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The Church Around the World

Contents - Aug 2012 - Buy a copy now Assumption homily: Mary: The true Ark of the Covenant - Pope Benedict XVI Benedict XVI sets up Anglican Ordinariate for Australia - Monsignor Harry Entwistle News: The Church Around the World Youth: Young adult Catholics peer ministry in WA and Queensland - Br Barry Coldrey Religious freedom: US Supreme Court upholds Obamacare - Babette Francis Vocations: Australian religious Sisters: 'In the true spirit of Vatican II' - Kate Cleary MGL Events: Equipping Christian leaders for the challenges of secularism - Philippa Le Feuvre Marriage: Archbishop Hickey: the Eucharist and the Christian family - Archbishop Barry Hickey The Virgin Mary's key role in our salvation history - Cedric Wright Parents' love for their children: finding the right balance - Andrew Kania Letters: Fact-filled article - Thomas and Patricia Watkin Letters: Caritas - Lance Eccles Letters: Old Testament God (1) - Fr Brian Harrison OS Letters: Old Testament God (2) - Frank Mobbs Letters: Emily's List - Maureen Federico Letters: Transubstantiation - John Young Letters: Real Presence - Theo Jorna Letters: Women priests - Francis Vrizmoed Letters: Marriage - Peter J. Young Books: LESSONS IN A ROSE-GARDEN: Reviving the Doctrinal Rosary, by Aidan Nichols O.P. - Peter Westmore (reviewer) Books: THE NEW EVANGELISATION: Issues and Challenges for Catholic Schools - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL IN THE PRIESTLY BREAST: Procedural Justice - Michael Thomas (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: The Pietà: the love of our heavenly Mother - Anne Lastman

Anglican prayers for Personal Ordinariate

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the UK is about to publish its daily liturgical prayer book, as part of its mission to incorporate Anglican traditions within the Catholic Church.

Father James Bradley, communications officer for the jurisdiction, said that the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham, which contains the order of daily prayer and readings, "shows a deep respect for the Anglican tradition, and gives it space to flourish" in the Catholic Church.

The new prayer book draws heavily from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer for its services of Morning and Evening Prayer. It also contains the traditional litany of intercession, along with the "minor hours" of the daily prayer cycle and the traditional night service of Compline.

In keeping with a decision of the Holy See, the text generally maintains the traditional language of Anglican worship, an older, more poetic English dialect that is widely regarded as both aesthetically rich, and spiritually valuable.

While the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham is primarily intended as a liturgical book for the UK ordinariate, Fr Bradley also stressed its potential value "to members of other personal ordinariates" in other countries, as well as "those with an interest in Catholic or Anglican liturgical developments."

EWTN News

New US high school RE stresses orthodoxy

In response to concerns raised by teachers and clergy, the Diocese of Cleveland has revamped its high school religion curriculum for the upcoming year, with a focus on orthodoxy and moral clarity.

Superintendent of Schools Margaret Lyons said that the new program, developed under Bishop Richard G. Lennon, was "Gospel-centred" and "very orthodox." The new teaching materials, she said, also corrected "a shyness about talking about moral issues."

After his appointment in 2006, Bishop Lennon heard concerns raised about the quality of religious instruction in local Catholic schools. Several years of assessments and meetings resulted in changes to the elementary school materials, and a comprehensive overhaul of the high school curriculum.

Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and guidelines from the US bishops' conference, the new program reintroduces elements of Catholic tradition that were "known to previous generations of Catholics but absent from more recent instruction."

Under the new program, Margaret Lyons explained, "students read and are guided through Church documents. They are taught the role and importance of the Magisterium in guarding and passing on the faith, as well as being a sure guide to positive thinking and behaviour."

In response to widespread confusion about the nature and importance of the Church, the program also stresses the Church's unique standing as a divine and human institution, taught and governed by an apostolic authority with "its origin in Jesus Christ."

Cleveland's new curriculum also seeks to cultivate an enduring and lifelong faith, capable of standing up to cultural secularism and moral relativism.

Catholic News Agency

Vocations increase in England and Wales

It is expected that 38 men will be ordained for the priesthood in England and Wales in 2013, nearly double the number of ordinands in 2011, when 20 were ordained.

The Catholic Herald reported the projections, noting that the number of seminarians in the Archdiocese of Southwark alone (26) has more than doubled since 2005, when it had only 10.

The Southwark vocations website states that a "campaign of prayer for vocations has coincided with a dramatic increase in the number of men coming forward as potential candidates for the priesthood."

The vocations director spoke of distributing prayer cards for the rosary and encouraging each parish to hold Holy Hours of prayer, the Catholic Herald reported.

Father Stephen Langridge was appointed full-time director of vocations for the archdiocese in early June - the first time in 30 years that this has been a full-time post.

Zenit News Agency

Vatican II: Eucharistic adoration and processions

Benedict XVI says the Second Vatican Council did not reject Eucharistic adoration outside of Mass. "One unilateral interpretation of the Second Vatican Council has penalised this dimension, restricting in practice the Eucharist to the moment of celebration," the Pope said during his homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi on 7 June.

The Pope told the large outdoor congregation that the way Eucharistic adoration was de-emphasised in the Church was "influenced by a certain secularising mentality of the 1960s and '70s" and this had "repercussions for the spiritual life of the faithful."

He proposed that limiting one's relationship with the "Eucharistic Jesus" solely to the moment of the Mass risked "emptying his presence in the rest of existential time and space," including in our daily lives.

Benedict explained that there is no contradiction or conflict between Christ worshipped in the Mass and Christ adored outside the sacred liturgy, since "communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go together."

Indeed, he argued that Eucharistic adoration prepares the hearts of both priests and lay people for "a more fruitful encounter with Christ in the Holy Mass".

Catholic News Agency

Religious gathering on "climate change"

Recently retired auxiliary Bishop Pat Power of Canberra-Goulburn was part of a multi-faith "Australian Religious Response to Climate Change" which included Buddhists, Catholics, other Christians, Hindus, Muslims and Jews. They were in Canberra on on 26 June to argue that Australia needed to tackle dangerous climate change for future generations.

Bishop Power said it was important that the current generation didn't squander the planet's limited resources and put future generations at risk. "So I would take a stance very much at odds with Cardinal Pell, who would often deny many of the issues involved around climate change," the bishop told AAP.

"I think it's important that another bishop shows that mainstream Australian Catholicism, and in fact the Pope himself, has been very strong in speaking in support of measures to take into account issues affecting the environment."

Bishop Power said Cardinal Pell was "at variance" with mainstream religious opinion which recognised there were some "incontestable facts" when it came to global warming.

Australian Associated Press

UK gay marriage laws: no protection for churches

British Prime Minister David Cameron's promise to protect churches from gay marriage laws could hit legal hurdles, a justice minister admitted on 11 June. Crispin Blunt said it would be hard to guarantee that clergy would not face court challenges if they refused to preside over same-sex unions.

"We're seeking to protect, indeed, proscribe religious organisations from offering gay marriage," said Mr Blunt. He said it would be difficult to guarantee that clergy would not face court challenges if they refused to preside over gay marriages. "That may be problematic legally, but the proposal the Government are putting forward is that marriage should be equal in the eyes of the state whether it's between a same-sex couple or between a man and a woman. We'll have to see what happens with that."

The remarks will be seized on by critics who insist that legalising gay marriage will eventually force bishops to accept same-sex marriages.

Government ministers insisted the controversial change would go ahead by 2015, despite strong opposition with the Catholic Church joining the Church of England in condemning the move.

The Church of England has already said the safeguards will not hold under the scrutiny of the European court and that the 500-year-old ties between the Anglicans and the state are under threat. It warned it was very doubtful whether limiting same-sex couples to non-religious ceremonies would withstand a challenge at the court.

The European Court of Human Rights is likely to overturn assurances given to the church they will not have to conduct gay marriage ceremonies

Other faith leaders have joined the condemnation. Muslims have launched a Muslims Defending Marriage campaign against the reforms. Farooq Murad of the Muslim Council of Britain said: "We have a duty to defend the meaning of marriage, guard its sanctity and protect the welfare of children."

Christian campaigners from the Coalition for Marriage handed 10 Downing Street a petition against the reforms containing 550,000 signatures.

Same-sex marriage is legal in seven European countries: Spain, Sweden, Holland, Portugal, Norway, Belgium and Iceland. It will soon come into law in Denmark. Elsewhere, it is legal in Canada, Argentina, South Africa and some states in the US.

London Daily Mail

Mercy Sisters and "Rights of Mother Earth"

Mercy Sisters were among those who signed a Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth during the recent Rio+20 Conference on "sustainable development".

American Sister Mary Bilderback RSM, one of the signatories, commented: "Our most recent scientific understanding of the Universe agrees with the ancient wisdom of Indigenous Peoples: We are one interrelated, interdependent reality. Earth is indeed the Mother of us all. Humans share the genetic language of all life. All that exists traces its ancestry to the stars. Trees have rights and rivers have rights, different from the rights of humans but equally inalienable.

"We went to Rio 20 years ago to rethink our reckless treatment of Nature. Since then, human poverty has deepened and expanded, Earth's climate has become erratic, and her ecosystems have become critically compromised. Today as we return to Rio to rethink our treatment of Earth, more and more of us understand that she is no warehouse of resources but truly our Mother. Our goal is not to abuse her less in order to stretch her resources farther, but because we seek ethical ground on which to live in harmony with her.

"On Sunday [Sister] Áine and I signed the Universal Declaration for the Rights of Mother Earth as representatives of Mercy International Global Action. How proud we felt to be Sisters of Mercy, how humbled to be part of this historic, holy event acknowledging the sacredness and intrinsic glory of all God's creation."

www.mercyworld.org.news

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Cause advances

During a private audience on 28 June with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Benedict XVI promulgated a decree affirming the heroic virtues of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. This declaration carries with it the title of "Venerable". Blessed Pope John Paul II had declared him Servant of God following initiation of the Cause for Canonisation in 2002.

"This is a great day for the Catholic Diocese of Peoria and the Catholic Church in America," said Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria, Illinois. "I give thanks to God that the heroic virtues of a son from central Illinois and a priest of Peoria have been recognized by the Catholic Church.

Following conclusion of the diocesan phase of investigation in support of Archbishop Sheen's Cause for Canonisation, Bishop Jenky presented all the documents generated to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The declaration of venerability is the second of four official steps on the way to canonisation.

The diocesan investigation included research and evidence gathering related to his life of holiness and claims of miracles attributed to Archbishop Sheen in order to advance the cause thus declaring him Venerable. Verification of one miracle is a requirement for Beatification, the next step in the Canonisation process. Verification of a second miracle is necessary for Sainthood.

The Fulton J. Sheen Society of Perth, WA, works to make known the life, writings and teachings of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, to bring people to Christ through Archbishop Sheen, and to help advance the Cause for his Canonisation.

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 25 No 7 (August 2012), p. 4