challenge for Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Italy Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo
Rome, Italy, Jul.6 (CINS/AF) - Formation throughout the country: from the family to animation, from prayer to social commitment. These are the guidelines of the formative proposal of Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo (RnS) for 2007. A programme articulated in seven regional schools, a national ministerial school and 17 national courses subdivided by area. With the new statutes and new bodies of pastoral RnS formation assumes new articulation to testify renewed love for the Church and more commitment for social renewal.
“The future of Rinnovamento nello Spirito depends on formation. National schools and courses - says Salvatore Martinez, national RnS president- offer participants the necessary habitus to sustain with responsible awareness witness required of every Christian. It is time for witness, not just representation. It is time to render the language of the faith comprehensible, proposable, shareable, to meet the deepest longing with the hearts of believers”.
The national School for Animators 2007 “And they were filled with the Holy Spirit ” (Acts 2, 4) will be proposed in seven places retaining all the interregional character 24 to 26 August. The school is for leaders and members of the 1,900 national groups and communities. It will see a re-launching of the Word of God in keeping with the orientation proposed by the Pontiff. Two levels have been organised: basic for people taking part for the first time; in depth for those who already have received charismatic-ministerial formation.
National ministerial school 2007 “There are diverse charisma but only one Spirit, there are many ministries but only one Lord …” (1 Cor 12, 4), it will be held at Frascati (RM) 17 - 22 July for those involved in charismatic animation at the national, regional or diocesan level. The purpose of the school is to offer formation necessary for ministerial commitments and to serve the brothers and sisters in the groups. It will touch on the following areas: Animation, Music, Hymns and Prayer; Intercession, Liturgy and ATC (Associazione Terapisti Cattolici); Evangelisation, Family and Social Commitment. The School will be articulated in a common formative path on spirituality, ecclesial and social mission of RnS; study groups and reflection will consider ministerial areas. Both schools will have the Acts of the Apostles as a reference text.
The National courses promoted by the Comitato Nazionale di Servizio (CNS), in Loreto and open to everyone will be divided in four areas: Family, ministerial formation, charismatic Spirituality, Evangelisation. Seven will be dedicated to the family: couples in difficulty, widows and widowers, married couples, b family policies and bio-ethics. Seven on charismatic spirituality, from the Burning Bush to Discipleship post effusion, from the Path of Healing with Jesus to a Seminary for new life. All areas will offer only one course.
Brown ditches plan to repeal anti-Catholic law
London, UK, Jul.6, 2007 (CINS /Catholic Herald) - In one of his first acts since taking office, Gordon Brown this week scrapped plans to end 
Britain’s historic discrimination against Catholics.
His decision infuriated leading Catholics, including Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who accused the new Prime Minister of supporting “state-sponsored sectarianism”.
Mr Brown had been expected to announce radical changes to the constitution that would replace the 1701 Act of Settlement, under which the monarch is forbidden to marry a Catholic, and a member of the Royal Family who marries a Catholic loses his or her place in the line of succession.
The Prime Minister’s inner circle had drawn up plans for a Bill of Rights that would have allowed people of any faith to hold public office.
But they were mysteriously dropped over the weekend – apparently because of fears that the British establishment would not support them.
In the event, on Monday Mr Brown outlined more modest constitutional changes that include giving up his right to appoint Church of England bishops. Cardinal O’Brien, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, said: “I am deeply disappointed at the statement from Gordon Brown.
“I remain deeply disappointed that the Act of Settlement will continue to exist and believe it constitutes state-sponsored sectarianism.”
John Gummer MP, a former Cabinet Minister and adviser to David Cameron, said: “It is an outrage that in a modern society the largest Christian denomination should be discriminated against.
“Mr Brown has listened to the most reactionary and out-of-touch people in British society. This bodes very badly for the rest of his short premiership.”
Catholic Tory MP David Amess said the Prime Minister had been persuaded to abandon a “radical and sensible change” to the constitution.
“He has backed out of an important commitment, and as a result discrimination against Catholics will continue,” he said.
Liberal Democrat MP Lorely Burt also condemned Mr Brown’s apparent volte-face. “This is a cowardly move,” she said.
“Any sensible person can see that there is absolutely no need for these archaic laws. There is a fundamental principle of equality here and equality should apply as much to Catholics as it does to any other group.”
Several Church leaders and politicians over the past year have called on Tony Blair to repeal the Act of Settlement.
Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party and now Scotland’s First Minister, demanded that the Act be consigned to the “dustbin of history”. He said it undermined efforts to tackle discrimination in Scotland.
Cardinal O’Brien argued in an interview with Scotland on Sunday in August that the “shadowy sectarian culture” in Scotland would continue to thrive until the law was amended.
Mr Blair acknowledged that the Act was unfair but said the process of repealing it would be too complicated as it would require changes to legislation in many Commonwealth countries.
Cardinal O’Brien said this week that he also wrote to Gordon Brown last year urging him to reform the Act of Settlement.
He said: “I wrote to Gordon Brown in April 2006 following comments he made on the role of the Prime Minister in the selection of Church of England bishops to say that the terms of the Act of Settlement were anachronistic and that it was ‘an outstanding example of bigotry and sectarianism in the United Kingdom’.
“I urged him to consider these views but did not receive a reply.”
In June 2002 Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, too, criticised the Act, pointing out that Prince William “can marry by law a Hindu, a Buddhist, anyone, but not a Roman Catholic”, without renouncing his claim to the throne.
But this week the Cardinal ’s spokesman declined to comment on the controversy.
The Bill of Rights of 1689 states that anybody “who shall profess the Popish religion, or shall marry a Papist, shall be excluded and be forever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the crown”.
This ban was reinforced by the Act of Settlement in 1701, which insisted that the monarch must “join in communion” with the Church of England.
China tells Catholics to receive papal letter 'with calmness'
Hong Kong,June.30,2007(CINS/CNS) - Chinese government officials told about 80 Chinese Catholic bishops, priests and lay Catholics called to a late-June meeting to receive an imminent pastoral letter from Pope Benedict XVI "with calmness."
More than 30 Catholic bishops from 15 or so provinces attended the June 28-29 meeting in Beijing, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency.
UCA News learned that top officials from the Community Party's United Front Work Department and from the State Administration for Religious Affairs spoke for more than a half-hour June 28 regarding the papal letter. The Vatican announced June 29 that the letter would be made public June 30.
The meeting's main agenda was to discuss a series of celebrations in July to mark the 50th anniversary of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Church sources told UCA News that the participants discussed June 29 how the church could strengthen its development, especially how the patriotic association could better fulfill a bridging and bonding function between the church and the government.
One source said most participants expressed a hope that the papal letter would be beneficial to the church's relations with the government and society in China and would also promote the unity of the registered and unregistered communities within the country's Catholic Church. The bishops who attended the Beijing meeting have registered with the government.
Vatican sources have told Catholic News Service that, as a courtesy, the papal letter would be sent to the Chinese government before it was released publicly.
Sources told UCA News that government officials used the late-June meeting as an opportunity to give those in attendance "a cue" concerning the letter.
Zhu Weiqun, United Front deputy director, and Ye Xiaowen, religious affairs administration director, did not reveal the letter's contents at the meeting. However, they did say that China's Catholics should remain calm, no matter what the content of the letter, sources said.
They also said the officials stressed the indelible contributions and achievements of the patriotic association in the history of the Catholic Church in China.
When China began suppressing the church in the late 1950s, it established the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, whose members initially were asked to reject ties with the Vatican. Many of the Catholics who joined indicated they chose to cooperate with the government and work within its restrictions, but remained loyal to the Vatican. Today, most bishops ordained with government approval but without papal approval have quietly had their jurisdiction legitimized by the Holy See.
Catholics who refused to join the patriotic association maintained their loyalty to the Vatican and suffered decades of persecution. Some of these underground Catholics still think registering with the government would be a betrayal of everything for which people have suffered, and some think the registered church is still controlled by the communist government. Unregistered Catholics also refer to the last official word from the Vatican -- in 1988 -- that told them to avoid the patriotic association.
Church observers have expressed hope that the papal letter would address some of these issues.
The pope promised to write such a letter after a Jan. 19-20 summit at the Vatican to discuss the situation of the Catholic Church in China. Pope Benedict reportedly signed the letter May 27, which this year was the feast of Pentecost.
Catholics in He Bei welcome a visit from Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Hong Kong
Shi Jia Zhuang,China,June.27,2007(CINS/Fides) - Catholics in He Bei welcomed a delegation of 12 members of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Hong Kong, on a visit led by parish priest Rev. Kwok. The Hong Kong Catholics visited the Catholic Association headquarters, the seminary, a convent of women religious, a Catholic Homr for old people, parishes, the Marian Shrine and the state University.
They also met university student volunteers helping in the old peoples Home and they appreciated this form of evangelisation. They shared experiences and opinions with the local Catholics and established collaboration for more concrete mission concentrated on helping the needy. The parish church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Hong Kong, built in 1845, is famous for a painting of the Wedding Feast at Cana. In fact Our Lady is the model for the HK parishioners who try to help those in need.
Catholic condemned to death for blasphemy tells of his trauma
Lahore,Pakistan,June.26,2007(CINS/CNA).- Church and human rights bodies, including the Catholic bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace and the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, are challenging the judgment in the case of a young Catholic man, who has been sentenced to death.
On May 30, the Sessions Court sentenced Younis Masih, a 27-year-old furniture polisher, to death for blasphemy and fined him 100,000 rupees (US$1,663).
Younis, who has been imprisoned for nearly two years since being accused of blasphemy, was interviewed by UCA News on June 14.
"My knee joints ache due to the torture by police, who tried to make me confess the alleged blasphemy by beating me with heavy staffs," he told UCA News from within Lahore Central Jail. He said he is also denied clean water and other necessities provided to fellow inmates.
Younis denies the blasphemy allegation and recounted the events that led to the court’s most recent decision. On Sept. 9, 2005, about 70 members of a group singing devotional music attacked Younis, after he was accused of making derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad.
The next day, about 26 men continued the attack. They grabbed him from a billiards club and assaulted him. They abused his wife, threw bricks at his house and set it on fire. Several of the 50 local Christian families later fled the area.
When Younis went to police to report the assault, the police, in turn, registered a blasphemy case against him. He said a large mob, armed with sticks, gathered at the police station while he was there and refused to leave until a report was lodged against him for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Younis was jailed.
Difa-e-Islam Mahaz (front for the defense of Islam), an alliance of 22 Sunni religious organizations, organized a large demonstration at the Lahore Press Club, where they called for him to be hanged. They vowed to continue until Younis was sentenced to death.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a May 31 statement that it would monitor Younis' case and would help his counsel appeal before the High Court.
Nadeem Anthony of the Rights Commission told UCA News that police and Muslim clerics created an atmosphere of terror that led to the disappointing decision. Anthony claims the case was not investigated properly. He complained about "pressure from the religious extremists" and people taking the law "into their own hands."
Section 295-B of the Pakistan Criminal Code punishes those convicted of insulting the Qur'an with life imprisonment, and Section 295-C stipulates death for insulting Prophet Muhammad.