Saturday, November 26, 2011

Are Christians facing extinction on the Arab street?

The 'panda syndrome' saw Christians protected by Arab leaders, but this relationship is in dramatic decline

Massimo Franco

guardian.co.uk,

Article history

Egyptian Coptic Christians carry coffins during a mass funeral in Cairo
Egyptian Coptic Christians carry coffins during a mass funeral in Cairo for victims of sectarian clashes in October. Photograph: Mohamed Abd El-Ghany/Reuters






























The killing of dozens of Coptic Christian protesters during the recent turmoil in Cairo is one of the by-products of the Arab spring – and, unfortunately, a predictable one. Secular dictatorships such as those of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, and even of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gadaffi in Libya were a bloody nightmare for political dissidents. But Christian minorities felt protected from Islamic persecution and were allowed to practise their religious faith. In exchange, respecting a tacit compromise, they stood at a distance from politics. This is known in the Vatican as "the panda syndrome", after the name of those inoffensive, vegetarian bears protected by Chinese authorities, to prevent their extinction. "But when a species has to be protected, it means it's already disappearing," points out the Egyptian Jesuit Samir Khalil Samir.

Samir is an expert. Pope Benedict XVI asked him to organise the synod of Middle Eastern bishops in October 2010 in Rome. And he knows that Christian "pandas" in his land and in all the Arab world are fighting a desperate battle for survival. That's why many local Catholic bishops greeted the revolts in the Maghreb and elsewhere around the Mediterranean with open scepticism and concern. They foresaw that political progress could be matched with religious regress, and a worsening of their condition as non-Islamic citizens.

This is what seems to have happened. The new ruling classes differ from one country to the other but they tend to have in common a stronger Islamic identity. Their more extremist factions push to punish Christian minorities for what is perceived as a double original sin: being allies of former hated regimes, and being "agents of western values", although they have been living there for 2,000 years or so. The result is that the prospect of their extinction as a community is growing.

It has happened already in Iraq, due to the "Anglo-American war" started in 2003. At that time, the number of Chaldeans, the Christian Iraqis, was between 800,000 and 1.4 million. In 2009-2010, it was estimated are between 400,000 and 500,000, and rapidly decreasing. Cairo's violent repression shows a similar process is under way in Egypt as well, where they still represent roughly 10% of the population.

This represents a georeligious tragedy for the Vatican, which always tried to maintain a frustrating dialogue with Islamic authorities, and which right up to the end persisted in invoking a pacific coexistence in the area.

But it is also a geopolitical failure for the west, and paradoxically for Islam as well. Christian communities have been historically a bridge between western and Arab culture; and a factor of moderation and mutual understanding between the two worlds. Their dramatic decline signals the collapse of this symbolic bridge, and the growing strength of an "Arab street" fed with consumerism but also with prejudices and a widespread hostile mood against Christians.

For the Holy See, the attempt to obtain reciprocity on the thorny issue of religious faith has always been difficult, and in some cases brutally refused. When some years ago Pope John Paul II asked Saudi Arabia's then top ruler if a Catholic church could be built there, the answer was a blunt "no": his country was Muhammad's holy land. The Polish pontiff tried to reply that in Rome a mosque had been erected, but the subtle and unanswerable retort was: "In Rome – not inside the Vatican City."



Samir Khalil Samir



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samir Khalil Samir (born 1938 in Cairo, Egypt) is an Islamic scholar, Semitologist, Orientalist, Syriacist and Catholic theologian based in Lebanon.


SAMIR JOINED THE JESUIT ORDER IN 1955 IN AIX-EN-PROVENCE AND UNDERTOOK THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY AND ISLAMIC STUDIES. HE GRADUATED WITH A THESIS ON ORIENTAL CATHOLIC THEOLOGY AND ISLAMIC STUDIES. THEREAFTER, HE ESTABLISHED 20 SCHOOLS FOR READING AND WRITING IN EGYPT AND THEN TAUGHT FOR 12 YEARS AT THE PAPAL ORIENTAL INSTITUTE IN ROME. IN 1986, HE MOVED TO LEBANON DURING THE CIVIL WAR THERE AND NOW TEACHES AT THE SAINT JOSEPH UNIVERSITY, SPECIALISING IN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY AND ISLAMIC STUDIES.

At the same time he created the research institute CEDRAC in Beirut, which collects literature on the Christian heritage in the Near East. He is also a Professor at the Papal Oriental Institute and at the Centre Sèvres (Jesuit Faculty of Theology and Philosophy) in Paris. He holds the same post at the Maqasid Institute in Beirut, where uniquely he teaches the Imams about Christianity and at ISSR in USJ teaches Muslim studies. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Graz, Tokyo, Al-Azhar University, and Georgetown University, at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Washington, D.C..

Samir is the author of 40 books and over 500 articles. He advises numerous church leaders and politicians in Europe and the Near East. He also held discussions on daily life with Muslim youths in the Paris Banlieue prior to the unrest in 2005.

His main interests are: the Christian Orient, Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe, as well as relations between Christians and Muslims. In July 2006, he drew up a peace plan for the Near East.

Father Samir has said that "the pope kissing the Quran was a shock for many Christians in the Middle East. They thought it meant that the Quran is divine, which is of course not what he meant at all".[1]


WORKS

Christian Arabic Apologetics during the Abbasid Period (750-1258) by Samir Khalil (ed.), Jorgen S Nilesen (Herausgeber) Brill (Dezember 1993)
Cento domande sull´islam. Intervista a Samir Khalil Samir, a cura di Giorgio Paolucci e Camille Eid (Genova : Marietti, 2002), 14+223 pages = ISBN 88-211-6462-4 (13 ).
Rôle culturel des chrétiens dans le monde arabe, coll. Cahiers de l´Orient chrétien 1 (Beyrouth : CEDRAC, 2003), Samir Khalil Samir, 60 pages = ISSN 2-1682-6574 (4 ).
Cien preguntas sobre el islam, Una entrevista a Samir Khalil Samir, realizada por Giorgio Paolucci y Camille Eid (Traduccion espanola: Miguel Montes), Madrid : Ediciones Encuentro, 2003, 223 pages = ISBN 84-7490-689-X.

He also made many contributions to the Coptic Encyclopedia.


Source: Wikipedia


National Sunday Law - No Buy No Sell



National Sunday Law - No Buy No Sell

From: BlueprintOutposts | Jun 13, 2011
http://www.freemediaministry.org National Sunday Law - No Buy No Sell


Who Is Jere Franklin?

Source


Country Living



Do not consider it a privation when you are called to leave the cities and move out into the country places. Here there await rich blessings for those who will grasp them.
{AH 141.3}


Country Living Revised.pdf Statements are in chronological order.


I know you not.., I never knew you


And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.


Matthew 25:10-13


Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.


Matthew 7:15-23.


Friday, November 25, 2011

WORLD News of the Day From Across the Globe


1 Mali abduction: Gunmen burst into a restaurant in Mali's most famous city of Timbuktu on Friday, grabbed four European tourists dining there and executed one when he refused to climb into their truck, said an official. Timbuktu is one of the many former tourist hotspots in Mali that have been deemed too dangerous to visit by foreign embassies because of kidnappings by al Qaeda in Islamic North Africa, whose members have kidnapped and ransomed more than 50 Europeans and Canadians since 2003.

2 Lethal storm: A storm and floods in Sri Lanka left at least 12 people dead, local officials said on Friday. Gale-force winds also injured 50 people and damaged more than 1,000 houses in the southern districts of Galle and Matara, where eight fishermen were killed.

3 Marine reserve: Australia says it will create the world's largest marine reserve in the Coral Sea. The proposal includes seas beyond the already protected Great Barrier Reef Marine Park off northeast Australia. The reserve would cover almost 400,000 square miles.

4 Gambia election: Gambia's electoral commission says the nation's president of 17 years has won re-election after a poll that critics say was unfair. President Yahya Jammeh won with 72 percent of the vote, and leading opposition candidate Ousainou Darboe came in second with nearly 17 percent.

5 Teen's drug trial: An Australian teen was sentenced to two months in detention Friday for buying drugs while vacationing with family on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. Judge Amzer Simanjuntak told the packed Denpasar district court that the 14-year-old would be freed in just over a week and immediately deported. The boy was not named because of his age.

6 Rebel leader slain: A senior Maoist rebel leader in India was killed in a gunbattle with security forces in West Bengal state, news reports said Friday. Press Trust of India quoted a top paramilitary official as saying the operation that killed Kishenji, who uses just one name, was "clean and successful." The government has called the rebels, who are now spread across 20 of India's 28 states, the country's greatest internal security threat.

7 Antarctica solo crossing: A 33-year-old British adventurer set out on skis Friday from the Ross Ice Shelf to attempt a historic solo crossing of Antarctica. Felicity Aston intends to become the first woman to make it across the frozen continent alone. She expects the journey of more than 1,000 miles will take about 70 days.

8 Nuclear waste protest: Demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at police, setting a vehicle on fire, as skirmishes intensified Friday after a shipment of nuclear waste reprocessed in France crossed into Germany on its way to a controversial storage site. The clash broke out between about 400 riot police and 300 demonstrators outside the northern German town of Dannenberg, near the storage facility where the nuclear waste is being transported by train.

9 Ghoulish crime: Police say they have arrested a woman in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi suspected of murdering her husband, then chopping his body into pieces and boiling them to try to get rid of the evidence. Police said Friday that 42-year-old Zainab Bibi told authorities she killed her husband because he tried to sexually assault her 17-year-old daughter from another marriage.

Chronicle News Services




This article appeared on page A - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle


Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/25/MNGO1M3TF2.DTL#ixzz1en6nIEPw

Kevin Keller, Gay Archie Character, Gets Married In January Issue

First Posted: 11/25/11 11:42 AM ET Updated: 11/25/11 11:58 AM ET



The highly-anticipated gay wedding issue of Archie Comics has finally been revealed.

The January issue's cover illustration shows Kevin Keller, Riverdale's first openly gay character who is also an active U.S. military officer, tying the knot with his African-American partner, Clay Walker. ComicsAlliance reported in October that the story of the couple's meeting, said to take place in a military hospital, "obviously deals with ['Don't Ask, Don't Tell'] but it doesn't spell it out for the reader," and may be revealed in flashback, according to Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater.

When the miniseries was announced in 2010, author Dan Parent told the Associated Press, "The world of Riverdale has to reflect contemporary culture and to show it is an accepting, diverse place. And that's why Kevin is important, to show that everybody is welcome in this all-American town we've embraced for over 70 years." Parent was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for creating the character.

Not surprisingly, the introduction of the fictional character, in addition to his marriage, has drawn both strong praise and harsh criticism. “I think it’s great that the reality of America’s loving couples are being portrayed in as many places as possible,” Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, told Fox News.“We all want to be part of family and community –- that’s what marriage is about." On the other hand, the Family Research Council's Peter Spriggs noted, "It's unfortunate that a comic book series usually seen as depicting innocent, all-American life is now being used to advance the sexual revolution."


Source

Bill Hughes - Be Not Decieved



Uploaded by on May 7, 2011


http://www.markwoodman.org

Good Stewards of Good Planet Earth





BY JOSEPH BON SESAY




Yankee Stadium is crowded today. Twenty-two thousand children and many parents occupy the $1.5 billion behemoth. The children are small, all half the normal size for children their age. Everyone is hungry, thirsty, and dirty. The stadium taps are not running today, and bathroom facilities, maintenance personnel, and cleaning crews are all noticeable by their absence. People go by in the streets outside the stadium, generally engrossed in life’s activities—work, groceries, manicures, mall shopping.

Meanwhile, the day comes to its end. By then the stadium’s 22,000 children are all dead. Local and national evening news seem not to know that any such thing has happened.

You feel horrible. Until you find out that things are even worse. There were 22,000 children in the stadium the day before, and the day before that. And they all, well, you know . . . It’s just that every day, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 22,000 children, under the age of 5, die because of poverty-related diseases,1 but not in Yankee Stadium. They die quietly in some of the poorest corners of Planet Earth on the laps of their helpless parents.

You know that this is not how it is supposed to be. For God’s creation of this earth and its fullness was meant to provide sufficiently for all its inhabitants. There has never been a time in history that Planet Earth did not have enough to support everyone.
Even in the midst of recent global economic challenges, 2010 world gross domestic product (GDP) was more than US$63 trillion.2 GDP is a measure of economic output within a year. And $63 trillion is enough to give each of the 6.9 billion people on earth $9,000 worth of food, shelter, health care, clean water, and everything that makes life relatively comfortable.3 Not an overwhelming amount, you may think, given that the U.S. Census Bureau’s poverty threshold for 2010 was more than $11,000.4 However, that $9,000 level of living remains beyond the dreams of billions.

So while we ask where God is in the midst of earth’s suffering, maybe we should be asking where are the good stewards who will connect humanity to the resources God has provided. For ever since Adam and Eve were created, there has been enough, and still is, for everyone to enjoy good living.How Do We Define Poverty?
The most comprehensive study about world poverty was done in 2005 by the World Bank. In 2005, according to their study, about 1.4 billion people were living in extreme poverty, and almost half of humanity was poor.5 By contrast with the U.S. Census Bureau definition of the poverty threshold, poverty, according to the World Bank, is living on less than US$2 a day, while extreme poverty is living on less than $1.25 a day ($456.25 a year).6

Added to that, the global economic crisis has had its greatest negative effect on those at greatest risk for survival. Amazingly, the World Bank estimate of how much it takes to lift someone above the international poverty line is just $2 a day. At that rate it should take just an additional $511 billion a year to wipe out extreme poverty among the millions living on $1 a day.

Sadly, that elimination of extreme poverty has not yet happened. Meanwhile global spending in military-related activities in 2010 three times outdoes what was needed to take care of extreme poverty (US$1.62 trillion).7

Seeking a Solution
The question persists: If Planet Earth has enough for everyone, why is there suffering, poverty, starvation, and homelessness? Why are there such extremes of poverty and wealth across the hemisphere? Why, we wonder, do so many people go to bed hungry, while others have more than enough?

To be fair, since biblical times, through the Middle Ages and modern times, good people with good intentions have tried to come up with social and economic structures to help defeat poverty and suffering. Adam Smith, for example, considered the father of our modern-day economic system, set out to transform humanity’s self-interest into sympathy and benevolence through social institutions.Smith made his case for a social and economic system in his two books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, first published in 1759,8 and The Wealth of Nations, first published in 1776.9 To him, the institution for that transformation is the free market. Instead of just serving the interest of the feudal lords in the feudal system, the capitalist system allows the poor and rich to engage society through the market rather than through individuals. Here labor, capital, goods, and services are traded freely.

There is no denying the fact that the free-market system, having undergone a lot of refinement in the past 200 years, at its best has indeed generated wealth for the world and lifted many out of poverty.

At its worst, critics say, capitalism is morally bankrupt and unjust to the poor. History can testify to the fact that over the years the hunt for profit and wealth has had no bounds, even to the detriment of our planet and family structure. Sadly enough, the more materially wealthy we grow, the less connected and the more morally compromised we apparently are toward the needs of our whole society.

Often enough, growing wealth means burning social and ethical capital: we spend less time with family and community, and have less time for ourselves.

Evidently capitalism itself has not been able to balance the creation of wealth with maintaining the social and ethical capital we need to strengthen families and society, while also having enough time to care for those of our number who are in need. In fact, economically, many have been left behind. To address their plight, various governments around the world introduced the welfare system. Social welfare programs such as food stamps, unemployment benefits, social security, Medicare, etc., were introduced to help the poor and others to get by. Globally, institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and various other nonprofit agencies around the world have also tried to help us get by. But extreme poverty is still among us, though in the midst of it all, the world has never been wealthier.

Theological Reflections
The temptation to which many succumb is to find a scapegoat, including God. But it does not seem, with our astronomical trillions of dollars in goods and services, that God has been miserly. God has surely provided abundantly for the needs of Planet Earth. We have discovered more natural resources and more ways to convert them into wealth than ever before. So that whereas it cannot be blamed on God’s short supply, earth’s social and economic distress seems more like a human creation than God’s.

Of course, not everyone is willing to accept and live with this uncomfortable reality. At the same time that many resist it, our spending habits grow more questionable than ever. For example, our annual tobacco and candy spending is more than what is needed to wipe out extreme poverty around the world. According to Bloomberg Financial LP and Euromonitor International, global annual sales for tobacco products amount to about $665 billion, and that of candy and confections is about $282 billion, for a total of $941 billion,10 far beyond the estimated $511 billion that would lift everyone at least above the poverty line.

What Planet Earth may lack are stewards to connect us to the resources God has provided. Earth needs good stewards who will reconnect and strengthen society’s social bonds that are among the ingredients needed to make us care for each other. The family, the church, and the local association need to be strengthened and reconnected. The barriers to making Planet Earth a caring place for everyone are not a lack of resources and talents, but a scarcity of good stewards to build bridges that connect everyone possible to as much of God’s resource provisions as necessary and possible. In the words of Paul, each of us should look not only “to [our] own interests but each of [us] to the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:4).

Maybe the real root cause of our problems today is less a lack of resources and more a lack of “other interest.” We have enough materials and too much self-interest. The social and economic systems we have chosen over the years have not allowed many to care for the interests of others. But Seventh-day Adventist Christians “are not to copy the world’s practices, and yet we are not to stand aloof from the people of the world.”11

In other words, good stewards care, and do not stand aloof while their fellow humans are suffering. Instead, good stewards build bridges that connect people to the resources they need. As Jesus might say, “For I was hungry and you connected Me to the source of food, I was thirsty and you connected Me to spring water, I was a stranger and you connected Me to a place to live, I needed clothes and you connected Me to affordable clothing, I was sick and you connected Me to health care, I was in prison and you connected Me to the hope of all ages!” (see Matt. 25:35, 36).

These good stewards believe that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Ps. 24:1). Their motivation to connect people to these resources comes not from market share, but from the smiles of those they have touched. No one needs to be a Mother Teresa or super-rich to connect another to the resources they need. You could save a child today.

Just an additional $1 would have saved some child in that stadium for one more day. Just an additional $365 may have kept one of them alive all year. But the $1 never arrived, though Planet Earth had $63 trillion last year. You and I can do something with just $1 a day; we just might save a life.

Gratitude is good and godly. Thank God and count yourself blessed if you can read this article in relative comfort, with a full stomach and a place to live. Many are not so privileged. Yet God created this earth fully sufficient to provide for everyone. I have not seen the evidence for blaming Him for the suffering that we see here on Planet Earth.

What is evident to me is that He has left me the duty of being one of His good stewards, who will connect my fellow humanity to the resources He has provided. The job needs as many people as possible. We all need to join. Next time you think of blaming Him for our problems down here, maybe you want to ask yourself first what you have done to make Planet Earth a better place. Maybe it isn’t His fault—it’s just our stewardship.

_______
1 United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “The State of the World’s Children” (November 2009).
2 World Bank, World Development Indicators Database, July l, 2011; see http://data.worldbank.org.
3 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “World Population Prospects, the 2010 Revision,” available online at http://esa.un.org/wpp/Other-Information/faq.htm.
4 U.S. Census Bureau, “Poverty Thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children: 2010,” available online at www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html.
5 World Bank, “World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing World,” available online at http://go.worldbank.org/C9GR27WRJ0; Anup Shah, Global Issues; Social, Political, Economic, and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All, “Poverty Facts and Stats,” www.globalissues.org/article/26 /poverty-facts-and-stats, last updated Sept. 20, 2010.
6 Ibid.
7 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), “Recent Trends in Military Expenditure,” accessed Sept. 22, 2011, at www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex/resultoutput/trends/recent_trends.
8 Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (London: A. Millar, 1759).
9 Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (London: Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1776).
10 See author for further documentation on Bloomberg Financial Lp and Euromonitor International data: Joseph Sesay@US.initiative.com.
11 Ellen G. White, Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, p. 164.

_____________
Joseph Bon Sesay is assistant controller for Initiative, a multinational communications agency. This article was published November 24, 2011.

Source

American priest, who worked closely with the Pope, is new Nuncio to Ireland

11/24/2011


A new nunzio to Ireland

The Holy See has chosen someone from outside its diplomatic corps, Mgr. Charles J. Brown, to heal the wounds of the recent paedophilia crisis in Ireland. But will the new Nuncio to Ireland prove to be "the best man" for the job?

gerard o'connell
rome


The new papal nuncio to Ireland is Monsignor Charles J. Brown, a priest from New York archdiocese, who worked closely with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict, for eleven years at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Irish Government gave its approval at a Cabinet meeting November 23. The Irish Times broke the news, but Vatican Insider has also gained independent confirmation from other sources. Fr Federico Lombardi, the Director of the Holy See’s Press Office would not comment on the news.

Monsignor Brown has worked at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 1994, and is the Adjunct Secretary of the International Theological Commission. Pope Benedict XVI knows him well, and sources say that in choosing him the pontiff has shown particular “care and concern” for the Irish Church and Irish Catholics, and for Ireland as a state that has had diplomatic relations with the Holy See since 1929.
Described by those who know him as “very personable”, “pleasant and outgoing”, “good company”, Mgr. Brown is a scholar and “very hard working”. “He seems to be a very a good choice”, a source who knows the Irish situation well told Vatican Insider.

Mgr. Brown studied History as an undergraduate at the University of Notre Dame, and afterwards went on read Theology at Oxford University, and did Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto. Furthermore, he gained a doctorate in Sacramental Theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo in Rome.

It is unusual, but not without precedent, that the Holy See should decide to look outside its diplomatic corps for a suitable nuncio. It did so in this case, sources told Vatican Insider, to ensure that it found “the best man” to be nuncio in Ireland after a particularly tense period in relations between the Irish Government and the Vatican in the wake of the sexual-abuse of minors by priests’ scandal.

Since the major task of the nuncio in any country normally relates to the local Church rather than to the government, this is particularly true for the new nuncio in present-day Ireland where the Church has undergone, and to a degree is still undergoing, a traumatic experience as a result of the abuse scandal.

Mgr. Brown will have to support and promote the renewal of the Irish Church and probably also its structural reorganization in the wake of the recent crisis. He will have to encourage Irish Catholics, and will have to work hard to rebuild the bonds of trust and friendship between Ireland and the Holy See, which have suffered in the recent crisis.

The Irish Government, for its part, has sent the Vatican its nomination for a non-resident Ambassador to the Holy See, and it hopes that Rome will also give its approval very soon.


Source

More than economic or social, the current crisis is a crisis of meaning”




11/25/2011

Benedict XVI

This is according to a statement made by Benedict XVI: “Those who try to live only in a material dimension, end up feeling suffocated”vatican



insider staff
rome


“In the family, the workplace, as well as in politics and economics, the people of today need to see and feel for themselves how life with or without God makes a huge difference.” These were Benedict XVI’s words during his Audience in the Vatican today with participants of the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The Pope urged those present “to offer a transparent account of the relevance of the God question, in all thoughts and actions.”

The Pope mentioned the various initiatives promoted by the dicastery for the Laity, drawing attention to the World Youth Day which took place in Madrid last August. “An extraordinary waterfall of light, joy and hope lit up Madrid and the rest of old Europe and the entire world – the Pope said – refreshing the present-day search for God.” “No one – the Pope added – was able to stay indifferent, no one could have thought that the question of God was an irrelevant one for the people of today.”

The Pope clarified that the “crisis we are experiencing today is a crisis of meaning and of values more than it is economic or social”: “those who try to live a positivist life, defined by calculations and measurings, will end up feeling suffocated.”

The theme of the dicastery’s plenary assembly was “The Question of God Today”. In relation to this, the Pope stressed that “we must never tire of asking ourselves that question, of “starting all over again from God,” to restore all of mankind’s dimensions and its complete dignity.” “Indeed, a certain mentality is spreading in our time that is denying any reference to God. This mentality has proved unable to understand and preserve humanity,” the Pope said.

As such, “the question of God is, in a sense, “the question of all questions” – Ratzinger continued. “It brings us back to the fundamental questions of man's aspirations to truth, happiness and freedom inherent in his heart, searching for realization. The man in whom the question of God is reawakened is open to hope, to a trustworthy hope, one that’s worth the effort of facing the daily trials of the present. "

At times, emphasis has been placed on the need for a stronger presence of Christians in society, in politics or the economy, and perhaps there was little concern about the soundness of their faith, as if it were acquired once and for all.”

“How often – Ratzinger reprimanded – despite people proclaiming themselves Christian, has God not been the central reference point in their thoughts and actions, in making fundamental life choices.” “The first response to the great challenge of our time – he added - is a deep conversion of our heart.”





New Catholic Mass Already Causing A Stir

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty



November 25, 2011

iStockphoto.com
This weekend, the words and music of the English-language Mass will be different.

This weekend, Catholics may experience a little surprise when they attend Mass. The words and music are different, thanks to the first major change of the English-language Mass in more than 40 years.

For many practicing Catholics, this will be a major adjustment.

So on a recent Sunday, the Rev. Chester Snyder of St. Joseph's church in Mechanicsburg, Pa., did a trial run through the new liturgy with his parishioners.

"Let's practice it. The Lord be with you," he said. And — eyes fixed on laminated cheat sheets — the several hundred faithful responded, "And with your spirit."

"You're pretty good at this," the priest observed.

As of Nov. 26, the liturgy has a new vocabulary — not an overhaul but enough to trip people up, especially those who have the old one memorized.

For example, in the Nicene Creed, the old version said Jesus is "one in being" with the Father. The new version has a $5 word: Jesus is "consubstantial" with the Father. In the old Mass, people confessed they "sinned through my own fault." Now people say they have "greatly sinned ... through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault," as they strike their chests.

Snyder was shocked at the changes at first. But then he considered what the Mass celebrates: the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

"And that's not everyday stuff," he says. "That's profound, it's mystery, it's beyond our comprehension. So when we enter into the realm of mystery, we try to have a language that is a little different from what we use in the marketplace, or the football stadium, or even in our everyday conversation."

Mixed Reception

That is precisely what the Vatican is trying to achieve. When the Latin Mass was translated into English some 40 years ago, it was a bit of a rush job. Everyone knew it would be revised. The new translation is closer to the Latin, both in words and in sentence structure.

St. Joseph's, like many other parishes, has offered adult education classes to explain the changes and delve into the theology of the Mass. Some churchgoers were skeptical, even annoyed, at the changes.

"Of course change is always going to be a little rough, especially with a group this large," says Karen Messinger, who attended one of the classes. "But I figure if there are no changes, we'd still have a Mass in Latin, so we have to have some changes."

Janet Beveridge adds that this is nothing compared with the shift from Latin to English. "It's good because it makes you be on your feet and pay attention to what you're doing and not take it for granted," she says. "And I never want to take my faith for granted."

We're dealing with a power play on the part of certain people in Rome who wanted to make changes in order, I think, to bring under greater control people in the English speaking world.

- The Rev. Michael Ryan, pastor of St. James Cathedral in Seattle


But Monica Malpezzi thinks the new language is stilted and confusing and will only create a barrier between people and God. "If we have to scramble for understanding in what our prayer life is, I think that will make it harder for us to feel that God is right there with us."

Malpezzi echoes the sentiment of many priests across the country. They say if the people's new prayers are awkward, the priests' prayers are sometimes unintelligible. Bishop Donald Trautman, former chairman of the bishops' committee for the liturgy, says the priests now have to recite some sentences that are 90 words long. He also dislikes the formal tone. For example, in one funeral Mass, the priest implores God to give the departed "kind admittance to Your kingdom."

"If your mother or father or brother or sister died," Trautman says, "would we want one of us to say, 'Welcome into Your kingdom?' Or do we want to say, 'Give kind admittance into Your kingdom?' I have [an image] of someone being a ticket-taker at the door giving out tickets to enter, giving kind admittance."

A Power Play?

Trautman says sometimes the new translation is not faithful to the Bible. For example, it has Jesus, a poor carpenter, sipping from a precious chalice during the Last Supper.

"Any Greek dictionary will tell you, it's a drinking cup," Trautman says, "It's a vessel. It's not a chalice."

Trautman says even Indiana Jones got that one right; the rugged historian selected a rough cup as the Holy Grail.

But Trautman's concerns also go beyond vocabulary to theology. He cites where the new translation says Jesus died "for you and for many."



Bryan Buckalew


The Rev. Michael Ryan, the pastor of St. James Cathedral in Seattle, has reservations about the newly revamped English-language Catholic Mass.

"In preaching, we will hear that Jesus died for all people, but at the altar we will hear it Jesus died for many," he notes. "For whom did he not die?"

The Rev. Michael Ryan, the pastor of St. James Cathedral in Seattle, has similar reservations. "It seems that the Latin is more important than the theology; that's a pity," Ryan says.

"The Second Vatican Council talked about language that would exhibit 'noble simplicity,' " Ryan says. "This is anything but that. No, it's a total move away from the teaching of the Second Vatican Council."

"We're dealing with a power play on the part of certain people in Rome who wanted to make changes in order, I think, to bring under greater control people in the English-speaking world."

Jeffrey Tucker, a musical director in Auburn, Ala., and managing editor of the magazine Sacred Music, thinks the changes are for the better.

"There's a kind of paranoia about all of this," Tucker says. " 'Oh, look! We don't want to go back to pre-Vatican II days with nuns that hit us with rulers and priests [who] are fussing at us for our sins all the time or whatever.' All we're really saying here is that we want church to feel and sound like church."

Tucker says the new words and music are an overdue adjustment from a liturgy that is too "chatty."

Monsignor Rick Hilgartner, who is overseeing the change in liturgy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, agrees. And he asks: Just how accessible does the liturgy have to be? "People might say, 'Well, what about children?' So do we then say that the whole liturgy has to be at a third-grade reading level? How long would that sustain adults in the faith?"

Hilgartner says the new words simply reflect the maturing of the American faith, and he asks people to be patient.

All we're really saying here is that we want church to feel and sound like church.

- Jeffrey Tucker of the magazine Sacred Music

"I would hope people wouldn't Monday morning quarterback this on Nov. 28," he says. "We all need to give each other some time to learn our parts so that we cannot just be focused on words, but ultimately get to a point that the words start to speak to our hearts."

No doubt, the regulars at parishes across the country are already committing the new words, music and rhythms to heart. But this weekend may be disorienting for the millions of Catholics who reserve their worship for the holiday season — which begins, yes, this weekend.


Source

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Morning Catholic must-reads: 24/11/11

A daily guide to what’s happening in the Catholic Church

By LUKE COPPEN on Thursday, 24 November 2011

Morning Catholic must-reads: 24/11/11

According to reports, Mgr Brown will replace Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, pictured, as the nuncio to Ireland (Niall Carson/PA Wire)

The Pope has chosen Mgr Charles Brown, an American official at the Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith, as the new nuncio to Ireland, the Irish Times reports.

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, has said that the New Evangelisation is not just intended for Europe.

Paolo Rodari suggests that Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Regensburg will replace Cardinal William Levada as prefect of the Congregation For the Doctrine of the Faith.

Phil Lawler says that reducing the number of dioceses won’t save the Irish Church.

John Allen considers whether Benedict XVI broke any new ground during his trip to Benin.

The Guardian’s Andrew Brown analyses the Pope’s comments on Islam during his Africa trip.

John Pinette argues that English-speaking Catholics will discover that they are victims of “an act of Vatican vandalism” when they encounter the new Mass translation this weekend.

And David Quinn urges the creators of the hit television show Glee to emulate William Shakespeare.


Source

Charles E. Coughlin

Charles E. Coughlin

In 1934, Charles E. Coughlin announced the formation of the National Union of Social Justice.

At this time some observers claimed that Father Coughlin was the second most important political figure in the United States.

It was estimated that Coughlin's radio broadcasts were getting an audience of 30 million people.

He was also having to employ twenty-six secretaries to deal with the 400,000 letters a week he was receiving from his listeners.

His memorial website is athttp://www.fathercoughlin.com/.

AudioClick here to listen online.


Source


Presidential Turkey Pardon Double the Fun

November 24, 2011 10:15 AM EST


Not just one but two turkeys can breathe easier this Thanksgiving thanks to the official presidential turkey pardon. While other turkeys are busy fearing for their lives (or, more likely, already gracing ovens and tables across the country), Liberty and Peace can go on to live their lives in peace and luxury.

According to the LA Times, the presidential turkey pardon tradition dates back to at least 1989 when President George H.W. Bush (the father, not the son) excused a live turkey from being eaten. Others claim the tradition is even older, dating back to 1963 when John F. Kennedy unofficially pardoned a turkey.

It's heartwarming to think that on a day of carnage, at least two animals are revered as the majestic creatures they are. One can't help but feel sad for the thousands, if not millions of other turkeys that gave their lives for the holiday table.

President Obama was accompanied by his daughters Malia and Sasha for the official event. The president joked that this was another action that didn't need congressional approval - a reference to recent events he took to try jump-starting the economy. "We can't wait to pardon these turkeys!" are the enthusiastic words the president uttered, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Liberty and Peace were chosen from a flock of turkeys raised by high school students in Montana. Reuters notes that only Liberty was trained for the day's events by the students to prepare them for the noise and commotion caused by the press. In addition to de-sensitivity training for loud noises and flash bulbs, the turkeys underwent more training for the big day. "They also received the most important part of their media training, which involves learning how to gobble without really saying anything," joked the president.

The news of Liberty and Peace's pardons are bittersweet. On one hand, two birds were humanized and given a reprieve from death. On the other, plenty more birds (and pigs and countless other animals) die in preparation for the holidays. Not every animal has the luxury of being treated well - not every turkey is raised on a rural farm and cared for by attentive high school students. Many turkeys bred and raised for holiday feasts are subject to inadequate housing, cruel practices and less than quick deaths.

The lucky recipients of the presidential turkey pardon will go on to live out the rest of their days at Mount Vernon, the historic home of George Washington. It's not clear what the lap of luxury looks like for turkeys, but one can presume it involves premium food and the freedom from cruel and inhumane conditions that many factory-farmed turkeys are subject to.

Still another concern is that these two turkeys could have possibly gone to needy families. According to Reuters, the First Family visited a food bank for thanksgiving. President Obama is quoted as saying they brought two "unnamed turkeys who weren't so lucky" with them. Really? Just two turkeys?


Source


P.S.

Obama named the 'pardoned' turkeys Liberty and Peace. Wow? Liberty and Peace are pardoned?

Why weren't they named Hope and Change?

Didn't President Clinton pardon Tragedy and Hope?

And, didn't President W. Bush pardon Scooter Libby?

Just wondering?


J. F. Kennedy Assassination Documentary



Uploaded by on Feb 16, 2011

This documentary, created by Pulitzer prize winning journalist Jack Anderson is one of the most accurate and informative I have ever seen. Like all TV shows, it's a bit cheesy in places but it also contains some very good and accurate information.



Interesting Inside Information on Iron Mountain



Uploaded by on Nov 10, 2009


3 American students freed in Egypt

By the CNN Wire Staff
November 24, 2011 -- Updated 1605 GMT (0005 HKT)



Cairo (CNN) -- Three American college students arrested on suspicion of throwing Molotov cocktails during a protest in Cairo were released Thursday, a spokesman for the Egypt general prosecutor's office told CNN.

Joy Sweeney, whose son Derrik Sweeney is one of the three students, told CNN's "American Morning" she was overjoyed by the news.

"We are just so blessed and so grateful right now," she said. "I can't wait to give him a big hug."

The students were to be taken to a physician for a medical examination and back to the police station for paperwork to be processed, then to their dorm rooms, she said. They may be able to call home afterward.

The Egyptian attorney general is not going to appeal against the trio's release, she said.

Egypt's military rulers apologize Parties considering Egypt election delay.

The family is keen for Derrik to return home as soon as possible, for his own safety, she added.

Roberto Powers, the U.S. consul general in Egypt, advised that as the three students' pictures had been plastered all over the media, "it wouldn't be safe or prudent for them to remain in the country," she said.

She said her son told her in a telephone call Wednesday that "they had done nothing wrong."

Sweeney, Gregory Porter and Luke Gates are students from different schools attending American University in Cairo on a semester-long, study-abroad program, according to the school.

Sweeney, 19, is a Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Missouri; Porter, 19, from Glenside, Pennsylvania, attends Drexel University in Philadelphia; and Gates, 21, of Bloomington, Indiana, goes to Indiana University.

Their arrests came amid violent protests against Egypt's ruling military council in Cairo's Tahrir Square that had claimed dozens of lives by late Wednesday.

Drew Harper, a friend of the three students, told CNN some parts of the media had given an inaccurate impression of them as being irresponsible.

Harper, 22, a film student from New York who has been in Cairo for three months, described Sweeney, Porter and Gates as intelligent, well-informed and nonviolent.

"I don't believe for one second that those Molotov cocktails belonged to the boys," he said.

"These are not drunk college students looking for a thrill or boys hellbent on committing suicide in a blaze of glory."

He accused the Egyptian military of wanting to "pin the recent violence on foreigners" and said they had wrongly accused the three Americans.

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia welcomed the news that Georgetown student Sweeney and his fellow Americans had been freed.

"Our entire Georgetown community is deeply grateful to all those whose prompt attention and work led to their release," DeGioia said in a statement.

A relative calm fell over Tahrir Square on Thursday as Egypt's military leaders apologized for the 38 deaths nationwide and vowed to prosecute offenders and pay the medical bills of those injured.

Some 3,250 people have been wounded, according to Hisham Sheeha of Egypt's Health Ministry.
Adil Saeed, spokesman from the prosecutor's office, said late Wednesday that a bag filled with empty bottles, a bottle of gasoline, a towel and a camera had been found with the three American students.

"They denied the bag belonged to them and said it belonged to two of their friends,"
Saeed said.

The latest clashes between protesters and police broke out Saturday near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the movement that led to Hosni Mubarak's ouster as president in February.

Demonstrators are calling for the country's interim military rulers to step down immediately.

Soldiers erected barbed wire barricades to separate protesters and police early Thursday.

CNN's Mohamed Fahmy and journalist Ian Lee in Cairo, and Devon Sayers in Atlanta contributed to this report.