Church of England bishop says 'Anglican experiment is over'

London, England, Oct 26, 2009 / (CNA).-

Members of the traditionalist Anglican group Forward in Faith recently concluded their annual gathering, which was dedicated to discussing Pope Benedict's overture to Anglicans. The general impression left by the conference was the “Anglican experiment is over,” a mood that was reinforced by Bishop John Hind officially announcing he is ready to become Catholic.

The 2009 National Assembly of Forward in Faith was held in the Emmanuel Centre, Westminster, London, October 23-24. The Assembly was originally scheduled before the Vatican announced its unprecedented move, but the issue dominated most of the discussion.

Speaking to the press during the event, the Right Reverend John Hind, Anglican Bishop of Chichester, announced he is considering becoming a Roman Catholic.

Hind, the most senior traditionalist in the Church of England, told “The Telegraph” that he is willing to sacrifice his salary and palace residence to join the Catholic Church.

“This is a remarkable new step from the Vatican,” he said. “At long last there are some choices for Catholics in the Church of England. I'd be happy to be re-ordained into the Catholic Church.”

The bishop said that he expects his previous ministry will be recognized in the Catholic Church, but stressed that the divisions in the Anglican Communion could make it impossible to stay. “How can the Church exist if bishops are not in full communion with each other?” he asked.

During the conference, the Right Reverend John Broadhurst, who is the Anglican Bishop of Fulham and the Primate of Forward in Faith, affirmed that “the Anglican experiment is over.”

Bishop Broadhurst said that Pope Benedict has made his offer in response to the pleas of Anglicans who despair at the disintegration of their Church. “Anglicanism has become a joke because it has singularly failed to deal with any of its contentious issues,” said the bishop.

“There is widespread dissent across the [Anglican] Communion. We are divided in major ways on major issues and the Communion has unraveled. I believed in the Church I joined, but it has been revealed to have no doctrine of its own. I personally think it has gone past the point of no return. The Anglican experiment is over.”

In an emotional closing speech on Saturday, Bishop Broadhurst used the metaphor of the frog and the boiling pot to describe the current Anglican status.

"The temperature at the pot has become intolerable, but the process of boiling started before the ordination of women… The truth is, the tragedy for us is the Church of England has presumed. It's presumed to know better than the tradition on many matters and it's presumed to know better than Jesus Christ about some matters,” he explained.

“And It is the presumption of our Church in this present period that has caused such pain and anguish to many of us.

“Oh yes, the ordination of women was the water being turned up; we knew that we were going to be cooked to death ...

“And what the general (Anglican) Synod did, was to say, ‘We will push the pot towards the edge of the gas, as long as you stay on this side of the pot, with a few ice cubes, it'll be all right,’” Bishop Broadhurst said.

Then he explained: “We've never claimed that Anglicanism is the Church of Jesus Christ, and we've always claimed and believed that there needs to be catholic unity.”

“This is about Anglicans in communion with Rome and not about Anglicans ceasing to be Roman Catholics,” he also said.

The Right Reverend Martyn Jarrett, Anglican Bishop of Beverley, also insisted on the fact that “there are questions over the church's survival,” explaining that the Church of England has changed too dramatically for some traditionalists.

“The offer from the Vatican is momentous and I felt a great sense of gratitude that the Roman Catholic Church is thinking about the position of traditionalist Anglicans,” he added.

Another participant at the “Forward in Faith” conference, Fr. Edward Tomlinson, Anglican Vicar of St. Barnabas, said that he would be following the lead of Bishop Hind.

“The ship of Anglicanism seems to be going down... We should be grateful that a lifeboat has been sent. I shall be seeking to move to Rome. To stay in the Church of England would be suicide,” Fr. Tomlinson said.

Forward in Faith is a worldwide association of close to 1,000 clergy and thousands of lay Anglicans founded in 1992 in opposition to the ordination of women as priests or as bishops, and most recently, to the ordination of active homosexuals. The association says that it finds such practices not only “contrary to the Scriptures as they have been consistently interpreted by the two thousand year tradition of the churches of both East and West,” but also as a “new and serious obstacle in the way of reconciliation and full visible unity between Anglicans and the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.”

Synod for Africa sends Pope 57 propositions

Vatican City, Oct 26, 2009 / (CNA).-

The Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops closed yesterday after meeting almost continuously since October 4 to discuss the future of the Church in Africa. The Synod for Africa concluded on Saturday with Pope Benedict being presented the 57 propositions drawn up and approved by the Synod Fathers.

Pope Benedict offered his observations of the proceedings, saying, “the temptation could have been to politicize the theme, to speak less as pastors and more as politicians, and thus in a sphere which is not our own.”


Despite the “strong political implications” of the subject matter considered by the gathering, the Holy Father returned to his remarks at the opening of the synod, when he said that “reconciliation, justice and peace are not possible without a profound purification of the heart, without a renewal of the mind, a 'metanoia,' without the newness that arises from the meeting with God.”

To conclude the Synod for Africa, the Synod Fathers voted on a number of propositions, using the answers “placet” or “non placet,” which is Latin for “it pleases” or “it does not please.” The prelates selected 57 propositions to present to the Holy Father, from which he will prepare the final document on the assembly.

The propositions touched on many topics including “greater ecclesial communion at all levels, encouraging cooperation within the Church,” as well as an appeal to all those who are at war in Africa: “stop the hostilities and be reconciled!”

Another theme that was frequently discussed was the environment. Observing that there was “an irresponsible degradation and senseless destruction of the earth, which is 'our mother,'” the Synod Fathers noted that “some businesses, governments and multinational and trans-national companies engage in business that pollute the environment, destroy flora and fauna, thus causing unprecedented erosion and desertification of large areas of arable land... in complicity with those who exercise political and economic leadership in Africa.”

The bishops also raised their voices on the issues that impact women. They rejected abortion and so-called reproductive health rights of women, calling instead for the defense of the family and of human life. Additionally, they condemned “all acts of violence against women, such as the battering of wives, the disinheritance of daughters, the oppression of widows in the name of tradition, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, trafficking in women and several other abuses such as sex slavery and sex tourism.”

The Synod Fathers proposed that the Pope consider the “fifteen million migrants who are looking for an homeland and a place of peace,” called for the abolition of the death penalty, and asked that AIDS victims in Africa “receive the same quality of treatment as in Europe.”

Finally, the prelates emphasized the importance of “the professional training and ethical formation of journalists to promote a culture of dialogue which avoids division, sensationalism, disinformation and the offensive trivialization of human suffering, all of which could harm the harmony and peace of societies and communities.”

In a rare move, Pope Benedict has allowed the publication of a provisional and unofficial copy of the proposition as he prepares the final document of the Synod for Africa.

‘Rise up!’ Pope Benedict tells Africa at close of Synod

Vatican City, Oct 25, 2009 / 10:01 am (CNA).-

Pope Benedict XVI’s homily for the close of the Synod of Bishops for African concluded the Lord of history does not tire of renewing oppressed humanity since the time of Moses. “Rise up, African continent, the land which received the Savior when as a child he had to flee with Joseph and Mary to Egypt so as to save his life from the persecution of King Herod,” Pope Benedict proclaimed.

Benedict XVI’s homily turned to Sunday’s first reading from Jeremiah. In the Book of Lamentations, there is an announcement of hope for the people of Israel, laid low by the invasion of the army of Nebuchadnezzar, the devastation of Jerusalem and the Temple and the deportation to Babylon.

In the Gospel, Jesus encounters along the road to Jerusalem Bartimaeus, who has lost his sight. “God is light and creator of light,” the Pope explained. “Man is the son of light, made to see light, but has lost his sight and wanders.”

“Brothers, we give thanks because this ‘mysterious meeting of our poverty and the greatness’ of God is realized also in the Synodal Assembly for Africa, which today concludes,” he added. “God has renewed his call: ‘Courage! Rise up…”

“And also the Church in Africa, through the bishops, come from all the Countries of the Continent, from Madagascar and the other islands, has received the message of hope and light to walk the way leading to the Kingdom of God,” the Holy Father continued. “Bartimaeus becomes a witness to the light, giving a firsthand account of healing, renewal, regeneration.”

“This is the Church in the world, a community of persons reconciled, workers of justice and peace, ‘salt and light’ amid a society of men and nations… Moving testimony has demonstrated to us that even in these most dark moments of human history, the Holy Spirit is at work transforming the hearts of victims and persecutors so that they recognize brothers.”

The Pontiff directed the synod fathers to the example of the encyclical “Populorum progressio,” elaborated by the Servant of God Paul VI and which missionaries have realized and continue to realize promoting a respectful development of local culture and locale. The Pope added, “After more than forty years, this appears to be the only logic capable of freeing the African people from the slavery of hunger and sickness.”

Before the Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict spoke of the rich reality of the local Churches presented by the Synod Fathers. Animated by the Word of God and the Eucharist, he explained, the Church works so that “no one is without the necessities to live and so that all can have an existence worthy of a human being.”

Benedict XVI said he shared the joys of the Christian communities, “which continue to grow in quantity and quality.” He added, “Naturally, the actual problems of Africa and the great need of reconciliation, justice and peace were immersed in the Assembly.”

“Today I desire to address all the African populations, especially those that share the Christian faith, so as to ideally entrust to them the ‘Final Message’ of the Synodal Assembly,” the Holy Father continued. “Dear brothers and sisters who hear me in Africa, I entrust in a special way to your prayers the fruit of this work of the Synod Fathers and I encourage you with the words of the Lord Jesus: You are the salt and light of the beloved African land!”

The Holy Father concluded by recalling next year’s Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, for which the “instrumentum laboris” will be presented during his visit to Cyprus.

After the Angelus prayer, the Pontiff extended his greeting to thousands of faithful gathered outside of Milan, Italy’s cathedral for the beatification of Father Carlo Gnocchi:

“Father Gnocchi worked ‘to restore the human person,’ gathering children orphaned and mutilated by the Second World War and offering them help and education. He gave his all until the very end and dying, donated his corneas to two blind children. His work has continued to develop and today the Father Gnocchi Foundation offers rehabilitation therapy to needy people of all ages. While I greet Cardinal Tettamanzi, Archbishop of Milan, and rejoice with the entire Ambrosian Church, I make my own the theme of this beatification: ‘Alongside life, forever.’”

DI TRINTA DJADUMINGU SIKLO B

Promé Lektura : Yeremias 31, 7-9
Salmo : Salmo 126, 1-6
Di dos Lektura : Hebreonan 5, 1-6
Evangelio : Marko 10, 46-52

E pasashi aki tin komo sentro aktitutnan di Bartimeo, pa loke ta parse importante pa nos analisá e aktitutnan aki, ku Marko ta presentá komo modelo pa e kristian ku ke sigui Hesus. E promé aktitut di e siegu ta un akto di reflekshon interno: Bartimeo ta rekonosé ku e no por mira, i e sa ku su situashon por ta mihó. E di dos aktitut ta di rekonosé den Hesus e hende ku por kambia su bida, Bartimeo tin fe den Hesus i ta p'esei e ta realisá su di tres akshon: grit’é i kana bai serka djE, no ta import’é kibra ku skema òf stroba, e tabata sa ku Hesus lo por a salb’é. Por último, despues di haña den Hesus sanashon pa su sieges , Bartimeo ta sigui Hesus riba e kaminda.
Ademas di e aktitutnan di Bartimeo, ta signifikativo akshon di e komunidat ku ta aktua mas komo opstákulo ku komo yudansa p'asina e siegu por mira: nan no ta lag'é papia ni aserká Hesus, tampoko nan ta intersedé p’e, sino ku nan ta preferá pa e keda siegu i pa e no “molostiá” Hesus. (Esaki ta duna nos base pa reflekshoná riba nos aktitut dilanti di hopi hende ku ke sali di nan sieges i no ta haña den nos aliento pa sigui dilanti.)

Kuantu siegu awe ta kana sin ku ta rekonosé nan komo tal? Siegunan ku no ke mira nesesidat di nan próhimo, siegunan ku ta buska felisidat den plaser i inresponsabilidat, siegunan ku ta kana sin sa pa unda nan ta dirigí nan mes, siegunan ku no ta mira loke nan tin i por lo tantu no ta duna loke nan mester, siegunan pa trabou, siegunan pa alkohòl i bisio, siegunan pa nan egoismo, siegunan ku no ke rekonosé nan kulpa den pleitu di famia, siegunan ku no por mira den felisidat di nan pareha e fuente di nan felisidat, siegunan ku no por haña den Kristu e fuente di nan amor, siegunan pa nan forma mediokre di biba bida. Enfin, ta parse ku tin hopi Bartimeo entre nos i talbes kada un nos por identifiká nos mes ku algun tipo di sieges. Pa nos tur e pasashi aki tin un palabra: na promé lugá bo mester por rekonosé bo sieges; di dos, lo bo tin ku vense e flohera ku ta indusí bo pa sigui biba den e sieges aki; i di tres, kere den Hesus, asérkE, no tene miedu pa pidié su salbashon; i por último, disidí di siguié.

Hesus no por sana nos sin nos mes , Hesus lo a pasa bai i e siegu nunka lo a mira si e no a pone di su parti; Hesus tabatin mester di akshon di e siegu pa por a kur’é. Pero loke ta mas importante ta loke ta sosedé na final, e siegu, unabes ku e por a mira, a sigui Hesus. Si nos aserka Hesus únikamente pa E por resolvé nos sieges, pero si unabes E yuda nos, nos alehá nos mes di dJE, e ora ei nos no por bisa ku nos a kaba ku nos sieges.

Rekuperá nos bista, o ser salbá pa Hesus, ta enserá un kambio di bida, un kambio di aktitut, ku ta tradusí su mes den siguimentu de Kristu. Ora un hende yega na mira, i e duna su mes kuenta di e hopi ku el a pèrdè pasobra e tabata leu di Kristu, e no por hasi nada otro ku bras’é i siguié. Esaki ta biba serka di djE, den orashon, pa medio di su Palabra, asta den Komunion; i tambe sirbiE, den solidaridat, mizerikòrdia i hustisia.

Pues laga nos aserká Hesus, rekonosiendo nos “siegesnan”, pidiend’ E su salbashon i pa nos disidí di kana riba su kaminda, kaminda di goso inmenso, di inmenso amor i pas; pero tambe di kompromiso, responsabilidat i solidaridat.

Theology without faith is a mere intellectual exercise

Understanding the Faith requires friendship with Christ, Pope says

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2009 / 10:44 am (CNA).-

Pope Benedict XVI addressed almost 40,000 people on Wednesday about a figure known as “the last of the Fathers of the Church,” St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The Holy Father spoke to the gathered faithful about how St. Bernard's example should show them that true understanding of the Faith requires an “intimate relationship with the Lord” and profound faith.

Pope Benedict began his catechesis by describing the life of the celebrated French saint.

Born in 1090 in Fontaines, France to a "numerous and fairly well off” family, Bernard studied grammar, rhetoric and dialectic. At 20 years-old he entered the monastery of Citeaux, which the Pope described as a “more rigorous” monastic foundation than the existing ones of the time.

In 1115 he was sent by St. Stephen Harding, third abbot of Citeaux, to found a new monastery at Clairvaux, where Bernard himself became abbot. At Clairvaux the saint "insisted on the importance of a sober and restrained lifestyle, in food, in clothing and in the structures of the monastery, at the same time encouraging support and assistance for the poor."

Together with his theological writings and homilies, including the celebrated Sermons on the Song of Songs, Bernard maintained a vast correspondence, developed warm friendships with his contemporaries, defended sound doctrine, and combated heresy and outbreaks of anti-Semitism. Benedict XVI recalled Bernard’s writings against the heresy of the Cathars who despised the material and the body and thus despised the Creator. This monk defended the Jews, so much so that a rabbi, Ephraim, “addressed a stirring tribute” to him.

Pope Benedict also pointed out that St. Bernard wrote a very special book on how to be a good pope for a pupil of his, Bernardo Pignatelli, who became Pope Eugenius III.

Bernard of Clairvaux died in 1153.

Turning to the value of St. Bernard's teachings for modern Christians, the Holy Father The Pope highlighted "two central aspects” of Bernard's teaching which concern Jesus Christ and Mary his most holy mother. The Monk expressed "the Christian participation in the love of God.” "It is from this that he was given the title of Doctor Mellifluous,” the Holy Father expounded. “His praise of Christ, in fact, flows like honey."

Bernard of Clairvaux loved to repeat, "there is one name that matters, that of Jesus of Nazareth.”

For Bernard "true knowledge of God lies in a personal and profound experience of Jesus Christ. Faith is first of all an intimate personal encounter with Jesus, the experience of his closeness, of his friendship and his love. Only in this way can we learn to love him and know him even more. Let us hope that this can happen in all of us," Pope Benedict said.

Bernard also emphasized the "privileged place of the Virgin in the economy of salvation." "It is no coincidence," said Benedict XVI, “that Dante puts on the lips of the Doctor Mellifluous his sublime prayer to Mary: 'Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son, humble and exalted more than any other creature, fixed term of eternal counsel.'"

St. Bernard's ideas, Pope Benedict concluded, "stimulate not only theologians but all believers.”

“At times we think we can resolve the fundamental questions about God, mankind and the world using only the power of reason. St. Bernard however, solidly rooted in the Bible and the Fathers of the Church, reminds us that without a deep faith in God, nourished by prayer and contemplation, an intimate relationship with the Lord, our reflections on the divine mysteries are in danger of becoming a futile intellectual exercise, and lose their credibility."

Manual for proper celebration of the Mass officially presented to the Pope

Vatican City, Oct 21, 2009 / (CNA).-

Cardinal Antonio Canizares, Prefect of the Congregation for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, today officially presented Pope Benedict XVI with the “Compendium eucharisticum,” aimed at helping priests to properly celebrate Mass.

The compendium, which was officially published on October 19, is a collection of study materials, prayers and meditations related to the celebration of the Eucharist. According to Cardinal Canizares, it is “a response to the desire of the Holy Father and the request made by the bishops during the 2005 Synod on the Eucharist.”

According to the daily edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the document “puts together texts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, prayers, theological explanations of the Roman Missal’s Eucharistic prayers and everything that may be useful for the correct understanding, celebration and adoration of the Sacrament on the altar.”

L’Osservatore Romano also explained that the Pope’s desire is that the compendium will help both priests and laity in “believing, celebrating and increasingly living out the Eucharistic Mystery.” The Holy Father also hopes that it will stimulate “every faithful person to make of their own lives a spiritual worship,” the paper added.

The compendium has been published in Italian by the Vatican’s publishing house and will soon be available in other languages, including English.