Stop politicizing homilies, Vatican nuncio tells Catholic Polish clergy
WARSAW, Poland, Jun18,2007 - (CINS /CNS) – The Vatican's ambassador to Poland has called on Catholic clergy to stop preaching politicized homilies.
"I wish liturgical services in Poland would not turn into public rallies and just dispose people to be more human and more Catholic," said Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, the Vatican's ambassador, or nuncio.
"We need priests, not politicians – and if politicians, then politicians of God's word," said the archbishop, whose sermon was carried by Poland's Catholic information agency, KAI. "We also need evangelists, not economists – we have enough of those already in Poland to do the job. Let's work on their spirit and conscience so they'll become true professionals in serving all society. This is the mission of a priest."
Preaching June 11 in Czuma, near Lublin, the nuncio said: "The times are over when people went to priests on every occasion, to arrange plumbing or telephones for their villages, and elected priests as council chairmen hoping they'd organize such things. This epoch has ended."
The same day, after multiple reports of bishops using their homilies on the feast of Corpus Christi to make political statements, the nuncio told a Polish television station that clergy should be more circumspect.
"Corpus Christi is the greatest eucharistic festival, not only in Poland, so some part of our speeches should be eucharistic," Archbishop Kowalczyk said. "We should show what the Eucharist is in a person's life, so as to make him more human, regardless of whether he'll be in government or working in a garden, steelworks or mine."
Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza daily said June 13 members from the governing Law and Justice Party had complained about a Corpus Christi homily by the bishops' conference president, Archbishop Jozef Michalik of Przemysl, in which he accused the party of "failing the moral test" by not securing a tightened abortion law. In the homily, the archbishop also praised Marek Jurek, the former speaker of Poland's Sejm, or lower house of parliament, for resigning over the issue.
In a homily the same day, Bishop Stanislaw Stefanek of Lomza condemned security measures at the June summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations in Germany and told Catholics that current strikes and protests by doctors and teachers in Poland were a "classic terrorist method."
However, Bishop Jan Tyrawa of Bydgoszcz said during Mass that he supported the strikes, adding that current government actions were "divorced from reality and threaten anarchy."
"This is a worse time than under communism," Bishop Tyrawa said.
The dean of Poznan University's theology faculty, Father Pawel Bortkiewicz, defended the right of Catholic bishops to "speak out on public issues." He told KAI June 14 that he believed Corpus Christi processions were a good occasion for "raising political and social questions."
However, Dominican Father Maciej Zieba, a theologian, said church leaders should remember they were "preaching now in a free Poland, with freedom of speech and political democracy" and should be guided by "slightly different rules than in totalitarian countries."
Catholic School, Convent Ransacked in Gaza
Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Jun.18,2007 (CINS /Christian Post) - A school and convent belonging to the Gaza Strip's tiny Roman Catholic community were ransacked, burned and looted during clashes around a major security headquarters, the head of the community said Monday.
Crosses were broken, a statue of Jesus was damaged, and prayer books were burnt at the Rosary Sisters School and nearby convent, said Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church.
The damage took place on Thursday, but wasn't reported until days later because of the chaos that has prevailed since Islamic Hamas militants wrested power in Gaza, Musallem said. The religious compound is located near a key security headquarters Hamas captured Thursday on the final day of its Gaza takeover.
Gunmen used the roof of the school during the fighting, and the convent was "desecrated," Mussalem said.
"Nothing happens by mistake these days," he said.
Seven computers were removed, but three were brought back after the vandalism was reported to the deposed prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh.
Haniyeh condemned the attack on the religious compound and President Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement said in statement late Sunday that the "barbaric" attack was the act of Hamas' militia.
"There may be some in Hamas who wanted to cause strife between Muslims and Christians," Musallem said.
Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil denied that Hamas had a hand in the vandalism.
"The Christians are our brothers in Gaza and everywhere, and we will protect their holy places and school, as we do our Islamic schools," he said. "But there are some dirty elements who work to harm Hamas' image ... and relations, but this will not happen."
Earlier this month, Pope Benedict XVI lamented the plight of Christians in the Middle East, and said he was praying that the ancient communities remain despite the "apparently unstoppable violence."
The pope spoke out about Christians in the Holy Land, Iraq and Lebanon during a speech to clergymen from the area shortly after holding his first meeting with Bush at the Vatican.
Report shows Catholic schools nurture good citizenship
London.Uk,June.13,2007(CINS?ICN) - A new report from the Centre For Faith In Society at the Von Hugel Institute, reveals that Catholic schools in England are preparing students to be citizens that 'are actively concerned about the world around them and want to play a full part in the democratic process when they are adults'.
With a preface by the Prime Minister's faith envoy, Rt Hon John Battle MP, the study is based on interviews in 19 schools across the country - from Burnley to the South East. The authors show that young Catholic school students value dialogue and conversation with people of other faiths, and have a concern for social justice. 40% of the respondents reported regular church attendance. As such Catholic schools can be seen as schools of civic inclusion and participation.
The authors of the report are Bernadette O'Keeffe and Richard Zipfel who are both Senior Research Associates at the Centre For Faith In Society, Von Hugel Institute, St Edmund's College, Cambridge.
For more information see: www.vhi.org.uk
Appeal of the Pope for those kidnapped throughout the world, including Catholic priests
Vatican City,June.11,2007(CINS/AsiaNews) – News of the kidnapping of Fr. Giancarlo Bossi, PIME, which took place yesterday morning in the south of the Philippines, has been spreading in Italy and in the world. Precisely at this moment the Pope, in his Angelus address, launched an appeal on behalf of the numerous “persons, among whom are also Catholic priests, who are held hostage for various reasons in different parts of the world.” Benedict XVI added: “I carry all of them in my heart, and I keep all of them in my prayers,” referring in particular to some distressing cases in Columbia. The Pope went on to say: “I appeal with sorrow to the agents of these deplorable acts, hoping that they will become aware of the evil they have done and be willing to restore to the embraces of their loved ones those that they are holding prisoners. I entrust the victims to the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of all men.”
Prior to this appeal the Pope had talked about Corpus Christi, today’s feast. “Today’s solemnity of Corpus Christi,” Benedict XVI said, “which was celebrated last Thursday in the Vatican and in other countries, invites us to contemplate the supreme Mystery of our faith: the Most Holy Eucharist, the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the altar. Every time that the priest renews the Eucharistic Sacrifice, in the prayer of consecration he repeats: ‘This is my body…this is my blood.’ He lends his voice, his hands, and his heart to Christ, who wanted to remain with us in order to be the beating heart of the Church. But even after the Celebration of the Divine Mysteries the Lord Jesus remains present in the tabernacle. For this reason praise is rendered to Him especially through Eucharistic Adoration, as I sought to remind everyone in the recent Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum caritatis (see nos. 66-69) following the Synod on this topic. In fact, there is an intrinsic connection between celebration and adoration. The Holy Mass is in itself already the greatest act of adoration on the part of the Church. ‘No one eats this flesh,’ St. Augustine wrote, ‘unless he has first adored it’ (Com. on Psalms 98,9; CCL XXXIX, 1385). Adoration apart from the Holy Mass prolongs and intensifies what has taken place in the liturgical celebration, and makes it possible to receive Christ in a real and profound way.” The Pope underlined the importance of Eucharistic Adoration, above all as a witness to the Real Presence of Jesus, but also as a rediscovery and strengthening of a personal relationship with the Lord.
The Pope then went on to add: “I would like to take the opportunity that today’s solemnity offers me to strongly urge Pastors and all the faithful to practice Eucharistic Adoration. I would like to express my appreciation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life, as well as the confraternities and associations, who dedicate themselves to Eucharist Adoration in a special way: they are a reminder for everyone of the centrality of Christ in our life as individuals and as Church. It gives me joy to recognize that young people are discovering the beauty of Adoration, whether personally or as a community. I invite priests to encourage youth groups along this line, while taking care to guide them so that the forms of Adoration by the community are appropriate and dignified, with sufficient time for silence and for listening to the Word of God. In today’s world, so often noisy and distracted, it is more important than ever to recover the capacity for interior silence and recollection: Eucharistic Adoration permits us to do so not only in relation to the ‘I’ but also in company with that ‘You’ full of love who is Jesus Christ, ‘God with us.’”
Brazilian Soccer Heartthrob’s Response to Supermodel’s Anti-Catholic Outburst: I Was a Virgin When I Got Married
June 7, 2007 (CINS /LSN) – The Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is receiving widespread media coverage after an outburst in which she criticized the Catholic Church for its teachings on premarital sex, abortion and contraceptives.
Bundchen’s remarks follow closely on the heel’s of Pope Benedict ’s visit to the Catholic country, during which visit he repeatedly restated the Church’s teachings on social issues, exhorting Brazilians to live up to the ideals that their faith professes.
Bundchen, however, called the Church’s teachings “ridiculous” in an interview with a Brazilian newspaper. At one point she made the unsubstantiated claim that in the modern world no one ever waits until marriage before having sex, even apparently calling into question the possibility that a man or woman can remain chaste until marriage.
"Today no one is a virgin when they get married ... show me someone who's a virgin!" she said. She went on, criticizing the Catholic Church’s moral teachings saying, "How is it possible to not want people to use condoms and also not have abortions? It's impossible, I'm sorry."
However, in an interview with the Italian edition of “Vanity Fair” that appeared just after the supermodel made her remarks, the Brazilian soccer superstar known as Kaka has said that both he and his wife, Caroline, were virgins when they got married. Kaka, one of Brazil’s most successful soccer players, has long been known for both his outspoken Christian faith and his remarkable good looks.
“The Bible teaches that true love waits until marriage," Kaka told “Vanity Fair”, saying about his marriage, “If our life today is so beautiful, I think it is because we waited."
The time prior to his and his wife’s marriage, during which they conducted a chaste relationships, says Kaka "was important, as it tested our love." The soccer star admitted that it was not easy to stay a virgin until his wedding night, and that even still there are difficulties in living faithfully, saying that “there are always temptations,” but also says that the sacrifices that he and his wife made for each other have been more than worth it.
Gisele Bundchen, who is one of the most popular supermodels in the world, not only called into question the possibility of living chastely and defended the use of contraceptives and abortion, but in a bizarre twist actually indicated that the use of condoms should be “compulsory.”
"It's ridiculous to ban contraceptives,” she said. “You only have to think of the diseases that are transmitted without them. I think it should be compulsory to use a contraceptive."