Message of the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) to the Church and People of Haiti

The Antilles Episcopal Conference at the meeting of its Permanent Board in Port of Spain Trinidad on Thursday 21 January 2010 expressed its deep concern for the suffering of the people of Haiti in the aftermath of last week’s devastating earthquake and fully endorsed and made its own the following message of solidarity issued by the Bishops of the territories of Martinique, Guadeloupe and Cayenne who form part of the AEC.

The message is as follows:

“If one part is hurt, all the parts share its pain. And if one part is honoured, all the parts share its joy.
Now Christ's body is yourselves, each of you with a part to play in the whole. (I Cor. 12, 26)

Gathered in Fort-de-France for their Annual Meeting on 19 January 2010, the Bishops of the French Speaking ecclesiastical province Antilles-French Guiana, in close communion with the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) of with they are members, send this message to Bishop Kebreau, President of the Haiti Bishops Conference, and through him to the Church in Haiti.

It is with deep sadness that we have learnt about the devastating earthquake which destroyed Port-au-Prince and its surroundings.

We wish to assure you that our dioceses share in the pain and suffering of mourning families. In our prayers we present to our Heavenly Father our brother in the Episcopacy Archbishop Joseph-Serge Miot, the priests, religious sisters and brothers, seminarians and all the other victims of this terrible earthquake. We are committed in full solidarity with you in whatever support you consider appropriate and particularly through Caritas, the Church Humanitarian Agency.

The Church community in Haiti is especially close to ours in that we benefit from the pastoral ministry of many Haitian priests, together with sisters and many faithful who live among us. Their faith is an example for us and their suffering is our suffering.

It is to the Risen Lord, source of all Hope, that with you we present our most fervent prayers and we assure you of our deepest affection in Him.

Pope asks for constant prayers for Christian unity

Rome, Italy, Jan 26, 2010 / (CNA).-

The Holy Father closed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with Vespers at the Roman Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-walls on the Monday evening. In his homily he emphasized that everyone is called to seek "full communion between all of the disciples of Christ."

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the archpriest and abbot of the basilica and a host of cardinals, bishops and representatives from other Christian Churches joined Pope Benedict XVI in the celebration of Vespers. The evening prayer service coincided with the Solemnity of the Conversion of St. Paul, whose tomb is under the altar of the basilica.

"As the theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 'You are witnesses of these things,' has reminded us, our call is to be missionaries of the Gospel," Pope Benedict said in his homily.

He recounted the story of St. Paul's conversion and his subsequent life of devotion to preaching the Word of God, which "reached it's culmination in his martyrdom," as a model of the Christian witness.

This event and the appearance of Christ among the Eleven after his death, continued the Pope, were those to which the disciples thereafter bore witness, as have believers in Christ "in every time and place."

Christian witness, "then as now, is born of the encounter with the Risen, it's nurtured by the constant relationship with Him, encouraged by the profound love of Him. Only the person who has experienced feeling Christ present and alive... sitting at table with Him, listening to Him so that their heart burns, can be His witness!" the Pope taught.

"The communion and the unity of the disciples of Christ is... a particularly important condition for greater credibility and effectiveness in the their witness."

The Holy Father concluded his message by saying that "each of us is called to do our part to take those steps that bring us towards full communion between all disciples of Christ, without ever forgetting that this is, above all, a gift of God to pray for constantly.

"In fact,” Benedict XVI stated, “the force that promotes the unity and the mission streams out from the fertile and exciting encounter with the Risen One, as happens to Paul on the road of Damascus and for the Eleven and the other disciples gathered in Jerusalem. The Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, says 'yes' that Her Son's wish is realized as soon as possible, 'that they may all be one... that the world may believe.'"

The ecumenical movement marks a milestone this year, celebrating a century since the missionary conference between representatives from Protestant and Anglican Churches met along with a single orthodox delegate in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910. The goal of the gathering was work towards unity and define a shared approach to spreading the Good News.

Pope pledges Catholic institutions' continued presence in Haiti

Vatican City, Jan 23, 2010 / (CNA).-

The Press Office of the Holy See has released the content of two letters written by Pope Benedict XVI to leaders in Haiti following the country’s devastating earthquake. In the notes, the Holy Father expressed the solidarity of the Church with the people of Haiti and the intention of Church institutions to do everything in their power to restore “hope for the future.”

In separate letters sent on Jan. 16 to the President of Haiti, Rene Preval, and the president of the Haitian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop of Cap-Haitien Louis Kebreau, the Holy Father transmitted his "fervent prayer for all of the people touched by this dreadful catastrophe" and assured the presence of the Catholic Church in providing continued assistance to the tragedy’s victims.

He expressed his prayer that God take the deceased into "the peace of his Kingdom," especially Archbishop Serge Miot "who shared the fate of so many of his faithful." The Pontiff also asked for consolation for the families of victims, "who, often, haven't been able to give a decent burial to their disappeared loved ones."

The Holy Father hailed the quick response of the international community in coming to the aid of the Haitian people and assured President Preval of the Catholic Church's intentions to stay beside those affected by the disaster and to do everything possible to help give them “hope for the future.”

In the letter to the archbishop, the Pope also pledged the continued presence of the Catholic Church in providing emergency aid and "patient" reconstruction in devastated areas. He then entrusted the hearts of the people to Our Lady of Perpetual Help, that she direct them to choose solidarity over isolation.

ARCHBISHOP Lawrence Burke, SJ, first archbishop of the Bahamas, died in Kingston, Jamaica, at 7 o'clock last night after a long battle with cancer.

Archbishop Burke, 77, died in the retirement home for Catholic priests in the Kingston Archdiocese. He had retired in 2008, four years after being transferred from the Bahamas to take over the archdiocese of his native Kingston.

Archbishop Burke, born in Kingston on October 27, 1932, entered the Society of Jesus on August 14, 1951 at Lenox, Massachusetts and was ordained a priest on June 16, 1964 at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Kingston.

He taught at St. George's College, Jamaica, from 1958 to 1969, when he was named Rector of the College. In 1973 he was appointed Regional Superior of the Jesuits in Jamaica, the first and only Jamaican to be appointed to that post, which he held until 1979. He returned to St George's College in 1980 as Acting Principal.

He was appointed Bishop of Nassau by Pope John Paul II on July 17, 1981 and on June 22, 1999, was named the first Archbishop of the newly erected Archdiocese of Nassau.

It was under Archbishop Burke that the new St Francis Xavier's Cathedral was planned and built.
On February 9, 2004 Archbishop Burke was appointed the fourth Archbishop of Kingston and was installed on May 2, 2004, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kingston.

He was given special recognition by his country on Monday, October 19, 2009, when he received National Honours - The Order of Jamaica - for outstanding contribution to Religion and Education.

The funeral of Archbishop Burke will take place on Thursday February 4, 2010.

Benedict XVI: The Church is One and Holy

Church is ‘rich and vital organism’ in its unity, remarks Pope at Angelus

Vatican City, Jan 24, 2010 / (CNA).-

Citing the reading in Sunday's liturgy from First Corinthians, Pope Benedict XVI used St. Paul's comparison of the Church to the body in his words before the Angelus. He then expressed his hope for continued progress among believers on the occasion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

In describing the Church in its unity as a body under the "head" of Christ, Pope Benedict explained that the Apostle Paul aimed to "communicate the idea of unity in the multiplicity of the charisms, which are the gifts of the Holy Spirit."

"Thanks to these the Church presents itself as a rich and vital organism, not uniform, fruit of the only Spirit that guides all to a profound unity, assuming diversity without abolishing it and realizing a harmonious whole."

The Pope mentioned that he wished to emphasize the role of the Church in maintaining the "presence of the risen Lord" during the current Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. He said, "It's really in Christ and the Spirit that the Church is one and holy, it is an intimate communion that transcends human capacity and sustains it."

"We will invoke from God the gift of the full unity of all disciples of Christ and, in particular, according to the theme of this year, we will renew the commitment to being joint witnesses to the crucified and risen Lord.

Benedict XVI reiterated the sentiment that he has expressed so often, that "The communion of Christians... makes the announcement of the Gospel more credible and effective, as affirms Jesus himself praying to the Father on the eve of his death, 'that they may all be one... that the world may believe’."

The Holy Father finished the address with a prayer for the intercession of Mary to achieve continued progress in the communion of Christians in order to "transmit the beauty of being one in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will conclude Monday, January 25, coinciding with the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. The Pope and members of the various other Churches ecclesial communities in Rome will join together for Vespers in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-walls.

Benedict XVI remembers life of St. Francis de Sales

Vatican City, Jan 24, 2010 / (CNA).-

Speaking before today’s Angelus, Pope Benedict recalled the life of St. Francis de Sales. "He dedicated himself with great yield to preaching and spiritual formation of the faithful, teaching that the call to sainthood is for all people and everyone has a place in the Church.”

Due to St. Francis de Sales' evangelization, it is estimated that 72,000 people were converted to the Catholic faith in his native France. He was known for his gentleness and humility, penchant for preaching and great dedication to the Church.

On Saturday, in light of the celebration of the saint's feast day, the Pope released his Message for the World Day for Social Communications in which he emphasized the need for today's clergy to make use of modern technology and especially to be a presence for truth and wisdom online. The Pontiff remarked that it "will not only enliven their pastoral outreach, but also will give a 'soul' to the fabric of communications that makes up the 'Web.' "

On Sunday, the Church celebrates the feast day of this priest who is the patron of journalists and Catholic press.