Unlike most pilgrimages, which usually involve an individual going to a sanctuary to venerate a saint, the Pilgrimage of Don Bosco’s Relic is actually bringing the relic to the people! The relic of Don Bosco has been transported to the United States to grant individuals an opportunity to honor and respect St. John Bosco. Archbishop Timothy Dolan formally invites the faithful of the Archdiocese to celebrate his favorite saint—Don Bosco.
Come see the relics of St. John Bosco at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Friday, October 1! There will be veneration of the relic from 10 AM to 11 PM. There will be a mass with Archbishop Dolan at 7 PM.
On Saturday, October 2 there will be veneration of the relic from 6:30 AM until 10 AM when the relic departs for Chicago. Come join us as we celebrate Don Bosco among us!
The Word of God is not the "word of the past," but continues to address the circumstances of modern man, taught the Holy Father on Wednesday. The contents of the Bible, he said, are the "stimulus and source of Christian life for all situations and every person."
The Holy Father's words came during another farewell audience at Castel Gandolfo before his departure tomorrow.
Thanking each member of the pontifical villa staff, especially their director Dr. Saverio Petrillo, for their work, he expressed his appreciation for their "competence and precision." Expressing his gratitude also for their prayers, he told them to continue to "offer daily witness to (their) faith" especially by listening to the Word of God.
Noting Wednesday's feast of the archangels, he noted that each has been "sent by God, with specific missions in particular moments in the history of salvation." He added that "(e)very Christian is called to accept and live every day, simply and joyfully, the Word of truth that the Lord communicated to us."
Turning to a figure in the history of the Church that "nourished himself" in Scripture, the Holy Father pointed to one of the Fathers of the Church, St. Jerome, whose feast is celebrated on Thursday. In translating the Bible to Latin and basing other works on the Word, this saint kept scripture at the center of his life, recalled the Pope. He quoted the saint's words to this effect, who said "to ignore Scripture is to ignore Christ.
"Therefore," taught the Holy Father, "it is fundamental for every Christian to live in contact and in personal dialogue with the Word of God, given to us in Sacred Scripture, reading it not as a word of the past, but as the living Word, which is addressed to us today and involves us."
In his final farewell, he assured them of his prayers that each person might "know and assimilate ever more profoundly the Word of God, stimulus and source of Christian life for all situations and every person.
EWTN Global Catholic Television Network: Sunday Night Live – Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR – Fr. Pat Angelucci, SDB, Director Salesian High School and Brother Michael Leschinsky, Salesians of Don Bosco – The Relic Pilgrimage of Don Bosco
The relic of Don Bosco is making its way around the world and it is headed to DC! For more information on this beautiful and grace filled event please click here or here.
As part of a worldwide tour, relics of St. John Bosco will be hosted by Washington, D.C.'s National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in order to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the patron saint of youth and students.
A portion of Don Bosco’s right arm bone is encased in a 1,800 pound reliquary and is currently undergoing the North American tour which began Sept. 11 in San Francisco and will end Oct. 7 in Montreal, Canada. The saint's relics will eventually make their way to 130 countries by his 200th birthday in 2015.
The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception will host the reliquary on Tuesday, Sept. 28.
Auxiliary Bishop Martin Holley of Washington is slated to welcome the relics in the morning at the Basilica’s Great Upper Church and lead an opening prayer service that will begin a day of veneration. That evening, Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl will be the principal celebrant and homilist of a commemorative Mass.
In a press release for the event, the shrine reported that Pope Benedict XVI granted a plenary indulgence to those who make a pilgrimage to see and pray before the relic of St. John Bosco, in accordance with the usual conditions of partaking in Confession, the Eucharist and prayers for the Holy Father’s intentions.
Chiara Badano was a modern teenager: She liked to sing, dance, play tennis and skate, until cancer took her life at age 18, only two decades ago.
Now, on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the shrine of Divine Love in Rome, Chiara will be beatified in a ceremony presided over by Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, in representation of Benedict XVI.
Chiara was a member of the Focolare Movement, founded in Italy by Chiara Lubich in 1943.
Also on Saturday, thousands of Focolare members will gather in Paul VI Hall to celebrate the first beatification of someone from the movement.
At 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Pope's secretary of state, will offer a Mass in thanksgiving in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
Birth and youth
After 11 years of marriage, Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano had the joy of the arrival of their first and only daughter, Chiara, who was born on Oct. 29, 1971, in the small village of Sassello, in the region of Liguria in northern Italy.
Her mother said: "She was not only our daughter. She belonged, in the first place, to God and as such, we had to educate her, respecting her liberty."
In 1981 Chiara discovered the Focolare movement, thanks to a friend called Chicca who invited her to be part of the GEN (New Generation) movement.
Maria Grazia Magrini, vice-postulator of Chiara Badano's cause for canonization, told ZENIT: "She put Jesus in the first place. She called him 'my spouse.'"
As a young girl, she liked to sing, dance, play tennis and skate. She loved the mountains and the sea. "She also tried to go to Mass every day," said Magrini.
One day, at age 17, while playing tennis the adolescent felt an acute pain. Her mother recalled: "She returned home and was very pale. She went upstairs."
The mother asked her: "Why did you come back, Chiara?" The youth explained, "Because during the match I felt such an sharp pain in my back that I dropped the racquet."
The pain worsened. Doctors soon discovered bone cancer. As the disease progressed, Badano faced repeated hospitalizations and increasing pain. She often repeated, "For you, Jesus. If you wish it, so do I!"
Her mother still remembers when she came home after the first session of chemotherapy. She did not want to talk. Maria Teresa recalled: "I looked at her and I saw the expression on her face, all the struggle she was combating within herself to say her 'yes' to Jesus." After 25 minutes, she said to her mother "now you can talk."
Going to meet Jesus
Chiara underwent surgery, which was unsuccessful; from that moment she lost the use of her legs.
According to her vice postulator, this young athlete, notwithstanding the very painful moment, exclaimed: "If I had to choose between walking or going to paradise, I wouldn't hesitate, I'd choose paradise."
At that time her friendship with Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare movement, who decided to call the youth Chiara "Luce" Badano, became very close.
She spent several months in agony, preparing for her encounter with Jesus. "The most beautiful moments were during the last summer," said her friend, Chicca. "She was motionless in her bed," she recalled.
Magrini highlighted Chiara's attitude: "She didn't cry, didn't lament, she looked at the image of Jesus."
Chicca recalled how Chiara wished to prepare her own funeral: the songs of the Mass, the dress and hairdo: Everything was for her a celebration. The friend recalled, "She told me she wanted to be buried in a white dress, as a bride that goes to meet Jesus."
Chiara made one last exhortation to her mother: "When you dress me, you must repeat three times: Now Chiara is seeing Jesus." Chiara also asked that the cornea of her eyes be donated to two youths.
She died on Oct. 7, 1990. Her last words to her mother were: "Be happy because I'm happy."
Fr. Pat Angelucci and Deacon Mike Leschinsky will be on EWTN telecast tonight (Sept. 26) at 7:00 P.M. (Eastern Time) to speak about the relic of Don Bosco. They will be guests of Fr.Benedict Groeschel on his weekly program: Sunday Night Live.
The following comes from the Medjugorje Site: I recently spent three days in Medjugorje. And, as a journalist, I have never felt so useless before. For the first time in my career I realise my words cannot express what I would like to share. Call me unskilled or incompetent if you will, but when I try to describe what I have found inside me since my visit to the town I cannot find the words.
I was very sceptical about the Medjugorje phenomenon before my visit. But driven by a somewhat cynical curiosity I went to Medjugorje with a friend who had been there 15 times before and has co-written a book about the shrine.
The whole car journey there was an unbroken dialogue between my mind and his heart; I could not understand with my brain what my friend was trying to share through his heart. And this is exactly what I am doing right now: I want to share the experience of my heart through the words of my mind. Is that possible?
Before my visit I found it difficult to believe that Our Lady had been continually speaking for almost 30 years in such a peripheral place. What’s more, I could not accept that Mary would be appearing on earth again to share some secrets about trials humanity will face in the future.
Actually, I confess I still find these things very hard to grasp rationally. Medjugorje is completely illogical, if you look at it in a purely rationalistic way. But as soon as I arrived I stepped out of the Kingdom of Reason and into the Empire of the Heart.
I visited Sister Elvira’s community, where people with problems of drug addiction found a way to live again. I encountered a local man, Michele Vasilj, in whose eyes I caught a glimpse of Mary’s sight. I met Sister Cornelia at the orphanage she runs, and there I was given a mysterious sort of prophecy regarding my private life; it was incredible.
I cried without reason while I was praying in the parish church. I have cried only once before like this. That happened when I prayed for the first time in a charismatic community (you may recall that I wrote about that experience in this slot last July). But this time my tears were much heavier and meaningful, a gift from Our Lady.
I listened to the visionary Mirjana witnessing to her experience and I realised that some of the words she was saying from the balcony of her tiny house in front of about a hundred people were spoken directly to me. When I listened to one of Mary’s messages I realised the words spoke directly to my heart, giving me the solution to a problem I was carrying around like a heavy burden.
Many of you are probably thinking: he is pathetic. That is what I used to think whenever I bumped into one of the many Medjugorje devotees. Reason cannot grasp this phenomenon – at least mine can’t. Reason is inclined to say that Medjugorje relies on coincidence, autosuggestion and emotionalism. But these explanations no longer satisfy me. If you have experienced what I experienced you would understand why.
In fact, the point of my trip to Medjugorje has been precisely this: to discover that there is a mysterious spiritual dimension that is far beyond our understanding, that cannot be limited by our mind. So the only words that can be useful are these: come and see. In Medjugorje a new world could be unveiled inside you. At least, that is what has happened to me.
Delivering the featured address at a religion news writers conference in Denver on Friday, Archbishop Charles Chaput commented on what he believes to be the new secular “orthodoxy” within American media and warned that slanted journalism “diminishes public life.”
On Sept. 24, the Denver prelate made his remarks as keynote speaker at the 61st annual Religion Newswriters Association conference at the city's Westin Tabor center downtown.
Opening his speech, Archbishop Chaput underscored that a “free press is part of the American identity, and also one of its best institutions. I respect that. I value what journalists do for the same reason I value the importance of religious faith in American life – both in the private home and in the public square.”
In that regard, he added, the “kind of journalism that tracks our religious life is so important because it’s the profession where two of our defining freedoms meet.”
“A responsible press, and a faith shaped by the God of charity and justice, share two things in common: a concern for human dignity, and an interest in truth,” the prelate noted. “Freedom means that our choices matter. It also means that our mistakes have consequences.”
Archbishop Chaput then referred to famed 20th century author George Orwell and how his controversial work titled “Animal Farm” – which critiqued the Soviet regime in Russia in the mid 1900s – was initially suppressed from publication.
“Six decades later, this essay still has value,” he continued, “And here’s why: Most arguments for press freedom deal with the media’s need for independence from state censorship and propaganda. That makes sense. But Orwell focused on something very different – a kind of undermining of free thought and expression unique to modern democratic societies.”
“Nobody demanded the media’s fawning coverage of the Soviet Union,” the archbishop recalled. “Nobody required the falsification of facts, or the ugly attacks on critics of Stalin, or the covering-up of unpleasant truths. Nobody forced journalists and editors to do these things. They freely chose to do them.”
“The news media of the day were staffed by decent men and women,” he clarified. “They felt they were on the side of social progress. They thought the Soviet Union, whatever its flaws, was fighting for human progress too. So they ignored unhappy details and hard questions about the reality of Soviet life.”
This dynamic “created what Orwell saw as a new form of religious orthodoxy,” said Archbishop Chaput. “That orthodoxy shaped the boundaries of permissible thought and expression. And Orwell warned that this unspoken tendency toward group-think would threaten the press in democratic societies well into the future.”
Orwell’s observations “capture the way many people feel today toward the news media and coverage of religion news,” he went on. “In practice – at least in the eyes of ordinary people I hear from every week – a new body of ideas seems to shape the limits of acceptable thought in American public life.”
“This new orthodoxy seems to influence the selection of religious news and how that news gets presented. It seems to frame which opinions are appropriate and which ones won’t be heard. And it seems to guide the historical narrative that media present to their audiences,” the archbishop emphasized. “At its core, it has a set of assumptions about the nature of human life, the purpose of government, and the proper role of religion in the lives of individuals and in society that veers away from past American habits of thought.”
The Denver prelate noted that this “new thinking seems to presume a society much more secular and much less religious than anything in America’s past or warranted by present facts; a society where people are free to worship and believe whatever they want, so long as they don’t intrude their religious idiosyncrasies on government, the economy, or culture.”
While “I do know reporters and editors whom I admire, and whose fairness and skill I commend,” said the archbishop, “I think the deficiencies in today’s coverage of religion are too real to ignore.”
The “Christian story now told in mainstream media” depicts the faith as “a backward social force and a menace to the liberty of their fellow citizens.”
“One of the worst habits many Catholics had at the start of the clergy sex abuse crisis, including many bishops, was to minimize a very grave problem,” he said. “But news media show many of the same patterns of denial, vanity, obstinacy and institutional defensiveness in dealing with criticism of their own failures.”
“Freedom of the press clearly includes the right to question the actions and motives of religious figures and institutions,” Archbishop Chaput noted. “But freedom doesn’t excuse prejudice or poor handling of serious material, especially people’s religious convictions. What’s new today is the seeming collusion – or at least an active sympathy – between some media organizations and journalists, and political and sexual agendas hostile to traditional Christian beliefs.”
“When this happens,” he underscored, “the results are bad for everybody.”
“It’s no accident that freedom of religion and freedom of the press are both named – in that order – in the First Amendment. The country’s founders believed that protecting these two freedoms would be vital to the American experiment,” the archbishop said. “They saw that a self-governing people needs truthful information and sensible opinion from sources other than the state. They also believed that morality grounded in religious belief is fundamental to forming virtuous people able to govern themselves.”
“Knowledge professionals have their own kind of orthodoxy,” he added. “They place a high premium on their own skill and autonomy. This has consequences. It predisposes them to be uncomfortable with, and even hostile toward, any claims of revealed truth, religious institutions, traditions, doctrines and authority.”
“The point I want to leave you with is this: Journalism is a 'knowledge profession.' But like any other profession, the work of journalism doesn't necessarily translate into self-knowledge or self-criticism. And any lasting service to the common good demands both. Journalism has its own unstated orthodoxies. It has its own prejudices. And when they go unacknowledged and uncorrected – as they too often seem to do – they can diminish our public life.”
The Third Continental Congress on Vocations in North America (2002), invited to a paradigm shift on vocations ministry from a recruitment approach to a long term process of building a vocation culture in which every Christian is empowered to identify and respond to the mission to which he or she is called as a member of the Body Christ, in and for the world.
In the words of the Congress document, this means “to foster an atmosphere in which young Catholics are open to a personal invitation to discern accurately and embrace freely the form of permanent commitment in the Church to which they are being called.” (Third Continental Congress on Vocations in North America 2002, p.62)
To create this atmosphere or vocation culture, the Congress suggested five actions which comprise its Plan: · To Pray: to be holy, to be converted, to worship · To Evangelize: to teach, to form, to catechize · To Experience: worship, community, service, witness · To Mentor: to accompany, to guide, to model · To Invite: to discern, to choose, to commit
The resources here will help you implement these actions. These are some ways in which youth directors can collaborate in building a vocation culture:
· When planning programs for youth, find opportunities to vitalize and nurture their faith and spiritual renewal.
· Live with passion and conviction your vocation to proclaim the Gospel inviting young people to discern their own call.
· Invite religious and priests to be present in youth activities and program.
As I sat there on Sunday morning in the rain, waiting for Pope Benedict to arrive at Cofton Park just outside of Birmingham, England, for the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, I thought “It’s amazing how four days with the Vicar of Christ can change the minds and hearts of a whole nation.”
When I arrived in England last week on the eve of Benedict XVI’s historic trip to Britain, the first “state visit” of a pope of the Catholic Church since the Protestant Reformation, I was struck by the volume of hostile media coverage, both print and electronic, that preceded his arrival. I feared this hatred would manifest itself in ugly street demonstrations by atheists and anti-Catholic groups.
But from the moment Benedict landed in Scotland on Thursday morning when cameras showed the pontiff and the queen chatting amiably in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, to his farewell at Birmingham International Airport on Sunday evening, he captured not only the imagination of the people of the United Kingdom but also the hearts of many of its citizens—fulfilling his theme for this visit, “Heart speaks unto heart,” taken from Cardinal Newman’s own motto when he was elevated to the college of cardinals.
The visit was rich with ironies. Benedict began at Holyrood, which was the home of Mary Queen of Scots, and the place from which she left to be executed for being a Catholic. He gave a powerful speech from Westminster Hall where Saints Thomas More and John Fisher were condemned to death for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the Church in England. And he held a vigil on Saturday night in Hyde Park, near Tyburn where hundreds of Catholic martyrs were brutally hanged, drawn and quartered for their faith.
Pope Benedict certainly did not shy away from speaking the truth. But as one British newspaper put it, “What we thought was God’s Rottweiler has turned out to be a gentle German shepherd.” He did not avoid difficult issues such as the clergy abuse scandal and past mistakes by members and leaders of the Church. But he also challenged society with a distinctly countercultural message, questioning the belligerence of “aggressive atheism” and its desire to expunge religion from the public conversation. He even argued forcefully that Christmas be celebrated publicly, which garnered huge headlines in the daily tabloids.
The media predicted that few people would turn up at papal events. But at every venue over the four exhausting days, crowds exceeded all expectations.
The highlight for me, of course, was the beatification of my mentor and spiritual father, Blessed John Henry Newman, whose motto I chose for my own when I became a bishop. Pope Benedict said that Newman is best remembered for his “keen intellect and prolific pen” but he was careful throughout his visit to present Newman as a model for the discourse between faith and reason, the Church and the public square.
When the pope recalled that Newman was a “warm and human” individual, a dedicated parish priest and a true “pastor of souls”, as well as a great thinker and theologian, he might as well have been referring to himself. As one newspaper acknowledged after the visit concluded: “If the state visit has achieved anything, it has been to show a decidedly skeptical public that the parish priest of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics does indeed have a heart. Since the theme that the organizers chose for the trip was Newman’s motto ‘Heart speaks unto heart,’ they must be congratulating themselves on a mission accomplished” (The Daily Telegraph).
Yes indeed: It’s amazing what a few days can do.
Most Rev. James D. Conley is auxiliary bishop of the Denver Archdiocese.
On Sunday 26 September, from the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin-Valdocco, the 141st Missionary Expedition will officially depart. The missionary mandate will be given by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Pascual Chávez.
The solemn celebration in one of the most significant places in Salesian history the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians will see new missionaries setting out for the 5 continents, an event which recalls the first missionary expedition sent by Don Bosco himself on 11 November 1875, and re-confirms the global missionary vocation of the Congregation.
This years receiving their cross from the Rector Major will be 42 Sons of Don Bosco 9 more than last year. Many of them, 24, come from Asia, of whom 10 from Vietnam alone. The rest are from Europe (7), America (5) and Africa, which this year for the first time is sending out more missionaries than it is welcoming.
In addition to these there are 3 other Salesians who went to the missions during 2010, two sent to Haiti and one to Fiji, who however will not be present at this ceremony since they are already in their mission lands.
As well as the Salesians on their way to the “missio ad gentes” there will be 8 missionaries of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and 22 lay volunteers.
The destinations of the new missionaries are works and communities around the world. Some of them, including 11 Salesians, will be going as missionaries to European countries, a decision in keeping with the guidelines of the GC26 and the commitment undertaken for the Project for Europe. The Salesian charism, with its preferential option for the poor, in fact involves the numerous pockets of material and spiritual poverty often hidden away on the outskirts of modern western cities. In addition, all the Provinces are responsible for sending missionaries and the communion between communities is also seen in the mutual support they provide in various situations.
The Salesian missionaries have been getting ready for this day by attending a preparation course organised by the Department for the Missions and held between Rome and Turin, during which they have had the opportunity to meet the Rector Major and get to know some of the main places of Salesian interest.
The need for a specific formation for the missionaries is based on the knowledge that in the missionary apostolate enthusiasm and the wealth of one’s own faith, fundamental though they may be, are not in themselves sufficient. Missionaries need the appropriate preparation in order to go to a new country and among different people, with respect and trust in them so that their presence may be a welcome effective, humble and beneficial one.
The Mass on this 141st Missionary Expedition can been seen on mondovision, on the Telepace television channel and in streaming on www.missionidonbosco.tv
Transmission starts at 12:20 (GMT+1).
To read the words and listen to the voice of the Holy Father is to be brought into the presence of Jesus Christ. Witness this masterpiece of an answer the pope delivered to the following question aboard his flight to England last week:
“The United Kingdom, like many other Western countries, is considered to be a secular State. There is a strong culturally-motivated atheist movement. Nonetheless, there are also signs that religious faith – particularly faith in Jesus Christ – remains alive at a personal level. What does this mean for Catholics and Anglicans? Can anything be done to make the Church a more credible and attractive institution?”
Text of the pope’s response:
“In my view”, the Pope replied, “a Church which seeks above all to be attractive is already on the wrong path, because the Church does not work for herself, she does not work to increase her numbers and her power. The Church is at the service of Another. She serves not herself, not to become strong; rather, she serves to make the announcement of Jesus Christ more accessible: the great truths, the great powers of love and reconciliation which appeared in Him and which always come from the presence of Jesus Christ.
Tyburn's first recorded execution took place in 1196, when William FitzOsbert, or William with the Beard, was hanged for sedition. Ralph of Diceto tells us that William "his hands tied behind him, his feet tied with long cords, was drawn by means of a horse through the midst of the city to the gallows near the Tyburn. He was hanged."
The Elms near Tybourne were called "the King's Gallows". Thus Tyburn from the beginning was clearly the King's gallows for London and Middlesex criminals. That it was placed outside the boundary of the city indicates the administration of the criminal law by the King's courts instead of by the local or manorial courts. The manner of excecution at Tyburn seen in William FitzOsbert's excecution was to become the norm later.
That is, the condemned criminal, after being drawn to Tyburn on a hurdle or rough sledge by a horse, at Tyburn was first hanged on the gallows, then drawn or disembowelled, and finally quartered, his quarters being placed high in public places as a warning to others. Thus, because Tyburn was the King's Gallows, those who were guilty of Treason were Hanged, Drawn and Quartered on this spot.
Some say that over fifty thousand persons met their death at Tyburn during the six centuries it was a place of execution. Among these are numbered: Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, 1330 Perkin Warbeck, 1496 Elizabeth Barton, the "Holy Maid of Kent", 1534 Claude Duval, 1670 Jack Sheppard, 1724 Jonathan Wild, 1725 Earl Ferrers, 1760 Mrs Brownrigg, 1767 Dr Dodd, 1777 To this list we must add in 1661 the lifeless bodies of Cromwell, Ireton and Bradshaw were exposed at Tyburn and beheaded. The 105 Roman Catholic Reformation Martyrs are not given here. The executions at Tyburn provided London's most popular and frightful sideshow. The ritual cruelties and indecencies practised here thrilled and corrupted every class of society. Along with criminals, saints and martyrs were butchered on Tyburn Tree.
The following comes from the CNA: Speaking to journalists less than an hour after Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's beatification, Vatican spokesman Fr. Lombardi expressed confidence in his being canonized. There is a "concrete possibility," also, that he will be made a "doctor of the Church."
The Vatican spokesman was asked if Pope Benedict had it in mind to canonize Blessed John Henry Newman considering his enthusiasm to have him beatified.
Responding frankly, he said that official procedure calls for further measures before that can happen and the Pope is "very respectful" of the rules. A papal decree verifying a second miracle has to be made for the Blessed to become a fully-fledged saint.
"But," he said, "we are confident that there will also be the canonization."
Fr. Lombardi commented that after the beatification, especially because it was presided over by the Pope himself, there will be a lot of attention and devotion to the Blessed. He thought that there would be many people who would pray for graces through Cardinal Newman's intercession and said he was "optimistic" about the process for his canonization advancing to fulfillment.
As far as the possibility Blessed Newman being declared a "doctor of the Church," he said that on the plane on the way over to the U.K. from Rome the Pope himself used that very qualification. The Pope had made the reference on the base of the weight of Newman's thought.
In this context, he said that the possibility would be "spontaneous" after his canonization. And, with the diffusion of the understanding of the importance of the Blessed and his work, Fr. Lombardi thought that there was "a concrete possibility that the Pope will proceed in this sense."
Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home,--
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene,--one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldst lead me on:
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish days, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on;
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.
The Holy Father met with the bishops of Scotland, Wales and England at Oscott College in Birmingham on Sunday before concluding his papal visit to the United Kingdom. During his remarks to the prelates, Pope Benedict touched on the “deep thirst” that people within the U.K. have for Christianity, urging the episcopal leaders to “offer them the living water of the Gospel.”
Recalling the influence of Cardinal John Henry Newman in giving "voice to the new confidence and vitality of the Catholic community" over a century earlier, the Pope said that his beatification on Sunday was "a reminder of the continuing action in calling forth gifts of holiness from among the people of Great Britain."
The Holy father focused on the importance of living and transmitting the Gospel message within society throughout the address insisting on the "urgent need to proclaim the Gospel afresh in a highly secularized environment."
Noting the "deep a thirst" the people of the U.K. have for the Christian message, he told the bishops that they are chosen by God "to offer them the living water of the Gospel, encouraging them to place their hopes, not in the vain enticements of this world, but in the firm assurances of the next."
Pope Benedict then invited them to work together with the newly formed Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, also employing Church movements with a charism for evangelization to develop an approach to spreading the Word while being "sure to present in its fulness the life-giving message of the Gospel."
He also highlighted the necessity for "the prophetic voice of Christians" to help those in need, stressing that today's world provides "a good opportunity to reinforce that message, and indeed to encourage people to aspire to higher moral values in every area of their lives, against a background of growing cynicism regarding even the possibility of virtuous living."
Referring to "shameful" abuse of young people in the Church for the second time in as many days, he asked them to reach out to children who suffer abuse elsewhere "in a humble spirit of compassion."
"Our duty of care towards the young demands nothing less," he said.
"As we reflect on the human frailty that these tragic events so starkly reveal, we are reminded that, if we are to be effective Christian leaders, we must live lives of the utmost integrity, humility and holiness."
Before closing his remarks, the Holy Father spoke on the upcoming publication of the new translation of the Roman Missal, thanking the bishops for their “painstaking care” in contributing to and reviewing the texts.
The Pontiff also addressed a “matter I touched upon in February with the Bishops of England and Wales, when I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.”
“This should be seen,” he explained, “as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all.”
“Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished,” the Pope underscored.
“With these sentiments, I thank you warmly for your hospitality over the past four days,” the Holy Father concluded, adding “I am pleased to impart my Apostolic Blessing to you and to all the clergy, religious and lay faithful of England, Scotland and Wales.”
A diverse and enthusiastic crowd of tens of thousands joined Pope Benedict XVI for his final event in London. Attendees told CNA they were extremely happy to join the event to bear witness to their faith and to show their love for the Pope.
The vigil celebration of the Beatification of John Henry Newman in London's Hyde Park attracted an estimated 80,000 people, the BBC reports.
During the vigil’s Eucharistic Adoration many of the people in attendance knelt on the grass in solemn prayer while others prayed while standing.
Hundreds of people were left outside the park gates, which closed as the Pope arrived. These stayed and prayed just like those on the inside. Most could see the large video screens above the fences.
CNA spoke with members of the vigil crowd, finding that every one of them was enthusiastic for the Pope's arrival and happy to bear witness to the faith in the U.K.
Besides the great presence of English, Welsh and Scottish, there was an enormous mix of people whose origins included Hong Kong, Uganda, Malta and Chile. Their multitudes of waving flags showed their diversity.
A teenager from London named Brendan painted his face with the Vatican coat of arms, displaying the coat’s keys on each cheek. He had written the abbreviation "BXVI" on his forehead and held a sign with the words "We Love U Papa" for all to see.
Mr. and Mrs. John Holden told CNA that they had come from southwest Wales with their son Fr. Martin Holden to see the Pope. They had already seen the Holy Father earlier Saturday morning at Westminster Cathedral. John commented that the event "as you say in America, was 'awesome'."
Tim Rumpus from St. Joseph's parish in Basingstoke came to "bear witness, show that the Catholic faith is still strong in England, and basically, with all the negative press, stand up and be counted."
Attendee Lauren is in her twenties. She is originally from Cardiff, Wales, but presently lives in Battlesea, England. She said about the Pope, "it's wonderful to have him here" and recalled her father's participation in John Paul II's visit in 1982. Magdalena from Slovakia said she was there just to watch the Pope and to pray.
Richard, originally from the Philippines, but now in the U.K. for work, explained he came to the "vespers" in order to "witness the faithful, the gathering of faith of the entire world in the United Kingdom."
Barry McCarthy, from London, was there with his wife and child. He said "we're here today to celebrate our faith." He added that he would like "to welcome the Pope and just thank him for coming."
During the vigil Pope Benedict spoke of the “immense spiritual joy” Cardinal Newman’s imminent beatification has caused. He urged the crowd to listen for God’s call in their lives.
“Be open to his voice resounding in the depths of your heart: even now his heart is speaking to your heart,” he told the audience, alluding to the motto of the cardinal.
How odd that it should be the Guardian that grasped the magnitude of what happened yesterday. Andrew Brown, religion editor of Comment is Free, and the possessor of an intellect as mighty and muddled as that of Rowan Williams, writes:
This was the end of the British Empire. In all the four centuries from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II, England has been defined as a Protestant nation. The Catholics were the Other; sometimes violent terrorists and rebels, sometimes merely dirty immigrants. The sense that this was a nation specially blessed by God arose from a deeply anti-Catholic reading of the Bible. Yet it was central to English self-understanding when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1952 [sic], and swore to uphold the Protestant religion by law established.
For all of those 400 or so years it would have been unthinkable that a pope should stand in Westminster Hall and praise Sir Thomas More, who died to defend the pope’s sovereignty against the king’s. Rebellion against the pope was the foundational act of English power. And now the power is gone, and perhaps the rebellion has gone, too.
This was indeed a day of unthinkable events. Many Protestants will have been disturbed to see Pope Benedict XVI in Westminster Hall praising St Thomas More (who incidentally died to defend what he saw as the sovereignty of God). I don’t agree, however, that rebellion against the Pope was the “foundational act of English power”. Brown is a Left-wing agnostic whom one would expect to be suspicious of a national myth; but here we go again – we’re told that England discovered its identity as a result of the Reformation. Actually, English industry and culture flourished under the spiritual patronage of Rome; if the country had remained Catholic, they would have continued to do so. (In Germany, cities that remained Catholic were as prosperous as those that become Protestant.)
Indeed, if you want evidence of the self-confidence of our Catholic national identity, look no further than Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall. For at least the first 500 years of its existence – we can’t be sure when it was founded – the Abbey was obedient to Benedict’s predecessors. So for the Pope to enter it today was an affirmation of its own “foundational act”. Not for nothing did he point out in his address that the church was dedicated to St Peter. Even Catholics who would never be so crude as to say “the Abbey belongs to us, not to you” sensed that history was being re-balanced in some way. They realised that the Pope had as much right to sit in that sanctuary as the Archbishop of Canterbury (who, to be fair, showed the Holy Father a degree of respect that implied that he, at least, recognises the spiritual primacy of the See of Peter even if he rejects some of its teachings).
Of course I’m not denying that for centuries anti-Catholicism was central to English self-understanding, even if it took nearly a century of harrassment and persecution to suppress the old religion. And there are still pockets of intense hatred of Rome in English society today. The difference is that the only anti-Catholics with influence are secularists who aren’t interested enough in the papal claims even to find out what they are. (I’m thinking of Peter Tatchell’s amazingly ignorant Channel 4 documentary.) They hate religion and they pick on Catholics because they’re the softest target. Protestant anti-Catholics, in contrast, don’t have mates in the media or useful allies in the Church of England. All they can do is watch in horror as the Pope of Rome processes into the church where Protestant monarchs are crowned, declares unambigously that he is the successor of St Peter with responsibility for the unity of Christendom, and then walks out again – to hearty applause.
To be honest, I’m still not quite sure what to make of it all myself. Benedict XVI’s speeches are worth reading several times; they often turn out to be more radical than they first appear. But one thing is for sure. Despite the unassuming courtesy of the Pope’s manner, he didn’t give an inch.
Her deep brown eyes have seen a lot of life in 100 years. They witnessed the wonder of the children to whom she taught the catechism of the Catholic Church in pre-Castro Cuba. They also were among the first to observe the trickle, then the storm, of children landing on U.S. soil after being smuggled out of Cuba during Operation Pedro Pan in the early 1960s. Her eyes showed her the needs of the aging religious who were unable to care for themselves and whose own eyesight was failing. And now those brown eyes, accompanied by a smile and confident in the power of a life spent in prayer, greet her visitors. Quiet, unimposing Sister Ana Maria Campos, now in residence at St. Jerome Church in Fort Lauderdale, turned 100 in August. Sister Campos was born in a part of Havana called San Antonio de Los Banos Aug. 25, 1910. She knew she wanted to be a religious from an early age. But always the caregiver, she first tended to her grandmother, then cared for both her parents, and did not enter the convent until after their deaths. Sister Campos joined the Sisters of St. Philip Neri, a congregation founded in Spain in 1858 by Marcos and Gertrudis Castaner Seda. The brother and sister, inspired by the life of St. Philip Neri, started a shelter for the poor and taught catechism. She traces her own religious calling to her experiences as a young teacher of catechism in her hometown. She and another neighborhood friend would go out into the community, gather up the children and tell them vivid stories of the church. "She was well known in the community both as a catechist and missionary," said retired Miami Auxiliary Bishop Agustin A. Roman, a native of Cuba who is a longtime friend. He was a neighbor who would go on to be named a Miami auxiliary in 1979. He was the first Cuban in 200 years to be appointed a bishop in the United States. Sister Campos joined the congregation in 1955 and began teaching at a small primary school in Cuba. In the years before the revolution -- which ended Jan. 1, 1959, with the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship -- she worked at Our Lady of Lourdes in Havana. One of her former students went on to become the bishop of Matanzas. Sister Campos always loved taking care of children and working in the convent with the other sisters. She continued teaching at Our Lady of Lourdes until circumstances in Cuba led to another calling across the Straits of Florida. In 1961, Sister Campos came to Florida, settling in Homestead where, along with other sisters, she continued to serve the Lord by caring for the children seeking freedom in America through Operation Pedro Pan, a Catholic humanitarian program that brought 14,000 unaccompanied minors from Cuba to the United States. Sister Vivian Gomez, current principal at St. Jerome School, met Sister Campos when Sister Gomez, as a young child, first arrived in the Pedro Pan community at Florida City. "We used to call her 'Sister Cepacol' because whenever anyone was sick, she would give us Cepacol," recalled Sister Gomez recalled in an interview with The Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Miami Archdiocese. Sister Campos took her perpetual vows in a tiny chapel in Homestead in 1961. The chapel was sparse, with no musical instruments, so the children borrowed an organ from another church for the ceremony. When people ask Sister Campos what she remembers most about that time of exodus, she recalls the image of a young girl, age 11, newly arrived from Cuba, clutching her newborn brother in her arms. It was a symbol of the depth of sacrifice Cuban families made at a time of great upheaval. Sister Campos still weeps when she recalls the cries of the baby. These days she spends her time knitting and, of course, praying. Religious music remains her great love -- no surprise when you learn she used to sing and play the "bandolina," a guitarlike stringed instrument. "In my day I had a lovely voice," she said with a wink. She resides in the tidy pink convent just down the street from St. Jerome School. Sister Campos lives in an upstairs room, unable to get down the stairs because the building has no elevator. The room she sleeps in was once used by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta when she visited south Florida in 1974. Bishop Roman visited the parish not long ago and gave Sister Campos one of his most prized possessions, his rosary. The beads "are what I prayed with every day. She was the inspiration for my vocation and for the vocations of four other priests in our parish in Cuba. She prayed for us and for us to follow Jesus," the bishop said. Even at 100, Sister Campos still prays every day. She prays for world peace. She prays for world health. But most of all she prays for "the little children." "If I had one request it would be to be able to go back to Mass," she said. It has been more than two years since she was able to leave the second floor apartment to attend Mass. "My legs don't take me anymore," she said, "but I pray for all of you."
Welcome to the Blog! I am a Catholic Priest and was ordained to the priesthood on August 26, 2000. I hope this site is a place of interest for you where you will find ideas and information on the Catholic faith and the Church.
