the VEC.

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Visit To The Venerable English College…

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CWL British Columbia/Yukon convention a blessed time

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

CWL British Columbia/Yukon convention a blessed time

Posted onJune 19, 2012byBishop Gary M. Gordon

June 14-16 was a great time of sharing Yukon hospitality as members of the British Columbia/Yukon Council of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada, gathered in the Diocese of Whitehorse, Yukon, for their provincial convention.

Holding the event in Whitehorse diocese provided a welcome opportunity to renew ties because the CWL has such a strong connection to Catholic Missions In Canada, our biggest supporter of missionary work.

Moreover, it was a blessed time to be in Canada’s most North/Westerly diocese, where Catholic Missions In Canada is such vital part of keeping the light of Christ alive in the vast Yukon Territory and Northern British Columbia.

Bishop Gary Gordon presides at the installation of the new provincial executive in Sacred Heart Cathedral in Whitehorse, Yukon.

The newly-installed CWL Executive of British Columbia and Yukon.

Doreen Gowens, left, newly elected CWL BC and Yukon provincial president, with Nancy Simms past president, enjoying the banquet celebration. 

The Catholic Women’s League British Columbia and Yukon Council has nearly 10,000 members from the Dioceses of Kamloops, Nelson, Prince George, Victoria and Whitehorse, and the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

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Our First, Most Cherished Liberty

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A favor:  this year, on the Fourth of July, will you not only shoot off fireworks, but ring the bells at every church in the archdiocese at noon as we conclude our national Fortnight of Prayer for Religious Freedom?

This promising endeavor will begin this Thursday, June 21.

The cause is as old as the country we love, whose independence we’ll celebrate on July 4:  religious freedom.

It’s not new at all:  Our first bishop, John Carroll — whose cousin, Charles, signed the Declaration of Independence — constantly urged the tiny Catholic flock of his time to pray in thanksgiving for the freedom promised us to exercise our faith without harassment from anybody, government included, and to pray for its protection.

Nor is it uniquely American, for that matter.  Just look at the saints whose feasts we’ll celebrate over the two-weeks of prayer:

St. John Fisher (June 22), who refused to render the king the allegiance that only belonged to God, and was murdered for it;

St. Thomas More (June 22), who would not violate his properly formed conscience to appease the crown, and lost his head;

St. John the Baptist (June 24), who would not disobey God’s law about marriage, and was beheaded by King Herod;

SS. Peter and Paul (June 29), who were martyred by Caesar for not worshipping him as a god. 

The First Martyrs of Rome (June 30), slaughtered in the first generation of Christians for not genuflecting to the emperor, but only to the Lord.

St. Thomas the Apostle (July 3), whose defense of the basic freedom of faith led to his martyrdom in India.

What people of every faith longed for — the liberty to worship God and live out their religious convictions without oppression — finally came to be fulfilled in the country whose 236th birthday we will observe this July 4th.

I invite you to join this Fortnight of Prayer June 21 – July 4, thanking God for this first of our God-given rights — freedom of religion — and to ask the Lord to preserve it in the country we love as our earthly home.

Check the Archdiocese of New York website and the USCCB website for prayers and activities.  I trust every parish will encourage this promising endeavor, as we will at the cathedral.


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Ten Lies About Christianity

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Ten Lies About Christianity

Posted onJune 19, 2012by

Of Christianity and myth-making: Author Michael Coren dispels what he sees as myths about the history, beliefs, and culture of Christianity.

About John Laws

Catholic, married, pro-life, pro-family, parent. Active in the Knights of Columbus. Member of the staff at The Interim, Canada’s Life and Family Newspaper.

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My misgivings about Dublin congress leave me just a little embarrassed

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I was a little embarrassed watching the coverage of the International Eucharistic Congress (IEC) in Dublin. Not because of anything that went on in Ireland, but rather because of my original attitude toward the congress being held there at all. Yet watching the pilgrims from around the world gathering in Dublin, I saw that their gestures of sympathy and solidarity were better than an attitude of ostracism and punishment.

When it was announced in 2008 at Quebec City that the 2012 IEC would be in Dublin, I was rather dismayed. I understood that sometimes a local Church in distress can be buoyed by such an international event — after all, that was the logic of having the IEC in Quebec City to begin with, to administer an emergency transfusion to the anemic local Church. Yet Dublin struck me as a step too far. After all, it would be hard to find any place where spectacular incompetence had brought the Church into greater crisis than in Ireland. And Irish society as a whole, led by its government, was hardly better.

It’s not the sexual abuse scandal alone. Other countries have dealt with the shame and pain. Ireland seemed then, and still seems now, unable to get its act together. Recently, Diarmuid Martin, archbishop of Dublin, called for an independent inquiry into Brendan Smyth, the Norbertine priest who molested innumerable children over some 40 years. Mishandling the Smyth case in 1994 caused the government of Ireland to fall — the only place where a clerical abuse scandal has brought down the civilian government. Smyth was convicted and died in 1997, shortly after being imprisoned. Yet nearly 20 years later and Archbishop Martin, generally viewed as a champion of healing and reform, judges it necessary to have yet another inquiry. Ireland has had plenty of those. In the last four years, major government inquiries have reported, the Church’s own inquiries have reported, to say nothing of the special apostolic visitation ordered by the Holy See of Ireland’s archdioceses and seminaries.

The Irish bishops as a whole have proved supremely disappointing, simply unable to find the path of renewal. Pope Benedict XVI administered a devastating assessment of their conduct in his letter to Catholics in Ireland, and officials in Rome are all the more scathing in private.

The Irish government has hardly been better, itself flailing about as it has become clear that whatever rot existed in the Church, it could be found elsewhere in Irish society, with the police and the legal system also proving inadequate to the task. In the past year the Irish government has allowed a petulant anti-Catholicism to flourish, closing its embassy to the Holy See, and passing an egregious law that requires priests to do what they cannot do, namely violate the seal of the confessional.

Given this pathetic scene in Church and state, why would anyone desire to be in Dublin for a grand ecclesial event? More to the point, was there any sense in which Dublin deserved to hold such an event? For that reason, despite having great experiences at the IEC 1997 in Wroclaw, Poland, the IEC 2000 in Rome, and then in Quebec City, I had no interest in going to Dublin.

Hence my embarrassment when I saw that so many others took a rather more noble view, precisely going as pilgrims to Ireland in order to offer comfort and solace to a suffering Church. It was not so much a celebration that drew them, but a concrete act of charity to be done.

I was particularly struck by the number of bishops who devoted more than a week for the IEC — no insignificant sacrifice of time and expense. All three archbishops from Ontario were present, as were bishops from across the country, including the archbishops of Vancouver, Edmonton and Quebec City. The chief Canadian present of course was Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who represented the Holy Father as the papal legate.

I suppose that any international event in Ireland would draw upon the numerous Irish diaspora in Canada, but it seemed from the coverage I saw that people were going as genuine pilgrims, aware of the afflicted Church in Ireland, and not just as religious tourists. It is to their credit that they went for those reasons, bearing witness to the faith in difficult circumstances.

Many speakers said that Ireland was on the path to renewal. That is likely more a hope than a reality, but the path to renewal is not meant to be walked alone. God bless those pilgrims who chose to walk alongside the Irish this past week in Dublin.

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My misgivings about Dublin congress leave me just a little embarrassed

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True Freedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

I am happy to share with you my new eBook, TrueFreedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty, which was released today! (Image Books, June 19, 2012.) The Archdiocese of New York issued the following press release to the media.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 19, 2012

CARDINAL DOLAN RELEASES eBOOK ON HUMAN DIGNITY AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, today released an original eBook, TrueFreedom: On Protecting Human Dignity and Religious Liberty (Image Books, June 19, 2012.)

His Eminence writes:

“In only the last few years we’ve experienced rampant disregard for religious beliefs in this country with the approval of embryonic stem cell research; legal justification for the torture of    prisoners; the provision of tax dollars to abortion providers; the HHS mandates; and, most recently, a redefinition of marriage by many of our leading political figures. We can see that there is a loss of a sense of truth here, and objective moral norms—rules of conduct that apply always, to everyone, everywhere—and an “eclipse of a sense of God and of man.”

…To this culture of death the Church boldly and joyfully promotes the culture of life.

We recognize that we humans are at our best when we give ourselves away in selfless love and live no longer for ourselves, but for another. This is what Pope John Paul the Great calls the “law of the gift,” echoing the words of Jesus that, “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The eBook includes the introduction of A People of Hope (Image Books, Nov. 1, 2011), in which journalist John Allen Jr. interviews Cardinal Dolan on a number of topics.
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Click here if you would like to purchase it on Amazon.


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Science and park

Tuesday, June 19, 2012
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We attended a science morning earlier in the week; a morning of hands-on science experiments on the theme of light and sound…

There were lots of crazy experiments and both you boys enjoyed it. Joseph you enjoyed the colour mixing with different coloured lights, and learnt that red + green + blue light = white light!

Leo you…well…you got stuck in as usual!

These head-phones were quite fun; intended to teach about how animals hear and how sound waves travel…


Towards the end we all sat down and children could come to the front and say what they’d enjoyed. Mostly the big kids went to the front, but dear Joseph, you REALLY wanted to go too, and went up and said how you liked the vibrating voice-box speaker….and here you are with one of the coordinators feeling for your voice-box!

and then after all that learning a number of families headed to the park for a picnic and to enjoy the sunshine!

SLIDES!!





Another super day spent with my munchkins!

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Science and park

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Nagging feeling that Quebec ‘registry of homophobic’ acts is really about another agenda

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Quebec’s government-funded ‘registry of homophobic acts’ tempts one to question the very sanity of those who support this extreme, totalitarian measure.

We have gone from, “if you don’t want to have a same-sex ‘marriage’, don’t have one”, and “why are you so upset about gay rights legislation since it won’t affect you?” to now, threats of “you will be punished by the state, the courts and the police if you are reported by anyone to have said or done something critical of homosexuality.” These folks are dead serious.

Now do you see where this is all going? It is about far more than homosexual rights. It is rather about a hate-filled, revolutionary smashing of Western civilization and its foundational institutions and a crushing of fundamental freedoms.

Everyone is to be forced to accept the new sexual order or risk increasingly oppressive state, court ordered, institutional and employer determined sanctions. It’s happening already, all over the place across Canada, in the US and in Europe and elsewhere.

All citizens, whether they accept or disapprove of homosexuality, should be gravely concerned about this oddly powerful movement determined to force its sexual ideology on everyone.

However, there is the nagging feeling that the real agenda behind all this actually has nothing whatever do with homosexuality. It does not make sense that such a tiny percentage of the population should have so rapidly on their own acquired such huge international political and other influence.

Homosexual activists may simply be very useful, for now, for advancing something very different, but still requiring the gutting of the established order, to be replaced by another one that could have no use at all for those with homosexual inclinations.

History lessons anyone?

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Nagging feeling that Quebec ‘registry of homophobic’ acts is really about another agenda

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