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Featured Article
May
31
A Community for Life
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Father Frank Pavone May 30, 2007 In the Church there are all kinds of missions, 
ministries, and charisms. Many communities have sprung up throughout the centuries, in which Christians have come together to grow in holiness, and to carry out a particular service to others. Some communities teach, some feed the poor, some tend to the sick in hospitals, some minister to youth. Each has a unique charism, and yet each charism accents something that belongs to the life and calling of every Christian.
In our day, there is nothing more antithetical to the Gospel, and more destructive of human life, than abortion. No disease claims as many victims, no war takes as many lives, and no act of terrorism comes near to creating as much devastation as abortion brings to the human family. That is why the US bishops have declared, “Among important issues involving the dignity of human life with which the Church is concerned, abortion necessarily plays a central role. … It is imperative that those who are called to serve the least among us give urgent attention and priority to this issue of justice.” (US Bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro-life Activities, 2001).
It makes sense, then, that there should be a community focused on saving the unborn and ending abortion. Hence, in 1991, Cardinal John O’Connor started the Sisters of Life. They are a flourishing religious community in New York. (Find more information at http://communicator.imcomonline.com/trk/click?ref=zq3b8khsa_1-1fx326×338131&).
May
31
Wear Veils, Moqtada al Sadr Warns Christian Women in Iraq
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Baghdad, May. 31, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Christian women in Iraq are being warned that they must wear the Islamic head scarf or face punishment, the Middle Eastern news agency AINA reports.
AINA says that the influential Iraqi Shi’ite leader Moqtada al Sadr has issued a statement calling upon all women, Muslim or Christian, to wear the traditional Islamic veil. Those women who refuse to obey this order should be confined to their homes, the radical Muslim cleric said. Al Sadr’s order could be enforced by the Mahdi militia group that he commands.
May
31
Scottish Cardinal Challenges Politicians on Abortion
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Edinburgh, May. 31, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Scotland’s top Catholic prelate has exhorted Catholic politicians to stop defending legal abortion, saying that they must recognize “the barrier such cooperation erects to receiving Holy Communion.”
In a major address on the 40th anniversary of the Abortion Act, Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Edinburgh referred to abortion as an “unspeakable crime.”
“I urge politicians to have no truck with the evil trade of abortion,” the cardinal said. Catholic lawmakers, he said, are morally obligated to find “mean of overthrowing the legislation which makes the killing possible.” The cardinal also said that doctors should refuse to cooperate with abortion, and medical schools should “teach that all human life deserves protection.”
Cardinal O’Brien issued a direct challenge to Scottish politicians: “Will you protect the right to life of all persons in our society from conception until natural death?” If politicians will not make that commitment, he said, the voters should refuse to support them.
The cardinal decried the steady rise in the number of abortion performed in Scotland. In 2006 there were 13,081 abortions, up from 12,603 the previous years. Cardinal O’Brien described the rate of killing of the unborn as “unthinkable.”
Scottish Catholic leaders made a major push to reinvigorate opposition to abortion on the anniversary of the legislation that made the practice legal. In Glasgow, Archbishop Mario Conti urged pastors to preach about the evils of abortion and to “pray for legislation to protect the unborn child.” Church leaders distributed 250,000 pro-life flyers through the 500 parish churches of Scotland.
May
31
“Receive a Personal blessing from the priest in the Annunciation Church in the holy city of Nazareth and watch him say Your name and Your Blessing in a LIVE Broadcasting from the Annunciation church.
Your personal Light & Pray Service will take place according to the time and date of your request. A priest from the Annunciation Church in Nazareth will light a candle for you and will grant you the blessing of our savior Jesus Christ. You can watch the service LIVE on the Internet.”
Yes, that is what the website says. Without leaving your home, from your desktop all the way to the Church in the Holy City of Nazareth you can light a candle. The web address is http://www.mirezo.com. “Mi rezo” means “my prayer” in Spanish. What a great way for someone like me who’s never been to the Holy Land. Catholic News has an article about it, read it here.
May
31
Cardinal Dulles on Benedict XVI
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| Jun 2, 2007 | ||
| 1:00 pm |
“The Theology of the Church according to Benedict XVI”
Saturday, June 2, 2007 at 1 p.m.
The Great Hall | Duane Library
Rose Hill Campus | Bronx,New York
The lecture is free and open to the public.
For further information, please call (718) 817-4745.
Clicke here to watch his previous talks.
May
31
On Tertullian “Accomplished a Great Step in the Development of the Trinitarian Dogma”
Filed Under Co-Workers of the Truth, News & Current Events | Leave a Comment
VATICAN CITY, MAY 30, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI delivered today at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square. The Pope continued his catechesis on the Apostolic Fathers. Today’s reflection focused on Tertullian.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With today’s catechesis we return to the series that we stopped in honor of the trip to Brazil, and we continue to talk about the great personalities of the ancient Church: They are masters of the faith for us even today and witnesses of the perennial actuality of the Christian faith.
Today we speak about an African, Tertullian, who at the end of the second century and the beginning of the third inaugurated Christian literature in Latin. With him we see the beginning of theology in that language.
His work bore decisive fruits, and it would be unforgivable to undervalue them. His influence is developed on many levels: linguistically and in the recovery of the classic culture, and the singling out of a common “Christian soul” in the world and the formulation of new proposals for living together.
We don’t know the exact date of his birth or his death. We know that he was from Carthage, that he lived near the end of the second century, and that from his parents and pagan teachers, he received a solid formation in rhetoric, philosophy, law and history. He converted in Christianity, being attracted — it seems — by the example of the Christian martyrs.
He began publishing his most famous writings in A.D. 197. But because of a too individualistic research of the truth together with his intemperance of character — he was a rigorous man — he gradually left communion with the Church and joined a sect of Montanism. But the originality of his thought united with an incisive efficacy of language assured him a high position in ancient Christian literature. Read more
May
31
4,000 Christians in India Arrested During Protest
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DELHI, India, MAY 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).- More than 4,000 protesters were arrested as they marched through the streets of India’s capital, asking the government to break the silence on violence against Christians.
Today’s rally was organized following recent televised attacks on Christians and increased anti-Christian incidents, www.AsiaNews.it reported.
Event planners expected 2,000 people, but nearly 5,000 showed up to demonstrate near the Parliament in New Delhi.
Speeches at the event demanded protection of human dignity and constitutional rights for the Christian community and other minorities.
Police later confirmed the arrest of approximately 4,000 people, though they were released shortly afterward.
John Dayal, secretary-general of the All India Christian Council, and president of the All India Catholic Union said: “This was the first time since November 1997 that such large numbers of Christians have been arrested in the Parliament Street Police Station.
“It was incredible to see Catholic nuns, Protestant pastors, civil society activists and others singing Christian songs of liberation within the police station.”
May
31
Classifieds at the Forum
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Some of our friends are looking for housing and roommates. Please visit the Classifieds at the Forum.
May
31
Church Fathers/Ancient Writings on Confession To A Priest
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- Origen, a prolific theologian in the third-century Church, wrote:
The layman who falls into sin cannot by himself wash away his fault. He must have recourse to the levite; he needs the priest. At times, he applies to one even greater: he needs the pontiff’s help, that he may obtain the forgiveness of sins (Hom. in Numeros 10, 1). - St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, also writing in the third century, said:
I entreat you, brethren, that each one should confess his own sin while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession may be received, while his satisfaction and absolution given the priest are still pleasing to the Lord (De lapsis 28, 29). - In the fourth century, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, wrote:
Sins are forgiven through the Holy Ghost. Certainly, but men lend him their ministry. . . . They forgive sin, not in their own name, but in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (De Spiritu Sancto iii, 137).
Ignatius of Antioch“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]).
“For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop” (ibid., 8). Read more
May
31
The Giver of Life
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by Father James Farfaglia May 30, 2007
Every time we pray together the Profession of Faith we proclaim that “we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life….”
It is the Lord, the giver of life who “hovered over the water” at the beginning of creation (Genesis 1: 2). It is the Lord, the giver of life who on Easter Sunday filled the Apostles with the power to bring back to life the spiritually dead through the forgiveness of sin (John 20: 22-23). It is the Lord, the giver of life who gave birth to the Church born on Pentecost (Acts of the Apostles 2: 1-13).
However, the greatest act of the giver of life is when the Word was made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Again, in the Profession of Faith we proclaim: “…by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man”. This man is the Lord Jesus. He is the Incarnate Word. He is true God and true Man. He is the way, the truth and the life.
Pope John Paul II, in his courageous encyclical letter “Evangelium Vitae” affirms that there is a “conspiracy against life”. He wrote that “we are in fact faced with an objective conspiracy against life, involving even international institutions engaged in encouraging and carrying out actual campaigns to make contraception, sterilization and abortion widely available” (17.2).
