Filipino bishops call on Catholics to pray for peace in Myanmar
Manila, Philippines, Oct. 04,2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) called on the country’s Catholics to pray and offer masses for a “peaceful and non-violent solution to the situation in Myanmar.” The bishops stressed that Filipinos can easily empathise with the Burmese people because of the Philippines’ own experience of repressive rule.
In a message read in every diocese, Mgr Angel Lagdameo, CBCP chairman and archbishop of Jaro, said that “[h]aving ourselves experienced what it is to be under Martial Rule and participated in the peaceful restoration of our democracy, we can understand as well as sympathize with the monks, people and bishops of Myanmar.”
A few days ago, the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) sent a letter of solidarity to Mgr Paul Zinghtung Grawng, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Myanmar (CBCM), expressing their closeness and pain for the situation in Burma.
“We pray that the problems in your beloved country would be resolved through peaceful dialogue for the sake of the common good,” wrote Mgr Orlando Quevedo, FABC secretary general and archbishop of Cotabato (Philippines), in the letter.
Pope to bishops: be “angels” of the Churches entrusted to you
Vatican City, Sep.30,2007 (CINS/AsiaNews) – There is an intrinsic bond between a bishop’s ministry and the mission of angels: Pope Benedict XVI said this in his homily in yesterday morning’s Eucharistic celebration during which he ordained 6 new bishops, 5 Italian and 1 Pole. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State and Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop of Lviv of the Latins participated in the ceremony. One of the newly elected Msgr. Mieczys?aw Mokrzycki, former secretary to John Paul II and the current pope, was ordained coadjutant to this diocese in Ukraine. Along with Msgr. Mokrzycki, the pope ordained bishops Msgr. Francesco Brugnaro, Msgr. Gianfranco Ravasi, Msgr. Tommaso Caputo, Msgr. Sergio Pagano, Msgr. Vincenzo Di Mauro. This is the first ordination of bishops by Benedict XVI.
The celebration took place on the feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. In his moving homily the pope recalled that in the early Church – and in Revelations – bishops are referred to as “angels”. Just as angels, explained the pope, bishops must lead humanity to God; they must knock on the door to their hearts to announce Christ; they must heal the wounds of relations between man and woman and save them from sin with reconciliation and forgiveness.
Throughout his entire discourse the pontiff referred to this similitude, starting with the names of the three Archangels, which contains the suffix “El”, which in Hebrew is the name of God. “God – said the pope – is written in their names, in their very nature…. they are His messengers. They bring God to mankind, they reveal the heavens and thus, they reveal earth….. the Angels speak to man about what constitutes his true being, what is often is often covered or buried in his life. They call man to himself, touching him on God’s behalf”. And he added: “In this way even we humans must become angels for one another – angels who lead us from the wrong path and guide us once again towards God…..A bishop must be a man of prayer, who intercedes on behalf of mankind with God”.
Benedict XVI then went on to highlight the characteristics of the three Archangels of the feast (the only ones named in the Bible), illustrating other aspects of the Bishop’s role.
Michael (“Who is as God?”) “defends the cause of the one God against the dragon’s presumption, the “ancient serpent” as his called by John. It is the serpent’s continuous attempts to make men believe that God must disappear, in order for making to obtain greatness; that God stands in the way of our freedom and so we must be rid of Him”.
In reality, explains the pontiff, “he who puts God aside, does not make mankind great, rather he denies mankind his dignity. And thus, man becomes an unsuccessful product of evolution”.
This is why, adds the pope; “it is the Bishop’s duty, as a man of God, to make space in the world for God against those who would negate Him and in doing so defend the greatness of man”. And again: “Faith in God defends man from all of his weaknesses and inadequacies: God’s radiance shines on every individual”.
Gabriel (“Man of God”) is the archangel who announces the Good News to Mary. He said the pope “is the messenger of the incarnation of God. He knocks on Mary’s door …… repeatedly God knocks on the human heart ….. on the world’s door and on the door to the heart of every individual. He knocks waiting to enter”. And turning to the candidates the pope added: “Dear friends, it is your duty to knock on the man’s hearts in Christ’s name. By entering in union with Christ, you will be able to take on Gabriel’s role: bringing Christ’s call to men”.
Raphael (“God heals”) is the archangel healer, protagonist of the Book of Tobias. The pope recalls that Raphael heals the relationship between Tobias and Sarah, marked by the curse of death: “he heals the wounded union between man and woman. He heals their love. He crushes the demons which tine and time again attempt to destroy their love. He purifies the atmosphere between the two and gifts them the ability to welcome and accept one another always”. “In the New Testament – recalls the pontiff – the order of marriage, established in creation and threatened in a multifaceted way by sin, is healed by the fact that Christ gathers it into his redeeming love. He makes marriage a sacrament: His love, which takes on the cross for us, is the saving strength, which in the midst of confusion, gifts us the ability to be reconciled, purifies the atmosphere and heals all wounds”. The bishop (and indeed every priest) “is entrusted with the duty of guiding men towards the reconciling power of Christ’s love. He must be the “healing angel” who helps them to anchor their love to the sacrament and live their love with renewed commitment drawn from the sacrament”.
“The book of Tobias – added the pope – speaks of the healing of blind eyes. We all know that today we are threatened with blindness to God…… healing this blinded through the message of the faith and witness of love, is Raphael’s service which is entrusted each and every day to priests and in a particular way to bishops. Thus we are spontaneously led to think of the sacrament of reconciliation and penitence, which in the deepest meaning of the word, is a healing sacrament. The true wound of the soul, in fact is sin. And only is a forgiveness in virtue of the power of God, in virtue of the power of Christ’s love exists, can we be healed, can we be redeemed”.
Catholic Bishops reverse earlier opposition to state law requiring Plan B for rape victims
Aboard the papal plane, Sep 29, 2007 (CINS/CNA).- The Catholic Bishops of Connecticut have reversed a previous decision and are allowing Catholic hospitals to provide Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, to rape victims without an ovulation test.
Their decision comes just days before a new state law would require the distribution of Plan B, regardless of religious beliefs. The Act Concerning Compassionate Care for Victims of Sexual Assault, which takes effect Monday, will require a pregnancy test, but not an ovulation test, before the drug is administered.
In a statement from the Connecticut Catholic Bishops, “The Bishops and other Catholic health care leaders believe that this law is seriously flawed, but not sufficiently to bar compliance with it at the present time. We continue to believe this law should be changed.” Originally, Church officials had stated that the treatment was identical to abortion, however they have backed away from this position.
According to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, a woman who has been raped has the “moral right” to prevent pregnancy for three reasons:
“First, the rapist (including his sperm) is an unjust aggressor who has violated the woman’s dignity. Second, rape is an act of force and violence, unlike the conjugal love in marriage whereby both spouses give freely of themselves in an act of unitive and procreative love. Third, the woman is not responsible for the action, and thereby has the right to prevent the pregnancy.”
However, according to the Arlington Catholic Herald, the real difficulty in rape treatment protocols is having moral certainty that conception has not occurred. Once conception has occurred, the new life is a new, unique human being. As stated in the Declaration on Procured Abortion, "From the time the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor of the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already.”
Determining whether or not conception has taken place, has been the issue in Connecticut. With the new law, and the uncertainty surrounding Plan B, the Catholic hospitals will be allowed to provide Plan B without ovulation tests. However, the bishops have determined that due to the fact that “the teaching authority of the church has not definitively resolved this matter and since there is serious doubt about how Plan B pills work…[t]o administer Plan B pills without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act.”
The bishops say in their statement that a pregnancy test will provide them with enough information to determine whether or not conception has taken place.
Plan B is a high dose of a drug found in many regular birth-control pills. Its maker, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., got approval last year to sell the drug over-the-counter.
The company says Plan B can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. The drug works by stopping ovulation and has no effect on an existing pregnancy.”
Portugal to host the plenary assembly of the European Bishops Conferences
Lisbon, Portugal, Sep.29,2007, (CINS/SIR) - From 3rd to 7th October Portugal will host the plenary assembly of the presidents of the Council of the 34 European Bishops Conferences (Ccee). The news was relayed by Ccee on Thursday, stating that they will meet in Fatima on the invitation of mgr. Jorge Ferreira da Costa Ortiga, president of the Portuguese Bishops Conference”. The assembly will be chaired by card. Péter Erdö, president of Ccee, assisted by the deputy presidents, card. Josip Bozanic and card. Jean-Pierre Ricard.
“The monographic subject of the plenary assembly – states Ccee – will be marriage, from different perspectives. The pastoral and legal status of the institution of marriage in the different European countries; marriage and family in the European Union; and mixed-race marriages”. The presidents of the European Bishops Conferences – reads the note – will first meet in Lisbon on 3rd October; in the morning of Thursday 4th October they will meet, in the premises of the patriarchate (Monastery of S. Vicente de Fora), the Patriarch of Lisbon, card. José da Cruz Policarpo, and the Prime Minister of Portugal, José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa, the current president of the Council of the European Union as the head of the government of the State that is currently chairing the EU. Then the participants will move to Fatima.
“During the first part of the assembly – reads the release from the Ccee –, the bishops will have an opportunity to go into the details of the status of the Catholic Church in Portugal and the role played by the Sanctuary of Fatima. The second part of the Assembly will be focussed, instead, on the service of Ccee for the Church in Europe, with a presentation of the five-year programs of the new bishops in charge of the Ccee commissions for the media (Ceem); for the pastoral of migration; for callings; for catechesis, school and university”. In addition, the presidents will discuss the commitments contained in the final message of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly (Sibiu, 4-9 September; www.eea3.org) and the new prospects of ecumenism in Europe. The issue of the European institutions and the process of European unification 450 years after the Treaties of Rome will be introduced by the leaders of Comece.
Other items on the agenda: cooperation between Ccee and Celam (Latin-American Bishops Council) and between Ccee and Secam (Symposium of the African and Madagascan Bishops Conferences). A short report on the pastoral of prisons will be given by the president of the International Commission for the Catholic Pastoral of Prisons, Christian Kuhn. A press release will be issued at the end of the Assembly. Info: www.ccee.ch.
Spanish Bishops Conference
Madrid, Spain, Sep.29,2007, (CINS/SIR) - Pastoral of migration and beatification of 498 martyrs. These are the main subjects addressed by the Permanent Committee of the Spanish Bishops Conference, which ended in Madrid on Thursday. Mgr. José Sánchez González, bishop of Sigüenza-Guadalajara and president of the Bishops Conference for Migration, submitted to the Permanent Committee the draft of the document, “The Church in Spain and the Pastoral of Migration”, which contains the comments of the bishops about these subjects.
The text will be voted at the next meeting in November. The bishops also announced that some celebrations will be organised for the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Populorum Progressio. A celebratory symposium will also be held for the occasion at the Paul VI Foundation of Madrid plus a message on the Encyclical. In the meantime, cardinal Antonio M.Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, announced that the beautification of 498 martyrs of the XX century, which had been planned in San Paolo Fuori le Mura, will probably be moved to Saint Peter’s Square, in the Vatican, because of the high number of pilgrims expected to attend the ceremony.