The Transfiguration shows that Jesus alone guides us, Pope Benedict teaches

Vatican City, Feb 28, 2010 / (CNA).-

Before the Angelus on the second Sunday of Lent, the Holy Father spoke about the Transfiguration. He explained that through the lessons in Sunday's readings we are taught that Jesus alone guides us.

Speaking from his apartment window high above St. Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that while Luke does not refer to the occasion specifically as a "transfiguration," he describes the events and notes the changes in Jesus and the radiance of his garments. At the event, Moses and Elijah accompanied Jesus as symbols of the Law and the Prophets.

Peter, James and John fought off sleep during the event, which the pontiff said exhibited their lack of comprehension. But when they woke, Moses and Elijah parted from Jesus' side and were covered by a cloud while Peter spoke.

This cloud "reveals the glory of God," said the Holy Father, adding this had also happened to the Hebrew pilgrims in the desert.

"The eyes can no longer see, but the ears can hear the voice that comes from the cloud: 'This is my beloved son. Listen to him!'"

At this point in the Gospel, noted the Holy Father, everything returned to normal and the three apostles found themselves before Jesus alone.

"Jesus is alone before his Father, while he prays, but, at the same time, 'Jesus alone' is everything that is given to the disciples and to the Church of all time: and that which must be enough on the path," said Pope Benedict.

"He is the only voice to listen to, the only one to follow," said the Pope, "he that, going up towards Jerusalem, will give his life and one day 'will transfigure our lowly body to conform with his glorified body.'"

The pontiff explained that in Peter's words, "Master, it is good that we are here," is seen a similarity to our own desire for consolation from the Lord. But, he added, "the Transfiguration reminds us that the joys spread by God through our lives are not starting points, but lights that He gives us in the earthly pilgrimage, so that 'Jesus alone' might be our Law and his Word might be the criterion that guides our existence."

The Holy Father closed his words before the Angelus inviting all people to meditate on the Gospel. He also expressed his wish that all "in this Year for Priests Pastors are truly penetrated by the Word of God," knowing it and loving it so it might guide their lives and form their thought.

After the Angelus the Holy Father remembered the victims of violence in Iraq and called for authorities to protect religious minorities in the country. He also prayed for "relief from suffering” and courage for those hit by an earthquake in Chile on Saturday.

Pope Benedict prays for Chilean earthquake victims

Vatican City, Feb 28, 2010 /(CNA).-

After the Angelus on Sunday, the Holy Father directed his words to the population of Chile and victims of its massive earthquake. He prayed that quake victims receive relief and courage from God.

"My thought also goes to Chile and to the population hit by the earthquake," Pope Benedict XVI said.

Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake very early on Saturday morning, at a strength 500 times that of the January earthquake in Haiti, ABC News reports. At least 214 deaths have been confirmed and the government estimates millions of people are without homes.

"I pray for the victims and am spiritually close to the people tested by such a grave calamity; for these I implore from God relief from the suffering and courage in this adversity," the Holy Father said at St. Peter’s Square.

He assured victims of the support of the Church, adding "I'm sure that there will be no lack of solidarity of many, especially ecclesial organizations."

Family unity essential to child formation, says Cardinal Antonelli

Vatican City, Feb 26, 2010 / (CNA).-

Speaking to a group of Catholic business people from Italy in Rome this week, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, highlighted the importance of a united family for raising children. He also touched on issues that affect the family today.

Under the theme of "Family and Business, Vital Cells of Society," Cardinal Antonelli spoke about the effects of the composition of the family on the future of children. The Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano reported that Cardinal Antonelli put particular emphasis on the effects of a missing father figure on children.

The president of the Council for the Family cited statistics from the U.S., which he said illustrate a trend in many parts of the Western world. Ninety percent of homeless people, 72 percent of adolescent suicides, 60 percent of rapists and 85 percent of youth in jail grew up without a father present, he said.

The cardinal also listed a number of other negative effects on children whose parents don't remain together. These children are particularly susceptible, he stated, citing statistics that show these kids suffer from double the average number of pyschological, scholastic, social and work problems.

Among the major causes of this situation is the fact that both parents work outside of the home, he observed. "The self-realization sought by the woman in a job, in a career, in social success has as a cost the renouncement of the marriage and children."

Cardinal Antonelli expressed his concern for additional complications brought on by the ideology that says one can personally choose his or her gender, regardless of their biological sex. He also warned that the assertion of a "right" to gay marriage and the adoption of children by homosexual couples would lead to complications.

The traditional family, he said, is even being considered oppressive injustice, and matrimony and maternity are viewed as things from which a woman must liberate herself.

The population debate was also touched on by Cardinal Antonelli, who called for market reform and demographic equilibrium through responsible procreation as alternatives to methods such as abortion and contraception that are meant to decrease fertility, reduce population and increase economic wealth.

In countries that are deemed to be overpopulated, he offered that ethically honest and natural methods can be used to limit the birth rate. But, in countries where population is aging due to a lack of fertility, he said that there must be a re-evaluation of paternity and maternity, assisted by economic support.

To start a family, he stated, "you need reasonable economic security," and this climate should be provided for through "mechanisms of protection."

JPII beatification process nearly complete, reveals personal secretary

La Paz, Bolivia, Feb 23, 2010 / (CNA).-

Archbishop of Krakow, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was John Paul II’s personal secretary for 40 years, told participants at a Colombian conference that the late-Pope's beatification process “is practically finished.”

In Colombia, where Cardinal Dziwisz traveled to participate in a conference on the legacy of John Paul II, the cardinal remarked that the beatification process of the pilgrim Pope “is practically finished.”

“In order for the beatification to take place, it is important that the Church recognizes a miracle in which he has interceded. There is a case that is currently being investigated and it is of the miraculous healing of a French nun suffering from Parkinson’s.”

Regarding the date of the beatification, the cardinal said, “It is not known, but his tomb is visited by thousands who thank him for favors.”

“Not only do Christians want to see him made a saint, but Jews and Muslims as well.”

Speaking later of the affection and fervor of the people towards John Paul II, Cardinal Dziwisz said, “He changed the world from the political and religious points of view; he taught that the solution to problems lies in solidarity and in love. He overcame all the thresholds. His teachings should be applied today to help this world in crisis.”

Responding to those who criticized the short length of JPII's cause for canonization, the Polish cardinal admitted it has been a speedy process, “but one cannot say it has been done poorly. It has been an effective time for delving deeper into the legacy he left. The same ones who criticized him because they did not like his moral positions are the same who are criticizing him now.”

Addressing the claim that John Paul II whipped himself and slept on the floor, the Archbishop of Krakow said, “I cannot confirm it or deny it. He was a man of great spirituality, his principal characteristic was having a spirit of prayer and contemplation. In many convents today the practice of penance through flagellation exists, and it has given us other great saints such as St. John of the Cross and St. Theresa.”

Speaking to his Colombian audience, Cardinal Dziwisz added that Pope John Paul II “always said that Latin America is the continent of hope. He loved Colombia and had many friends here, cardinals and priests, because the presence of Colombia in Rome has always been significant.”

Also during his Colombia visit, in an interview with the Colombian daily, “El Tiempo,” the cardinal shared John Paul II's requests and actions just before he died.

After saying that the late-Pope "died like a holy man," the cardinal added that JPII "said goodbye to his colleagues, to Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI), even to the housekeepers. He asked that the entire Gospel of St. John be read to him and thus he prepared to go.

“There was an incredible peace.”

Lent: a season of penance and conversion

Lent provides time to renew fight against temptation teaches Benedict XVI

Vatican City, Feb 21, 2010 / (CNA).-

Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the significance of Lent in his words before the Angelus on Sunday at the Vatican. Today’s Gospel, he said, illustrates how Lent provides time for "a long retreat" in which we can rebuild in order to face the temptations of the devil.

The Holy Father outlined Luke's Gospel account in which Jesus, guided by the Holy Spirit, walked out into the desert where he was tempted by the devil over the course of 40 days.

The temptations were not just an "incident" along the path, said the Pope, but "the consequence of Jesus' decision to follow the mission entrusted to him by the Father.”

"Christ came to the world to free us from sin and from the ambiguous attraction of planning our lives apart from God." The Pope added, that he didn't do it with "sonorous proclamations, but by fighting first hand against the Tempter, up to the Cross."

"This example is valid for everyone," the Pope observed, "the world improves starting with ourselves, changing, with the grace of God, that which isn't going right in our lives."

Referring back to the Gospel, Pope Benedict pointed out that when Jesus fights Satan's temptations to material needs, power and pride using Sacred Scripture, "He puts the only true criteria, obedience to the will of God, before human criteria."

"This is also a fundamental teaching for us," reflected the Holy Father, "if we carry in our minds and hearts the Word of God, (and) this enters into our lives, we can repel every type of trick from the Tempter.

"Lent," he concluded, "is like a long retreat, during which to reenter into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, to defeat the temptation of the Evil One."

We can use this time of "spiritual competition," to "live together with Jesus, not with pride or presumption, rather using the weapons of faith, prayer, listening to the Word of God and penance."

"In this way we can arrive to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism."

The Holy Father will begin Lenten spiritual exercises in the Vatican "Redemptoris Mater" chapel with a series of meditations offered by Salesian Fr. Enrico dal Covolo on "Lessons from God and The Church on the Priestly Vocation" beginning Sunday afternoon and continuing until Saturday, Feb. 27.

Universal Church sees increase in seminarians, reports Pontifical Yearbook

Vatican City, Feb 20, 2010 / (CNA).-

The number of Catholics worldwide rose by 19 million from 2007 to 2008 according to the Vatican almanac presented to the Pope on Saturday morning. The 2010 "Annuario Pontifico," or Pontifical Yearbook, which offers a variety of other statistics concerning religious and lay faithful in the Universal Church, also reports an increase in seminarians.

The 2010 Pontifical Yearbook was presented to the Holy Father on Saturday morning by Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Archbishop Fernando Filoni. It was edited under the direction of Msgr. Vittorio Formenti, who is in charge of the Central Office of Church Statistics, and Professor Enrico Nenna.

The "Annuario Pontifico" details the administrative actions of Pope Benedict during the year 2009, including his creation of nine new episcopal sees and a prelature, a new diocese and the appointments of 169 new bishops.

Besides statistics from 2009, it also offers information valid up to 2008 on the 2,945 ecclesiastic districts in the Catholic Church all over the globe, including the statistic that there are now 1.166 billion baptized Catholics in the world, comprising 17.4 percent of all people.

The yearbook also documents changes in the numbers of religious among the five continents recognized by the Holy See. North and South America are considered as one continent and Antarctica is not taken into account.

The total number of bishops around the world in 2008 was 5,002, which marked a 1.13 percent overall increase, with the only decrease coming in Oceania. The number of priests in the world rose from 405,178 in the year 2000 to 409,166 in 2008. Just over 47 percent of the priests serve in Europe, compared to 30 percent in America, 13.2 in Asia, 8.7 in Africa and 1.2 in Oceania.

As a point of reference, in the year 2000, European clergy figured in at 51.5 percent of world numbers.

The number of consecrated religious decreased from 801,185 in the year 2000 to 739,067 in 2008, with there being 17.6 percent fewer in Europe, a drop of 12.9 percent in America and 14.9 percent in Oceania, while the number in Africa and Asia have risen by double digit percentages points.

There was an increase in seminarians in the Catholic Church from 115,919 in 2007 to 117,024 in 2008, in which Africa, Asia and Oceania enjoyed increases while Europe's numbers dropped by 4.3 percent and America's figures remained nearly the same.

The 2010 Pontifical Yearbook is published by the Vatican Press and will soon be on sale.

Benedict XVI: Six new saints on October 17

Canada, Poland and Australia among nations to have new saints

Vatican City, Feb 19, 2010 / (CNA).-

A half dozen Catholics will officially join the ranks of the Church's canonized saints this autumn. Pope Benedict XVI and the College of Cardinals approved the causes for sainthood of all of the "Blessed" candidates proposed in a consistory on Friday morning.

Pope Benedict announced that the canonization ceremony will take place on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010. The announcement was the result of the Ordinary Public Consistory, which was held in the Consistory Room of the Apostolic Palace.

The six destined for sainthood include Fr. Stanislaw Soltys of Poland, Br. Andre Bessette of Canada, Sr. Candida Maria de Jesus Cipitria y Barriola of Spain, Sr. Mary of the Cross MacKillop of Australia, and Srs. Giulia Salzano and Battista Varano of Italy.

Catholics in the "Land down under" are particularly excited, as they will celebrate the addition of the first Australian to the Canon of Catholic Saints. Australian media estimate that the canonization of Blessed Mary MacKillop, founder and director of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, will draw many thousands to the Vatican.

"The sisters rejoice with the Australian Church and people on this news," the Sisters' congregational leader was reported as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald. "We look forward to the canonization and give thanks that God did bless our country with such a model of goodness."

Sr. Maria Casey, postulator for the cause of Blessed MacKillop, told Rome Reports in an interview released on Thursday that, in addition to the miracles attributed to her for curing cancer, "She’s particularly good for women who don’t have children."

"We have hundreds of what we call Mary MacKillop babies," she added.

Although no details have been provided, canonization ceremonies are normally celebrated by the Pope in St. Peter's Square. The ceremony usually consists of a reading of the saint's life history, a prayer chanted by the Pope to enroll the saint in the Canon and an official recognition marked by the unfurling of a large tapestry bearing the image of the saint.

Benedict XVI: Priests are true men with the help of God

Benedict XVI calls priests to protect communion between God and man

Vatican City, Feb 18, 2010 / (CNA).-

Pope Benedict hosted priests from the Diocese of Rome in the Vatican's Benediction Hall on Thursday morning for a "lectio divina" during their traditional Lenten audience. The Pope used his reflection on St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews to encourage priests to protect communion between God and man, especially in areas under attack by society.

Referring to the Letter to the Hebrews, the Holy Father shed light on the nature of the priest. "The author of the Letter," he said, "understood that in Christ two premises are united: (that) Christ is the true King, the Son of God ... but also (that) the true priest... finds in Christ the key, his fulfilment."

And in him, said the Holy Father, the priesthood finds its "purity and its profound truth."

The mission of the priest, he continued, is to be a "mediator, a bridge that links and so carries man to God, to his redemption, his true light, his true life." In order to maintain this communion between humanity and divinity, priests must partake in daily, constant prayer and the celebration of the Eucharist.

"We must always return again to the sacrament, return to this gift in which God gives me much more than I could ever give ... a priest must be truly a man of God, must know God deeply and know him in communion with Christ," said Pope Benedict.

"We must live this communion," he told his fellow priests.

In doing so, added the Bishop of Rome, the priest must also be willing to stand up to those elements that hurt communion with God, specifically, the tendency of some to pass off lying and stealing today, merely saying, "It's human."

"But, this is not the true 'being human,'" the Pope insisted.

"Human is being generous, human is being good, human is being a man of justice" and, he underscored, sin never leads to solidarity but has the opposite effect.

The Holy Father also mentioned obedience as "a word that we don't like in our times" because it gives the impression of "alienation" or a "servile manner." He pointed out that we tend to seek out "freedom" instead of "obedience."

"But," he reflected, "considering this problem closely, we see that these two things go together."

"The will of God is not a tyrannical will, but it's exactly the place we find our true identity," he said.

"Let's really pray to the Lord, so that he may help us to see intimately that this is freedom and so enter joyfully into this obedience and pick up the human being and carry him - with our example, with our humility, with our prayer, with our pastoral action - into communion with God."

We must follow Jesus into the Lenten desert, Pope says on Ash Wednesday

Vatican City, Feb 18, 2010 / (CNA).

- In his homily at the Basilica of Saint Sabina on Ash Wednesday, the Holy Father spoke about returning to the communion with God that was lost when Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden. To return, he said, we need to "cross the desert, the test of faith."

After a procession from the Church of St. Anselm to the Basilica of Saint Sabina, Pope Benedict XVI recalled the story of Jesus' time in the desert. The Holy Father described the 40 days of silence and fasting as a time when Jesus "abandoned himself completely to the Father and his loving design," exposing himself to "enemy assaults" without any weapon besides "boundless trust in the omnipotent love of the Father."

"All this the Lord Jesus did for us," explained Benedict XVI. "He did it to save us, and at the same time to show us the way to follow him."

He expounded on this gift of salvation, saying it requires our assent demonstrated by our will to live like Jesus and follow in his footsteps. So, the Pope said, "following Jesus in the 'Lenten desert' is then a necessary condition to participating in his Easter..."

In order to return to the paradise which symbolizes communion with God and eternal life, from which Adam was banished, "we need to cross the desert, the test of faith," the Holy Father stressed, and "not alone, but with Jesus!

"He, as always, preceded us and won the battle against the spirit of evil.

"This is the meaning of Lent," said the Pope, "the liturgical time that each year invites us to renew the choice to follow Christ on the path of humility to participate in his victory over sin and death."

"In this perspective," he added, "we also understand the penitential sign of the Ashes that are imposed on the forehead of all those who begin the Lenten itinerary with good will."

This gesture, he explained, is one of humility that means "I recognize myself for what I am, a fragile creature, made of earth and destined to earth, but also made in the image of God and destined to Him.

"Dust, yes, but loved...able to recognize His voice and respond to Him; free and also capable of disobeying Him, giving in to the temptation of pride and self-sufficience."

These sins, pointed out the Pope, are a "mortal disease" which is "quick to enter and pollute the blessed earth that is the human being."

Building off of the Responsorial Psalm, Pope Benedict reflected more deeply on the meaning on iniquity. "The first act of justice is to recognize our own iniquity," rooted in our hearts, and then to "insist on the necessity of practicing our own 'justice' - alms, prayer and fasting - not before men but only to the eyes of God," he taught.

Indeed, "true recompense" will come not from the recognition of our fellow men, but in the relationship with God that is forged as a result and its accompanying grace, he explained.

Pope Benedict concluded his Ash Wednesday homily, saying that "even in our days humanity needs to hope in a more just world, and believe that it is possible, despite the disappointments that come from daily experiences.

"Beginning a new Lent, a new path of spiritual renewal, the Church indicates the personal and community conversion, the only non-illusory way to form a more just society, where all can have what is necessary to live according to human dignity."

The Pope implored, "Let us sincerely confess our sins, repent to God with all our hearts and let ourselves be reconciled with Him."

Pope: Conversion leads to just societies

Australian Anglo-Catholic group votes to explore conversion to Catholicism

Melbourne, Australia, Feb 18, 2010 / (CNA).-

By a unanimous vote, the Anglo-Catholic group Forward in Faith Australia has established a working party guided by a Catholic bishop to explore how its followers can convert to Roman Catholicism.

The group, which also has members in Britain and the United States, is believed to be the first within the Anglican Church to accept Pope Benedict XVI’s offer to create an Anglican Ordinariate, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The Ordinariate, a form of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, will enable Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining parts of their spiritual heritage.

Bishop David Robarts, chairman of Forward in Faith Australia (FIFA), said members felt excluded by the Anglican Church in Australia, which had not provided them with a bishop to represent their views on homosexuality and women bishops.

"In Australia we have tried for a quarter of a decade to get some form of episcopal oversight but we have failed," he told the Daily Telegraph. "We're not really wanted any more, our conscience is not being respected."

Bishop Robarts, 77, said it had become clear Anglicans who did not believe in same-sex partnerships or the consecration of women as bishops had no place in the “broader Anglican spectrum.”

“We're not shifting the furniture, we're simply saying that we have been faithful Anglicans upholding what Anglicans have always believed,” he continued. “We're not wanting to change anything, but we have been marginalized by people who want to introduce innovations.”

“We need to have bishops that believe what we believe," he added, saying that converting to Rome would allow the group to retain their Anglican culture without sacrificing their beliefs.

The unanimous vote to investigate the establishment of an Ordinariate was held last Saturday at a Special General Meeting of FIFA at All Saints Kooyong in Melbourne.

The meeting issued a statement saying it received with “great gratitude” Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution proposing the Ordinariate. It also expressed commitment to care and support those who feel unable to be received into the Ordinariate.

The FIFA meeting “warmly welcomed” the appointment of Bishop Peter Elliott as a delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. It also established a working group called Friends of the Australian Ordinariate, inviting FIFA members and other interested persons to provide their names and addresses to the group.

Bishop Robarts said his group was the first Forward In Faith branch to embrace Pope Benedict’s offer so strongly. Other Anglo-Catholics are waiting to see if the Anglican Church will allow them significant concessions on the introduction of women bishops, such as a male-only diocese.

The Traditional Anglican Communion, which has already broken away from the Anglican Communion, is another group to have declared that its members will become Catholic under the Apostolic Constitution.

In other Anglo-Catholic news, Telegraph reporter Damian Thompson reported on Feb. 17 that the former assistant Anglican Bishop of Newcastle Paul Richardson was received into full communion with the Church in January. He served as an Anglican bishop in Papua New Guinea and was diocesan bishop of Wangaratta in Australia.

Richardson said he was not planning to join the Ordinariate but has not ruled out ordination as a Catholic priest.

Daily conversion frees and saves, Pope declares as Lent begins

Vatican City, Feb 17, 2010 / (CNA).-

The Holy Father dedicated the General Audience on Wednesday in the Paul VI Hall to the significance of the Lenten season which begins today. He emphasized the importance of daily conversion for swimming "against the current" of a society that promotes a “superficial lifestyle” and “moral mediocrity.”

Lent, Pope Benedict observed, is an "acceptable and grace-filled time" in which we can better understand the words "repent and believe in the Gospel."

The call to conversion is one to take with "extraordinary seriousness" because it "reveals and denounces the easy superficiality that often characterizes our lives," Pope Benedict taught.

"Repentance means changing direction in the path of life," he said emphasizing that this is "not with a small adjustment, but with a true and personal reversal." It is going "against the current, where the 'current' is the superficial lifestyle... that often pulls at us, dominates us and makes us slaves of evil and, so, prisoners of moral mediocrity."

In our conversion, the Pope explained, we shoot for the "highest measure of the Christian life” as we put our trust in the "living and personal Gospel" of Jesus Christ.

"His person is the final goal and the deep meaning of repentance... he is the road by which all are called to walk in life, letting ourselves be illuminated by his light and sustained by his strength that moves our steps."

In this way, "it isn't a simple moral decision that rectifies our life's conduct, but a choice of faith that involves us entirely in the intimate communion with the living and concrete person of Jesus, noted Benedict XVI.

Repenting and believing the Gospel, the Holy Father elaborated, are expressions of the same reality and conversion, which "is the 'yes' of he who gives his own existence to the Gospel, responding freely to Christ who first offers himself to man as the way, truth and life, as it is He alone that frees and saves him."

This is the meaning of the first words with which Jesus preaches the Gospel, 'This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel,' the Pope added.

Pope Benedict also focused on how repentance and conversion are lifelong commitments.

"Every day is a 'acceptable' moment, one of grace, for every day we are invited to give ourselves to Jesus, to trust in Him, to abide in Him, to share His lifestyle, to learn true love from Him, to follow Him in doing the will of the Father every day, which is the only great law of life.”

"Every day" we need to seek conversion, Pope Benedict continued, "even when we are faced with difficulties and troubles, in spite of the tiredness and the failures, including when we feel like abandoning the path of following Christ, and when we want to withdraw into ourselves, into our selfishness, without realizing that we need to open ourselves to God’s love in Christ to live the same logic of love and justice.”

The Holy Father also reflected on the meaning of the ashes distributed today. The ashes given on the first day of Lent, he said, serve as an act of renewal "of our commitment to follow Jesus, to let ourselves be transformed in His paschal mystery, to win over evil and do good, to let the 'old man' tied to sin die and let the 'new man' be born transformed in the grace of God."

In closing, Pope Benedict invoked the protection and aid of Our Lady to accompany us in these 40 days of prayer and sincere penance so that we will be purified and "completely renewed" for Easter.

Witness of priests and religious key to increasing vocations, Pope asserts

Vatican City, Feb 16, 2010 / (CNA).-

Pope Benedict released his message for the 47th World Day of Prayer for Vocations on Tuesday. The message, written on the theme "Witness Awakens Vocations," speaks of the great importance of the witness of priests and religious for encouraging future vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

Granting that success in the promotion of vocations depends in large part on the free action of God, the Holy Father notes in his message that, in addition, "the quality and depth of the personal and communal witness of those who have already answered the Lord’s call to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life" also helps to bear fruits, "for their witness is then able to awaken in others a desire to respond generously to Christ’s call."

The Holy Father cites the examples of the Prophets of the Old Testament dedicating their entire existence to bearing witness to God. Jesus, he says, is the "supreme Witness to God and to his concern for the salvation of all." He further highlights the roles of John the Baptist, Andrew and Philip who in bearing witness to God made disciples of others including Andrew's brother Peter and Bartholomew.

"God’s free and gracious initiative encounters and challenges the human responsibility of all those who accept his invitation to become, through their own witness, the instruments of his divine call," explains Pope Benedict in his message.

This continues to be true in the contemporary Church, writes the Holy Father, as "the Lord makes use of the witness of priests who are faithful to their mission in order to awaken new priestly and religious vocations for the service of the People of God."

The World Day of Prayer for Vocations message includes the Holy Father's perspective on the three aspects of priestly and religious life that he considers "essential for an effective priestly witness."

The first aspect that characterizes this life is friendship with Christ, through which a "man of God" leads others to know and love Him, the Pope says.

Secondly, a priest or consecrated religious makes “a complete gift oneself to God,” which the Holy Father says, "is the source of his ability to give himself in turn to those whom Providence entrusts to him in his pastoral ministry with complete, constant and faithful devotion... enabling them too to become open to meeting Christ, so that his Word may become a light to their footsteps.”

"The story of every vocation is almost always intertwined with the testimony of a priest who joyfully lives the gift of himself to his brothers and sisters for the sake of the Kingdom of God," Pope Benedict points out.

The final aspect, the Pope teaches, is a life of communion by which the priest or consecrated person is "open to all, capable of gathering into one the pilgrim flock which the goodness of the Lord has entrusted to him, helping to overcome divisions, to heal rifts, to settle conflicts and misunderstandings, and to forgive offenses."

He must be an example to youth, notes the Holy Father, of "a communion of life which can reveal to them the beauty of being a priest," so that they will say, "Yes, this could be my future; I can live like this."

Pope Benedict cites the words of Venerable John Paul II, who summed up these aspects when he said that "the very life of priests... their fraternal unity and zeal for the evangelization of the world are the first and most convincing factor in the growth of vocations"

This is also true for the consecrated men and women who by their very life proclaim "the love of Christ whenever they follow him in complete fidelity to the Gospel and joyfully make their own its criteria for judgment and conduct," the Pope writes.

In this way, he adds, by their example they offer themselves as 'signs of contradiction' in society by offering an alternative to the materialism, self-centeredness and individualism present in world.

"By letting themselves be won over by God through self-renunciation, their fidelity and the power of their witness constantly awaken in the hearts of many young people the desire to follow Christ in their turn, in a way that is generous and complete."

Benedict XVI concludes his message for the Day of Prayer for Vocations by observing that "in order to foster vocations to the ministerial priesthood and the consecrated life, and to be more effective in promoting the discernment of vocations, we cannot do without the example of those who have already said "yes" to God and to his plan for the life of each individual."

"Personal witness," he specifies, "in the form of concrete existential choices, will encourage young people for their part to make demanding decisions affecting their future."

The official date for the observation of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations will be Good Shepherd Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, which falls on April 25 this year.

State is not source and beginning of ethics, Pope tells Pontifical Academy for Life

Vatican City, Feb 14, 2010 / (CNA).-

On Saturday Pope Benedict XVI addressed members of the Pontifical Academy for Life on the occasion of their general assembly. He emphasized to the group that human dignity must be protected as an "inalienable right" and that ethical decisions cannot be left solely to the State, which is subject to "relativistic drift."

The theme of this year's general assembly was "Bioethics and Natural Law," for which the Holy Father offered his own reflections. He spoke to the academy members in the Clementine Room in the Apostolic Palace.

When we speak of bioethics, said the Pope, the "dignity of the person" is often put at the forefront of the discussion. This is "a fundamental principle that the faith in Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, has always defended, especially when it is disregarded towards the simplest and most vulnerable subjects."

Benedict XVI called the right to recognition of human dignity "inalienable"and added that its establishment is not "written by the hand of man, but... by God the Creator in the heart of man."

"Without the founding principle of human dignity it would be arduous to find a source for the rights of the person and impossible to reach an ethical judgment as to the achievements of science that intervene directly in human life."

He insisted that it is of upmost importance that the comprehension of human dignity not be considered as strictly tied to "external elements" such as scientific progress or the "gradualness" of the formation of human life. Rather, the invocation of dignity must be "full, total and without strings, besides that of recognizing that we are always before a human life."

The key of ethical research and investigation in science regarding human beings is to never consider that one is only dealing with "inanimate material," he continued. To do otherwise risks an “instrumental use of science,” which easily advances “abuse, discrimination and the economic interests of the strongest."

Pope Benedict observed that in the world today, the rights of human life in its"natural development and in states of greatest weakness" are not always recognized. This, he said, makes it important to promote human life as an "inalienable subject of right and never as an object subjected to abuse of the strongest."

"History has shown how dangerous and deleterious a State that proceeds to make legislation on matters that touch the person and society can be, when it tries to be the source and beginning of ethics."

Without universal principles that establish a "common denominator" for humanity, explained the Pope, we run the risk of a "relativistic drift at the legislative level."

However, he stated, the natural moral law “permits us to avoid this danger and, above all, offers the legislator the guarantee for a true respect for the person." It also "affirms the existence of an order printed in nature by the Creator and recognized as an instance of true, rational ethical judgment to pursue good and avoid evil."

Members of the Pontificial Academy for Life were led in the general assembly by their acpresident, Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

Church celebrates patron saint of ‘love’

CNA STAFF, Feb 14, 2010 / (CNA).-

On February 14, the Catholic Church commemorates St. Valentine, the patron saint of couples and young people in love.

One tradition in the church is that St. Valentine was a Roman priest during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. The emperor realized that unmarried men made better soldiers so he forbade young men to become engaged or to marry. St. Valentine, realizing the injustice of this law, helped young couples to marry in secret.

He was eventually betrayed, and the emperor had him arrested and thrown in jail. He supposedly converted his jailer while he was incarcerated. Ultimately, he was martyred by beheading.

Another story of St. Valentine says that he was arrested for helping Christians escape the harsh and brutal conditions of Roman jails. He is purported to have fallen in love with a young woman, perhaps the jailer’s daughter. Before he died, he wrote her one last letter, which he signed, “from your Valentine.”

Thus, the first “valentine” was created.

Whatever his story, many couples remember St. Valentine on February 14 by expressing their love for one another with gifts of flowers, candies or jewelry.

St. Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, travelers and young people.

Outrage over disrespect of the Eucharist in Costa Rica

Pope Benedict emphasizes 'truly incalculable' value of ministry to the sick

Vatican City, Feb 11, 2010 /(CNA).-

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass on Thursday at St. Peter’s Basilica for the three-fold occasion of the World Day for the Sick, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes and the 25th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Health Ministry. In his homily, the Holy Father stressed the “truly incalculable” value of the Church's ministry to the sick and suffering.

“The Church, to which is entrusted the task of prolonging in space and time the mission of Christ, cannot disregard these two essential works: evangelization and the treatment of the sick in body and in spirit,” declared the Holy Father.

At the root of this mission is the fact that God “wants to cure the entirety of man and in the Gospel the treatment of the body is a sign of the most profound cure which is the remission of sins,” the Pope stated.

“It’s no surprise, then, that Mary, mother and model of the Church is invoked and venerated as ‘Salus informorum, Health of the sick.’” The Blessed Mother, Pope Benedict taught, has always shown a special “mindfulness” for the suffering by offering her example as the “first and perfect” disciple of her Son.

Referring to the 25th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Health Ministry, the Pope said that their ministry is “a privileged expression of this mindfulness” of Mary.

The Holy Father also reflected on the readings which were especially relevant to the celebration of the World Day for the Sick, given that they enveloped the Magnificat and the maternal role of the Church in praying for the sick.

He presented the Magnificat as the "canticle of the Virgin that exalts the marvels of God in the story of salvation," and called it a prayer not for those who always have "the wind at their back," but as a "thanksgiving from those who know the dramas of life, but confide in the redemptive workings of God."

"It's a song," Benedict XVI elaborated, "that expresses the faith tested by generations of men and women that have put their hope in God and they have worked on the first hand, like Mary, to be of aid to brothers in need." In the canticle, he added, we hear the voice of the charity of the saints.

"Through the centuries, the Church shows signs of the love of God, that continues to work great things in humble and simple people," the Pope remarked.

Benedict XVI also spoke of the role of priests, through whom Jesus continues to work, and their "alliance of evangelical 'solidarity'" with the sick. In the Book of James, he noted, it is written that he who is sick "should summon the presbyters of the church."

So, each of them, the Pope explained, has a task: the sick to call on the priest and the priest to respond "to call on the experience of the sickness, the presence and the action of the Risen One and his Spirit." It is in this, said the Pope, that "we can see all of the importance of the pastoral ministry of the sick, whose value is truly incalculable, for the immense good that it does in the first place for the sick person and for the priest himself, but also ... through mysterious and unknown paths, to the whole Church and the world.

"In effect, when the Word of God speaks of cures, salvation, the health of the sick, it considers these concepts in an integral sense, never separating body and soul: a sick person healed by the prayer of Christ, through the Church, is a joy on the Earth and in heaven, a gem of eternal life," the Pontiff taught.

Quoting from his encyclical "Spes salvi," he summed up the importance of the ministry of the sick to the world, saying, "the measure of humanity is essentially determined in the relationship with suffering and with he who suffers. This is the same for one person as (it is) for society."

During his homily Pope Benedict especially greeted the sick at Mass and those joining in the celebration from UNITALSI, at Marian sanctuaries including Fatima, Lourdes and Czestochowa as well as those following along by radio and television. He thanked them for their prayers "enriched by the offering of (their) efforts and sufferings."

Funeral Mass for Archbishop Lawrence A. Burke, S.J.

Homily by
Most Reverend Patrick C. Pinder
Archbishop of Nassau


Beloved:

We gather in grief and in gratitude to commend to God our beloved Archbishop Lawrence Aloysius Burke. He was born here in Kingston, Jamaica and he died here. Yet between birth and death he made a contribution, exerted an influence and left a mark far beyond the boundary of this nation. It is for that reason that I, along with so many others, have traveled far for this funeral today.

Lawrence Aloysius Burke arrived in Nassau as a priest. It was there and it was for there that he was first ordained a bishop. Of course, at the very beginning of his 23 year term as bishop of Nassau, there were pockets of displeasure at his coming. There were those who had different ideas and strong feelings about it.

The truth is Archbishop Burke was good for us. His leadership was a grace and a blessing for us. In many ways he left us much better off than he met us. For that we can only be grateful and thankful. His presence and his leadership offered us a lesson in the benefits of regional co-operation. He came to us virtually unknown but he left us highly respected and deeply loved. In the name of the Bahamian Catholic community and indeed of the entire Bahamian community, I express our most profound gratitude to the Church and the people of Jamaica.

I thought it most fitting that we concluded last night’s Vigil with a mention of the words “Jesus is Lord.” These words form the Episcopal motto of Archbishop Burke. “Jesus is Lord” is the most basic confession of Christian faith. It is perhaps the most ancient creed for those who came to believe in Jesus as the Christ. It was a baptismal formula for the earliest believers. Those who approached the font of baptism did so by way of conversion and conviction and these words made all the difference to them. “Jesus is Lord”…they said it because they meant it and they intended to live by it.

To be sure the expression is very much Sacred Scripture. It is found throughout the letters of Paul. It represents an inward faith which seeks outward expression in words and in action. It demands a mighty consistency between what you say you believe and the way you live your life. It serves as a compelling moral compass and a guide which provides a firm and fixed point of reference in a constantly changing world. It is the mission statement which makes a man of God a man for others.

To understand something of the depth and fullness of the expression “Jesus is Lord” is to begin to understand the motive, the method and the mission of the man we came to know and admire as Archbishop Lawrence Aloysius Burke.

He was first and foremost a man of faith. All his talent and time and energy served this faith. The seeds of this faith were sewn in his home and his family. Beyond that he was very grateful for the religious formation he received as a member of the Society of Jesus. Commonly known as “The Jesuits,” the Society of Jesus was formed in 1540 by a Spaniard from the Basque region. This former soldier, who became a mystic and a saint, is named Ignatius of Loyola.

Ignatius’ great masterpiece, which is also a classic of western spirituality, is known as The Spiritual Exercises. It outlines a four-week-long program of retreat comprised of prayer and contemplation.

“The Exercises use memory, imagination, mind and heart with astute insight into human nature. They teach methods of prayer and discernment in making choices. They lead the participant through an understanding of God’s love and toward a committed personal response of love.”

Perhaps the best known passage of The Spiritual Exercises is a little prayer of self-offering called the Suscipe.
This is what it says.

“Take, Lord receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me. To you, O Lord I return it. All is yours, dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace for that is sufficient for me.”

Archbishop Burke made the Spiritual Exercises twice during the course of his formation. He knew this prayer of self-offering by heart. It formed the pattern of his thought. It structured his outlook and his responses. This is an important part of the background and explanation as to how he could leave his home and comfortable surroundings here and consent to come to a strange place to shoulder the mantle of leadership and to embrace the yoke of the Gospel as Bishop of Nassau.

When asked to go, he went. He was a man of God who was a man for others. His committed personal response to God’s love showed itself clearly when he stood before the Bahamian faithful for the first time as Bishop and declared: “Your joys will be my joys and your pains will be my pains too.”

When the time came, even though he was comfortable, well-adjusted and highly-regarded among us in The Bahamas, as he was called to another assignment, he moved on. He returned here to his native Kingston, Jamaica. “Whenever the Church asked something of me I have never refused.” I heard him say. “Nor have I ever asked any special favor in return.”

Such was the way of a man whose faith was ingrained at his mother’s knees formed and deepened by the Suscipe of St. Ignatius of Loyola and who could embrace as his Episcopal motto the words “Jesus is Lord.”

He was a man of faith. Yet he was deeply convinced that faith is to be lived out in this world. Earlier in this liturgy we heard some fitting words from the Prophet Isaiah. These words were first spoken to those on return from that significant biblical event called the Exile. It is perhaps less well known than the classic story of liberation we know as the Exodus but it is no less significant.

Isaiah is addressing a people divided, discouraged and deported from their homeland. He is offering a word that will rouse them. “The spirit of the Lord is upon me …He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted. To proclaim liberty to captives …to comfort all who mourn.”

These words from Isaiah’s Book of Consolation are quoted at the start of the public ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. They describe the mission and ministry of Jesus. If Jesus is Lord then faith must express itself in bringing glad tidings to the lowly.

Archbishop Burke was convinced of this. For that reason he was very much attuned to the issues in our community. He was very much inclined to respond to social needs. The Church’s tradition of social thought and the call to promote the common good were much at the heart of his pastoral strategy. For him that was the core of what it meant to be like the Good Shepherd who is prepared to lay down his life for his sheep. The deepest motivation of the Good Shepherd is for all to have life and have it more abundantly.

It was a particular pleasure for me, last October, to be able to dedicate the administration building of a new high school in honor of Archbishop Burke. He took the occasion to remind us that our efforts in education express our conviction that education is the way to true liberation and development for our people.

If we attend closely to his words and his example we will better understand the meaning of faith, justice, and true human development. This is particularly important for our small developing nations so freighted with challenges yet so filled with possibilities and potential.

“Jesus is Lord” is an interior disposition which must express itself in action. The depth of our faith is given its proper expression in the way live and the values we uphold in our community. The authentic religious intention is recognized by its roots as well as its fruits. Archbishop Burke’s life was an ongoing example of this for us.

By vocation he was a teacher. He taught us many lessons. One very important lesson he taught us was the need for discipline in the use of our resources. He was by no means a wasteful man. He did not squander resources. He lived a simple life. He exercised great stewardship of our resources. In doing so he taught us how to accomplish much by using our resources well.

There is something else he taught us. On this occasion we must recall it and never forget it. Because of his lengthy illness, his death cast a long shadow before itself. Yet never once did I hear him complain about his condition. Never did he allow himself to wallow in self-pity. We commend him to God. As we do so we recall with admiration the noble, dignified and faith-filled way in which he endured his years of illness.

Surely, both in sickness and in health, both in life and in the face of death, he was for us, an excellent example of faith, of leadership and of humanity at its finest.

The Letter to the Romans informs us that “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” To believe that Jesus is Lord is to believe in his victory over death. Our dear Archbishop Burke often spoke of the “sure hope of the resurrection.” This belief certainly enabled him to be courageous in life, as we knew him to be, and courageous in the face of death as well. He knew that courage is the house where hope lives. And hope is often the only saving virtue for us in the challenges of live. His courage drove him to proclaim the Word of truth often, whether convenient or inconvenient.

To know him, to know his example and to leave it there is not enough. To do so would amount to having had a privileged experience but then missing the meaning of it. We must not be content just to have known him. We must learn from his example and follow it too. Like Archbishop Burke we too must understand what it means to say, “Jesus is Lord.” Like him it must make all the difference for us. His legacy is the excellent example he gave us. Our gratitude is to follow his example.

“Take, Lord receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all that I have and possess. You have given all to me.

To you, O Lord I return it. All is yours dispose if it wholly according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace, for this is sufficient for me.” I will never hear these words again without thinking about Archbishop Lawrence Aloysius Burke.

Pain at parting is the price we pay for love and friendship in this world. This is a moment of grief. Yet it is also a moment of gratitude. We were all graced to have had our lives touched by his own. May God grant him eternal rest. May he rest in peace.

Pope extols St. Anthony of Padua's insights on prayer

Vatican City, Feb 10, 2010 / (CNA).-

In Wednesday's General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI spoke on the life and history of “one of the most popular saints of the Catholic Church,” St. Anthony of Padua, saying that his definition of prayer as “a relationship of love” is one of his most striking contributions to the Church.

The Holy Father outlined four aspects of St. Anthony's definition of prayer as a “relationship of love, which leads man into dialogue with the Lord.”

The first aspect, said the Pope, is “trustingly opening our hearts to God,” followed by “affectionately conversing with Him, presenting Him our needs, and giving Him praise and thanks.”

“In this teaching of St. Anthony we see one of the specific traits of Franciscan theology; ... that is, the central role of divine love which enters the sphere of the affections, of the will, of the heart, and which is the source of a spiritual knowledge that surpasses all other knowledge,” Pope Benedict said.

St. Anthony was born to a noble family in Lisbon in 1195, and later joined the Friars Minor in hopes of being a missionary in Morocco. However, he fell ill and had to return to Italy, where he dedicated himself to numerous fruitful apostolates. Anthony's saintliness was so evidenced in his short life of 36 years that he was canonized a year after his death by Pope Gregory IX.

“Anthony,” explained Benedict XVI, “made a significant contribution to the development of Franciscan spirituality with his outstanding gifts of intelligence, balance, apostolic zeal and, especially, mystic fervor. ... He was also one of the first, if not the first, master of theology among the Friars Minor.”

Speaking on the “wealth” of the writings of St. Anthony, the Holy Father recalled how in 1946 Pope Pius XII proclaimed the saint a Doctor of the Church, giving him the title of “Doctor Evangelicus” “because all the freshness and beauty of the Gospel emerges in his writings,” said the Pontiff.

At the same time, St. Anthony was also well acquainted with the defects of human nature, explained Pope Benedict. The saint knew “the tendency to fall into sin, and so he continually exhorted people to combat the inclination to avarice, pride and impurity. ... At the beginning of the thirteenth century, in a context of expanding cities and flourishing trade, a growing number of people were insensitive to the needs of the poor. For this reason, Anthony frequently invited the faithful to turn their thoughts to true wealth, that of the heart" and to seek the friendship of those most in need.”

Turning to modern society, Pope Benedict asked, “Is this not also an important lesson for us today, as the financial crisis and serious economic imbalances impoverish many people, and create situations of distress?"

The Holy Father also spoke on St. Anthony's Christo-centric worldview, which “invites us to contemplate the mysteries of the Lord's humanity,” particularly His birth and death.

“The vision of the crucified Lord,” said Pope Benedict, roused in St. Anthony “feelings of recognition towards God and of respect for the dignity of the human person.” It is this vision which ensures that “everyone, believers and non-believers, may find a meaning that enriches life,” he said.

This understanding of suffering shows “the importance of the crucifixion in our culture and our humanity, which are born of the Christian faith, … because God considers us so important as to be worthy of His suffering.”

The Holy Father concluded his Wednesday audience by invoking St. Anthony to pray for the whole Church including “those who dedicate their lives to preaching. Drawing inspiration from his example, may they unite sound and healthy doctrine, sincere and fervent piety, and incisive communication. In this Year for Priests, let us pray that priests and deacons eagerly carry out their ministry of announcing and contextualizing the Word of God for the faithful, especially in liturgical homilies.”

International congress to focus on priestly identity and celibacy

Vatican City, Feb 9, 2010 / (CNA).-

Today the Vatican announced that an international theological congress will be held in Rome on the theme “Faithfulness in Christ, Faithfulness of Priests.” The congress is intended to mark the current Year for Priests and will address issues such as priestly identity and celibacy.

A communique from the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy stated that the event will be held at the Pontifical Lateran University from March 11 to 12 and that “invitees to the congress principally include bishops who preside over commissions for the clergy, supreme moderators of clerical institutes and associations, formators of the clergy, and priests themselves who are primarily responsible for their own permanent formation.” Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to receive congress participants on March 12.

The congress will be divided into three sessions with two focusing on priestly identity and its relationship with the modern culture and one on liturgy and celibacy.

Leaders of the Congregation for the Clergy, including Cardinal Claudio Hummes O.F.M. and Archbishop Mauro Piacenza will be in attendance. Other Vatican-based attendees include, Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education; Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Franc Rode C.M., prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Also contributing to the theological congress are Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, Italy, Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; Archbishop Raymond Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and Archbishop Willem Eijk of Utrecht, primate of Holland.

Venezuelan cardinal calls for new evangelization of country's capital

Caracas, Venezuela, Feb 9, 2010 / (CNA).-

At a Mass sending off members of the Great Continental Mission in the Archdiocese of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino exhorted the faithful to carry on the work of evangelization in the Venezuelan capital despite the changing political circumstances in the country.

Members of the mission will go door-to-door proclaiming the Gospel message in Caracas.

“Today we hear the words of Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, who sends us to proclaim the Gospel of love, peace, spiritual growth, salvation and happiness,” the cardinal said in his homily. He added that their evangelization efforts will be a source of renewal for both the individuals as well as the community.

“This is an initiative for the renewal of the faith and the Christian life of so many of our brothers and sisters. They need to hear the comforting message of the love of God, of human greatness, of conversion, of new life that the Lord Jesus...brings us,” he continued.

However, the cardinal stressed, the group will face numerous challenges as the Venezuelan capital is a place filled with people who are constantly affected by the “process of secularization,” do not receive enough pastoral care, and are permanently subjected to social agitation amidst the current political climate.

“At the conclusion of this Mission,” Cardinal Urosa said, “We hope to have a stronger, more evangelical, more spiritual, more numerous, more dynamic and more active Church in our capital.”

“Thus the Lord encourages us today. Let us set out into the deep trusting in his strength, encouraged by his word, strengthened by his grace, united as brothers and sisters and conscious of the greatness of our Christian vocation,” the cardinal concluded.

Spouse of Costa Rican presidential candidate 'pockets' Eucharist

San José, Costa Rica, Feb 9, 2010 / (CNA).-

In a statement released yesterday following the “disrespectful treatment” of the Eucharist by Deborah Formal, wife of Costa Rican presidential candidate Otto Guevara, the local archbishop clarified that the despite the offensiveness of the act, it did not constitute a sacrilege.

Instead of consuming the Eucharist at a Sunday Mass last weekend attended by the country's presidential candidates, Formal placed a small piece of the consecrated host inside the shirt pocket of Guevara.

Formal explained her actions saying, “Upon receiving Communion I asked the archbishop if I could share the blessing with Otto. I misunderstood what he said to me and I tried to do something that would allow Otto to carry a part of God in his heart.”

“It was never my intention to disrespect the Catholic Church,” she said.

Archbishop Hugo Barrantes Urena of San Jose released a statement noting that while Formal’s action was “disrespectful,” it was not a sacrilege, which 2120 of the Catechism defines as “profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God.”

The catechism continues, “Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist, for in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for us.”

After priests were notified of Formal's actions, the statement indicated, they “asked Mr. Guevara to return the piece of the consecrated host he was carrying, and he returned it. It was then consumed immediately by one of the concelebrating priests.”

The archbishop also pointed out that “canon 1367 of the Code of Canon Law states that 'one who throws away the consecrated species,' or 'takes them away or keeps them' commits the crime of sacrilege.”

This was not the case, he reassured the Costa Ricans, “so no sacrilege took place.”

Costa Ricans went on to elect Laura Chinchilla as the country's first female president.

Pope: Children have the right to grow up in a united family

Church will never stop condemning abuse, states Pope Benedict

Vatican City, Feb 8, 2010 /(CNA).-

The Holy Father met with members of the Pontifical Council for the Family on Monday to mark the start of their 19th Plenary Assembly. In his address, he stressed the importance of providing for the rights of children, including an intact family with a mother and father.

To begin the Plenary Assembly, which follows the theme of "The Rights of Infancy" this year, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the role of the Church in the protection of children, saying that "through the centuries, by the example of Christ, (it) has promoted the protection of the dignity and rights of minors and, in many ways, has taken care of them."

"Unfortunately," he lamented, "in different cases, some of its members, acting in contrast with this commitment, have violated these rights: a behavior that the Church doesn't and will never stop deploring and condemning."

One upcoming example of this commitment will be when the Pope meets with the bishops of Ireland next week to address the sexual and physical abuse recently brought to light by the Ryan Report. The Pope had previously his declared "outrage" and "anguish" upon learning the details of the transgressions and has since accepted the resignation of one of the four bishops who was included in the report for having ignored abuse.

Speaking to the members of the Pontifical Council for the Family on Monday, the Holy Father pointed to the lesson to be learned from Jesus, "who considered children a model to imitate to enter the kingdom of God." The Pope also highlighted Christ's "tenderness and teaching" that call us to nurture “profound respect and care" for children.

"The strong words of Jesus against whomever scandalizes one of these little ones oblige everyone not to lower the level of this respect and love," the Holy Father emphasized.

The Pope added that the greatest help you can offer a child is a family "founded on matrimony between a man and a woman" because "they want to be loved by a mother and a father that love one other."
He stressed the need of children to grow up with both parents, "because the maternal and paternal figures are complementary in the education of children and the construction of their personalities and identities."

"It's important then,” he noted, “that everything possible is done to allow them to grow up in a united and stable family," urging married couples to never forget the deep sacramental roots of matrimony and to nurture them with prayer, listening to the Word of God, constant dialogue and forgiveness.

"A troubled family environment, the division of the parents and, in particular, separation through divorce, are not without consequences for children," the Holy Father concluded. "Supporting the family and promoting its true good, its rights, its unity and stability is the best way to protect the rights and the real needs of children."

Pope Benedict also highlighted the important role of the Council for the Family in preparing couples for marriage and raising children according to the teachings of the Church.

God's grace makes it possible for weak men to answer 'divine call,' declares Pope

Vatican City, Feb 7, 2010 / (CNA).-

Pope Benedict XVI tailored his message before the Sunday Angelus around the "divine call" of the Lord presented in today's Liturgy. The Holy Father taught that through the examples of Isaiah, Peter and Paul man can realize his "call," regardless of the limitations.

First, said the Pope, there is Isaiah, who responds "Here I am Lord, send me!" after being fearful and feeling undeserving before the Lord. Then, there is Simon Peter and the other disciples who cast their nets at the bidding of Jesus and find fish where there were none. When the "overabundant catch" is landed, Simon Peter tells the Lord, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man," but the Lord invites him and the others to leave everything and follow him as "fishers of men."

Paul is also struck by his unworthiness to be called an apostle because of his history of Christian persecution, but he recognizes the changes that have taken place in him due to the grace of God, the Holy Father pointed out. With the grace of God, St. Paul dedicated himself to preaching the Gospel, despite his limitations, the Pope said.

"In these three experiences we see how the true encounter with God brings man to recognize his own poverty and inadequacy, his own limits and sin. "But," said Pope Benedict, "regardless of the fragility, the Lord, rich in mercy and forgiveness, transforms the life of man and he calls him to follow him."

The humilty of these three witnesses in Sunday's Liturgy "invites all who have received the gift of the divine vocation to not concentrate on their own limits, but to keep a fixed gaze on the Lord and on his surprising mercy, to convert their hearts and continue, with joy, to 'give up everything' for Him," Benedict XVI taught.

The Lord sees the heart of man, and makes "intrepid apostles and announcers of salvation" of weak and poor, but faithful, men.

In conclusion, noting the occasion of the Year for Priests, the Holy Father prayed to "the Patron of Masses" to send workers that know how to respond to the Lord's invitation to follow him with generosity, "not trusting in their own strength, opening themselves to the action of His grace."

"In particular," he finished, "I invite all priests to revive their generous availability to respond each day to the call of the Lord with the same humility and faith of Isaiah, Peter and Paul."

DECISION OF THE ANTILLES EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE

After continued prayerful reflection and discussion on the challenges facing our Regional Seminary over a number of years, the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) passed the following resolutions by a unanimous vote:

1) The Regional Seminary Board (RSB) will suspend training at the Regional Seminary of St. John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, for a period of 3 years from 30 June, 2010, for the purposes of improving the facilities and enrolment, increasing resident faculty and developing the financial base for the Regional Seminary
2) The RSB will make arrangements to move present and new Seminarians to Santo Tomas de Aquino Seminary in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for the beginning of the academic year 2010-2011.
3) The RSB will make special provisions for current students nearing completion of their academic programmes – seminarians, both Diocesan and Religions, and lay students.
The Bishops want to emphasize that this is only a suspension of seminary formation at the Regional Seminary. Many challenges will have to be faced in this period of transition. At the same time, however, there is hope and a renewed desire to work for a better future in which the Bishops will be able to provide the best possible seminary formation for the candidates that God calls to priestly life and ministry in the local Churches of the Antilles Episcopal Conference.
St. John Vianney and the Uganda Martyrs, Pray for us.

Archbishop’s Bishop Column

This weekend I shall have the privilege of ordaining 20 Permanent Deacons in the Cathedral for service in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. I was pleased to learn that a number of Permanent Deacons from other (Arch)dioceses in the Caribbean, Europe and the United States will come to Trinidad to join the candidates for their ordination.

Programme Information

For the information of the Archdiocese, the candidates for the Permanent Diaconate have completed a long and demanding programme. To be eligible for the programme they were required to have three years of positive pastoral service in the parish that nominated them. They needed letters of recommendation from those who knew them for more than ten years.

They received the same psychological testing as the seminarians of the Archdiocese. If married, their wives had to agree to their admission into the programme. They were then interviewed by the Seminary Admissions Board which made a recommendation to me as Archbishop as to whether or not they should be admitted into the programme.

Once admitted, they completed three years of biblical, academic and pastoral studies along with courses in spiritual theology. They experienced retreats. I taught in the programme myself. Halfway through the programme, I personally interviewed each diaconal candidate along with his wife if the candidate was married. At the conclusion of the programme each candidate was evaluated and, once again, if married, the candidate’s wife had to agree to his ordination. Twenty four candidates entered the programme and twenty were approved for ordination.

Each candidate was asked to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which clarified issues of assignment expansion and financial matters especially if individual Permanent Deacons were assigned to full time employment in the Archdiocese.

Assignments of Permanent Deacons

The candidates will be assigned to the parish priests/administrators who nominated them because the people in these parishes already knew the candidates. Cases in which the parish priest was changed during the three year programme or a candidate moved to another parish during the programme were settled in dialogue with the new parish priest/administrator and the candidate.

Challenging News

Effective June 30, 2010, the Bishops will ‘suspend’ the Seminary Programme. There are a number of aspects of the Bishops’ decision that must be clarified for the general public and for those with specific interests e.g. the lay students in the School of Theology:

1)The Regional Seminary operates under the jurisdiction of the Conference of Bishops which is subject to Rome. The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples appoints the Rector of the Regional Seminary.

During the last visit of the Bishops to Rome, the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation, after studying the data on the Seminary and listening to the Bishops, asked the Bishops to consider closing the Regional Seminary temporarily, taking some time to establish a recovery programme and then reopen the Regional Seminary. After trying all possibilities to continue the Regional Seminary programme, the Bishops followed the advice of Rome. The decision was approved by the Papal Nuncio.

2)There are four elements to be addressed in the recovery programme: 1)improving the facilities; 2)increasing seminary enrollment; 3)increasing resident faculty; and 4)developing the financial base for the Regional Seminary. Obviously, number 2 implies more attention be given to vocation recruitment throughout the Antilles Episcopal Conference.

3)The Seminary to which the students from the English speaking Caribbean will be sent, Santo Tomas de Aquino Seminary in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has the traditional four year philosophy programme after which the student earns a degree. The theology programme is also a four year programme at the end of which the student earns a second degree. The philosophy faculty numbers 24 resident members. The theology faculty numbers 22 resident members. There are two hundred students in the seminary.

4)The Bishops realize they have ethical responsibilities to the students at the School of Theology at the Regional Seminary. They have decided to continue the School of Theology for the students who are presently taking courses at the School of Theology. However, they will not accept new students in the programme.

As a result, the library at the Regional Seminary will be maintained and a library staff will be retained.

5)The Archdiocese of Port of Spain will have to study the possibility of continuing the School of Theology to protect the accreditation enjoyed by the School of Theology so that when the Regional Seminary reopens, the Regional Seminary programme will still be fully accredited. At the recommendation of the Dean at the Regional Seminary, dialogue will begin immediately between the faculty of the School of Theology and the faculty of Credi.

The only way the programme at the School of Theology can accept a new entrance class of lay students is if the present faculty at the School of Theology will agree to teach very small classes for the next three years and join the faculty for the Credi programme. Then the joint faculty can support both programmes. In this way, the present faculty at the School of Theology who agree to teach in the Credi programme (over 500 students) will actually teach more students than it ever did in the Seminary programme

Before making the decision to continue the School of Theology thereby continuing the collaboration with the University of the West Indies, the Archdiocese will also have to examine carefully the reasons for the ongoing annual deficit at the academic programme.
In addition, in dialogue with the people of the Archdiocese, the Archdiocese must decide whether it can assume the cost of the programme for the indefinite future.

In this context, during March the Archdiocese will be consulted about the wisdom of introducing an annual Archbishop’s Appeal to financially support the growing demands of Synod implementation, Cathedral restoration and significant expenses.

6)The Bishops will continue to raise funds for the Regional Seminary in their own (arch)dioceses as part of the recovery programme. More details will be available after the next meeting of the Bishops in April.

7)The full text of the Bishops Communique provided by the Executive Secretary of the Bishops’ Conference is attached to this column.

Conclusion

The ‘Good News, Challenging News’ that has been reported in this column raises some important issues. I conclude with these requests:

1)Pray for the newly ordained Permanent Deacons that they may serve the parishes of the Archdiocese well and, along with laypersons, provide support to the overworked priests of the Archdiocese;

2)Pray for the success of the temporary transition plan to move the students for the priesthood from the Antilles Episcopal Conference to Santo Domingo;

3)Prayerfully consider why there are so few vocations in the English speaking Caribbean. What is the explanation for the fact that the Hispanic Caribbean has 200 seminarians while the English speaking Caribbean has 8?

4)Appreciate more fully the practical importance of evangelization/new evangelization programmes for the (arch)dioceses of the English speaking Caribbean;

5)Accept the wakeup call contained in this transition without discouragement but with positive energy. As an Archdiocese, rise to the challenge of building the future together;

6)Think positively! There are opportunities in this transition. For example, we will eventually have bilingual priests in the Archdiocese to meet the growing needs of Hispanic ministry. There are also opportunities present for educating and forming Catholic laity for spirituality and pastoral care along with continuing to serve the ecumenical and interfaith needs of students at the University of the West Indies.

Pope tells Scottish Catholics to prepare to 'grapple' with secularism

Vatican City, Feb 5, 2010 / (CNA).-

Pope Benedict XVI met with bishops from Scotland Friday morning on the occasion of their “ad Limina” visit to the Holy See. Not only did he confirm that he will be visiting their nation this year, but he addressed a variety of issues relevant to the Scottish Church, including the need to defend Church teaching in the face of secularism.

In his message to the bishops, Benedict XVI commended them for their "Priests for Scotland" initiative, which addresses significant issues being dealt with by the Scottish clergy. The Pope remarked that “the witness of priests who are genuinely committed to prayer and joyful in their ministry bears fruit not only in the spiritual lives of the faithful, but also in new vocations.”

Initiatives of this sort, he said, must be offered along with catechesis to remind the lay community of the “indispensable” nature of the priesthood to the life of the Church, especially in providing the Eucharist.

A “renewed focus” on the role of the “lay apostolate” is also needed as it is sometimes confused with “lay ministry,” the Pope said, noting that through the clarification of the roles of clergy and laity a “strong impetus” will be given to the evangelization of society.

The task of evangelization, Benedict XVI continued, “requires a readiness to grapple firmly with the challenges presented by the increasing tide of secularism in (your) country” especially in regard to the important issues of euthanasia and medical ethics.

In this activity, insisted the Holy Father, “if the Church’s teaching is compromised, even slightly, in one such area, then it becomes hard to defend the fullness of Catholic doctrine in an integral manner. Pastors of the Church, therefore, must continually call the faithful to complete fidelity to the Church’s Magisterium, while at the same time upholding and defending the Church’s right to live freely in society according to her beliefs.”

He also highlighted the beauty of marriage and the joy of parenthood, of which the Church offers the world a positive vision “rooted in God’s infinite, transforming and ennobling love for all of us” to promote hope and counteract the perception that Church doctrine is just “a series of prohibitions.”

To address the division and sectarianism in the country, he underscored that the Scottish Church’s participation in the group “Action of Churches Together in Scotland” (ACTS) is important for the “work of rebuilding unity among the followers of Christ.” These efforts, the Pope cautioned, should resist “any pressure to dilute the Christian message” and the goal should be “full, visible unity, for nothing less can respond to the will of Christ.”

The ACTS initiative seeks to unite various Christian denominations in Scotland in living the Gospel and provide increased understanding and create common life between them.

At the end of the address, the Holy Father recognized the contribution of the country's Catholic schools to "overcoming sectarianism and building good relations between communities" and pointed out that "faith schools are a powerful force for social cohesion."

"As you encourage Catholic teachers in their work," he told the bishops, "place special emphasis on the quality and depth of religious education, so as to prepare an articulate and well-informed Catholic laity, able and willing to carry out its mission... A strong Catholic presence in the media, local and national politics, the judiciary, the professions and the universities can only serve to enrich Scotland’s national life, as people of faith bear witness to the truth, especially when that truth is called into question."

Haitian archbishop tearfully recounts burial of seminarians killed by quake

Port au Prince, Haiti, Feb 5, 2010 / (CNA).-

The president of Haiti’s Bishops’ Conference has mournfully recounted the burial of seminarians killed in the country’s massive January quake. Describing the strains and torments in the disaster’s wake, he says the surviving seminarians will help other grieving victims despite their own suffering. “I cannot hold back the tears when thinking about their burial. We could not even provide them with a coffin, only a pathetic plastic bag,” Archbishop Louis Kébreau of Cap-Haitien told the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

“I feel completely helpless in this situation,” he continued.

The earthquake killed 16 diocesan seminarians in Port-au-Prince. Another 10 from the Montfortian order died when the earthquake destroyed their seminary bus. Most were under 25 years old.

Those whose bodies were recovered were buried on the grounds of the devastated major seminary. The bishops are concerned that they may never find all the bodies.

The 200 seminarians who survived the quake lost their formation center and are now in severe need of help. ACN dispatched $170,000 in aid within a week of the disaster. This included support for the seminarians.

Archbishop Kébreau said he was “deeply grateful.”

“ACN always comes to help, like the Good Samaritan, bringing shelter and giving hope.”

The archbishop said he feels responsible for the seminarians’ physical health and spiritual well-being.

“It shakes me to the core when I think about how I had to give the go ahead to the amputation of a leg of a seminarian and of an arm of another,” he explained.

“It is necessary for the reconstruction of the whole country that these seminarians overcome their trauma and receive good theological formation,” the Haitian archbishop added.

He now wants to focus on caring for the surviving seminarians so that they can help other disaster victims.

“A lot of people have lost relatives, some are now completely alone and all of them are in complete misery.”

Archbishop Kébrau traveled 125 miles from his diocese in the north of the country to Port-au-Prince to meet bishops from the neighboring Dominican Republic, who visited to show their solidarity and to contribute $100,000 to the relief efforts.

The archbishop’s journey took 12 hours after his own vehicle broke down halfway through his trip. ACN reports he had to borrow another car to complete the trip.

Asked about his own needs, the archbishop said he needed nothing, but asked “that God grant me the necessary strength so that together with the other bishops we can rebuild the Church.”

He also quoted the prophet Jeremiah: “Judah mourns and her gates languish; her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.”