Diocese in Ethiopia Promotes Women’s Role in Church and Society
Konigestein, Ethiopia, Oct.07, 2007 (CINS/CISA) - The Catholic Diocese of Soddo-Hosanna is promoting the status of women through a range of educational and skills training programmes.
According to Bishop Rodrigo Mejía Saldarriaga, women do not have equal educational opportunities with men, although they are regarded highly in the African cultures as the "source of life".
Bishop Mejia told the German-based international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that even now many Africans would not understand why women should learn to read and write or be trained for a profession.
The diocese of Soddo-Hosanna has set up a women’s office to help them form cooperatives and to offer courses in sewing, cooking and computers. The purpose is to enable women earn their own living and to make them "feel independent in society", Bishop Mejia said.
African women are very hardworking, the bishop emphasised, adding that there has been a good response to the church-run promotional programmes. The more strongly women were promoted in this way the more the awareness of their dignity grew in society, he said. The promotion of women was a "particular aspect of the work for justice and peace".
Bishop Mejía said polygamy and female genital mutilation of women represented a challenge to the welfare of women in many African cultures. He expressed satisfaction that governments had recognized the psychological and health consequences of these practices and were working to stop them.
The bishop also emphatically welcomed the involvement of women as catechists in pastoral work. In the early phase of the missionary work only men had been used as catechists, he said, and had tended to function to some extent as "second priests".
He said the church had gained positive experiences with female catechists who, he said, had "a particular approach to people that was friendlier and gentler". They had proved themselves to be reliable and, "as women usually do", generally gave a better example in everyday life than the men.
One of the greatest challenges for the diocese is the steady growth of the Catholic Church in the region and the consequent demands of the pastoral ministry to the faithful. The work of the Church is made harder by the poor roads, especially during the rainy season.
The Diocese of Soddo-Hosanna has a population of seven million, of whom some 236,000 are Catholics, served by 50 priests. Ethiopian Catholics are just 0.6 percent of the 70 million-strong population.
Today in Church History
891 Formosus begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1689 Pietro Ottoboni replaces Pope Innocent XI as Alexander VIII
1979 Pope John Paul II is 1st Pope to visit White House
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”.
Papal Audience: Focus on Chrysostom, domestic Church
Vatican City, Sep. 19, 2007 (CINS/CWN) - At his regular weekly public audience on September 19, Pope Benedict XVI resumed his series of talks on the key figures of the early Church, speaking about St. John Chrysostom.
The Holy Father reminded the 15,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square that this year the Church is commemorating the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. John Chrysostom, who is revered as a doctor of the Church by both Catholic and Orthodox believers. Because of the power and influence of his work, the Pope added, "it could be said that he is still alive today."
St. John was a renowned preacher-- contemporaries hailed him as the "greatest orator of all times," and "chrysostom" means golden-mouthed-- and "one of the most prolific of the fathers," the Pope observed. Born in what is now Turkey, he was deeply involved in the heated theological disputes of the 4th century. His work was eminently practical, Pope Benedict observed, because St. John wanted to offer immediate help to confused believers. His theological writings show "a constant concern for coherence between thought expressed in words and real-life existence."
To illustrate the great saint's approach, the Pope recalled his advice to young people approaching marriage, noting that "a well-prepared couple seals off the door to divorce."
St. John Chrysostom promoted the idea that a married couple, together with their children, form a "domestic Church" in which young people are educated in faith and virtue. Pope Benedict closed his reflections by saying that the saint's teaching "on the authentic Christian presence of the lay faithful, in the family and in society, is more important today than ever."
Today in Church History
1534 Ignatius of Loyola forms society of Jesus/Jesuits
1967 Pope Paul VI publishes constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae
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