Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests are trying to get women priests and an end to priestly celibacy

From http://ncronline.org/news/global/irish-priests-push-reform-pledge-stimulate-groundswell 

Oct. 28, 2011

By Michael Kelly

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests marked its first year in existence with a Dublin meeting at which more than 300 priests heard a call for an end to mandatory celibacy and for the ordination of women.
The growth of the association has been rapid, with 540 Irish priests -- or one in eight -- now opting for membership. However, the absence of younger priests, sometimes called the “John Paul II generation,” was evident at the gathering.
Fr. Kevin Hegarty, a member of the association’s leadership team, told the Oct. 4-5 meeting that what was needed was a church that would open its doors to “married priests and women priests.” It would benefit from secular insights, such as those on human intimacy and democracy, he said. It would work at developing a “healthy and holistic theology of sexuality.”
Hegarty said that church structures were a barrier to conversation and “despite the promise of the Second [Vatican] Council ... the church in Ireland failed to evolve a strategy that could learn from and contribute to the new consciousness.” An authoritarian hierarchical structure “is contemptuous of intellectual challenge and is fearful of leaps of the imagination. The consequences have flowed.”
In its first year, the Association of Catholic Priests led opposition to the new translation of the Roman Missal and appealed to the Irish bishops’ conference to delay the introduction of the changes. However, the hierarchy dismissed the concerns as “first premature and then irrelevant,” Hegarty said.
“In my 30 years as a priest, the sea of Catholicism has receded,” he said. “I have heard its long withdrawing roar. ... I have worked in a crumbling church. In 1981 it seemed as if it might be different.”
Dominican Fr. Wilfrid J. Harrington, one of the priests attending the meeting, said he was motivated to join the group because of “the betrayal of Vatican II over the past 30 years.”
“I now know, from our meeting, that Vatican II is not dead. Now I am aware that I belong to a sizable group of priests, diocesan and religious who still believe in Vatican II. And, happily and vitally, not only clergy, but very many lay women and men.
“After our [annual general meeting] I confidently expect that membership of the Association of Catholic Priests will grow substantially,” Harrington said.
Redemptorist Fr. Jim Stanley told the gathering that the association must now reach out beyond clerical structures. “We need to stimulate a groundswell among the Catholic people of Ireland,” he said. “So begin now to make preparations for a national assembly of people, religious, missionaries and priests. Don’t consult the bishops, just go ahead.”
The Association of Catholic Priests makes no apology for the fact that it is a liberal group and does not seek to represent all priests. “The Association of Catholic Priests does not intend to water down its objectives in order to attract a larger membership,” said Fr. Brendan Hoban, another member of the leadership team.
The Irish association has already established links with similar movements. Msgr. Helmut Schüller, leader of the Austrian clergy who have issued an “Appeal to Disobedience,” was a guest at the meeting, as was Fr. Bernard Survil of the newly formed Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.
Not all Irish priests who long for reform in the church are enthusiastic about Ireland’s Association of Catholic Priests. Fr. Paddy McCafferty, who is himself a survivor of clerical abuse and an outspoken critic of the Irish hierarchy, insists that the group is “not prophetic in the true scriptural sense.”
He insists that the group cannot claim to be a “loyal opposition” because it is “not loyal at any level and pushing its own agenda all the time.”
“To be loyal to the church is to expose evil for the good of the church,” McCafferty said, adding that he “utterly rejects” the Association of Catholic Priests as “having anything truthful or constructive to offer in the current crises afflicting the church.”
The reaction of the Irish hierarchy to the association has been at best indifferent. There were notably mixed opinions at the meeting of the Association of Catholic Priests, with many priests believing that the group must maintain links to the hierarchy while others dismiss relations with the hierarchy as irrelevant.
As the movement looks to the future all are agreed, however, on the necessity of reaching out to laypeople and ensuring that the voice of ordinary Catholics be heard in shaping the future of Irish Catholicism.

Assisi III Will Not Have Any Interfaith Prayer

EWTN News October 11, 2011:

This month’s meeting of world religious leaders in Assisi will downplay prayer as a feature of the event and will not contain inter-religious prayers.
“The emphasis this time is on pilgrimage and not on prayer,” said Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace, to EWTN News. He is also a key organizer of the Oct. 27 event in the birthplace of St. Francis.
“In fact, from what I understand of the program, and it’s still being worked on, is that prayer is going to be out, if not very minimal.”
This year’s Assisi gathering is entitled “Pilgrims of Truth, Pilgrims of Peace,” and is being convened to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first World Day for Peace, held by Pope John Paul II in 1986.
That summit came under fire from some Catholic groups who claimed it unwittingly blurred the distinctions between Catholicism and other religions.
Cardinal Turkson, who was in Assisi in 1986 along with two other African priests, said he understands why the event drew criticism. He recalled how “they were given some room in the city hall” to pray while “some non-Catholics appeared to have been given a church.” It was such incidents, he said, that “drew this sort of criticism.”
This time there will be no inter-religious prayer, the Vatican has already confirmed.
Instead, there will be a specifically Catholic prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square in Rome the night before.
“So the praying is not going to happen there (in Assisi), it’s going to happen here (in Rome) and that’s going to be the Pope amongst his people, other Catholics,” explained Cardinal Turkson.
The following morning, participants will travel from Rome to Assisi on a special chartered train that will depart from the Vatican’s train station. Upon arrival, speeches will be given and all will have lunch together. The meal will be followed by a period of silence for individual reflection and prayer. The group will then make a pilgrimage to the Basilica of St. Francis, the saint’s place of burial, where each delegate will recommit to peace.
Cardinal Turkson also explained why non-religious figures from the world of culture and science – some who will be atheists and agnostics – are being invited to join the Pope in Assisi.
Peace, he said, is “a preoccupation of both believers and unbelievers,” so that “those who do not practice any faith, they also can contribute and have a part in this pilgrimage.”
Cardinal Turkson will unveil final details of the Assisi event at a Vatican press conference next Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Irish Government is trying to bring in unconstitutional referendum without any debate

From  http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/8-former-ags-oppose-referendum-proposal-171706.html

EIGHT former Irish attorneys general have voiced collectively their strong opposition to the Government’s proposal to amend the Constitution to give the Oireachtas special powers of investigation.

The former AGs also object to the manner in which judicial pay is to be cut, while agreeing with the reduction in principle.

The proposals will be put to a referendum on Thursday, the day of the presidential election, and indications are that both measures will be passed.

According to a letter, the former AGs say that extending the powers of the Oireachtas in this manner will hit civil liberties.

"The proposal in relation to Oireachtas enquiries seriously weakens the rights of individual citizens, firstly to protect their good names, and secondly to have disputes between themselves and the Oireachtas concerning their constitutional rights (especially their rights to fair procedures) decided by an independent judiciary," states the letter.

"The proposal to allow proportionate reductions in judicial remuneration (which we support in principle) provides insufficient protection for the independence of the judiciary." The letter is signed by Patrick Connolly, Peter Sutherland, John Rogers, Dermot Gleeson, Harold Whelehan, David Byrne, Michael McDowell and Paul Gallagher.

From http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1024/referendum.html
Mr McDowell urged a no vote in the referendum on inquiries, saying it would give absolutely unlimited powers to the Oireachtas on any matter of public importance.
The former Tánaiste said that once these powers were conferred on politicians, they would become addicted to using them and it would never be possible to get them back.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Pat Kenny, Mr McDowell said the wording of the amendment was very badly drafted and could send gardaí in to search people's homes.
He said the Commission of Inquiries set up under legislation he brought in as Minister for Justice were a much fairer way to investigate matters and cited the Murphy Commission as being fair to victims and perpetrators. He said it was not designed to grab headlines.
Meanwhile, Independent Presidential candidate Mary Davis has said that she will vote no in Thursday's referendum on broadening the power of Oireachtas inquiries.
"This decision has not been taken lightly," said Ms Davis.
"Constitutional change should not be taken lightly either."
Ms Davis said that she recognised that if she were elected President, she would not able to express her opinions on future referendums, but said that her concern at the impact of the proposal was such that it was appropriate for her to comment now.
"I fully appreciate that if elected President I will not be able to express any public opinion on any future Constitutional referendum put to the people," she said.
"However, as it would suit the political system for this change to be waved through with a minimum of discussion, and given my concerns at the impact of this proposed change on all citizens, I feel that it is appropriate - and important - to voice my concerns openly."

The Church has three new saints

From http://www.news.va/en/news/the-church-has-three-new-saints

October 23, 2011 - Pope Benedict XVI has marked the Catholic Church’s annual Mission Sunday on 23rd October, declaring two Italians and a Spaniard the Church’s newest saints. The Pope canonized the two men and a woman at a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The first declared saint is Italian Bishop Guido Maria Conforti, the founder of the Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions, also known as the Xaverian missionaries. In 1895, seven years after becoming a priest, he founded a congregation of consecrated men dedicated to the evangelization of non-Christians. Named bishop of Ravenna in 1902, he was plagued by ill health and decided to resign. But five years later, he was once again named a bishop, this time as head of the Diocese of Parma. He died in 1931 and in 1996 Blessed John Paul II declared him Blessed.
The other Italian saint is Fr. Luigi Guanella, who founded the Servants of Charity, the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence, and the Confraternity of St. Joseph, whose members pledge to pray for the sick and dying. Fr. Guanella died in 1915 and Pope Paul VI beatified him on Oct. 25, 1964.
The third saint is Bonifacia Rodriguez Castro from Salamanca, Spain, who founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph, and created the "Nazareth workshop" to help poor or unemployed women. She died in 1905.
After the Angelus prayer, Benedict XVI so said in English:
Dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims present, especially those here for today’s canonizations. In this Sunday’s Gospel passage, Jesus urges us to love God above all things and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Let us measure our actions every day by his call to love, and live it with courage and joy. May almighty God bless all of you!

The Importance of Voting for Catholics

From http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=1845

Catholics have a responsibility to participate in public life in order to positively influence our communities, our states and our nation.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the duty to vote is “morally obligatory” and further summarizes a Catholic’s public duties in paragraphs 2238 through 2246.  We cannot sit on the sideline and expect secular culture to move toward truth; we must actively bring our values to government through the ballot box.

In our form of government, we relinquish individual freedom in exchange for a peaceable society that protects families and individuals in the fulfillment of their rights and duties. This society is a republic, not a pure democracy, and is guided by laws written by our elected representatives.  If Catholics do not vote, if our voices are not heard by those in power, these officials may advocate for policies, regulations and statutes contrary to the teachings of the Church and which offend our consciences.

In an article titled, "Voting May Be Habit-Forming: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Professors Gerber, Green and Shachar of Yale University conducted a study of voting behavior. This study concluded that voting is habit forming; the more often a person voted in the person, the more likely that person is to vote in the future.  As Catholics, we need to understand this fact and adjust our behavior accordingly.

There are five main reasons to vote in every election:

First, voting is habit forming.  If we want to be faithful citizens, we need to vote regularly and inculcate habitual voting in our children.  Family political discussions at election time and a parent bringing his or her underage child to the polls are excellent ways to teach the habit of voting to the next generation.

Second, it is possible to avoid casting a ballot with whom we do not agree or about whom we know nothing.  In this situation, a voter may either leave the ballot blank (and cast an “undervote”) or vote “none of the above.”  This fulfills our Catholic obligation to vote and strengthens the voting habit without violating our conscience.

Third, prior to every election, political candidates compile a list of “likely voters.”  Based on the principle of voting as a habit, these “likely voters” are those who have participated regularly in prior elections and are the ones to whom the campaign is directed. A habitual voter is likely to receive direct mail, campaign phone calls or candidate visits. Communications by candidates educate voters on that candidate’s platform while a personal visit or phone call is an excellent opportunity for a Catholic to express his or her opinion on issues to the candidate in a conversational atmosphere.

Fourth, all elections have consequences to Catholics and their families.  Whether it is the sexual education curriculum of the local school board, a local government entity seeking to provide health benefits to the unmarried or homosexual “partners” of employees or even the county hospital prescribing the “morning after” pill as an abortifacient contrary to Church teaching, the opportunity to positively influence secular culture is available to habitually voting Catholics in every election.

Finally, voting begets other habits that are a boon to our communities.  A habitual voter is likely to familiarize himself or herself with local issues in order to participate intelligently in local elections.  A vigilant electorate is more attuned to the nature of local, state and national government and less patient with corruption by elected officials. Habitual voting translates into more efficient, more transparent and more honest government.

Voting in every election, large and small, is as important to good Catholic citizenship as regular exercise is to maintaining bodily health.  It is not enough to study voting guides; this information is of no use to someone who fails to vote on Election Day.  In order to maximize our influence as Catholic voters and amplify beyond our individual numbers, we need to adopt voting as a lifelong habit.
* A 2001 convert to the Catholic Church, Travis Ketner is a graduate student studying educational administration in San Antonio, Texas.  Educating others, especially Catholics, about politics and local government is his personal and professional mission.  He may be reached at: tkpolitics@gmail.com.

Statue of Our Lady Destroyed and Church Vandalised by Occupy Rome Mob

Inquirer News  October 16, 2011: 

“The Virgin Mary’s statue, which was at the entrance, had been taken away and I saw it had been thrown into the street and smashed.”
The Vatican has condemned Saturday’s violent clashes in central Rome including an attack by protesters on a church in which  a statue of the Virgin Mary and a crucifix were destroyed.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said he “condemned the violence and the fact that a church was desecrated by some protesters who broke in and destroyed some images.” He referred to the clashes in Rome as “horrific.”
The 18th-century church of Santi Marcellino and Pietro is near St John Lateran square where much of Saturday’s violence occurred.
“When I came down, I saw the entrance door had been smashed in,” the church’s parish priest, Father Giuseppe Ciucci, was quoted by Italian media as saying.
“The Virgin Mary’s statue, which was at the entrance, had been taken away and I saw it had been thrown into the street and smashed,” he said.
“I went into the sacristy and I saw the door there was also destroyed. The large crucifix at the entrance had been vandalized,” he added.
Hundreds of protesters torched cars, smashed banks and hurled rocks at police during the clashes. Tens of thousands of people had been protesting against government cutbacks and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Attempted Sabatoge on Irish Catholic Presidental Candidate Dana Rosemary Scallon

From http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1019/breaking31.html 

Gardaí are investigating a suspicious tyre blowout on a vehicle used by presidential candidate Dana Rosemary Scallon.
Ms Scallon today claimed she was lucky to be alive after the incident which occurred near the M4 toll bridge near Kilcock, Co Kildare at about 9pm last night.
Her husband Damien, who was driving her to Dublin, lost control of  the car, which was travelling at about 100km/h, when it suffered the blowout. She was asleep in the back at the time of the incident.
Her campaign team has claimed the tyre appears to have been punctured up to 15 times.
A Garda spokesman said a report of alleged criminal damage was being investigated.
Ms Scallon said those travelling in the vehicle had a very lucky escape. “It was very scary to look at,” Ms Scallon said. “I think we are all very lucky to be here today. I never start a journey without saying a little prayer and I think we are all very lucky.”
The campaign car, a Peugeot 508 emblazoned with Dana posters, had been parked outside the Landmark Hotel in Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim, for several hours earlier in the day, while Ms Scallon canvassed.
There were four people in the car including a cousin of Ms Scallon's and her brother Gerald Brown. Mr Brown and Mr Scallon had swapped driving duties at a service station shortly after the toll plaza and neither reported noticing the car handling unusually. It had been raining along the motorway.
Mr Scallon said when the tyre blew he first swerved to avoid a lorry in front and a car behind before struggling to regain control and stop safely on the hard shoulder.
“It was quite a terrifying, horrifying moment,” he said. “When you see the tyre it kind of sends home to us what were they trying to do - injure us or murder us? Along with doing that, they could have killed someone else.”
An AA roadside recovery team were called out and changed the tyre before the team continued their journey to Dublin.
“We had no idea until today it was as serious as it is,” Mr Scallon said. “The AA man really examined the tyre and said he had never seen anything like it. He said ‘I’m not an expert but it looks like it has been interfered with. There’s no explanation for it’.”

St. Margaret Mary, 'Apostle of the Sacred Heart,' remembered Oct. 16

Denver, Colo., Oct 16, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).

On Oct. 16, Roman Catholics celebrate the life of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the French nun whose visions of Christ helped to spread devotion to the Sacred Heart throughout the Western Church.
Margaret Mary Alacoque was born in July of 1647. Her parents Claude and Philiberte lived modest but virtuous lives, while Margaret showed herself to be a serious child with a focus on God. Claude died when Margaret was eight, and she suffered a paralyzing illness from the ages of nine to 13. A struggle over her family's property made life difficult for Margaret and her mother for several years.
During her illness, Margaret made a vow to enter religious life. During adolescence, however, she changed her mind. For a period of time she lived a relatively ordinary life, enjoying the ordinary social functions of her day and considering the possibility of marriage.
Her life changed in response to a vision she saw one night while returning from a dance, in which she saw Christ being scourged. Margaret believed she had betrayed Jesus, by pursuing the pleasures of the world rather than her religious vocation. At age 22, she decided to enter a convent.
Two days after Christmas of 1673, Margaret experienced Christ's presence in an extraordinary way while in prayer. She heard Christ explain that he desired to show his love for the human race in a special way, by encouraging devotion to “the heart that so loved mankind.”
She experienced a subsequent series of private revelations regarding the gratitude due to Jesus on the part of humanity, and the means of responding through public and private devotion. But the superior of the convent she dismissed this as a delusion.
This dismissal was a crushing disappointment, affecting the nun's health so seriously that she nearly died. In 1674, however, the Jesuit priest Father Claude de la Colombiere became Margaret's spiritual director. He believed her testimony, and chronicled it in writing.
Fr. de la Colombiere – later canonized as a saint – left the monastery to serve as a missionary in England. By the time he returned and died in 1681, Margaret had made peace with the apparent rejection of her experiences. Through St. Claude's direction, she had reached a point of inner peace, no longer concerned with the hostility of others in her community.
In time, however, many who doubted her would become convinced as they pondered what St. Claude had written about the Sacred Heart. Eventually, her own writings and the accounts of her would face a rigorous examination by Church officials.
By the time that occurred, however, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had already gained what she desired: “To lose myself in the heart of Jesus.” She faced her last illness with courage, frequently praying the words of Psalm 73: “What have I in heaven, and what do I desire on earth, but Thee alone, O my God?”
She died on October 17, 1690, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

UN Proposes Euthanasia as Right to Health

OneNewsNow reported on October 12, 2011:

The United Nations is debating injecting euthanasia into the right to health and is considering a new treaty on the rights of the elderly to end their own lives for the benefit of society.
At recent U.N. meetings on the issue of aging, it was reported that advanced age impacts the ability to exercise recognized rights and that it is a case of patient autonomy to decide to end life. The Holy See representative at the Human Rights Council said his delegation took strong exception to this argument. The idea is also not being well received by others who respect life.
Dr. Donald Thompson of the Christian Medical Association tells OneNewsNow that he objects to euthanasia being described in this way. “The term is sounding more and more like convincing ‘responsible citizens' to do their part to unburden society by ending their own lives,” he said. “The phrasing of euthanasia as 'autonomy' just does not make sense. Individual autonomy does not apply when someone is being pressured to do something.”
He says that under discussions of the treaty so far, the elderly would be pressured by their children, doctor, or society to end their own lives. However, Thompson believes some of the most productive years of individuals' lives are in their sixties and seventies. He raises the question of who decides at what age people become more of a burden than others think they are worth: "Is it the United Nations? Is it one of these many countries that have gone bankrupt because of wasteful spending? Is the next step to recommend euthanasia to anyone with a chronic disease?”
He says it is an incredibly slippery slope that seems to have no end -- and he is alarmed by it. That slippery slope, he argues, began in 1973 when abortion was legalized to kill babies in the womb. At that time, critics who said it would lead to euthanasia were loudly told they were wrong.

Priests and gardaí mystified by theft of relics from Holy Cross Abbey

From http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1013/1224305705719.html

GARDAÍ AND priests are baffled by the theft from a historic abbey of three relics of the “true cross” on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The priceless artefacts were stolen by a gang of three men on Tuesday evening from Holy Cross Abbey near Cashel in Co Tipperary.
One of the relics, authenticated by the Vatican as a piece of the crucifix used in Christ’s crucifixion, was handed over to the abbey in the 12th century by King Donal Mór O’Brien, while the other two were presented by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1977.
It appears that the gang deliberately targeted the relics. Neither local priests nor investigating gardaí are aware of any market for such items. The 12th-century relic was contained in a silver monstrance (elaborate cross), which itself dates from the 14th century, while the other two pieces are in a cruciform container.
They were locked away in a steel cabinet used to display the items within the abbey, which has itself been a national monument since 1880.
A set of keys for the cabinet was stolen about three weeks ago and, while the locks were changed in the meantime, the men who took the relics used an angle-grinder, hammer and screwdriver to forcibly open the display cabinet.
Parish priest of Holy Cross Fr Tom Breen said the local clergy and parishioners were “devastated”. “People worship or pray before relics for different intentions and, over the centuries, it became a tremendous source of devotion and pilgrimage,” Fr Breen said yesterday. “Even three weeks ago, we had the novena here and there was a great sense of devotion to it.”
He described the theft as “baffling” and appealed to the thieves to return the artefacts. “Maybe they’re under a misapprehension that it was of great commercial value but my plea would be not to damage it and to bring it back.
“It’s very upsetting. I can understand a poor box being rifled but when you take the relic, it’s gone . . . it’s just terrible.”
A garda said the theft was difficult to understand. “They’re not something that could be brought down any day of the week to a car-boot sale, but they obviously knew what they were looking for.”

Relic of True Cross stolen from Holy Cross Abbey

From http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1012/holycross.html

Two religious artefacts have been stolen from Holycross Abbey in Thurles, Co Tippeary.
A cross containing a relic believed to have been from the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified and a second gold and bronze cross were taken in the robbery.
It is belived that two men cut through a steel door of a display cabinet.
Holy Cross Parish priest Fr Tom Breen said the relic had been in the Abbey for almost 900 years.
One cross was silver, approximately 30cm in height, hanging from a chair and contained two cross and two dark stones and is believed to date from the 14th Century.
The second cross was of gold and bronze, around 30cm and standing on its own base.
Gardaí said two men, who had their faces covered, entered the Abbey at 5pm yesterday carrying a portable angle grinder, a hammer and a screwdriver.
The two left the area a few minutes later in a red or wine coloured 2006 Offaly or Limerick registered Volkswagen Touareg.
The car was later found burned-out at Yellow Lough, Thurles.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact Thurles Garda Station on 0504-25100.

Egypt riots reveal brutal reality behind 'Arab Spring'

Washington D.C., Oct 12, 2011 (CNA).

An Egyptian political scientist says the latest violence against Coptic Christians shows a harsh reality behind the “Arab Spring,” including a lack of control over rogue elements in Egypt's army.
“We've had a number of attacks against Christians in the past couple of months, and the problem has intensified. There's been a dramatic increase in violence against Christians in the central land of the 'Arab Spring,'” said Samuel Tadros, an Egyptian Copt and research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C.
“I would hope that such an event as what happened on Sunday would serve as a wake-up call to people here,” Tadros told CNA.
An Oct. 9 march on Cairo to protest church burnings turned into a riot pitting largely unarmed Christians against both the army and Muslim mobs, leaving at least 24 people dead – including at least 17 Christians – and 272 injured. Father Rafic Greiche, a spokesman for Eastern Catholics in Egypt, said on Monday that the army used “vagabonds” and “street fighters” against a “peaceful demonstration.”
Tadros said the outbreak of religiously-charged violence, the worst in Egypt since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, was an “unfortunate moment” that should serve as a “turning moment –  not in terms of the violence that could follow, but in terms of how the Western media, and the West in general, sees the problem and realizes the existence of a problem.”
Sunday's violence, he said, stemmed largely from elements within the army that oppose the country's historic Christian presence along with anything that seems “Western.”
Egypt's interim military government officially runs the country at present, since Mubarak's departure. But the nation's strongest institution seems unable, or unwilling, to control rogue elements within.
Tadros says he doubts the “dominant narrative” emerging from many Egyptians about Sunday's violence, which assumes that the army as a whole either “ordered, or was ordered, to kill” protesters.
Rather, he believes the responsibility lies with particular individuals and groups within the military.
It is not a thought he finds comforting.
“I think the more likely scenario – and I hate to put it this way, but perhaps the more frightening scenario – is that the army actually lost control of its own soldiers during the attacks.”
“The more likely thing that happened was that there was an order to disperse, the army took the position that there would not be any demonstrators in front of the TV headquarters, and the soldiers were given that order.”
“However, we have to remember, when we talk about the Egyptian army, that this is not a professional army – 90 percent, if not all, of the soldiers are conscripts,” Tadros explained. “They serve one year of their 'national duty' in the army, after which they return to their normal lives again.”
“So these are regular Egyptians, that have suffered from the same hatred and prejudices that exist in society.”
A series of events both before and after Sunday's protests have led Tadros to believe that the killing of demonstrators – who were reportedly shot at random and run down with military vehicles – was the work of radical individuals and subgroups within the army.
He recalled a telling scene that took place at a smaller Coptic protest four days before the clashes in Cairo. In that instance, too, protesters were “dispersed and beaten by the army, the soldiers and the officers.” But a video from the event shows a struggle of different attitudes within its ranks.
“We see, in one of the videos, after the initial beating of a protester, that the army officers – no human rights lovers, of course – are satisfied that the guy is beaten (enough), and try and stop it.”
The footage shows how one officer “order the soldiers to stop. They don't.”
“He tries to stop the guy on the left. He stops him, but the soldier on the right continues to beat the protester. He turns to him, only to have the one on the left return to beating. Every new soldier arriving on the scene beats the protester.”
“The officer – for two minutes, as we see in the video – is doing his best to stop it. Again, he doesn't like the guy, but he doesn't want a dead body. And he even slaps one of his soldiers. Yet the beating continues.”
Tadros pointed to a second piece of footage, which emerged after the violence on Oct. 9, as evidence for his belief that rogue soldiers took their orders to disperse the crowd as a license to kill.
“The second video that we have, that's equally disturbing, is from after the attack on Sunday. The army soldiers are being put on their buses to return to their barracks. And we have one of the soldiers emerging from a window of the bus.”
“He shouts at the Muslim onlookers surrounding the bus, 'I shot him in the chest'” – an apparent reference to the shooting of a Christian protester. “He screams, 'I shot him in the chest.'”
“The Muslim onlookers are clapping and praising him. One of them shouts, 'By God, you are a man!'”
Incidents of this kind lead Tadros to believe that top army officials told soldiers “to disperse (the protesters) – using force, definitely.” But “no one on the top level … could possibly imagine that the scene would be like this.”
Both Egyptian officials and Western diplomats, he said, must now reckon with the presence of criminal violence in the institution charged with ensuring the rule of law.
“If I were the Egyptian army's leaders at the moment, I would be really scared and really worried about what happened – not just the international ramifications, and internally, but because of this prospect: if the soldiers don't follow orders anymore, how do you deal with that?”
Tadros doesn't think a scenario like the one that happened on Sunday is “likely to happen in other instances” besides those involving a religious minority. Given orders to stop brutalizing a “regular demonstration,” as opposed to a gathering of Coptic Christians, he thinks soldiers “would stop.”
“But I think it has much more to do with the nature of the people they were beating – that is, that they were Christians,” he observed.
“Imagine that those soldiers had not been serving their one year in the army,” Tadros speculated. “Back in their villages, is it possible to imagine that they would have been part of the same crowds in Egyptian villages, that sometimes go and attack Christian homes and burn churches? Is that possible?”
“I would say, yes. They are very much a part of the Egyptian society.”
But Tadros says many U.S. government officials respect the Egyptian army for showing restraint during the protests that brought down Mubarak, and might be too caught up in the idea of the “Arab Spring” to take a closer look.
The simple narrative of a liberating Egyptian revolution is “very appealing to different groups,” he pointed out.
“You would find both neoconservatives and liberals – people across the American spectrum – who found in the Arab Spring something appealing, and for their different reasons, (something) to support.”
“There is a general assumption in the West, that if a country is on the road to a democratic government, then naturally religious freedom will be there,” Tadros observed. “Unfortunately, reality is very different.”
“Even if a democratic Egypt ends up holding regular, free, and fair elections, it might actually not be good for religious freedom.”
In fact, Tadros noted, it might “create the exact opposite situation.”

The North American Martyrs

From http://www.catholic.org/saints/story.php?id=43182

DENVER, CO (Catholic Online) - As I knelt staring at St. John de Brebeuf's skull through the glass case at the Martyr's Shrine in Midland, Ontario, I thought about the courage of our founding fathers of faith in North America. 
In 1611, Jesuit missionaries first set foot on our continent.  Within forty years eight of them, (whose feast day is October 19th) gave up their lives near the Georgian Bay and in upstate New York.  This quadricentennial of the Jesuit mission gives us cause to look to our spiritual roots. 
Much like the setting sun, we often see the full beauty of the Saints as their mortal light exits this world.  This is especially true of martyrs.  The following is a brief summary of a few of the deaths of these Jesuits, which sums up the heroism with which they lived. 
When St. Isaac Jogues was received into the Jesuits his superior asked what he desired.  His response: "Ethiopia and Martyrdom."  "Not so." was the reply.  "You will receive Canada and martyrdom." 
After years of ministry among the Huron, St. Isaac Jogues was captured and tortured by the Mohawk Indians.  On the verge of execution, he escaped and was smuggled back to France by the Dutch.  He quickly rose to "stardom."  Everyone regarded him as a living Saint and national hero.  The Queen of France even stooped to kiss his mangled hands, fingers missing, having being cut or gnawed off by his torturers.  St. Isaac could have retired in the safety of France but returned to his mission as soon as he was able.  He was killed by a Mohawk brave with a tomahawk.
St. Charles Garnier was ministering to his Huron village when it was attacked.  He ran from one burning cabin to another, baptizing and comforting his people when he was shot in the upper chest and lower abdomen.  After regaining consciousness he saw a wounded Huron writhing across the room.  He pulled himself up and struggled toward the dying man to help him.  An Iroquois brave noticed and killed him with his hatchet.  He died with hand outstretched, reaching to minister to the wounded. 
St. Rene Goupil was a layman who worked side by side with the Jesuits.  When St. Isaac Jogues was captured there was a time when St. Rene could have easily escaped but chose to stay with his friend.  He endured weeks of disfiguring tortures, during which he comforted and converted fellow captives who were suffering a similar fate.  He was tomahawked while walking side by side with Jogues for teaching a child how to make the sign of the cross.  He fell to the ground saying the name of Jesus. 
St. Anthony Daniel had just finished celebrating Mass with his Huron friends at sunrise when the war cries of the Iroquois rang out through his village.  He went to those who had been butchered to comfort and baptize them in their last moments.  When the Iroquois were headed toward his church to burn it down he sprinted toward them and commanded them to stop.  They did for a moment, stunned by this unarmed man's courage.  Then they brought him down with muskets and arrows. 
St. John de Brebeuf was a huge man with amazing courage.  Though he lived under constant threat of death, a fellow missionary wrote, "Nothing could upset him during the twelve years I've known him." 
He was the first missionary to enter Huronia.  In time he became like one of them.  He wrote instructions to those who wanted to join his mission starting with, "You must love these Huron, ransomed by the blood of the Son of God, as brothers." 
Though he could have escaped, he chose to die with them when Iroquois raided their village.  The younger St. Gabriel Lalemont, who had looked up to St. John, remained and died with him as well.  Together they underwent some of the most gruesome tortures of any martyr in history for endless hours.  Through it all they comforted their fellow captives.  John reminded them, "The sufferings will end with your lives.  The grandeur which follows will never have an end." 
Seven years after their deaths, the daughter of an Iroquois chief was born in the very tribe that killed them.  She is known today as Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American to be beatified, proving true the words spoken by Tertullian 1,400 years before these martyrs entered paradise, "The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church!"   
These men set out into nations where a violent, gruesome death was constantly before them.  We set out into an increasingly anti-religious culture where we might lose a few friends for standing up for the truth, or at worst, get mocked or sued, but probably not tomahawked.  They set out on canoes into uncharted waters filled with tribes who were hunting them down.  We set out in our cars to work or the supermarket to bump shoulders with a world that needs to be reminded of God through our words and our charity.   

Catholic leader in Egypt says government 'doesn't give a damn'

From http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/catholic-leader-egypt-says-government-doesnt-give-damn

by John L Allen Jr on Oct. 10, 2011

Egypt’s caretaker military government “doesn’t give a damn” about the suffering of the country’s Christian minority, according to a spokesperson for the Greek Melkite Catholic church in Egypt, who says local Christians are calling upon the administration of Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf to resign.
Fr. Rafic Greiche made the remarks today in an English-language interview with Vatican Radio.
Greiche said the violence that erupted yesterday in the Maspero section of Cairo, where Christians had gathered to protest a church burning in Aswan on Sept. 30, marks the most serious outbreak since the resignation of former President Hosni Mubarak, but it’s hardly the first such episode.
“This is the third time after the revolution, in the space of nine months” that Christians have been targeted, Greiche said.
According to media reports, the violence in Cairo yesterday produced somewhere between 25 and 35 deaths and left hundreds more injured. Most of the fatalities apparently came after the Egyptian army opted to use force to suppress the protests.
Greiche said the army’s role marks a significant deterioration in the security situation for the Christian minority in Egypt, which is conventionally estimated at ten percent of the population.
“At the time of the old regime, of Mubarak, there were also churches being burned and so on,” he said, “but the security services always used to take care of us. Now, even the government does not give a damn about what is happening.”
Greiche outlined three demands that Egyptian Christians are presenting to the country’s interim authorities, ahead of national elections scheduled for late November.
“First of all, the government of [Prime Minister Essam Sharaf] has to leave,” he said.
In remarks to the Egyptian media, Sharaf reportedly blamed Sunday’s violence on “invisible hands” seeking to divide the country. Many Egyptian Christians see that as a deflection of responsibility, reminiscent of the Mubarak era when Muslim-Christian tensions were routinely blamed on outside agitators rather than the product of legitimate Christian grievances.
Grieche also pointed to two religious freedom demands.
“The second thing is that the law permitting the construction of churches and mosques has to be implemented. It was promised by this government four months ago, and it has not been done. The law has to be implemented at all levels,” he said.
“Third, we are asking for another law, one against discrimination. In Egypt, there is discrimination between Muslims and Christians. We ask that such a law be implemented for at least ten years, until society gets used to not discriminating against one another.”

US ECONOMY HAS VIOLATED BASIC TENETS OF CATHOLICISM AND TOYS WITH RUIN

From http://www.spiritdaily.com/allthedevils.htm

There is a sense out there -- is there not? -- of holding back: You don't want to spend what you used to.

Everyone has drawn to a more conservative stance because no one knows what will happen next (and not just economically).

One hears this all the time: folks are waiting for the other shoe to drop.

There is The Great Uneasiness and that uneasiness is because we know in our spirits that for a few decades we have been living in a bubble (of falsities).

This we wrote before the recent Wall Street protests, which may have some merit but with which, in other ways, we do not agree; at least, we differ politically (and culturally) with many of the protesters.

It has always been our opinion that capitalism is a great system when it is based on conservative Christian values -- and when it is as it used to be: a system that rewards those who contribute the most to society (as opposed to finessing it).

How things have changed.

There has always been abuse (see the sweat shops or slaughterhouses or monopolies of the last century) but a shock it is to learn that banks only have twenty percent or even just ten percent of the actual money -- the capital -- to back the money they lend. In other words, they have enough in reserve only to cover a certain number of loans in the theory that they would never have to cover more than that. In some cases, financial "instruments" need no capital whatsoever!

Folks with mathematics degrees from fashionable schools have invented all kinds of bizarre new financial "products": collateralized debt obligations, credit swap debts. There are negative amortized loans in which you buy a home but pay less than usual in interest and as a result your principal increases. Or, there are loans in which you pay interest only (really, you own nothing).

They made these loans to folks who were required to provide virtually no documentation of income.

So, banks lent money or mortgage originators gave mortgages that were less substantial than air and made money doing so not just from the extraordinary interest you pay (a person often pays nearly as much in interest as the cost of a home over the period of thirty years when all the interest is tallied) but from the fees they collect by tranching and selling pieces of your mortgage -- for example, the interest -- to those who are willing to take a risk that the rate will increase and buy the interest on mortgages like a lottery ticket.

One entity out there may own your interest, while another is backing your principal -- by borrowing from another bank, which also generates a fee. Our mortgages have been securitized: turned into bonds and "securities." Chips at the poker table. Meanwhile, there are loan originators that are not banks and are not even subject to normal banking regulations.

In large part, they're the ones who took on risky, "subprime" borrowers without even minimal capital backing (in the event of a flood of defaults). The funding mechanism for homeowning became a "shaky pyramid of debt." Where was the Federal Reserve. What is the Federal Reserve? (Should it even exist?)

"Long before anybody thought to use credit default swaps to short mortgage bonds, Wall Street firms had taken to combining credit default swaps on a variety of corporate bonds and creating CDOs out of them," write two financial authors in the perhaps aptly entitled bestseller All the Devils Are Here. "They were called synthetic CDOs because the CDOs didn't contain 'real' collateral; rather they were based on the performance of existing bonds held by someone else."

Huh?

Then there's the stock market: it moves like a roller-coaster and like a roller coaster is surrounded by air.

Remember when stocks broke the 1,000 barrier?

Think of this: in the late 1980s the Dow surged to 2000. It was under 1000 the previous decade. It would eventually rise to 13,000. It is now still near that point: despite a plummet, above 10,000. Can you explain what makes the worth of the market more than five times what is was twenty-five years ago, and more than ten times what it was in the mid-1970s -- when inflation has risen only by a fraction of that?

How can it suddenly be at 10,000 -- when, in many ways, the U.S. produces less than it used to?

At the same time stocks increased more than sixfold, the value of the dollar has not even doubled (what cost you a dollar in 1988 now costs $1.92).

This indicates a structure, and society, that is artificial.

What changed so radically to make everything so valuable?

Why should stocks be worth three times what they were adjusting even for inflation?

And why do commodities brokers living the high life on the Upper East Side of Manhattan make more money than the farmers who grow the commodities?

The average pay for Goldman Sachs 35,700 employees was $369,651 last year (you read that right, and it is down from what it was;  in 2007, a year of record pay, all workers tallied together including receptionists at Goldman Sachs were paid an average of $575,000).

Our financial system is not rational. Should it even exist, in anywhere near the size that it is? It has been turned into a game played by math whizzes who use Byzantine formulas to concoct constantly new opaque "products." There are securities that even Alan Greenspan says he doesn't understand. This all started up during the 1980s when deregulation of the financial community -- and a dire lack of oversight -- allowed all kinds of entities, from pension funds to insurance companies, to join in as the holders of mortgages, as they do any stock out there.

Bizarre "products" were derived ("derivatives") in ever more complex games of risk. Your lender doesn't even have the money to cover its loans! It borrows (see again, the tranche) to lend! Everything was "leveraged." Bets were made on securities owned elsewhere. Some securities are even called "synthetic" -- because they are just that: manufactured (with no real backing). Games are played. Paper is shuffled back and forth. It is poker with ever-changing cards. For at least three decades, wealth in our nation has been materialized out of thin air and now that bubble, the balloon, is leaking badly.

Notes an analyst for Moody's: "We may have encouraged financial institutions to grow in ways that do not directly facilitate or enhance the reason for having a financial system in the first place."

There are other bubbles.

There are the tremendous costs of college (for exactly what final product?). There are medical costs. There are unsustainable pensions. And we can get back to those loans: the Bible -- and the Catholic Church -- have long warned against usury, which is defined as excessive interest and in the purest third-meaning in the dictionary even interest, period: we are not supposed to make a profit over a loan, or at least not one that is engineered to enrich the lender (and cause distress to the one who borrows).

That's Christian?

Our society is off base -- at least if you study the precepts of Catholicism.

For Catholicism and its saints have long preached that one should not charge as much as one can (soak the consumer for everything one can get) but rather sell an item at a price that simply and only tallies the money spent on creating the product and the actual hours one put into the effort.

We live in a society where squeezing as much as you can out of a fellow human is considered smart business.

We'll see in purgatory. It is not the Christian way. The "markups" on many products -- by the standards of the Catechism -- are not conscionable.

Look at what pharmaceuticals cost -- and how they suddenly drop so drastically in price when they no longer necessitate a prescription.

Do you remember how phone companies used to charge so much for long distance that calling from one side of the state to another could cost five or ten dollars for an hour?

Now, there is unlimited long distance -- meaning it hardly ever cost the companies anything to start with, or certainly not nearly what they gouged.

Go try and buy a cell phone now.

It has shifted there: you need a data package -- at another $30 a month. Did you ever analyze how much you spend on your cell?

Meanwhile, health care continues to skyrocket. It's one growth industry despite the recession. Its costs have increased nine percent in the past year!

We ourselves -- our bodies -- have become commodities.

Incredibly, many of those most abused by the greedy have been orchestrated into defending them.

Here is paragraph 2424 of the Catechism:

"A theory that makes profit the exclusive norm and ultimate end of economic activity is morally unacceptable. The disordered desire for money cannot but produce perverse effects. It is one of the causes of the many conflicts which disturb the social order.

"A system that 'subordinates the basic rights of individuals and of groups to the collective organization of production' is contrary to human dignity. Every practice that reduces persons to nothing more than a means of profit enslaves man, leads to idolizing money, and contributes to the spread of atheism. 'You cannot serve God and mammon.'"

If you made money this way, it is perhaps time to discern future income.

Capitalism is a fantastic system -- when backed by Catholic morals.

The old law was that people were compensated for what they contributed honestly.

No longer.

Now, it's the opposite.

Those who manipulate and have assumed control over our financial community sell air and often walk away with billions, even though they not only didn't contribute, not only didn't invent some incredible new product, not only didn't serve anyone, but took advantage of millions.

If this sounds overheated, our apology; it is not said with anger. We are commissioned to report the truth. Read that book on the financial crisis.

Indeed.

You will be educated.

You will also be shocked.

Have you noticed all the store sales now -- how little you pay for clothes at some shops, now that they need your business?

That tells you the incredible, excessive profit margins that had been in place.

At half price, they still turn a nice profit.

Meanwhile, you have to talk to a machine on the phone or go online and struggle through a maze even to give someone your money.

That's dignity?

"The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community. Economic activity, conducted according to its own proper methods, is to be exercised within the limits of the moral order, in keeping with social justice so as to correspond to God's plan for man" (Catechism 2426).

Go ahead and figure out how much interest you have paid on your house -- in all probability, to someone who didn't even have the real money to lend (just the financial positioning). Or who holds that second lien (sometimes, on a negative-amortization loan).

"It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit" (2414).

While there is currently a clamor for deregulation, it was ironically the opposite -- deregulation, in the financial community, in the Eighties and Nineties -- that has led us to a false economy, a false standard of living, and the brink of a true crisis.

We are not at the end of it.

We may patch things for a year or two. We may waste money on "stimulus." We may print money backed by nothing.

But the crisis will not end until we descend to the same extent as we have risen artificially.

There is much more until we reach that point.

Look around.

A recession, perhaps; but not yet a very deep one. Right now, folks are perhaps cutting down on the number of cell phones in the family, and shaving down a few nights out at restaurants, and looking for bargains at J.C. Penney's or Belk's or Macy's. Macy's!

Frugality is starting to take hold, if only as yet in a small way (and thank God -- Who wants us to waste nothing!). We will be better off for it. We are being simplified. Time spent spending money can now be spent in prayer.

We can feel and pray for those who have lost honest jobs. So many have!

And there are certainly good, devout rich people (including in the financial sector).

Don't throw them in with the bathwater.

But when we note that the biggest health problem among the rich and poor in our nation is obesity, we can see that we are certainly not near anything like a depression -- although a depression it would be if the real money were counted, currency backed by actual manufacture and sweat or silver or gold, by real land, by real estate -- not the fluff-stuff of that casino called Wall Street.

-- by Michael H. Brown

Reports: famed blind Chinese pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng may be dead

LINYI COUNTY, China, Oct. 7, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com)

Is famed pro-life Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng dead? According Chinese human rights organizations there are ominous reports emerging from China about the fate of the blind lawyer, who has suffered years of imprisonment and persecution for his outspoken position against China’s brutal one-child policy.
According to Radio Free Asia, Chinese authorities detained a group of at least nine human rights activists trying to visit Chen Guangcheng. On Wednesday, many members of the group were cut off from communication. According to a report by Canyu, Shandong authorities shot at these activists.

Chen Guangcheng

But most disturbing is a report by Voice of America (VOA), stating that villagers had said, “Chen is dead already.”
VOA says it is attempting to verify Chen’s status. However, it is difficult to learn anything for certain about Chen, due to the intense security measures that have surrounded him since his release from prison last October.
“We are alarmed at the report that villagers are saying that Chen is already dead,” stated Littlejohn. “If Chen is dead, then the Chinese Communist Party is fully responsible for killing him through torture, denial of medical treatment and slow starvation. If Chen is alive, we urgently demand that he and his family be released immediately and unconditionally, for medical evaluation and treatment.”
“We are concerned about the report that authorities have shot at the activists trying to visit Chen,” stated Bob Fu, President of the China Aid Association. “These netizens display the same brave spirit that Chen has, and they should continue in their courageous attempts to see him.”
Regarding Gao Zhisheng, another human rights lawyer who has disappeared, Fu said, “Gao and Chen are shining lights for human rights in China. Their shocking torture and Gao’s disappearance demonstrate the CCP’s willingness to trample on the rule of law.”
Self-taught lawyer Chen exposed the systematic use of forced abortion and involuntary sterilization in implementing China’s One Child Policy. Time Magazine named him in its list of “2006’s Top 100 People Who Shape Our World,” in the category of “Heroes and Pioneers.” He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and China Aid Association are spearheading an international effort to free Chen. To watch a brief video about Chen and sign a petition to free him, click here.

Fr Kevin Reynolds 'freed' after RTÉ's apology

 From www.rte.ie/news

The priest who RTÉ defamed by accusing him of raping a woman and fathering her child has told his parishioners that the broadcaster's apology freed him from lies, false allegations and baseless accusations.
Fr Kevin Reynolds was speaking at a mass to mark his reinstatement as Parish Priest of Ahascragh, Co Galway, at which he received a number of standing ovations.
Fr Reynolds is a Mill Hill Missionary and the false allegations against him that were broadcast last May on the Prime Time Investigates programme related to his time as a missionary in Kenya.
Last week, RTÉ fully and unreservedly apologised to him for the defamation saying he was entirely innocent of the allegations.
The priest stood aside as parish priest of Ahascragh, pending investigations, and left his home there.
At his morning's mass, the chief celebrant, Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin, said that all 600 people present were truly delighted to welcome Fr Reynolds back home and that he had responded to the attack on his integrity with great courage, strength and resilience during the most dreadful experience in his life.
The Superior General of the Mill Hill Missionaries, Fr Anthony Chantry, said his reinstatement was the beginning of a long journey of healing and reconciliation.
Fr Reynolds said no earthly treasure could possibly buy or replace the great feeling it was to be with his parishioners again and that he knew now that bearing false witness against one's neighbour does so much damage that it may never be repaired.

The Fifteen Virtues begged for with the 10 Hail Marys in each of the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary

Our devotion is sometimes intensified if each decade is said for some particular intention. Such intentions are, of course, matter of private choice; but many will welcome the following suggestions. 

JOYFUL MYSTERIES

1. The Annunciation- Wisdom

2. The Visitation- Fraternal Charity

3. The Birth of Christ- Poverty of Spirit (Detachment)

4. The Presentation in the Temple- Spirit of Self-Sacrifice (Renunciation)

5. The Finding in the Temple- Obedience
 

SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

1. The Agony in the Garden- Courage (Fortitude)

2. The Scourging at the Pillar- Temperance & Purity

3. The Crowning with Thorns- Humility

4. The Carrying of the Cross- Patience and Perseverance

5. The Crucifixion- Contrition for Sins

GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

1. The Resurrection- Faith

2. The Ascension- Hope

3. The Descent of the Holy Ghost- Charity (Love of God)

4. The Assumption- Devotion to Mary

5. The Coronation (Crowning) of Mary- Final Perseverance (death in the state of grace)

Saint Francis of Assisi, 'giant of holiness,' honored Oct. 4

Denver, Colo., Oct 2, 2011 (CNA/EWTN News).
On Oct. 4, Roman Catholics celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian deacon who brought renewal to the Church through his decision to follow Jesus' words as literally as possible.
In a January 2010 general audience, Pope Benedict XVI recalled this “giant of holiness” as a “great saint and a joyful man,” who taught the Church that “the secret of true happiness” is “to become saints, close to God.”
The future Saint Francis was born on an uncertain date in the early 1180s, one of the several children born to the wealthy merchant Pietro Bernardone and his wife Pica. He originally received the name Giovanni (or John), but became known as Francesco (or Francis) by his father's choice.
Unlike many medieval saints, St. Francis was neither studious nor pious in his youth. His father's wealth gave him access to a lively social life among the upper classes, where he was known for his flashy clothes and his readiness to burst into song. Later a patron of peacemakers, he aspired to great military feats in his youth and fought in a war with a rival Italian city-state.
A period of imprisonment during that conflict turned his mind toward more serious thoughts, as did a recurring dream that suggested his true “army” was not of this world. He returned to Assisi due to illness in 1205, and there began consider a life of voluntary poverty.
Three major incidents confirmed Francis in this path. In Assisi, he overcame his fear of disease to kiss the hand of a leper. Afterward, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he deposited his money at Saint Peter's tomb and exchanged clothes with a beggar. Soon after he returned home, Francis heard Christ tell him in a vision: “Go, Francis, and repair my house, which as you see is falling into ruin.”
Francis began to use his father's wealth to restore churches. This led to a public quarrel in which the cloth-merchant's son removed his clothing and declared that he had no father except God. He regarded himself as the husband of “Lady Poverty,” and resolved to serve Christ as “a herald of the Great King.”
During the year 1208, the “herald” received the inspiration that would give rise to the Franciscan movement. At Mass one morning, he heard the Gospel reading in which Christ instructed the apostles to go forth without money, shoes, or extra clothing. This way of life soon became a papally-approved rule, which would attract huge number of followers within Francis' own lifetime.
Through his imitation of Christ, Francis also shared in the Lord's sufferings. He miraculously received Christ's wounds, the stigmata, in his own flesh during September of 1224. His health collapsed over the next two years, a “living sacrifice” made during two decades of missionary preaching and penance.
St. Francis of Assisi died on Oct. 3, 1226. Pope Gregory IX, his friend and devotee, canonized him in 1228.

China Uses Aborted Fetuses to Make Medications

AsiaNews August 10, 2011:
Chinese authorities are investigating allegations made in the South Korean press that human remains from Jilin province were illegally sold in South Korea where they were used for therapeutic purposes.
According to South Korean broadcaster SBS, some hospitals in China apparently sold aborted fetuses after they were turned into a "human-flesh capsule" containing remains. South Korean papers reported that these capsules were sold as medications for some incurable diseases at the cost of 800,000 won (US$ 750) per 100 capsules.
South Korean customs authorities asked prosecutors to look into the matter. The South Korean government announced that it would work with China to stop this “horrific” trade. Chinese officials said that they would take the necessary steps to end it, adding that China has “strict regulations” to handle the disposals of human remains.
Although investigations are underway, the fact that it involves aborted fetuses increases the credibility of the reports. Despite publicly stating its intention of softening its ‘one-child policy’, China’s Communist rulers have continued to enforce forcefully the law. Anyone who breaks it and cannot pay a fine is forced to abort.
Under traditional Chinese customs, couples are supposed to have a boy to take care of his parents when they are old. Hence, the problem of forced abortion is compounded by sex selection. The result is that every year, millions of baby girls are not born.
“In 2011, a year after China [. . .] vowed to bring sex ratios to a normal level, there are now 119 boys born for every 100 girls born. The gender gap has not closed, but widened,” wrote Reggie Littlejohn, who runs the Women’s Rights Without Frontiers website. “Make no mistake. China’s One Child Policy is enforced through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. [. . .] The One Child Policy is China’s war on women.”
Women and those who oppose China’s government pay the price for this war. The best-known case is that of blind activist Chen Guangcheng.
Released from prison in September 2010 after four years in jail, he said he was still subject to house arrest without charges or trial.
Convicted for destruction of property and assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic, the lawyer is in fact targeted by the authorities for his steadfast work on behalf of women and for his opposition to forced abortions, which are part and parcel of the family planning policy China adopted in the late 1970s.

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

From Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints:

God does not abandon to what we call “chance,” any of His creatures. By His essence and providence He is everywhere present; not a sparrow falls to the ground, nor a hair from our heads, without His consent. He is not content, however, with assisting His creation daily and at every moment, with sustaining His handiwork, which without His continuous support would return to dust. His divine and infinite Love, not only maintaining the existence which He gives and perpetuates in living beings, has charged His Holy Angels with the ministry of watching and safeguarding each one of His rational creatures.

The Angels, divided into nine hierarchies, have varied obligations. Their intelligence and prudence are penetrating like the beam of a lighthouse; so it appears even when we compare it to the best of human intelligences, which are like the light of a little candle in contrast. An Angel, visualizing an end to be attained, sees instantly the means necessary to achieve it, whereas we must pray, study, deliberate, inquire, and choose during many phases of effort, in order to reach our proposed ends.

Kingdoms have their Angels assigned to them; dignitaries of the Church and of the world have more than one Angel to guide them; and every child who enters into the world receives a Guardian Angel. Our Lord says in the Gospel: “Beware lest you scandalize any of these little ones, for their Angels in heaven behold the face of My Father.” Thus the existence of Guardian Angels is a dogma of the Christian faith, based on Holy Scripture itself.

Reflection: This being so, what should our respect be for that holy and sure intelligence, ever present at our side? And how great should our solicitude be, lest, by any act of ours, we offend those eyes which, without losing the divine vision, are ever turned upon poor creatures in all their ways!

St. Thérèse the Little Flower

From Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints:

Few Saints have aroused so much admiration and enthusiasm immediately after their death; few have acquired a more astonishing popularity everywhere on earth; few have been so rapidly raised to the altars as was this holy young Carmelite. Marie Françoise Thérèse Martin, known as the Little Flower of Jesus, was born January 2, 1873 at Alençon in Normandy, France, of very Christian parents. The Martins, who lost four of their little ones in early infancy or childhood, regarded their children as gifts from heaven and offered them to God before their birth. Thérèse was the last flower of this blessed stem, which gave four Sisters to the Carmel of Lisieux, still another to the Visitation of Caen. The five sisters were left without their mother, a victim of cancer, when Thérèse was only four years old; but her two oldest sisters were of an age to take excellent care of the household and continue the Christian character formation of the younger ones, which their mother had initiated. Their saintly father was soon to see his little flock separated, however, when one after the other they left to enter religious life. He blessed each one and gave them all back to God, with humble gratitude to God for having chosen his daughters.

From childhood Thérèse had manifested a tender piety which her naturally lively temperament could not alter. Her mother’s death affected her profoundly, however, and at the age of nine she was visited with a severe trial in the form of an illness the doctors could not diagnose, and which seemed incurable. She was instantly restored to her ordinary good health by the Virgin Mary, in answer to her desolate sisters’ prayers; Thérèse saw Her statue become animated, to smile at her with an ineffable tenderness as she lay on her bed of suffering.

Before the age of fifteen Thérèse already desired to enter the Carmel of Lisieux, where her two eldest sisters were already nuns; a trip to Rome and a petition at the knees of the Holy Father Leo XIII gave her the inalterable answer that her Superiors would regulate the matter. Many prayers finally obtained an affirmative reply to her ardent request, and four months after her fifteenth birthday she entered Carmel with an ineffable joy. She could say then, “I no longer have any desire but to love Jesus even to folly.”

She adopted flowers as the symbol of her love for her Divine Spouse and offered all her little daily sacrifices and works as rose petals at the feet of Jesus. Divine Providence gave to the world the autobiography of this true Saint, whose little way of spiritual childhood was described in her own words in her Story of a Soul. She could not offer God the macerations of the great soldiers of God, only her desires to love Him as they had loved Him, and to serve Him in every way possible, not only as a cloistered nun, but as a missionary, a priest, a hero of the faith, a martyr. She chose “all” in spirit, for her beloved Lord. Later she would be named patroness of missions. Her spirituality does not imply only sweetness and light, however; this loving child of God passed by a tunnel of desolate spiritual darkness, yet never ceased to smile at Him, wanting to serve Him, if it were possible, without His even knowing it.

When nine years had passed in the Carmel, the little flower was ready to be plucked for heaven; and in a slow agony of consumption, Thérèse made her final offering to God. She suffered so severely that she said she would never have believed it possible, and could only explain it by her desire to save souls for God. She died in 1897, was beatified in 1923 and canonized in 1925. And now, as she foretold, she is spending her heaven in doing good upon earth. Countless miracles have been attributed to her intercession.