One of the more popular videos on the Internet from the Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, City was from June 19th – Catechesis by the most Reverend Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Bishop of Imus, Philippines.
EXCERPT:
“The Church however must also constantly examine its fidelity to Jesus’sacrifice of obedience to God and compassion for the poor. Like those who opposed Jesus in the name of authentic religion, we could be blind to God and neighbors because of self righteousness, spiritual pride and rigidity of mind. Ecclesiastical customs and persons, when naively and narrowly deified and glorified, might become hindrances to true worship and compassion. I am disturbed when some people who do not even know me personally conclude that my being a bishop automatically makes me closer to God than they could ever be. My words are God’s words, my desires are God’s, my anger is God’s, and my actions are God’s.If I am not cautious, I might just believe it and start demanding the offerings of the best food and wine, money, car, house, adulation and submission. After all, I am “God!” I might take so much delight in my stature and its benefits that I might end up being callous to the needs of the poor and the earth.”
Facebook, My Space etc. have some new competition.
This week the Archbishop of Sydney launched the first-ever online social networking site developed especially for World Youth Day.
Based on other popular social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, the Sydney World Youth Day organizers developedXt3.com, which stands for Christ in the Third Millennium. Be sure to visit and think of joining. It is a wonderful way to communicate and share the faith.http://www.xt3.com/
John Allen shares his thoughts on this timely topic
“Though the parallel shouldn’t be pushed too far, in some ways Christian/Muslim relations today might be compared to where things stood with personal computers back in the early 1980s. Everybody knew PCs were the future, but they wouldn’t change the world until a simple, appealing, and reasonably standard way of making them work emerged.
It is hard to appreciate or visualize the vibrancy of the Catholic Church in Africa. This little youtube video speaks a thousand words about what is happening in terms of conversions, vocations, liturgy, age of congregations, etc.. I believe it was taken in the Sudan, and it illustrates the dynamism of the faith, and causes one to wonder how this will impact the universal church. The faith is definitely young and alive in this part of Africa as portrayed in the video – it is indeed a thousand words.
“My grandfather”, Cardinal Husar says, “was a priest, and other members of the family were priests; some were married, others were not.
If a person is good, he will be a good priest, and this does not depend on the fact that he is married,” Read full story
On Nov. 21st front page headlines across Quebec reacted to an open letter of apology by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec and Primate of the Catholic Church in Canada. The Cardinal wrote the letter after soul searching reflection which resulted from a presentation he made to the Bouchard-Taylor Commission and the support and criticism that followed. (The Bouchard-Taylor commission is a public enquiry criss-crossing Quebec to get the public’s ideas and concerns on “reasonable accommodations” by Quebec society for religious and ethnic minorities.)
Since the advent of what is called, ‘the cultural revolution’ in the 60′s, Quebec society has become secularized and the church has seen itself sidelined and much criticized. Although the vast majority of Quebec’s people are Catholic, there is an ‘anti-church’ and anti-clerical’ undercurrent that flavors Quebec society. From historians, politicians, and institutions, to the ordinary person on the street there is a litany of grievances and accusations that constantly undermine the faith, and foster fear and dis-trust of the church and its endeavors. Personally, I think it was time for the church to face the past head on, and to name and seek forgivenss for its past errors and sins. This is exactly what the Cardinal did, and let us pray that in the ensuing response and dialogue a new and better day for the church will be born. LINK:Full Text of the Cardinal’s Letter
[Fr. Edward L. Cleary is a professor of political science and the director of Latin American studies at Providence College.]
Fr. Edward Cleary has just published a new book on faith, religion, and the Latin American people. It is a must read for all those interested in our brothers and sisters in this part of America. In the last forty years much has happened to undermine the faith of these staunchly catholic people. But, there are seeds of hope, and wonderful things happening that offer promise for the future of Christianity and the the Catholic Church in this part of the world. Although the Pentecostal Church has spear headed a major religious revival and recruited thousands of new members, Catholicism has become more dynamic and fostered a more committed faith response. Just listen to these statistics that Fr. Cleary reports:
Twenty-three new Cardinals were named this month. Eighteen are able to vote for the next pope because they are under 80 years of age. Twelve of the Eighteen came from the North (10 Europeans and 2 Americans).
Church membership has been dramatically growing in the south and declining in the north, but this does not seem to be a consideration. Today, 63 percent of cardinals under age 80 (two thirds) come from the global north. Succinctly put, two-third of those who elect the pope come from the north, and two thirds of the catholic people come from the south. I know that the church is not a democracy, but the math still makes me uneasy.
