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Browse › 2012 › July

July 2012

July 31

Archbishop prays for peace for Irish Church

July 31, 2012

WESTPORT, Ireland - Archbishop Michael Neary of Tuam has said he hopes the lasting legacy of June's International Eucharistic Congress will be to bring "the gift of peace, forgiveness and understanding" to the Catholic Church and to wider society. Speaking atop Ireland's holiest mountain, Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Neary was joined by an estimated 12,000 pilgrims including Archbishop Charles Brown, papal nuncio, for the traditional ascent of the 800-metre mountain where St. Patrick fasted for 40 days in the fifth century. Brown, the first papal nuncio to Ireland to complete the grueling climb, spent about five hours on the mountain chatting to pilgrims and hearing confessions. Referring to the clerical abuse scandals that have rocked the Irish Church, Neary said "on this mountain of St. Patrick in the year of the eucharistic congress in Ireland perhaps we might see the beauty in the rich inheritance of our faith despite the shadow of recent darker days." Underlining the devotion of Irish Catholics during centuries of persecution when the celebration of the Eucharist was illegal, Neary said "our ancestors were not gullible people who risked their lives as they made their way to some hidden glen to gather around the Mass rock. They felt deeply the need to celebrate the Eucharist. Their strength lay in their closeness to God and to each other. "They learned their prayers around the fire and turned to God in those same words in days of joy and nights of pain, sorrow and loneliness," he said. He urged Irish Catholics to be more upbeat, insisting "there is so much good here that has been swallowed up in criticism." "There is still a vibrant faith expressed in the many people who trek to daily Mass, those who go out to care for the poor and all those who direct their energies to deprived children and the forgotten elderly. Neary also said the Church had to be present to reach out to Catholics who no longer practise the faith. "Looking down from the summit of Croagh Patrick today we can see again a beautiful country and a revitalized Church stretching her arms out to all who want to come home," he said. "Some, sadly, in these days do not find any attraction in their faith. They may have abandoned the Mass because they find it repetitive, structured or as many people describe it as boring. Maybe this is because we have emphasised too often the ritual and rubrics or the notion of celebration without drawing attention to the task or mission of the Mass," Neary said. The climb, which has been carried out uninterrupted for more than 1,500 years, saw many pilgrims walk barefoot. However, organizers and local clergy discourage the practice on health and safety grounds.

Vatican newspaper says Melinda Gates 'off the mark' on contraception 

July 31, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Under the headline "birth control and disinformation," the Vatican newspaper took to task Melinda Gates, wife of the Microsoft founder, who announced in early July that the couple's foundation would give $560 million during the next eight years to increase women's access to artificial contraception. Written by Giulia Galeotti, a frequent contributor on abortion and other life issues, the article on the front page of the July 29 edition of L'Osservatore Romano said Gates is free to make charitable donations to whomever she wants, but not to spread incorrect information. In an interview July 10 with The Guardian, a British newspaper, Gates identified herself as a practising Catholic who "struggled" with the idea of publicly opposing Church teaching to promote a project aimed at giving 120 million women in developing countries access to contraceptives by 2020. Gates said she felt compelled to act to "keep women alive. I believe in not letting women die, I believe in not letting babies die." In the Vatican newspaper piece, Galeotti wrote, "The American philanthropist is off the mark," the victim of "bad information and persistent stereotypes on this theme. To still believe that by opposing the use of condoms, the Catholic Church leaves women and children to die because of misogynist intransigence is a baseless and shoddy reading" of reality. Gates told The Guardian that the Catholic Church allows natural family planning, but "for our foundation, well, we promote modern tools because these have the most impact." At the same time the Church can and should continue to teach women how to space births naturally, she said. "Let a woman choose what it is she would like to use." Galeotti said the comment reflected the widespread, but mistaken notion of the ineffectiveness of natural family planning methods that involve teaching couples to recognize the natural signs of a woman's fertility and act accordingly. The "smile of condescension" and descriptions of NFP as unscientific or primitive probably are not completely accidental, Galeotti wrote. No one is getting rich off NFP methods that "do not cost anything, do not damage a woman's health and are considered 98 per cent effective," she said.