Prayer To St Mark The Evangelist

PRAYER
(traditional language)

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist hast given to thy Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God:
We thank thee for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

PRAYER
(contemporary language)

Almighty God, who by the hand of Mark the evangelist have given to your Church the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God:
We thank you for this witness, and pray that we may be firmly grounded in its truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Church plans Christ the Redeemer upgrade in Brazil

The Catholic Church announced plans to raise 3.5 million dollars for a major upgrade of Christ the Redeemer, the iconic giant statue of Jesus with outstretched arms that overlooks Rio de Janeiro.

Cleaning and repairing the 78 year-old statue will take four to six months, Rio de Janeiro Archbishop Ornani Tempesta told reporters Wednesday.

Some of the money will be raised by selling small metal brooches of the statue, available for 4.30 dollars at any of Rio's 252 parishes, Tempesta said.

"It is a way to get to know Christ even better," said Tempesta. "We will carry him on our chest."

Brazilian mining giant Vale will also pay for part of the project.

The 30-meter (98-foot) tall stone and cement Christ the Redeemer stands on an eight-meter high pedestal on top of Mount Corcovado, overlooking the metropolis of around 10 million people.

It was designed by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, who ceded all the rights to the monument to the Catholic Church.

A French sculptor of Polish origin, Paul Landowski, sculpted the statue. It was inaugurated in 1931 after five years of work.

Classified as a historic monument since 1973, some 1.8 million visitors stop by to see the stature every year.
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SIC: AFP

The Beatitudes: Blueprint for Holiness

The words of Salesian Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, spoken during last year's Synod of Bishops on the Word of God, still resound in my mind and heart today on the solemnity of All Saints:

"Jesus says: 'Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29). For more than 2,000 years, men and women, old and young, wise and ignorant, in the East as in the West, applied themselves to the school of the Lord Jesus, which caused this sublime commandment to echo in their hearts and minds: 'You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matthew 5:48).

"Their library was largely composed of the life and the words of Jesus: blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the gentle, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for uprightness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted. The saints, understanding that the beatitudes are the essence of the Gospel and the portrait of Christ Himself, became their imitators."

A new recipe

The beatitudes in Christ's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-12) are a recipe for extreme holiness. As has been pointed out by many others in the past, though the Mount of the Beatitudes is a few dozen feet above sea level, it is the really the highest peak on earth!

On this holy mountain in Galilee, Jesus proclaimed the new law that was expression of Christ's holiness.

They are not an abstract code of behavior. Jesus is the poor in spirit, the meek, the persecuted, the peacemaker. He is the new "code of holiness" that must be imprinted on hearts, and that must be contemplated through the action of the Holy Spirit. His Passion and Death are the crowning of his holiness.

Holiness is a way of life that involves commitment and activity. It is not a passive endeavor, but rather a continuous choice to deepen one's relationship with God and to then allow this relationship to guide all of one's actions in the world. Holiness requires a radical change in mindset and attitude. The acceptance of the call to holiness places God as our final goal in every aspect of our lives.

Looking at Jesus, we see what it means to be poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, to mourn, to care for what is right, to be pure in heart, to make peace, to be persecuted. This is why he has the right to say to each of us, "Come, follow me!"

Jesus does not say simply, "Do what I say." He says, "Come, follow me!"

Taking stock

The saints and blesseds are travel companions along our journey, in joy and suffering. They are men and women who wrote a new page in their lives and in the lives of so many people. This was the core of Pope John Paul III's message to humanity: Holiness is not a gift reserved for a few.

We can all aspire to it, because it is a goal within our capacity -- a great lesson reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council and its call to universal holiness ("Lumen Gentium").

Today's solemnity of All Saints is a wonderful opportunity for the whole Church to take stock once again of the way that the Servant of God, John Paul II, changed our way of viewing the saints and blessed. In nearly 27 years of his pontificate, John Paul II gave the Church 1,338 blessed and 482 saints.

The Polish Pontiff reminded us that the heroes and heroines the world offers to young people today are terribly flawed. They leave us so empty. The real "stars" of his pontificate are the saints and blessed who did not try to be regarded as heroes, or to shock or provoke.

To believe greatness is attainable, we need successful role models to emulate. There is a desperate need for real heroes and heroines, models and witnesses of faith and virtue that the world of sports, cinema, science and music cannot provide.

Standing at the radical center

Many think that sainthood is a privilege reserved only for the chosen few. Actually, to become a saint is the task of every Christian, and what's more, we could even say it's the task of everyone! How many times have we thought that the saints are merely "eccentrics" that the Church exalts for our imitation; people who were so unrepresentative of and out of touch with the human scene?

It is certainly true of all those men and women who were "eccentric" in its literal sense: they deviated from the center, from usual practice, the ordinary ways of doing things, the established methods. Another way of looking at the saints is that they stood at the "radical centre."

Saints of the new millennium

John Paul II spoke much to young people about the call to holiness and the vocation to be saints. In his message for World Youth Day 2000 in Rome, he wrote to his "dear young friends" throughout the world unforgettable words that became the rallying cry for the Jubilee's greatest celebration:

"Young people of every continent, do not be afraid to be the saints of the new millennium! Be contemplative, love prayer; be coherent with your faith and generous in the service of your brothers and sisters, be active members of the Church and builders of peace.

"To succeed in this demanding project of life, continue to listen to his word, draw strength from the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and penance. The Lord wants you to be intrepid apostles of his Gospel and builders of a new humanity."

Two years later for our World Youth Day 2002 in Canada, John Paul II took up once again the theme of holiness and saints in his message to us:

"Just as salt gives flavor to food and light illumines the darkness, so too holiness gives full meaning to life and makes it reflect God's glory.

"How many saints, especially young saints, can we count in the Church's history! In their love for God their heroic virtues shone before the world, and so they became models of life which the Church has held up for imitation by all. [...]

"Through the intercession of this great host of witnesses, may God make you too, dear young people, the saints of the third millennium!"

At the concluding World Youth Day Mass at Downsview Park in Toronto on July 28, 2002, John Paul II issued a stirring challenge:

"And if, in the depths of your hearts, you feel the same call to the priesthood or consecrated life, do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the Cross!

"At difficult moments in the Church's life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit, just as Kateri Tekakwitha did here in America and so many other young people have done."

True reformers

Benedict XVI continued the momentum of John Paul II's invitations and exhortations to holiness at World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany. At the opening ceremony on Aug. 18, 2005, Benedict XVI addressed the throng of young people from the entire world:

"Dear young people, the Church needs genuine witnesses for the new evangelization: men and women whose lives have been transformed by meeting with Jesus, men and women who are capable of communicating this experience to others. The Church needs saints.

"All are called to holiness, and holy people alone can renew humanity. Many have gone before us along this path of Gospel heroism, and I urge you to turn often to them to pray for their intercession."

Benedict XVI continued this theme at the great vigil on Saturday evening Aug. 20, 2005 at Marienfeld:

"It is the great multitude of the saints -- both known and unknown -- in whose lives the Lord has opened up the Gospel before us and turned over the pages; he has done this throughout history and he still does so today.

"In their lives, as if in a great picture book, the riches of the Gospel are revealed. They are the shining path which God himself has traced throughout history and is still tracing today."

Then Benedict XVI cried out in that great assembly of over one million young people gathered in prayer at Marienfeld in Cologne: "The saints [...] are the true reformers. Now I want to express this in an even more radical way: Only from the saints, only from God does true revolution come, the definitive way to change the world."

At the core

Every crisis that the Church faces, every crisis that the world faces, is a crisis of holiness and a crisis of saints. Holiness is crucial because it is the real face of the Church.

The core of the proclamation of the saints and blessed was always hope, even in the midst of the darkest moments of history. It's almost as if in those times of darkness the light of Christ shines ever more brightly. We are living through one of those times, and the Lord is still taking applications for his extreme form of holiness and sanctity.

Believers in Jesus and his message must allow themselves to be enticed and enchanted by his life and message contained in the beatitudes.

Today we must hold up the beatitudes as a mirror in which we examine our own lives and consciences. "Am I poor in spirit? Am I humble and merciful? Am I pure of heart? Do I bring peace? Am I 'blessed,' in other words, happy?"

Jesus not only gives us what he has, but also what he is. He is holy and makes us holy.

[The readings for the Solemnity of All Saints are Revelations 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; and Matthew 5:1-12a]
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SIC: Zenit

Vatican called in over case of Father John Fleming

CATHOLIC Archbishop Philip Wilson has flown to the Vatican to seek advice from the Pope's lawyers on what action he should take concerning high-profile priest Father John Fleming.

His unscheduled trip follows a finding by Michael Abbott, QC, that the archdiocese has no jurisdiction to take action against Father Fleming because he was an Anglican priest at the time the incidents allegedly occurred up to 35 years ago.

Church sources said Archbishop Wilson was "seeking counsel'' from the Vatican because he was concerned at the predicament the archdiocese was in.

The unusual finding is one of several made by Mr Abbott in his inquiry into the Catholic Church's handling of the allegations involving Father Fleming - including its acceptance of him despite knowing of some of the allegations prior to his ordination in 1995.

Archbishop Wilson commissioned the inquiry last year after the Sunday Mail revealed Father Fleming was the subject of complaints by two females and a male, identified as Jane, Jenny and Richard. Jane's complaint resulted in a police investigation, but no charges were laid and the file remains open.

The Sunday Mail also revealed Father Fleming was appointed president of Sydney's Campion College in 2005 - despite the college and the Catholic Church being aware of allegations surrounding him.

While the Abbott inquiry has concluded, the allegations involving Father Fleming are still the subject of an Anglican Church professional standards investigation. However, it can take no action because it also has no jurisdiction over Father Fleming.

Mr Abbott's report, meanwhile, confirmed the archdiocese was aware of some of the allegations involving Father Fleming prior to his ordination and investigated them and found the church was not responsible for his appointment to Campion.

Mr Abbott also found there were shortcomings in the church's response to the allegations, particularly its processes prior to introducing its Towards Healing initiative in 1996.

These included no formal register of complaints, which led to evidence being lost, insufficient understanding of the disciplinary measures available, and an informal and insufficient method of investigating complaints.

Jenny said she was upset the church continued to employ Father Fleming considering Campion College had sacked him after becoming aware of the allegations.

"I don't understand. They ordained him even though they knew of the allegations and yet they are not prepared to admit they did the wrong thing or take responsibility,'' she said.

Jane said she disagreed with Archbishop Wilson's claim the response to her was appropriate because in one instance he did not respond to a lengthy email from her in 2006.

"Contrary to what Archbishop Wilson maintains, I have never in nine long years since I first reported the abuse been consulted about the response I wanted,'' she said.

"Archbishop Wilson knew about all three complainants when Fleming was appointed to Campion, and he tells me in a personal letter that there have been `sufficient restrictions' on Fleming to ensure no abuse of power could occur, but how could he have orchestrated this with Fleming in an independent setting?''

Richard said in co-operating with the inquiry he was looking for someone "to accept some level of responsibility and say 'I am sorry', but this had not occurred.

"The Catholic archbishop now says that the church's responses then were, while not adequate, what the victims wanted. This, in effect, blames the victims for the church's shortcomings. In my own case it is not accurate,'' he said.
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SIC: AN

Bishops call for dignity for woman, children

Catholic leaders in Africa must defend the dignity of women and promote their role in Church and society, said the Synod of Bishops for Africa.

Synod members promised to promote the education of girls and women, open shelters for those who are abused and bring women into Church decision-making structures.

They also asked that a special commission on women in the Church be established within the Pontifical Council for the Family.

CONDEMNED VIOLENCE

In their final message to the world, the 275 members of the synod condemned "all acts of violence against women."

Examples of such violence include "the battering of wives, the disinheritance of daughters, the oppression of widows in the name of tradition, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, trafficking in women and several other abuses such as sex slavery and sex tourism," said one of the propositions approved by the synod.

The Oct. 4-25 synod concluded with calls for better treatment of the family and an end to political corruption.

Africa needs "saintly politicians who will clean the continent of corruption, work for the good of the people and know how to galvanize other men and women of good will from outside the Church to join hands against the common evils that beset our nations," said the message.

The bishops praised those who have used their role in public office for the common good. But they criticized the "many Catholics in high office (who) have fallen woefully short in their performance in office."

FAMILY CRUCIAL

The synod propositions spoke of the family as being of "capital importance" for protecting human life and for learning and practising forgiveness, peace, reconciliation and harmony.

Yet they also said the family is under threat because of abortion, the denigration of childbearing, "the distortion of the notion of marriage and the family itself," and divorce.

The bishops called for better education of Catholics in the meaning of Christian marriage, improved marriage preparation programs and better support for families.

They decried the exploitation and mistreatment of too many of the continent's children, listing "aborted babies, orphans, albinos, street children, abandoned children, child soldiers, child prisoners, physically and mentally challenged children, children accused of witchcraft (and) children sold as sex slaves."

CARING FOR PEOPLE WITH AIDS

Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, president of the synod's message-drafting committee, told reporters that the Church is "second to none" in helping people affected by HIV and AIDS and that its contribution deserves more recognition.

"Many of those who go around distributing condoms will not go near anybody with HIV and AIDS and there are many who need assistance," Onaiyekan said at a Vatican press conference Oct. 23.

"We hope that the whole question of HIV-AIDS can be handled in such a way that it doesn't become always a battle over whether you believe in condoms or not."
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SIC: WCR

Theologian explores Vatican II teaching on the priesthood

An understanding of the nature of the ordained priesthood vs. that of the priesthood of believers needs to be rooted in sound Trinitarian doctrine, an American theologian told Canada's Catholic bishops.

"At the heart of Trinitarian doctrine is our conviction that God is not an autonomous monad," said University of Toledo theology professor Richard Gaillardetz to the plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) Oct. 19.

"God is not another individual, something in the cosmos, simply bigger and more powerful than ourselves."

"As I tell my students, God is not Zeus! Rather, for Christians, the divine being is constituted by personhood, a threefold being-in-relationship. The Trinitarian persons are not autonomous individualities but subsistent relations."

The CCCB invited Gaillardetz to give two reflections to mark the Year for Priests. On Oct. 19, he focused on the impact of the Second Vatican Council on an understanding of the priesthood, and on Oct. 20, he examined the relationship of the priest to the priesthood of believers.

PRE-VATICAN II IDENTITY

Prior to Vatican II, a "neo-scholastic view" prevailed that saw the priest as "an autonomous individual who was ontologically changed in his interior being by the conferral of a distinctive sacramental character," he said.

In reaction to that view, after the council the priest was more likely to be defined in terms of function - what he does, he said. But that view has also come under critique.

These two views, which seem to be in conflict, can be resolved by putting them in a relational context, he said. "If the divine being is thoroughly relational, then it follows that created reality must, at least in the divine intention, be relational as well."

Ordination does "effect an ontological change," he said, but not in an "isolated individual." Understood relationally, the ordinand is "reconfigured at the level of his very being in his relationship to Christ and within the life of the Church."

Gaillardetz told the 90 bishops they face a challenge in encouraging a fraternal relationship among their priests and with themselves.

He advised them to make sure priests "do not succumb to an isolated, individualistic" or "Lone Ranger" concept of ministry.

There is a legitimate concern, he said, about whether the growth of lay ministry and the permanent diaconate poses a threat to the unique ministry of the priest, though he thinks the anxiousness is "overdrawn."

Nevertheless, he said the Church must do everything she can to encourage vocations to the priesthood.

"We must find candidates who are not threatened by the gifts and ministries of the baptized," he said.

BAPTISMAL GIFTS

The priest needs to promote the baptismal gifts and use his pastoral authority to "properly order them" for the Church's mission.

"One priest who is willing to get to know his people, discern their gifts and abilities, may be more pastorally effective than five priests who can validly perform the sacraments but are unable to inspire and empower the baptized," he said.

Gaillardetz stressed the "priesthood of the faithful" is not synonymous with a "lay priesthood.

"This is a dangerous misunderstanding," he said. This view puts people into two camps and becomes a "recipe for an adversarial understanding of the relationship between the clergy and laity."

"All Christians, lay and clergy, share in the common priesthood of the baptized," he said.

"All Christians, in other words, are called to make of their lives a sacrifice 'holy and pleasing to God.'"

Though the distinction between priest and the laity is real, "it should not be treated as a separation," because the priest, though ordained, does not cease to be a member of the people of God, he said.

CHRIST'S SACRIFICE

An understanding of the nature of Christ's sacrifice is key, he said.

"In the Christian conception, Jesus was not offered as victim by another in order to appease or pacify God," he said.

"Jesus was the one who freely offers himself as the innocent victim of a violent action that is not perpetrated on him by God but by a sinful humanity."

The "radical shape" of the "one sacrifice of Christ" is "incomprehensible apart from the resurrection," he said.

"For Christians there is only one sacrifice and in a primordial sense, there can be only one priesthood, the priesthood of Christ who offers himself as a vulnerable, forgiving victim for the salvation of the world."

Gaillardetz told an anecdote about a newly-ordained priest fretting over his priestly identity.

A retired priest responded to him saying, "Quit spending so much time worrying about your priestly identity and go visit the sick."

"In the end, priestly identity, whether it proceeds from Baptism or ordination, is not about being vs. doing; it is grounded in the one triune reality that unites the two: love," he said.
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SIC: WCR

Vatican row delays Anglo-Catholic text

A row has broken out behind the Vatican walls over the "confusion" surrounding Pope Benedict XVI's opening to disaffected Anglicans, according to a papal biographer.

Andrea Tornielli, the biographer of several modern Popes including Pope Benedict, said that just over a week after its existence was revealed by the Vatican, the text of the Apostolic Constitution laying down the conditions for the creation of a new "Anglo-Catholic" section of the Church was still not ready for publication.

This was not because of translation problems but "something more serious", Mr Tornielli said.

There was still debate behind the scenes over priestly celibacy, the "most sensitive point for public opinion".

When asked last week about admission into the Catholic Church of married Anglican priests under the new rules, Cardinal William Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, replied that requests would be judged "on a case by case basis".

It was left unclear however whether Anglican seminarians who were either married or who wished to get married before being ordained would also be admitted to the Catholic Church.

The final text of the Apostolic Constitution is likely to "eliminate this ambiguity" by making clear that all trainee priests will be required to be celibate if they wish to go over to Rome, Mr Tornielli said.

The row has been exacerbated by the decision to disclose Pope Benedict's approach to Anglican traditionalists before the final text was ready, thus risking another of the "diplomatic gaffes" that have occasionally marked his pontificate so far.

The Pope is understood to have wanted the announcement to be made only when the text was finalised, in order to avoid a public relations disaster like that which followed his rehabilitation in January of Richard Williamson, an excommunicated arch-conservative bishop, before he became aware that Bishop Williamson was a Holocaust denier.

However Cardinal Levada announced the Anglican move prematurely because he had just briefed Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Catholic Bishops of England of Wales — neither of whom were consulted — and was concerned that the news might leak out unofficially, Mr Tornielli wrote in Il Giornale.

A number of Catholic commentators have pointed out that allowing Anglicans to bring their "traditions and practices" with them could end up altering the traditions and practices of the Catholic Church — including celibacy — as much as undermining the Anglican communion.

Roman Catholic canon law states that clerics are obliged "to observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, and are therefore bound to celibacy, which is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can adhere more easily to Christ with an undivided heart and dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and humanity."

However this is a regulation rather than unalterable dogma, and deacons in the Catholic Church are already exempted from the rule. So too are priests in the Eastern Catholic Church, although they may not be ordained bishops.

The celibacy rule was not introduced until the Middle Ages. It is assumed that St Peter himself was married, since St Mark refers to Jesus curing St Peter's mother-in-law of fever.

Many early Church fathers were married, and in his first Letter to Timothy (3: 2-4), St Paul observes that a bishop "must be above reproach, the husband of one wife".

However early Church priests who were married had to remain widowers and abstain from sexual activity if their wife died.

The fourth-century Council of Elvira went farther, laying down that although bishops and priests could be married, "they are to abstain completely from sexual intercourse with their wives and from the procreation of children" — the beginning of the celibacy law that took shape later under medieval Popes.
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SIC: TOUK

Catholic conversion remains on the cards, says former Bishop of Rochester

Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, has refused to rule out converting to the Roman Catholic church.

If he did it would be one of the most high-profile conversions to come of Pope Benedict XVI's move to allow disaffected Anglicans full union with Rome.

Dr Nazir-Ali, who retired as the Bishop of Rochester in September, said: "I won't rule it out or rule it in. I wait with interest to see that the details of the offer are."

He was speaking over the weekend at a London conference of 500 traditionalists, who were welcoming the Pope's surprising initiative.

They voted in favour of consulting parishes on whether or not to split from the Church of England to join the Catholic church, but decided they could not act further until details of the Apostolic Constitution were published.

Worldwide up to 400,000 Anglicans, upset with the ordination of women bishops and homosexual clergy, could convert to the Catholic church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was only informed by the Vatican a week ago about its plans.

The lack of consultation has prompted his predecessor, Lord Carey of Clifton, to criticise the Vatican's handling of the announcement as "inexcusable". +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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SIC: TCUK

Bail stays at $1M for suspect in killing NJ priest

A judge has ordered that bail be kept at $1 million for the janitor accused of killing a New Jersey priest by stabbing him 32 times.

Jose Feliciano made his first court appearance in state Superior Court in Morristown on Thursday.

Judge Thomas Manahan adjusted Feliciano's bail from cash, bond or property to cash solely.

Feliciano is charged with murder in the death of the Rev. Ed Hinds in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham last Thursday.

Assistant Prosecutor Leslie Wade said Feliciano has used several aliases and Social Security numbers and has an outstanding arrest warrant from more than 20 years ago in Philadelphia.

Court documents say Hinds discussed firing Feliciano one day before his death.
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SIC: NJCM

Euro churches call for climate action at EU summit

Church leaders have called on European politicians to make firm commitments on climate change policy at the EU summit meeting in Strasbourg.

The Methodist Church, the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the United Reformed Church have urged the European Union to agree cuts of at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and for these cuts to be made within the EU without extensive use of carbon offsets.

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) sent a letter to MEPs this week stressing the need to reduce dependence on the consumption of fossil-based energy.

Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain, said: “Europe must not be afraid to lead on climate change. This challenge will not be solved by nations sitting back and waiting for others to act first. Developed nations have benefited most from cheap fossil fuels and we must now lead on developing low carbon futures for all. Caring for God’s planet earth is today a crucial expression of Christian discipleship.”

The three churches have produced a report and study guide called Hope in God’s Future. The booklet, available from Methodist Publishing, takes the reader on a journey using the changing mood of a worship service as a framework for considering climate change and people’s effect on the planet.

The Rev John Marsh, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, said: “Climate change is not only an urgent environmental issue, but a justice issue - as those least responsible for global warming are paying the highest price for our irresponsible lifestyles in the West.

“We call on our political leaders to demonstrate the moral courage and leadership now urgently needed to address this gross injustice. We see the consequences of climate change with increasing frequency, and as Free Church leaders, we express our solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters in countries who have suffered the latest convulsions of the earth - in the Philippines, Sumatra, Samoa and American Samoa.

“We offer fervent prayer for their comfort and sustenance amidst the desolation of their grief and loss”.

The organizers are hoping for thousands of people to take to the streets of London on December 5 to show their support for The Wave campaign – a procession to advocate a safe climate future for everyone organised by Stop Climate Chaos coalition.

Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said: “We support the call of the Prime Minister for Europe to take a lead in setting up a substantial fund to help emerging nations cut carbon emissions. It is time that words were turned into solid and concrete financial commitments. Unless a proper funding package is put in place, little can be expected from Copenhagen – and, as so often, it will be the poorest in the world who will suffer most.”
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SIC: RI

Music from the Vatican - historic free concert at Westminster Cathedral

An historic free concert will be held at Westminster Cathedral on Wednesday 2 December featuring the very first live UK performance of music from ‘Alma Mater - Music From the Vatican’ the album featuring the voice of Pope Benedict XVI.

The concert will officially launch the album released worldwide by Geffen/Universal on Sunday 29 November.

This special one-off concert will have performances by the Chamber Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome, the first time this historic choir has performed in the UK, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

There will also be appearances from special guests to be announced at a later date.

Fr Giulio Neroni, who devised the concept for the album said: “For me the concert is very important as it brings the album to life and helps to illuminate the importance of the Pope’s visits to the Marian sanctuaries – featured on the album.”

Msgr Pablo Colino said: “The choir and I are very much looking forward to making our debut performance in the UK, in the famous Westminster Cathedral. We are proud to be part of the Alma Mater project. As the longest serving member of the Vatican I can say with certainty that Pope Ratzinger has a wonderful musicality. I have known six Popes and none could sing as well as him or were as musically aware as he is: this will be evident when people listen to the album.”

Vincent Messina, producer of Alma Mater the album, and organiser of the concert, said: “We are delighted to be able to bring the album to life with this great concert and in such a historic cathedral.

UK music fans have the opportunity to experience the purity and beauty of the Gregorian melodies performed by this fantastic choir and conducted by the indefatigable Pablo Colino, the acknowledged number one leading arranger and director of Gregorian music and for 50 years now, working in St Peter’s.”

Canon Christopher Tuckwell, the Administrator of Westminster Cathedral said: “I am very pleased to welcome The Chamber Choir of the Philharmonic Academy of Rome who will join with the voice of the Holy Father in this Concert here at Westminster Cathedral and am delighted to have the opportunity of hosting this event.”

Classic FM will be broadcasting the event early in December.
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SIC: ICN

Womens' council opposes abortion amendment

The National Council of Women in Ireland (NCWI) strongly lobbied against a European Parliament proposal that would have seen spending on coercive abortion and sex-selective abortion banned, The Irish Catholic has learned.

There were 316 votes against an amendment to the draft EU budget, which would have explicitly prevented projects funded by the EU engaging in the practises, with 305 MEPs voting for the amendment.

The amendments were opposed by the National Council of Women in Ireland (NCWI).

In a letter to its members, the NCWI makes clear its support for a lobby campaign by the European Women's Lobby (EWL) which opposes these amendments on the grounds that they are part of a 'wider agenda'.

Abortion

The NCWI also lobbied Irish MEPs to oppose the ban on coercive and sex-selective abortion.

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael MEPs voted for the amendments, as did Independent MEP Marian Harkin. The three Labour MEPs, Nessa Childers, Prionsias De Rossa and Alan Kelly, and Socialist MEP Joe Higgins, voted against the amendments.

The NCWI argued that the amendments would mean that ''independent agencies which promote a rights-based approach to sexual and reproductive health in countries where there is an authoritarian regime may be held responsible, by association, of the human rights abuses of that regime in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights''.

Groups such as International Planned Parenthood Federation have been involved in giving assistance to the communist government of China in their coercive population control programme.

Eugenics

The EWL also opposes the amendment which refers to gender-based eugenic discrimination, on the basis that ''it seeks to lay a basis for considering that a foetus has rights from the 'moment of conception' and, therefore, undermine national provisions which regulate access to termination of pregnancy as well to emergency contraception''.

The EWL also argues that the phrase ''at any point after conception'' used in the amendment ''is a phrase used by some extremist, religiously-inspired groups and individuals who oppose access to legal abortion''.
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SIC: IC

Senator may sue 'Sindo'

Independent NUI Senator Rónán Mullen may well have grounds for a legal action over a Sunday newspaper article that claimed wrongly that Mr Mullen had ''close contact with the far right in both Italy and Germany''.

In an opinion piece in The Sunday Independent at the weekend, controversial columnist Emer O'Kelly appeared to confuse Mr Mullen with former Youth Defence spokesman Justin Barrett when she said that Mr Mullen ''previously headed the 'No to Nice' campaign''.

It is understood by The Irish Catholic that Mr Mullen, in fact, never had an involvement with the 'No to Nice' campaign.

In her article, critical of the Seanad, Ms O'Kelly also alleged that Mr Mullen had contacts with the Italian far-right movement Forza Nuova. Mr Mullen has never had any contact with this neo-fascist party The Irish Catholic has learnt.

However, it appears Ms O'Kelly has again confused Mr Mullen with Mr Barrett, who, it is alleged did in fact have an involvement with both Forza Nuova and the far-right faction National Democratic Party of Germany.

During the course of the second referendum on the Treaty of Nice Mr Barrett was forced into the embarrassing admission that he had attended and spoke at conferences organised by the National Democratic Party, but said he was only attending the meetings in his capacity as a member of the pro-life movement.

According to sources close to Mr Mullen, the allegations could prove extremely damaging to him, a barrister and former press officer to Cardinal Desmond Connell,

Ms O'Kelly is an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church and has frequently condemned, among other things, State funding of Catholic schools.

When contacted by The Irish Catholic this week Senator Mullen refused to be drawn on the issue insisting that he had ''no comment to make on the issue at this point''.

Shortly after Mr Mullen's election to the Senate in 2007, The Irish Times was forced to admit it had made an error by reporting that Mr Barrett had been among Mr Mullen's supporters.

At the time, Mr Mullen's campaign manager, Andrew O'Connell had pointed out that ''Mr Barrett was never part of our campaign and to our almost certain knowledge he was not present at the count''.

The error was acknowledged by editor of The Irish Times, Geraldine Kennedy.
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SIC: IC

Archbishop of Glasgow says Anglican provision is ‘a way forward’

The Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow Mario Conti has commented on the Vatican’s recently announced proposal to welcome Anglican communities into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Noting that the faith of individual believers is also important, he said he has long thought such an offer would be “a way forward” for some Anglicans.

“Those seeking full communion with the Catholic Church will find support in the company of others making the same journey and the Holy Father is providing the opportunity for that community of persons to enter together,” Archbishop Conti said in a statement.

“This new opportunity for groups to enter the Catholic Church which the Holy Father foresees will require also that the Church be satisfied that the individuals within that community have a genuine desire to embrace the fullness of the Catholic faith,”

The archbishop also voiced his appreciation for the position of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, of which he is a member.

The Council said that it must not be forgotten that the faith of the believer is “salient” in any group of the faithful.
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SIC: CNA

Benedict XVI says Church needs to proclaim Gospel on the ‘digital continent’

Addressing the full Pontifical Council for Social Communications today, Benedict XVI urged its members to help communicate the teachings of the Church on the “digital continent” of the ever-changing technological landscape.

Reflecting on the role of social networking and increasingly real-time electronic communication, Pope Benedict XVI said on Thursday that "modern culture is established, even before its content, in the very fact of the existence of new forms of communication that use new languages; they use new technologies and create new psychological attitudes.”

"Effectively," he continued, the advent of new technology “supposes a challenge for the Church, which is called to announce the Gospel to persons in the third millennium, maintaining its content unaltered but making it understandable.”

Quoting John Paul II's encyclical "Redemptoris Missio" that affirms: "Involvement in the mass media, however, is not meant merely to strengthen the preaching of the Gospel. There is a deeper reality involved here: since the very evangelization of modern culture depends to a great extent on the influence of the media.”

“It is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the 'new culture' created by modern communications," the Holy Father asserted.

Pope Benedict also emphasized the need to promote a culture of respect, a culture aware of the dignity of the human being. He charged those companies and individuals responsible for the development and promotion of new media as ones “capable of developing the gifts and talents of each and of putting them at the service of the human community."

"In this way the Church exercises that which can be defined as a ‘deaconate of culture’ on today's ‘digital continent,’ using its means to announce the Gospel, the only Word that can save the human being,” the Pope proclaimed.

The task of enriching the elements of the new culture of the media, beginning with their ethical aspects, falls to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

This Council must provide orientation and guidance in helping the particular churches understand the importance of communication, “which represents a key point that cannot be overlooked in any pastoral plan," the Pontiff explained.

Concluding, Pope Benedict recalled the 50th anniversary of the Vatican Film Archive founded by Blessed John XXIII, which possesses a "rich cultural patrimony pertaining to all humanity.”

The archive must continue to collect and catalogue images "that document the path of Christianity through the suggestive witness of the image," he urged. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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SIC: CNA

Integration must not be abandoned in recession- Sr Stan

Prominent campaigner for the disadvantaged and founder of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, has said that Ireland risks a lack of social cohesion if it does not remain committed to the integration of immigrants who have come to the country in recent years.

Speaking at the end of a ‘mentoring programme’ run by the Council, Sr Kennedy said effective integration policies were vital while Ireland went through the current economic recession

She said that despite Central Statistics Office figures that showed Ireland was now again country of net emigration, it would be “very misguided to think this means we no longer need to care about social inclusion. Our communities have changed forever and we are now a diverse society,” she declared.

Sr Kennedy said this fact would not change and Ireland must continue, “to remove barriers to social inclusion so that no group or individual must overcome unnecessary hurdles to achieve their potential.”

"That includes language barriers, educational barriers, recognition of qualifications, employment barriers and attitudinal barriers that lead to exclusion and racism," she said.

The Immigrant Council mentoring programme, which was funded by Pobal, endeavoursto link migrants with Irish people and allows them the opportunity to interact on a personal basis. Under the project, immigrants from Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Caribbean were introduced to Irish citizens or people living here for years.

The programme sought to help newcomers integrate by offering practical support and advice.
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SIC: CIN

Archdiocese opposes legalizing gay marriage in District of Columbia

The Washington Archdiocese said in written testimony Oct. 26 that it opposes legislation to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District of Columbia and is concerned the bill "would restrict the free exercise of religious beliefs if it is passed as drafted."

The archdiocese said it "opposes this legislation and any effort to redefine marriage as other than that between a man and a woman."

"Besides overturning the definition of marriage," it said, the bill has no exemptions for churches and faith-based organizations that oppose gay marriage for religious reasons but provide services to the general public or rent space to individuals or groups outside their faith.

Citing the Knights of Columbus and religiously-owned nonprofits such as Catholic Charities as examples, it said that under the measure they would be forced to offer their facilities and services to same-sex couples or face a lawsuit.

The archdiocese's testimony was presented during a hearing of the district's Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary.

Hundreds of district residents spoke out on both sides of the issue.

A coalition of groups has filed a request with the district's Board of Elections and Ethics that there be an initiative on the ballot next year to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Last spring, the City Council passed a bill requiring the district to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. Despite opposition from city residents and many clergy, the council passed the measure without input from residents.

The council is expected to vote by the end of the year on whether to allow gay marriages to be performed in the district. The measure also would have to be approved by Congress, which has 30 days to review City Council legislation before it becomes law.

If gay marriage becomes legal in the district without "expanded protection for religious conscience," the Washington Archdiocese said in its testimony that organizations which oppose same-sex unions for religious reasons but serve the community could be denied access to government contracts and access to government facilities.

In addition, it said, doctors, social workers and child-care workers opposed to gay marriage could have their licenses revoked, employers could be sued for not providing same-sex benefits to employees, and religious colleges could have their accreditation revoked.

Ed Orzechowski, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Washington Archdiocese, said in a statement that if the bill becomes law the work of his agency will be in jeopardy.

"Every year, Catholic Charities provides shelter, food, counseling, medical and legal assistance, and more to 68,000 people in the District of Columbia regardless of their faith," he said.

"If the council passes this bill as written," he said, "these programs are at risk along with nearly 100 different parish social ministry programs, all of the other ministries operated by the Catholic Church, and even meeting space for groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Scouts and neighborhood organizations who partner with churches."
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SIC: CNS

Vatican honors Jesuit missionary to China, Father Matteo Ricci

A new Vatican exhibit highlights the life of a Jesuit missionary whose extraordinary intelligence, culture and open-mindedness helped him bring Christianity to imperial China four centuries ago.

The exhibit is part of a series of events marking the 400th anniversary of the death of Father Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit who spent 28 years evangelizing, absorbing Chinese culture and bringing Western science to the faraway Asian continent.

The show, which was to open Oct. 30 in the Braccio di Carlo Magno hall in St. Peter's Square, is titled "On the Crest of History, Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610): Between Rome and Peking" (the name formerly used for the Chinese capital Beijing).

It was Father Ricci's scientific acumen and enthusiasm for cultural exchange that won the trust and admiration of the Ming Dynasty Emperor Wanli. The relationship ensured that he and his Jesuit brothers would have the freedom to evangelize, the show's organizers explained in a news conference at the Vatican Oct. 28.

A proficient cartographer, Father Ricci was perhaps most appreciated for the maps of the world he made for the Chinese, who at the time had little knowledge of the other continents, said Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums and head curator of the exhibit.

The maps Father Ricci drew, as well as many of the European scientific instruments he brought to amaze and share with his Chinese hosts, are among the many items on view in the show.

"Matteo Ricci went to China and seduced the Chinese, offering himself as a man of science: a cartographer, an astronomer, a mathematician," and by bringing instruments like astrolabes and mechanized clocks, Paolucci said.

"He was honored and admired," immersing himself so much in Chinese culture that "he became more Chinese than the Chinese," Paolucci said.

Father Ricci also translated many works, including a Catholic catechism into Chinese and the teachings of Confucius into Portuguese, which Paolucci explained was the lingua franca of the time.

Born in 1552 in Macerata, in central Italy, Matteo Ricci entered the Jesuit order in 1571. After years of study, he sailed to India, where he was ordained in 1580.

After first traveling to Macao, in 1582 he and another priest established a Jesuit residence in Zhaoqing, a city in the Guangdong province. The order encountered difficulties and hostility over the next few years, but Father Ricci was instrumental in eventually opening more residences for Jesuit missionaries.

In 1601, after overcoming many obstacles, he arrived in Beijing, where he was admired and befriended by the elite of the city. There he stayed until his death at 58. The emperor made an unheard-of concession, allowing Father Ricci, a foreigner, to be buried in Beijing.

Bishop Claudio Giuliodori of Macerata said that Father Ricci's "extraordinary missionary adventure brought him to build, for the first time in history, a true bridge of dialogue and exchange between Europe and China."

In a message to the Diocese of Macerata inaugurating the anniversary celebrations, Pope Benedict XVI wrote that it was Father Ricci's great respect for Chinese traditions that "distinguished his mission to search for harmony between the noble and millenary Chinese civilization with the Christian novelty."

The exhibit is divided into two parts. The first section highlights the Jesuit order and scientific knowledge of the time; it includes an immense painting from 1619 of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, by Peter Paul Rubens and scientific instruments from the 16th and 17th centuries, including astrolabes, telescopes, early mechanical clocks, and Ptolemaic and Copernican models of the earth.

The second part of the exhibit is dedicated to Father Ricci's stay in China; it includes displays of his translations and examples of documents he wrote in Chinese, Portuguese and Italian; Chinese tapestries; 17th- and 18th-century Chinese statuary; and a colorful early-20th-century altar honoring Confucius that belongs to the Vatican Museums.

The show is scheduled to remain open until Jan. 24.
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SIC: CNS

In Hebei, underground bishop joins Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association

Mgr Francis An Shuxin, a former underground (coadjutor) bishop of Baoding, has joined the city’s Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), an organisation well known for persecuting Catholics.

Elsewhere underground priests are still being arrested, and told that they can regain their freedom if they join the CPCA whose goal is to set up a Catholic Church independent of Roma, something that is “incompatible with Catholic doctrine.”

Sources told AsiaNews that after years in police custody Mgr An Shuxin was torn about joining the CPCA.

Vatican and local sources confirm that the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples (Propaganda Fide) put pressure on him to come out into the open. Seen as one of the more mature and promising bishops, in the end, he obeyed the Vatican. Still, he was against joining the CPCA, an organisation that has arrested bishops and priests and shut down religious shrines, underground seminaries and communities for many years.

Mgr An Shuxin was released only on 24 August 2006 after ten years spent in detention at an unknown location. However, the government’s Religious Affairs Bureau was adamant that in order to be officially recognised, and free to work, he had to join the CPCA.

The former bishop’s decision to join has sown confusion and created acrimony among the faithful in Baoding, who for the most part are members of the underground Church, and led some priests to brand him a “traitor”.

The turn of events has embarrassed the Vatican because its good intentions (to give the bishop greater leeway) were frustrated by the CPCA. Even so, the latter still does not trust its newest member and continues to monitor his movements, preventing him from taking part in conferences and meetings, dragging him around as the “big one” that did not get away from the organisation, proof that the government’s religious policy is correct.

The Vatican had always hoped that the Chinese government would allow the Religious Affairs Bureau register all bishops (official and underground) as well as priests and women religious, without requiring them to join the CPCA. Instead, it does not seem willing to change by one iota its policy of more than 50 years.

Many Baoding Catholics find the Vatican policy contradictory, very different from what the Pope said in his Letter to Chinese Catholics. In fact, in that document Benedict XVI described the CPCA and its actions as “incompatible with Catholic doctrine.” At the same though, no one has actually called on bishops to quit the CPCA.

Hebei is the Chinese province with the highest concentration of Catholics, at least 1.5 million, mostly in underground communities. It is also the place when the greatest effort is being made to eliminate the underground Church.

The fate of three local underground bishops is still unknown but they are said to be in police custody. One is Mgr James Su Zhimin, the 75-year-old ordinary of Baoding, who was arrested in 1996 and not heard of since. Then there is Mgr Cosma Shi Enxiang (diocese of Yixian), 86, who also disappeared after he was arrested on 13 April 2001. The third one is Mgr Julius Jia Zhiguo (diocese of Zhengding), 74, who disappeared again on 30 March of this year.

The CPCA continues to arrest underground priests to get them to submit to the organisation’s control. Fr Chen Hezhao, 40, who works in Aoxin (Baoding), was arrested last July and moved to a secret location. He had just returned from France where he had completed some specialisation courses.

By contrast, two of the ten priests arrested in Baoding diocese over the past two years were freed last August and have since then taken part in a CPCA meeting. Their release was thus conditional on their joining the organisation.
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SIC: AN

Catholic Church Gives Italian Priest 'Reflection' Vacation After Performing Transgender Wedding

Forty-four-year-old Father Alessandro Santoro, a priest in Florence, is getting an unsolicited vacation!

It wouldn't have anything to do with his performing a transgender marriage, would it?

Indeed!

Despite criticism from the Catholic Church, Santoro performed the ceremony between Fortunato Talotta, a 58-year-old biological male, and Sandra Alvino, a 64-year-old MTF woman who transitioned some 30 years ago.

Now his boss — Florence Archbishop Giuseppe Betori, who called the wedding "devoid of value because of the absence of the necessary components of a religious marriage" — has invited Santoro to take some time off to … reflect.

Reflect on binding two people in love and matrimony? Yeah.

But kudos to Santoro, who's standing by his decision: It was "not an act of rebellion [but rather] an act of loyalty to my congregation, to the church and to the people that I love… It was my duty."
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SIC: Queerty

Pope urges 'greater opening' by Iran

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday urged a "greater opening" by Iran to the international community as he met Tehran's new ambassador to the Vatican.

"Iran is a great nation... and its people have a deep religious sensibility," the pope said as he accepted Ali Akbar Naseri's credentials.

"That may be a reason to hope for a greater opening and confident collaboration with the international community," he said as a long-running stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme appeared inching towards a resolution.

"We must all hope and support a new phase of international cooperation," said the head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Benedict also urged greater freedom of religion and conscience, saying: "Among universal rights, religious freedom and freedom of conscience hold a fundamental place because they are the source of other freedoms."

Early this year the pope said Catholic priests and other religious figures working in the Islamic Republic had a "difficult mission" in reaching Christian communities there and proposed a bilateral commission to foster "reciprocal understanding."

Iran's 65 million-strong population includes some 20,000 Chaldean, Armenian and Latin Catholics.

"Catholics have been present in Iran since the first centuries of Christianity," Benedict said, adding: "This community is truly Iranian."

He said the Church was "confident that the Iranian authorities will strengthen and ensure the freedom of Christians to profess their faith, and ensure the Catholic community the conditions essential for its existence."

Notably, the pope urged greater freedom of movement for clergy "to serve the pastoral needs of the faithful."
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SIC: AFP

Philadelphia Anglicans may cross Tiber

Philadelphia's Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd may be among the first US churches to join the Catholic Church but it will not happen quickly, pastor Fr David Moyer says.

"I was overwhelmed with joy and thanksgiving," Fr Moyer told the National Post, referring to Pope Benedict's proposal to welcome Anglicans. "I'm still in a state of shock."

"It has excited the majority of people here and now they see a secure future," he said. "But there are others here who are saying, 'Oh my God, I don't want to be a Roman Catholic.' Some find the idea frightening and repulsive."

Fr Moyer, an Anglican priest for more than 30 years, was defrocked when he refused to allow liberal bishops to make an official visit to his parish. He said the Archbishop of Canterbury reinstated him but the diocese still considers him deposed.

"The Anglican world is living with diametrically opposed theologies and world views in the same tent. The Anglican experiment is over. I don't believe there is an Anglican Communion. There can't be a communion unless you have common faith and practice."

In 2005 he decided to stretch the patience of his superiors further when he was ordained a bishop in the Traditional Anglican Communion, a group of schismatic Anglicans who quit the Church in the 1970s over the ordination of women and who have more in common with Rome than Canterbury.

Two years ago, he and 38 other conservative bishops signed a petition asking Rome to create a process to bring dissident Anglican churches into the Catholic Church.

"I didn't think this would happen in my lifetime," Fr Moyer said.
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SIC: CTHUS

Another Apparition At Knock (??)

Dear Sirs,

Apparently the spiritualist Joe Coleman has asked people to congregate inside the main Basilica at Knock at 3pm on Saturday October 31st, 2009 and said that Our Lady will appear on the altar.

Will Archbishop Neary be there in person to see what happens, if anything, and to refute any claims of authenticity?

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SIC: PVT

Tenth anniversary of Doctrine of Justification to be celebrated

The Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Uniting Church in Australia are celebrating the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

"The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was signed by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church on October 31 1999. On July 23 2006, the World Methodist Council associated themselves with the document," said the Head of the Bishops Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious Relations Bishop Michael Putney.

"Prior to the signing of this document by the international dialogue, Australian Lutherans and Catholics had discussed the doctrine of justification for three years (October 1995 - October 1998) leading to the publication in November 1998 of Justification, A Common Statement of the Australian Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue."

The main celebration will take place in Adelaide on Thursday October 29.

Archbishop Philip Wilson, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, and Reverend Dr Mike Semmler, President, Lutheran Church of Australia, will preside at Vespers in St Francis Xavier Cathedral.

Bishop Michael Putney, Chair of the Bishops Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious Relations, and Reverend John Henderson, Vice-President of the Lutheran Church of Australia, will give presentations.

A second celebration will take place in Brisbane, during the National Conference of Diocesan Ecumenical and Interfaith Commissions that is on from Friday October 30 to November 1.

An ecumenical service of Thanksgiving will also be held at St Peter's Lutheran Church, Indooropilly on October 31.
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SIC: CTHAS

Nagasaki’s ‘Bombed Mary’ to visit Guernica, Vatican

Nagasaki priests will take the “Bombed Mary,” a statue damaged in the atomic bombing of the city, on a pilgrimage to Guernica, Spain, and the Vatican next year, Archbishop Mitsuaki Takami has announced.

It will be the third overseas trip for the roughly 26-cm-high scorched wooden head of a Virgin Mary statue found in the ruins of Urakami Cathedral, about 500 meters from ground zero, following trips to the Vatican in 1985 and Belarus in 2000, The Japan Times reports.

During the tour from April 20 to May 1, the group will celebrate a Mass and a ceremony to commemorate victims of the 1937 carpet bombing of Guernica by German and Italian warplanes on behalf of Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces and have an audience in the Vatican with Pope Benedict, Archbishop Takami said.

“We should never repeat such a cruel war and hope to call for peace from a nonviolent standpoint,” he said.
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SIC: CTHAS