Pope Benedict XVl said...

Meeting with President of Religious Affairs, Ankara, Turkey, 11/28/06

Freedom of religion, institutionally guaranteed and effectively respected in practice, both for individuals and communities, constitutes for all believers the necessary condition for their loyal contribution to the building up of society, in an attitude of authentic service, especially towards the most vulnerable and the very poor.

What can be the 'most vulnerable and the very poor' as unborn babies in women's womb and sick, disabled and severely brain damaged adults...
My unceasing prayers for Pope Benedict and President Bush...

Pope Benedict in Turkey today...

Praying for his safety and achievement of pilgrimage goal...

The original goal of the pope's trip to Turkey was to meet Bartholomew I, leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. The two major branches of Christianity represented by Bartholomew and Benedict split in 1054 over differences in opinion on the power of the papacy, and the two spiritual heads will meet in an attempt to breach the divide and reunite the churches.
Benedict leaves Ankara on Wednesday for Ephesus, where the Virgin Mary is thought to have spent her last years, and will then travel to Istanbul, a former Christian metropolis known as Constantinople until Ottoman Turks conquered it in 1453.

Vatican website here.

Creation, Birth & the Church...

"I will intesify the pangs of your childbearing; in pain shall you bring forth children..." Genesis, 3:16
Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' Luke 23:28-29

Cardinal Sean's blog

Cardinal Sean's Thanksgiving message to our troops in the military, their families and chaplains...

Many of our brothers and sisters, your sons, daughters, husbands and wives, have made the ultimate sacrifice on earth and have given their lives while serving our country. To those who have lost a loved one, please know our prayers are with you. Your tears are our tears. Your loss is our loss. While it is never easy to lose someone close to you, we pray that you will find comfort in your faith and in Jesus Christ. As the mass prayers remind us, “Life is changed, not ended.”

Pope Benedict XVl purification of the church...

to the bishops of Ireland...

In the exercise of your pastoral ministry, you have had to respond in recent years to many heart-rending cases of sexual abuse of minors. These are all the more tragic when the abuser is a cleric. The wounds caused by such acts run deep, and it is an urgent task to rebuild confidence and trust where these have been damaged. In your continuing efforts to deal effectively with this problem, it is important to establish the truth of what happened in the past, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it from occurring again, to ensure that the principles of justice are fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims and to all those affected by these egregious crimes. In this way, the Church in Ireland will grow stronger and be ever more capable of giving witness to the redemptive power of the Cross of Christ. I pray that by the grace of the Holy Spirit, this time of purification will enable all God’s people in Ireland to “maintain and perfect in their lives that holiness which they have received from God” (Lumen Gentium, 40).
The fine work and selfless dedication of the great majority of priests and religious in Ireland should not be obscured by the transgressions of some of their brethren. I am certain that the people understand this, and continue to regard their clergy with affection and esteem. Encourage your priests always to seek spiritual renewal and to discover afresh the joy of ministering to their flocks within the great family of the Church.

from Sandro Magister at chiesa.espressonline

http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=98383&eng=y

Abuse of Minors by Priests: An Assessment of the “Purification” Underway.
They are “heart-rending” crimes, an increasingly severe and demanding Benedict XVI said to the bishops of Ireland. A summary of two years of repression: what has been done, and what is left to do.
ROMA, November 20, 2006 – To the Irish bishops gathered before him at the Vatican at the end of October, Benedict XVI clearly said that this is a “time of purification.” It is a time of purification from the “filth” he denounced in the memorable Via Crucis at the Colosseum on Good Friday two years ago, shortly before being elected pope, a filth made up of the “many heart-rending cases of sexual abuse of minors. These are all the more tragic when the abuser is a cleric (1).” Pope Joseph Ratzinger is very severe and demanding in this area, more so than his predecessor John Paul II. In the year and a half of his pontificate, he has not hesitated to use the lash even against churchmen held to be untouchable by the previous pope. Along with the United States, Ireland is the country where the Church has created the greatest scandal. The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, 68, confirmed in an interview with “Avvenire” (2) that Benedict XVI, in receiving the Irish bishops (see photo), not only denounced the horror of abuse, but dictated to them “precise indications” on how to clean up – with sanctions that are sometimes more rigid than the ones handed down by civil tribunals. In Ireland, the bishops have verified that in sixty years, from 1945 to 2004, 105 priests – almost 4 percent of the total – have been implicated in sexual abuse against minors under 18 years old, with around 400 victims. Of those still alive, 8 have been condemned to prison after a penal trial, and another 32 are undergoing civil trials. Still others have received no judicial sentence because of the impossibility of proving acts too far removed in time.
But with these, too, the hierarchy of the Church reacts today by excluding them from pastoral activity. And in any case it asks all the priests targeted by accusations to suspend all of their duties, even before investigations begin. It can therefore happen that these sanctions temporarily punish persons who later turn out to be innocent: “But unfortunately, experience has obliged us to apply these painful but indispensable provisions,” archbishop Martin affirms. The prevailing policy is that it is better to be too severe than to risk the contrary. It’s the same in the United States. There, too, it has been verified that the priests who have committed sexual abuse against minors in the past half century are around 4 percent of the total: 4,392 out of 110,000 diocesan and religious priests (3). Three fourths of the crimes took place between 1960 and 1984, when the customary practice was simply to transfer the guilty party from one post to another, perhaps after psychotherapy sessions that in reality didn’t change anything. This irresponsible and indulgent practice, even with the phenomenon in decline, was protracted until very recent times, when in 2002 the scandal exploded in the media and everything was discovered. The bishops of the United States reacted to their own previous weaknesses with a new “zero
tolerance” policy. A great number of cases have flooded the civil courts, and exorbitant requests for compensation have fallen upon the dioceses. Even some bishops have been upended, not only for having covered up abuse, but for having
committed it themselves. One of these, Anthony O’Connell of Palm Beach, Florida, made a revealing admission in 2002. He said that in doing these things, he felt the influence of the spirit of the 1970’s, “when the Masters and Johnson report laid down the law, and a climate of sexual transgression reigned.” In some courts in the United States, it has come to the point of citing the Holy See as an accomplice in the crimes under review. The last request of this sort came last May from a tribunal in Oregon. But until now, they have all been blocked on account of the Holy See’s immunity as a sovereign state. On February 8, 2005, receiving Condoleezza Rice at the Vatican, then-secretary of state Angelo Sodano asked his counterpart from the United States to intervene in defense of the immunity of the Holy See, which had been called to court by a tribunal in Kentucky. The intervention came. In Italy, the numbers on sexual abuse committed by priests are less startling than in the United States and Ireland. But there is an increasing severity on the part of the Church hierarchy here, too. The general secretary of the episcopal conference, Giuseppe Betori, who in 2002 described the phenomenon as “so insignificant as not to merit specific attention,” today promotes the establishment in every diocese of a Meter center, the association founded by Fr. Fortunato Di Noto to combat pedophilia (4). Ratzinger as well, when he was prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, was less insistent than he is today. Offenses against the sixth commandment were the exclusive domain of his congregation, but in a number of cases, even very circumstantiated denunciations were never pursued. Still in November of 2002, when the scandal in the United States was at its acme, Ratzinger minimized the number of guilty priests: “less than 1 percent,” and he attributed the explosion of the scandal above all to “the desire to discredit the Church.” But then he changed course. It was the autumn of 2004, and Ratzinger ordered the promoter of justice at the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Charles J. Scicluna of Malta, to retrieve from the files all the cases concerning the sixth commandment. The order was: “Every case must take its normal course.” In other words: no one could be held as untouchable anymore, not even those protected by the then extremely powerful cardinal Sodano, and not even the favorites of the reigning pope, John Paul II. And so among the other investigations were begun, or restarted, the investigations against the two founders of religious orders with strong support in the curia: Gino Burresi, Italian, founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Marcial Maciel Degollado of Mexico, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, both accused of sexual abuse against their young seminarians and followers, and of extremely serious violations of the sacrament of confession. The death John Paul II, and the following election of Ratzinger as pope, did not bring to a halt the investigations ordained by the latter. On the contrary. In May of 2005, the first act signed by the new prefect of the congregation of the faith, William J. Levada of the United States, was precisely the condemnation of Gino Burresi, the first of the two founders of religious orders cited above. The condemnation had the approval of Benedict XVI “in specific form,” which does not admit appeal (5). The sentence on the founder of the Legionaries of Christ required more time, and had to overcome more resistance. When “L’espresso,” on May 20, 2005, gave a detailed report of the interrogations of dozens of accusing testimonies, the Vatican secretariat of state responded by asserting that “there is no canonical proceeding underway in regard to Fr. Maciel, nor is one foreseen for the future (6).” What was really at the heart of the apparent denial was that the congregation for the doctrine of the faith was sparing Maciel from a canonical process for reasons of health and age – he was 86. But the condemnation came relentlessly one year later: the revocation of all public ministry, and “a retired life of prayer and penance (7).” Shortly thereafter, Benedict XVI dismissed the cardinal secretary of state, Sodano.

Pope Benedict XVl said...

'we should exert ourselves in reconnecting these two parts of morality and making it clear that these must be inseparably united' (Morality of marriage and family with Morality of peace, non-violence, justice for all, concern for the poor, and respect for creation).

It is only if human life is respected from conception to death that the ethics of peace is also possible and credible; it is only then that non-violence can express itself in every direction; only then that we truly welcome creation, and only then that we can arrive at true justice. I think that we are facing a great task here: on the one hand, we must not make Christianity appear as mere moralism, but as a gift in which is given to us the love that sustains us and provides us with the strength necessary to be able to “lose one’s life”; on the other hand, in this context of the gift of love, we must also progress toward concretization, the foundations of which are still provided for us by the Decalogue, which, with Christ and with the Church, we should interpret in a new and progressive way at this time.

Read article here or Vatican website here.

The Abbot's Notebook...

Abbot Philip, OSB, Christ in the Desert Monastery weekly post here.

The response to The Learning Channel Documentary on the Monastery has been overwhelming and very, very positive. Always our hope had been that this television program might present something very positive about our Catholic Church, that it might help people understand a bit more our Catholic faith and that it might draw people to think about the deepest values of life. That seems all to be happening and so we monks are very happy with the program. There is still one more segment to be shown this coming Sunday.

Psalm 30:6

For divine anger lasts but a moment; divine favor lasts a lifetime.

Chapter 13 of every book in New Testament (NAB)

Matthew, 13 - The Parables.
'You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted and I heal them.' Matthew 13:14-15
"I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation [of the world]." Matthew 13:35

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Mark 13 - The Destruction of the Temple Foretold

"But in those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken... Mark 13:24-25

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Luke 13 - A Call to Repentance
'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' Luke 13:35

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John, 13 - The Washing of the Disciples' Feet
I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. John 13:34
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Acts, 13 - First Mission Begins in Cyprus
'Look on, you scoffers, be amazed and disappear. For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will never believe even if someone tells you.' Acts 13:41
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Romans, 13- Obedience to Authority
Let every person be subordinate to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1
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1 Corinthians - The Way of Love
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13

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2 Corinthians 13:13
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Spirit be with all of you.'

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Hebrews, 13:6
'The Lord is my helper, [and] I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"
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Revelation 13 - The First Beast
Whoever has ears ought to hear these words. Anyone destined for captivity goes into captivity. Anyone destined to be slain by the sword shall be slain by the sword. Revelation 13:9-10

Philippians 4:4

'Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!'
First Bible verse read early morning of Nov 8, 2006.
Red Congress turning blue is incomprehensible to my human mind and heart. But the Lord said, 'Rejoice!'
And I turn to Silence of a Trappist to calm my quivering heart and stimulated braincells.

The Monastery, the tv series

This 3rd episode is good.
Principle of Obedience
Confession
Heavenly scenery
Carrying of the Cross
Betrayal of Trust
Abandonment
Benedictine Meditation

First, learn to be quiet, both externally and internally.
"Holy Reading."- slow reading, seek to know God, Holy Scripture, can be a book about Scripture.

guided by three principles: belief that text is God's gift to us, belief that reading it slowly over and over will profit us, and belief that God will speak to us through the text.

Lectio ( holy reading) leads to meditatio. Meditatio (in one of the above forms) leads to oratio (prayer, lifting our hearts and our minds to God), which leads to contemplatio (contemplation, being still in God's presence and allowing him to possess us).

John Paul The Great by Peggy Noonan

John Paul The Great, Remembering A Spiritual Father
Peggy Noonan's best seller glimpse on her faith journey and activism in the Catholic church.
Interesting paragraph for me are those that she mentions Philippines...

It is interesting that countries whose Catholics love Mary most ardently, and who have by tradition been most public in that love, have tended to be those that have known intense political oppression and poverty: Poland, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, the Philippines. (Ch 5)
'the Holy Spirit within us'

Filipino Charismatic Catholics

PEW study on Pentecostal & Charismatic movement

Pentecostalism and related charismatic movements represent one of the fastest growing segments of global Christianity. At least a quarter of the world’s 2 billion Christians are thought to be members of these lively, highly personal faiths, which emphasize such spiritually renewing “gifts of the Holy Spirit” as speaking in tongues, divine healing and prophesying. Even more than other Christians, pentecostals and other renewalists believe that God, acting through the Holy Spirit, continues to play a direct, active role in everyday life.
Pentecostalism, and its related “renewalist” or “spirit-filled” movements, was one of the most influential developments in global Christianity in the 20th century, and it is poised to have an even greater influence in the 21st century. Nowhere is this more evident than in the “global South,” where pentecostalism is reshaping the social, political and economic landscape of many countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.