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October 2012

October 12

Study group to study youth catechism

October 12, 2012

MARKHAM, ONT. - A new youth study group aims to help young Catholics find answers to their questions about faith. The Salesian Sisters are inviting Toronto-area youth age 15 to 35 to study the youth catechism from October to July. Sr. Corazon Beboso will be running the program at the Don Bosco Centre in Markham. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church is more for adults, for bishops, for priests,” said Beboso, who calls it “very theological.” In contrast, the YouCat, or youth catechism, targets youth to deepen their faith. Pope Benedict XVI presented the YouCat as a gift to World Youth Day 2011 pilgrims in Madrid, Spain. “The YouCat study group is not a training program. It’s not a prayer group,” she said. “It is a young adult-led discussion sharing session wherein they come, they bring their questions, they bring whatever impact the world has on them... (and) they place it at the table for discussion depending on the topic that we have chosen.” But Beboso promises prayer will be incorporated. “There’s a bit of fun too because we have to make use of the things that are happening around, and then afterwards we pray, we stop and say what does the catechism say?” she said. The study group is an offshoot of a discernment program that started last year. Called Duc in Altum (put out into the deep), the title is based on Luke 5:4-11, which refers to going farther to catch fish. “So for us the fish that we want to catch with these young adults is know yourself, know your relationship with God, know your faith, know the Church and what the Church expects from you,” Beboso said. After the discernment program, the participants wanted to know what was next. “I said why don’t we make this study group as a response to the invitation of the Holy Father to make 2012-2013 the Year of Faith.” And so the YouCat study group was developed. Beboso hopes the program will help participants figure out “how our quest for the truth is wrapped in the language of young people’s experiences today.” Registration is $30 for the entire program. The price includes a copy of the YouCat and the balance is a participant’s contribution to the program. But those who come with their own print or e-book copies are asked to make a small donation. Currently, salesiansisterscanada.com lists 19 sessions at about two sessions a month, the first of which was held on Oct. 1. Beboso believes youth are attracted to this type of group not only because they are looking for precise answers to the questions they have about the faith. “They’re also attracted because there are other young people who are searching like them,” she said. “They don’t have the language... to express the faith. They know mentally because many of them are cradle Catholics... So they want to study together with others.”

University receives federal funds for religious diversity project

October 12, 2012

(CORRECTION 24/10/12 to Michael Taylor's job title) TORONTO - Citizenship and Immigration Canada has granted half-a-million dollars over three years to the University of Toronto for its Religious Diversity Youth Leadership project. Launched in late September, the program investigates and acts upon the problems and possibilities of living in a religiously diverse society. “The most important thing the CIC funding was looking for was the kind of projects that would bring together communities that wouldn’t normally be talking to each other,” said Pamela Klassen, professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and director of the Religion in the Public Sphere Initiative. The project promises to bring together and build networks of communication between students, faculty, community leaders and youth in the Greater Toronto Area. It is run by the U of T’s Multi-Faith Centre for Spiritual Study and Practice, the Religion in the Public Sphere Initiative and the Centre for Community Partnerships. The project aims to raise awareness on how religious diversity and civic responsibility are connected and to work against exclusion and marginalization. “We put in a proposal, the RPS, together with the Centre for Community Partnerships and the Multi-Faith Centre that was focussed on a university-based project that would take students out into the community and bring various community organizations in contact with students and with the wider university,” Klassen said. The project has three main activities. The religious diversity youth training activity will have U of T students enrolled in a service-learning certificate program, which is meant to prepare them for serving in diverse communities, including religious communities. In the next category of activity, academic and service-learning community partnerships, young adults will work in community organizations or university departments to see first-hand how civic responsibility and religious diversity play out in real-world situations. “Just as our society becomes more diverse, our responses to spiritual and religious care should evolve with it,” said panelist Michael A. Taylor, Regional Manager with the Ontario Multifaith Council and a mental health professional. “A nation that accepts diversity should accept the entire diversity of a person.” The third category of activity is the public forums and community research workshops. This connects policy makers, scholars, community leaders, practitioners and students. The first forum was held on Sept. 27, the day the project launched. Titled “Care of Souls and the Soul of Care,” the forum lasted two days and was held to discuss the successes and failures of religion in publicly funded health care and the challenges religious diversity poses for biomedical health care. On day two of the forum, the community research workshop brought together palliative care doctors, neonatologists, nurses, executives, hospital chaplains, scholars and students. “What happens when a young baby dies in an ICU in the hospital and it’s a Muslim baby and the parents don’t want to wash the body, but the nurse thinks the body must absolutely be washed,” said Klassen, recalling the events of the workshop. “How do they negotiate those very emotionally fraught kinds of questions and understand what kinds of compromises the health care system can and cannot make to accommodate religious concerns?” Future forums will address gender and sexuality in religious communities, youth violence and religious identity, as well as religion and the arts.

Marriage Encounter strengthens the relationship

October 12, 2012

TORONTO - It’s one thing to have a good marriage, it’s another thing to have a great one, and that’s what a Marriage Encounter weekend can offer. “You really are disconnected from the world for a weekend and investing in your relationship,” said David Adams, co-county co-ordinator for the English Toronto district of Worldwide Marriage Encounter with his wife, Lucy. “Really the basis of the weekend is to help couples learn a communication technique called dialoguing.” This is done by essentially sequestering a group of couples, in the case of the upcoming Nov. 2-4 weekend at Mississauga’s Four Points Sheraton, and having them discuss specific topics with their significant others. Each topic is first discussed in front of the group of participating couples by one of the presenting couples who have already completed the regular week and a more intensive training version. These presentations last between 30 and 40 minutes. Twelve topics of discussion are presented during the weekend after which all participants privately reflect on their personal feelings regarding the topic. These reflections are then shared with the respective spouses. “It’s more than just the topic, it’s about being able to listen, to get the feelings behind the topic,” said David Adams. “It’s really about understanding who you each are.” Topics include defining the type of listener you are, determining the personality of your partner and sex. “Each topic follows each other so beautifully and by the time you get to the end, which is the sacrament, it’s like this yearning to really almost make that new commitment to each other, that bigger commitment,” said Lucy Adams. “It just gives (couples) a whole program to experience other couples openly sharing their lives and vulnerabilities.” But it doesn’t end on the Sunday. The group is encouraged to establish a sharing circle. According to Lucy Adams, about 80 per cent of couples successfully establish these groups with a small percentage of those who do not returning for a second weekend. These groups meet monthly and practice the dialogue technique. This strengthens the ability to communicate and in turn the marriage. “It allows couples that were together, in a very condensed and simplified format, to continue that weekend,” said David Adams. “We’d like to see couples continue to be connected with the Worldwide Marriage Encounter community and keep it alive in their marriage.” Worldwide Marriage Encounter, the facilitating organization of the weekends, began in Spain with Fr. Gabriel Calvo in 1961. By the end of 1967 Marriage Encounter weekends had begun in North America starting in New York. Worldwide Marriage Encounter is active in more than 90 countries, in a variety of languages and focus on different faiths, but all have a consistent format. “There might be some regional subtleties but the whole format and the desire behind it are consistent,” said David Adams. Although the weekends co-ordinated by the Adams are Roman Catholic based, inter-faith couples are still encouraged to come — David Adams was an Anglican when he attended in the spring of 1995 but has since converted to the Catholic faith. For those interested in the November weekend, or one scheduled for April 19-21, call Cora or Mike Bryce at (905) 896-2958.

A reworked Sister Act still packed with laughter

October 12, 2012

TORONTO - Sister Act, on stage at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre, will awaken your urge to boogie like it’s 1978. In Philadelphia, we find wannabe star Deloris Van Cartier in thigh-high purple boots and a short leopard print dress. She’s just seen her married lover murder a man and now, under witness protection, the police have hidden her in the last place anyone would think to look — a convent. Whoopi Goldberg, one of the musical’s producers, who first played Deloris on-screen, made Sister Act the film popular in 1992. And it is with this memory that many theatregoers walked into the performance. But with Ta’Rea Campbell as Deloris on stage, it’s easy to forget anyone else donned the black and white habit. Campbell’s transformation from nightclub diva to divine singer was believable, while never losing the boisterous (in the best sense) personality of her character. “She lacks a bit of self-control,” Campbell said about Deloris in an interview with The Catholic Register. “Not in a bad way. Just in a way that she only knows how to be one person and that’s herself. And sometimes, we as adults get to modify our behaviour when we’re in certain situations, and I don’t think Deloris Van Cartier is able to do that.” It’s this freedom of spirit that comically conflicts with the convent’s Mother Superior, played by Hollis Resnik. “I have to embody this very stern, rigid, pious nun,” said Resnik. “There’s a stoicism about her, there’s a strong belief system in her.” An entire musical number is devoted to Mother Superior attempting to put Deloris in her place. Mother is traditional where Deloris likes change, stiff where Deloris is flexible, quiet where Deloris is loud and conservative where Deloris is anything but. Though the characters are butting heads, the actors are in sync, finishing each other’s sentences during the interview. “Deloris Van Cartier would like to take a bedazzler and bedazzle the habit if she could,” said Campbell. “Maybe I can jazz this outfit up a little bit,” she said mimicking her character’s attitude. “It doesn’t cry out for accessories,” replied Resnik instantly in Mother Superior-mode. The cast has great chemistry, but the music remains the main draw. If patrons expect songs from the movie, they will be slightly disappointed. Though productions such as this attract patrons who hope it will be a nostalgia-fest based on the film, the audience will still get value for their dollar because the show includes an original score by Alan Menken with lyrics by Glenn Slater. Hits such as “My God” from the film have been replaced with “Take Me To Heaven” where the nuns belt out cheeky lines, such as “I’ll take any vow, just take me now” and “I’ll get on my knees, just take me please.” In “Sunday Morning Fever,” the sisters encourage the faithful to “shake it like you’re Mary Magdalene.” Breakout musical performances also include Kinglsey Leggs as Curtis Jackson, Deloris’s mobster boyfriend, singing “When I Find My Baby.” Effortlessly switching from a sinister to a sweet tone, he promises to never let his baby go. Jackson’s clueless henchmen, played by Charles Barksdale, Todd A. Horman and Ernie Pruneda, also deliver a completely satisfying performance when they brainstorm via song ways to tempt the celibate nuns. In “Lady In The Long Black Dress” they promise to give the sisters something to confess. Opening night was filled with plenty of laughs, including from the nuns in the audience. But there is a take home message in Deloris’s unexpected journey from sin to redemption, from loneliness to discovering the joy of sisterhood. “Just be good to each other, no matter what the circumstances are,” said Resnik. “There’s always something to be learned and found in every relationship.” No matter your religious beliefs, said Campbell, “It’s important to be good hearted, it’s important to respect other people, respect their journey, respect their path (and) respect their soul.” Amen, sister.

October 13

What is the new evangelization?

October 13, 2012

Since the late Pope John Paul II coined the phrase in an address to Latin American bishops in the late 1970s, Catholic thinkers, writers, theologians and pastors have debated what the new evangelization really means. In the lineamenta sent to more than 200 bishops earlier this year in advance of the synod, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic offers several definitions. Among them: o The new evangelization is primarily addressed to those who have drifted from the Church in traditionally Christian countries. o There should also be a dialogue with those to whom religion is something foreign. o The new evangelization is primarily a spiritual activity to recapture the courage and forcefullness of the first Christians and first missionaries. o As an evangelizer, the Church begins by evangelizing herself. o Evangelization is facing new challenges which are putting accepted practices in question and are weakening customary, well-established ways of doing things. o The Church does not give up or retreat into herself; instead, she undertakes a project to revitalize herself. o The new evangelization is a frame of mind, a courageous manner of acting. o A new evangelization means, then, to work in our local churches to devise a plan... to transmit the Gospel of hope in a practical way.... becoming more and more the artisan of the civilization of love. o A new evangelization also means to have the boldness to raise the question of God in the context of these problems. o In the end, the expression new evangelization requires finding new approaches to evangelization so as to be Church in today’s ever-changing social and cultural situations.

St. Hildegard’s living light

October 13, 2012

TORONTO - St. Hildegard of Bingen was a mystic prophet who challenged the status quo of her medieval society with her vast written legacy of medical and theological texts, musical repertoire and a penchant for challenging her superiors in the Church. One could be tempted to argue that Hildegard was the original feminist. Now, in addition to her being named a Doctor of the Church on Oct. 7 (only the fourth woman to receive the recognition), she can also add film and theatre star to her impressive resume. Linn Maxwell, internationally recognized mezzo-soprano, is coming to Toronto on Oct. 23 and 24 with her one-woman show, Hildegard of Bingen and the Living Light, which has also been recently released as a film adaption. The show tells the story of Hildegard and her mystic visions which ultimately led her to leave a profound mark on the history of the Church. “She (Hildegard) kind of directed the whole project — I am convinced that this wonderful saint has been behind this the whole time,” said Maxwell of her show, which has now reached audiences across the globe. “When I was writing it... I always felt like there was this little voice behind me saying, ‘no, just tell my story, be truthful, and be chronological.’ ” In her production, Maxwell has interspersed the life story of St. Hildegard with her original compositions, which she sings and accompanies on traditional medieval instruments. “It was a journey... I chose the chronological order of things, and I chose her words as much as possible,” said Maxwell. “The first hurdle was choosing the seven songs that I use in the play — the music should carry the action forward. “The next challenge was to do dialogue and then a song, and then dialogue again so that it’s seamless and organic.” Born into a noble family in present-day Germany, Hildegard’s parents had a religious disposition and promised their child to the service of God. Invested with the habit of St. Benedict, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, she was appointed superior of her order in 1136, eventually moving the order to Bingen on the left bank of the Rhine. In her journey to capture the spirit of Hildegard’s story, Maxwell found herself in Bingen, Germany, and eventually Disibodenberg where the ruins of Hildegard’s first monastery are located. “It was just incredibly amazing. I was there all alone — I think she arranged it so that there would be no one else there. I stayed two or three hours until it got dark and I finally had to leave,” said Maxwell. “I just felt her presence... I felt like, ‘ah, I’ve gotten in touch with her.’ ” The challenge in performing the show comes not only from Maxwell’s embodiment of such a powerful and unusual woman, but from the interpretation of musical texts that are devoid of rhythmic notation. “The Sequentia recordings were somewhat of an inspiration for me,” said Maxwell, who is a colleague of Ben Bagby, director of the Sequentia Ensemble for Medieval Music. “You go with the flow of the phrase,” Maxwell added of her own interpretations. Hildegard’s music holds a certain relevance today, as it defied conventional structures of the time to some extent. “Hildegard was unusual. She was an extraordinarily learned person at the time,” said John Haines, a professor of history and culture at the University of Toronto and a scholar of medieval music at U of T’s Centre for Medieval Studies. “It is chant — it looks like plain chant in that it’s just one melody, but, generally speaking, compared to... most of the chants that survive from that time period, it’s very wide in range,” said Haines. “Her music is very compelling... it’s difficult to perform too.” Haines notes that only about one per cent of the population at the time would have been able to write, so the fact that Hildegard’s compositions survive, and are written by a woman, is somewhat remarkable. Additionally, he points out that Hildegard embraced unusual choices in modality and in the textual and musical relationship, where she employs the use of melisma more than her contemporaries may have done. “Hildegard tended to favour this one mode on E, which features a half-step from the first tone to the second — it’s very easy to recognize,” said Haines. “Which for us gives a kind of eerie sound to her music, but it’s a very specific type of sound that makes it even more idiomatic.” Maxwell said Hildegard’s message is “more urgent today than ever before,” and perhaps so; her position as Doctor of the Church means that her theological contributions are still teachable and important today. “She was a trumpet, proclaiming the word of God,” said Maxwell of her muse and inspiration. “When I’m done, hopefully the audience will know Hildegard.” For more on the Toronto dates for Hildegard of Bingen and the Living Light or to purchase the film, go to www.hildegardofbingen.net.

Toronto’s Year of Faith focused on faith formation

October 13, 2012

TORONTO - To celebrate the Year of Faith, the archdiocese of Toronto’s office of formation for discipleship has undertaken its most focused effort at faith formation to date. “This is an opportunity in this year for people to pause and to consider the role of faith in our own lives and why we are eager to share that faith with other people,” said Bill Targett, director of the office of formation for discipleship. Targett said the archdiocese will be offering 18 programs across the archdiocese for the Year of Faith, which kicked off Oct. 11, alongside the 50th anniversary of the opening of Second Vatican Council and the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and ends Nov. 24, 2013, on the feast of Christ the King. “They range from single night workshops to look at one topic up to and including an eight-part series,” said Targett. “And then, in between those extremes, there’s a whole variety of other workshops.” Topics vary from Catholic social teaching and basic teachings of the Catholic Church to lectio divina and prayer. Free of charge, the hosting parishes will become “regional centres of formation,” said Targett. There will be three rotations of the same workshops in the fall, winter and spring at different locations to geographically accommodate as many people as possible, he added. “The Year of Faith has been a long time coming,” said Targett. “John Paul II was speaking about it already in the early ’90s and for us, it’s exciting that it’s finally here. And we look forward to contributing whatever we can to helping to replant the Gospel in the West.” Targett said he regards parishioners as the “frontline of people.” “If we can help convince them of the important role that faith has in their lives, I think they’re the best example to spread that information through a wider community so that people who are not of faith look at a Catholic and say, ‘What is it about that person that makes them happy as they are?’” For the younger crowd, the archdiocese of Toronto’s Office of Catholic Youth will be running catechetical events based on the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church and YOUCAT: The Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. A solemn opening Mass to launch the Year of Faith will be celebrated by Cardinal Thomas Collins Oct. 14 at St. Paul’s Basilica in Toronto. In addition, Collins will be dedicating this year’s lectio divina programs to a biblical understanding of faith. For more information on the office of formation for discipleship’s Year of Faith workshops, see www.archtoronto.org/discipleship.

October 14

Pope adds two saints to list of Church ‘doctors’

October 14, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict added 12th-century German abbess St. Hildegard of Bingen and St. John of Avila to the roster of doctors of the universal Church. The Pope proclaimed the new doctors at Mass Oct. 7 in St. Peter’s Square, where the thousands in attendance included pilgrims waving Spanish flags, and Germannuns in traditional habits. In his homily, Pope Benedict noted St. Hildegard’s knowledge of medicine, poetry and music, and called her a “woman of brilliant intelligence, deep sensitivity and recognized spiritual authority. The Lord granted her a prophetic spiritand fervent capacity to discern the signs of the times.” He said that St. John, “a profound expert on the sacred Scriptures,” knew how to“penetrate in a uniquely profound way the mysteries of the redemption worked by Christ for humanity.” The Doctors of the Church,saints honoured for particularly important contributions to theology and spirituality, come from both the Eastern and Western Church traditions. The 35 doctors include early Church fathers such as Sts. Jerome, John Chrysostom and Augustine, and theologians such as Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventureand John of the Cross, but also St. Therese of Lisieux, who was honoured by Blessed John Paul II in 1997, despite her lack of scholarly accomplishment. St. Hildegard is the fourth female doctor of the Church, joining Sts. Therese, Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila.

An escape from city life led to an unexpected call to serve the Church

October 14, 2012

MAYO, YUKON TERRITORY - When we moved to the Yukon almost four years ago, it wasn’t to work in the missions. I was employed as a schoolteacher and my wife Tina stayed home with our young son Johnathan. We moved to Mayo for adventure, change and reprieve from city life. It was not meant to be a long-termcommitment, nor working for the Church. The village of Mayo has a population of a little more than 400 people, predominantly the Na Cho Nyak Dun First Nation. Although we did not move to the Yukon to work in the missions, it seems God had other plans. Sr. Angela Shea of the Sisters of Notre Dame was resident administrator for Christ the King mission. She had been here almost 20 years where she led the Catholic community and was an integral part of the larger community. During our first year, there was talk of the 80-year-old sister leaving Mayo and retiring to her native Prince Edward Island. In talking with Whitehorse Bishop Gary Gordon, Tina and I expressed ourwillingness to serve the Church. With Sr. Angela leaving, the timing was good. Gordon asked if we would fill in as mission administrators. His need for missionworkers and our interest and desire to serve the Church came together, and we began discussing the transition, which took place in 2009. There are about 47 Catholics in Mayo. Besides keeping the lights and heat on in the church and rectory, we help keep the Catholic faith alive in the small community. We arrange for the priest in Dawson to come twice a month for Mass and other sacraments, and I lead the community in a Communion service on Sundays when he is not present. We usually meet for coffee and goodies or a meal after to catch up on news and share a laugh. We say the rosary with others and have Stations of the Cross during Lent. Each day, we strive to be a living witness to the Catholic faith and administer to the spiritual and other needs of Catholics. We call Fr. Ernest Emeka Emeodi from Dawson or Gordon when assistance or adviceis required. Many joys and challenges of lay ministry abound in this remote part of Canada. Mayo is located near 63 degrees latitude, halfway between Whitehorse and the Arctic Circle. Mayo holds the distinction of being both the hottest and the coldest community in the Yukon. It is not uncommon for temperatures to dip to minus 50 Celsius for some days, and for a cold spell of minus 40 or more for a week. While there are both joys and challenges, the joys definitely outweigh the latter. Some joys include living in the rectory which is attached to the church and having the Blessed Sacrament available 24 hours a day. There is joy knowing that although at times we feel we have a small role, it is nonetheless vital for the Catholic faith and Church locally. There is a deep inner joy knowing we are in the service of God and His work. Since starting in Mayo, Tina and I have moved on but continue our mission work with the Church. We recently moved to Yellowknife, N.W.T., where we are ministering at Trapper’s Lake Spirituality Centre.I pray that more lay people — single and families — will be open to working for the Church in the missions for a time, be it a year or two or more. Perhaps an interest and desire might be awakened and one may hear a call. As a lay couple and family, it is not for everyone, but it has certainly been rewarding and a real blessing for us, not to mention the great adventure.

Toronto students called to ‘ACCTS’

October 14, 2012

TORONTO - The Toronto Catholic District School Board, through its A Catholic Call To Service (ACCTS) program, is looking to expose students to the true meaning ofservice. “It’s a program in which our students get an opportunity to witness, in action, their faith,” said Deb Gove, the board’s secondary resource person forreligious education. “It is a totally unbelievable experience for boththe students and the people (they help).” ACCTS, which launches Oct. 17, will see 35 Catholic secondary schools across the city send 10 students into the downtown region to help out at a varietyof social assistance agencies. These agencies include shelters, missions and food distribution groups. On the day of service, students meet and are divided into groups before heading off to the appropriate location. Everything is wrapped up around 7 p.m.following a liturgical service. But there is more to it than just a single day of service. “It’s not just a day, it’s a taste of what service is like,” said Gove. “It’s life-long learning.” Lasting about 10 hours, the day does not count towards the students’ compulsory 40 hours of community service for graduation in the Catholic system. The focusis on teaching students about the importance of helping others without any personal gain. “If we’re just out there looking after each other and not looking after those who need it we’re not doing what Jesus asked us to,” said Gove. “It’s important that we take care of the poor and vulnerable.” That’s a message which stuck with Raffi Degralstanian after participating in ACCTS last fall. “I hadn’t actually had a good idea of what service was until I was actually there,” said the Grade 12 Brebeuf College School student. “It definitely opened my eyes to when people need service and how I should give it to them.” Degralstanian was one of the students who helped clean up Mary’s House, a downtown women’s shelter, after it suffered significant damage from a fire. The experience touched him so much that when the opportunity to participate in this year’s 15th anniversary program came, Degralstanian immediately wentonline to register. “It was like wow, I did something here, I was able to contribute my physical being and apply it to this place and it made a difference,” said Degralstanian. “Giving your sweat and being there physically doing something is much more meaningful than donating five or 10 bucks.” When the group of 10, which included Degralstanian, returned to Brebeuf the following school day from their various assignments they instantly becamepivotal figures in establishing the school’s own Street Patrol program. Details of the school’s program, which is independent from ACCTS, are still beingdeveloped, but the objective is feeding the homeless at least once a month during the school year. “It speaks a lot to the meaningful experience they receive on this given day,” said Robert Gregoris, Brebeuf chaplaincy team member. “For a lot of them it is an eye opener. A lot of them don’t see the difficulties and the challenges that the human spirit goes through.” Although Gregoris said he understands the importance of the day’s message of unrewarded service he does think the students receive something in return — a closer connection with God. “It’s a real tangible way where young people get to experience the message of Christ and the face of Christ,” said Gregoris. “It gets to their heart, it gets to their soul.”

Synod to set vision for the new evangelization

October 14, 2012

The global Church is in Rome to talk about how it talks to the world. The topic is the new evangelization,meaning all the ways the Church presents Christ to the world and how we are all called to serve. The Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith is more than a distant talking shop for high Church officials. It also provides the keys to the Year of Faith which launched Oct. 11, the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. It’s the 25th such synod since the close of Vatican II and runs Oct. 7 to 28. There will be two English and two French bishops from Canada among the approximately 170 bishops chosen by bishops’ conferences around the the world. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops elected to send Quebec City’s Archbishop Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, Antigonish Bishop Brian Dunn, St.-Hyacinthe Bishop Francois Lapierre and Nelson Bishop John Corriveau. The voting members of the synod will also include 20 bishops from Eastern Catholic Churches, 25 bishops who work in the Vatican heading up various offices, 35 bishops named directly by the Pope and 10 representatives from religious orders chosen by the Union of Superiors General. Regis College professor of theology Sr. Gill Goulding will be the Canadian among 49 theological experts assigned to assist the synod fathers and contribute to discussions. The theologians and thinkers don’t get to vote, but their contributions to discussions may substantially contribute to what the bishops vote on. How the synod will be understood outside Vatican City may have a lot to do with another Canadian. Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, CEO of Salt + Light Catholic Media Foundation, will be the English-speaking press secretary for the duration of the synod. Though there will be lots of talk about new media and the digital age, Fr. Steve Bossi doesn’t want the bishops to come back from Rome with a social media strategy or a new comfort level with smartphones.The new evangelization is about a lot more than technology or better media management, said the director of programs at Toronto’s Paulist Centre. “They need to come back with a vision,” said Bossi. “They need to come back with a sense of what is the modern world and how does it function. Then, how do we speak our faith into that modern world?” In the lineamenta or discussion paper for the synod prepared by Croatian Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, the Vatican identifies six ways the world has changed and made it more difficult to proclaim the Gospel in our times: o “Profound secularism” has made it difficult for religion to be heard and understood. An overly secularized culture keeps people cocooned in self-interest. “Temptations to superficiality and self-centredness, arising from a predominating hedonistic and consumer-oriented mentality, arenot easily overcome,” said the lineamenta. o Migration is pulling people out of their own cultural context and creating new cultures thathave few marks of permanence, “leaving little space for the great traditions of life, including thoseof religion.” o Social communications have developed so rapidly the Church has been left wondering how toengage in the new global conversation. “The formation of a culture centred on passing novelties, thepresent moment and outward appearances, indeed a society which is incapable of remembering the past and with no sense of the future,” is an unwelcoming place for 2,000 years of tradition dedicated to a single transcendent reality. o Economics has become as globalized as every other aspect of our lives. As the butterflies of globalization have emerged from the cocoons of national and local economies, markets have shed ethical constraints and forgotten their moral purposes. o Science proposes a worldview that often seems as broad and hopeful as religion. “Science and technology are in danger of becoming today’s new idols.” o Political life has changed massively since the fall of communism. Although the Church does not mourn the passing of an atheistic, materialist ideology, the triumph of markets, the emergence of violent and politicized appeals to religion in Asia and the Islamic world and the environmental crisis makes for a situation “frought with risks and new temptations of dominion and power.” Eterovic’s six points seem like an overwhelmingly negative assessment of the world. It would be easy to incorrectly conclude that the new evangelization is about the Church standing in opposition to the modern age, retreating into an intellectual and emotional bunker constructed from comforting bits of its own history. But the new evangelization is not about fear and loathing of the world, said Bossi. “It’s part of our faith that we believe that the Holy Spirit moves through time and through human experience,” he said. “God has not abandoned us in this world and the Church doesn’t have to be out there somehow speaking against the modern world.” Isaac Hecker, founder of Bossi’s Paulist order, would have recognized many of Eterovic’s challenges as his own in the United States of 150 years ago. Hecker was faced with a population of immigrant Catholics who had been knocked off the moorings of their traditional Catholic culture by the experience of migration. The 19th century was an age of wonders that made communication (telegraph) nearly instantaneous and travel(trains) rapid and cheap. Hecker responded by preaching and writing in the language of his times. The Paulists today carry on their founder’s new evangelization with their own involvement in media and in adult education. It’s not so much about which media carries the words as it is about the authenticity and honesty of the words, said Bossi. Attempts to carefully manage the media by sticking to an approved, prepared text are rarely persuasive in a culture that values honest, spontaneous responses. “You don’t get that sense of speaking from the heart. And yet, what are people looking for?” asked Bossi. “They aren’t looking for data they can get into their head. They’re looking for someone who can speak to them at the level of human experience.” The decree granting indulgences for the Year of Faith makes it clear Pope Benedict XVI has no intention of sending Catholics fleeing from the world. “All the faithful, individually and in community, will be called to give open witness of their faith before others in the particular circumstances of daily life,” reads the Sept. 14 decree. The Pope has also signaled that he views the new evangelization from an ecumenical perspective. On the personal invitation of Pope Benedict XVI, one of the first speakers at the synod on new evangelization will be the Anglican Communion’s scholarly leader Archbishop Rowan Williams. Williams was to address synod fathers Oct. 10. “A new evangelization means that the Church must convincingly sustain her efforts at uniting all Christians in a common witness to the world of the prophetic and transforming power of the Gospel message,” reads Eterovic’s lineamenta. In fact, the new evangelization does not begin with what the Church says to the world, or even how it says it. The starting point is what the Church is to the world and in the world. “In the end, the expression new evangelization requires finding new approaches to evangelization so as ‘to be Church’ in today’s everchanging social and cultural situations,” reads the lineamenta. As a theologian consulting with the bishops at the synod, it’s the existential hope of the Gospel as it is lived that Goulding wants to emphasize. “In many ways it seems to me that the heart of the new evangelization lies in living radically the faith that we have,” she said.

Today’s Africa proof the old evangelization worked

October 14, 2012

TORONTO - The New Evangelization that anchors Pope Benedict XVI’s call for a Year of Faith looks a little different from an African perspective, Cardinal Peter Turkson told a capacity audience at the Regis College chapel in Toronto. The Ghanaian cardinal who heads up the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace delivered the Martin Royakers Lecture Sept. 26, speaking about “Vatican II: A Council of Justice and Peace.” He also spoke with The Catholic Register in an exclusive interview. For African Catholics the New Evangelization is a challenge to form better leaders in the Church and society, and an invitation to deepen the commitment of all Christians to the body of Christ, Turkson said. Since the Second Vatican Council the African Church has grown to a degree almost inconceivable to the Churches in North America and Europe, Turkson said. From 29 million Catholics in 1962 to 186 million today, Africa’s Catholic population has grown 541 per cent. The old image of Africa as a mission land under the tutelage of European and North American priests and sisters is beginning to fade. Between 1962 and 2012 African- born priests have risen from just 15,000 to more than 40,000. Seminaries are bursting. There were 26,000 religious women from Africa in 1962, compared to 68,000 today. Many Africans have become missionaries to underserved regions of Canada, the United States and Europe. It seems that the old evangelization worked. “We did teach people the catechism and we did baptize them,” Turkson told The Catholic Register. But that doesn’t mean Africa doesn’t now need the New Evangelization — a concept first spoken about by Pope John Paul II at a meeting of the bishops of Latin America in Puebla, Mexico, in 1979. Just as the majority of African Catholics trace their Catholic roots to the great ecumenical council of 1962-1965, the majority of African nations were released out of colonialism either just before or during Vatican II. “The educated elite, the educated class that emerged in the emerging states, mostly was educated in mission schools,” pointed out Turkson. Unfortunately they included corrupt politicians such as Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko, who amassed a personal fortune of some $5 billion, and Robert Mugabe, still in power in Zimbabwe. “That has caused several Church leaders in Africa to sit back and think, ‘What did we do wrong?’ ” said Turkson. But it isn’t just the politicians and business leaders of the continent that worry African bishops. In Turkson’s native Ghana almost a quarter of the population is Pentecostal, compared to just 15 per cent who are Catholic. Many people opt for a simpler, more personal, more emotionally expressive brand of faith. What’s missing in the merely intellectual and notional religion of Africa’s leaders and the purely personal religion of the poor is the social doctrine of the Church, Turkson said. “But their social consciousness, what we now call the social doctrine of the Church, wasn’t taught much. That was missing. People became Christians but the transition — the fact they were Christian — did not impact much on their social lives. That is something we are now discovering,” he said. Just recording baptisms won’t do any more. Nor will mere catechism lessons make Christians. “That is not quite the experience of conversion,” he said. “The Evangelical movement is appealing more to the heart, with lively music, lively prayer, the power of the spiritual world.” All of that is embedded in the Catholic way of living out the sacraments, but it has to be uncoveredand presented in new ways, said Turkson. “We need to find a way of bringing it down to basically these needs — to people’s life situations,” he said. “All of that serves as vehicles of God’s grace.” He believes Catholic parish life has to afford people more opportunities to bear witness and testify to their faith. “The world is now looking for witnesses,” he said. “We don’t make it alive. We don’t make it come alive in such a way that it encourages them, motivates them, touches their lives in faith. It would be great if we fashioned a little space in our worship for moments like that.”

October 15

Antigonish bishop tells synod Church must respond to abuse crisis

October 15, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Bishop Brian Dunn of Antigonish, N.S., whose diocese was rocked by clerical sex abuse crises, told the Synod of Bishops that the new evangelization must address the reality of distrust and disappointment the scandal left in its wake. With the sex abuse crisis, Catholics have experienced "a great disorientation that leads to forms of distrust of teachings and values that are essential for the followers of Christ," Dunn told the synod Oct. 12. The diocese of Antigonish has sold hundreds of properties in an effort to raise the money necessary to cover legal settlement and sexual abuse lawsuit costs from before Dunn's appointment. In 2011, the previous bishop, Raymond Lahey, pled guilty and was jailed on charges of importing child pornography. The former bishop was laicized by the Vatican in May. The Catholic Church cannot ignore the need to find a way to "evangelize those who have been deeply hurt by clergy who have been involved in sexual abuse," Dunn told the synod. One possible way forward, Dunn said, is to look at the story of the disciples, disillusioned by Jesus' death, who are met by the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus. Christ walks with them and listens to them, the bishop said. Dioceses must have real structures in place for listening to victims and coming to appreciate "the depth of hurt, anger and disillusionment associated with this scandal," he told the synod. At the same time, the Church needs to investigate the causes of the sexual abuse crisis and ensure measures are in place to protect children and vulnerable adults. "Those who have been hurt consistently call for a change in certain structures in the Church, but it is not only ecclesial structures that must change," he said, there also must be "a profound change of mentality, attitude and heart in our ways of working with laypeople." The bishop called for the appointment of pastoral teams of clergy and laypeople to administer parishes, for a formal recognition of "lay ecclesial ministers," and for a "deliberate and systematic involvement and leadership of women at all levels of Church life." When Church life is marked by "co-responsibility," Dunn said, "the Gospel will be heard anew, our faith fill be passed on more effectively, we will be renewed in our faith and our witness will become more authentic."

Supreme Court reserves judgment on humanity of unborn cases

October 15, 2012

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has reserved judgment in two cases that involve mothers who abandoned their babies because they believed they were born dead. On Oct. 10, the court heard the case of Ivana Levkovic who left the corpse of her baby girl on her apartment balcony wrapped in blankets inside a bag. The next day, Canada's highest court heard the case of A.D.H., who gave birth to a baby boy in a toilet at a Wal-Mart in Saskatchewan. Thinking he was dead, she fled the store and left him behind. The baby was discovered and resuscitated. Both women were acquitted by their respective trial judges. Levkovic told the court she had fallen down, precipitating labour and the baby was born dead. Because the body was so decomposed, the coroner could not tell whether the infant girl, who was near full term, died before birth, so the judge acquitted her. A.D.H. claimed to be surprised to discover she was pregnant and shocked by the delivery, which took place during a 14-minute visit to the store. Her case hinges on whether one's subjective belief — i.e. that the baby was dead — should override an objective standard of what a reasonable person would do under the circumstances. Both cases touch on the contentious issue of when a child becomes a human being, since the Criminal Code has sections that seem to contradict each other. MP Stephen Woodworth's Motion 312, recently defeated in the House of Commons, sought to address the definition in Section 223.1 of the code which says the unborn child does not become a human being until the process of birth is completed. Levkovic was charged under section 243 of the Criminal Code which makes it illegal to conceal a dead child's body whether the "child died before, during or after birth," while A.D.H. was acquitted of child abandonment. On Oct. 10, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlan wouldn't use the word "child" since the terminology is "under contention." At one point she referred to the unborn child as the "thing" or "object" expelled from the mother's body during the process of delivery. Attorney Jill Copeland and Delmar Doucette argued the law is too vague and creates too great a "zone of risk" for women who may not know whether they might have violated it simply by having a miscarriage. They also argued the section violates the security of the person and the rights of women to make decisions concerning a failed pregnancy as well as violates her privacy rights by forcing her to disclose that pregnancy. They wanted Levkovic's acquittal recognized. The Criminal Lawyers' Association of Ontario intervened in the case, arguing that section 243 was criminalizing behaviour that is not a crime. "The act of having a miscarriage is not illegal," attorney Marie Henein told the court. The right of a woman to control her own body is constitutionally protected and sacrosanct, she said, noting societal norms see these rights as settled. Many of the questions from the bench concerned issues of viability and how likely an unborn child would be able to live outside the womb. Arguing for the Attorney General of Ontario, Jamie Klukach argued the section has an investigatory purpose. "The state has an interest in seeing the child and investigating" the cause of death, Klukach said. Societal values on proper respect to the dead also apply, she said, noting that proper burial and the duty of dignity to human remains have a long common law history. So does the concept of the sanctity of life and the preservation of life. The state must be notified about deaths, she said, and a body "cannot be concealed at the whim of an individual." Section 243 compels a woman to disclose the fact of the birth, she said. The conduct it proscribes is the intentional concealment and disposal of a body because it could involve the destruction of evidence, akin to the obstruction of justice. Intervening on behalf of the Attorney General of Canada, Robert Frater said the law was not too vague, nor did it create too wide a zone of risk. "A woman has to ask herself, 'If I dispose of a dead body and someone finds it might someone conclude that a crime has taken place?' ” Frater said.

Defund abortion rallies focus on needed health care reform

October 15, 2012

OTTAWA - Pro-lifers targetted 44 Ontario MPPs Oct. 13, including Premier Dalton McGuinty, holding Defund Abortion mini-rallies outside their provincial riding offices to urge them to redirect money from abortion to real health care needs. “It is illogical to have a health care system that is cash-starved and yet continues to allocate scarce dollars towards the killing of children,” Campaign Life Coalition lobbyist Johanne Brownrigg told 55 to 75 people outside McGuinty’s Ottawa office, which appeared to be closed, with its blinds drawn. Delisting abortion from Ontario’s health insurance plan would save taxpayers up to $50 million, she said. That could hire more than 200 family doctors to address Ontario’s doctor shortage, 400 nurses to cut hospital wait times, treat 500 additional autistic children, buy 20 new MRI machines every year or make palliative care available in communities that lack it now, Brownrigg said. “Let’s be clear about this elective procedure,” she said. “It is disingenuous to claim that abortion is necessary for a woman’s health.” A 2011 Abacus poll revealed 91 per cent of respondents did not know Ontario spends $30 million to $50 million on abortion, she said. “The more Ontarians know the figures, the less they want to see this waste on an elective procedure.” Brownrigg said momentum is growing after MP Stephen Woodworth’s Motion 312 revealed “the ugliness of the pro-abortion position” and the unwillingness to even talk about the humanity of the unborn. Unregulated abortion and the underlying lack of humanity attributed to the unborn are spilling over into the “horrifying prospect” of infanticide being treated the same way in the courts, she warned. Demonstrator Tom Rooney said he was incensed by Ontario Education Minister Laurel Broten’s recent remarks that the pro-abortion position could not be taught in Catholic schools. “I resent my tax dollars going to pay for abortion because I’m a father, a grandfather and a great grandfather,” said Frank Barrett, who added there are many ways to help women with unwanted pregnancies that do not involve killing the unborn child. Anne Dareys called the funding of abortion unjust. “Our whole society is getting old,” she said. “We need young people to replace them to be able to support our social programs.” Her husband Bruno said women lack information on the health and psychological impact of abortion on the mother. We only know it is a choice, but we know more about second-hand smoke than about abortion’s effects, he said. The mini-rallies were organized by Campaign Life Coalition youth organizer Allisa Golob, who estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people took part in the cross-province mini-rallies. “The majority of organizers were young people. However, there were others who stepped up in their communities despite their full-time jobs and taking care of their children and so on,” she said in an e-mail. Campaign Life is organizing a larger Defund Abortion Rally for Oct. 30 at Queen’s Park, she said.

New popemobile designs feature imaginative, high-tech touches

October 15, 2012

ROME - Ten teams of young international designers battled it out to produce an innovative eco-friendly popemobile that could guarantee high "Pope visibility," meet strict security standards and promise low emissions. Some proposed features included sunroof panels that would open like flower petals to side windows that could "live Tweet" messages to and from the pope. The winners, however, kept it simple. Eric Leong, 24, of Toronto, and Han Yong-fei, 23, of France, modified a hybrid Volkswagen Cross Coupe concept car into a white popemobile with an expandable solar roof and bullet-proof wheels. Their design also featured so-called "spray-on battery" technology in which each element of a traditional lithium-ion battery is incorporated into a liquid that can be sprayed, in layers, on many kinds of surfaces. The spray-on technology provides "better efficiency" for rechargeable batteries by reducing the car's weight, the designers said. One eco-popemobile design finalist was a team of students from Turin's European Institute of Design. They used a BMW ActiveHybrid X6 vehicle and gave it a back roof made up of two dozen folding panels that could open up like flower petals, allowing the Pope to stand and greet the faithful. The car design also featured armoured side windows that double as monitors capable of displaying live, "selected Tweets for and from the Holy Father," according to the young design makers. The Italian car-parts manufacturer, Berman, sponsored the competition near Mantua, Italy, Oct. 11-12 and invited select car design students from around the world to submit their drawings. It marked the first time the annual Autostyle Design Competition had a special category for a popemobile, according to L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. A panel of judges, including design directors from Alfa Romeo, Audi, Bentley, Fiat, Ford, Ferrari, Toyota and the University of Florence, picked the winning designs "based on their consistency with (a major carmaker's) brand, their originality and innovation, the comprehensiveness and elegance of the work and the feasibility of the projects," according to cardesignnews.com. The popemobile designs had to use a production hybrid car model or concept car design and keep the car model's front features so as to maintain the brand image. Only the rear of the vehicle could be modified and it had to be done in such a way that it guaranteed comfort for five passengers and maximum "visibility of the Holy Father," it said. Projects needed to use alternative energy, cutting-edge materials and innovative technology that allowed for rapid and easy rear access to and from the vehicle. The Volkswagen Cross Coupe concept car uses two electric motors and a next-generation turbo diesel engine, according to manufacturers. The Vatican publishing house, LEV, will publish a volume of the competition's best "green" popemobile projects and designs. Pope Benedict XVI has frequently spoken of the importance of protecting the environment, and according to Vatican officials, is committed to saving energy at the Vatican. The Vatican has said its aim is to use renewable energy sources for 20 per cent of its energy needs by 2020, the target date set by the European Union for its members.

Bishop Danylak was always there for people

October 15, 2012

Toronto - Bishop Roman Danylak, retired bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic eparchy of Toronto, was remembered for never turning away a person in need. "He was very much a pastor," said his sister Olga Danylak. "He was very much a people person." The bishop passed away at age 81 on Oct. 7. He was laid to rest at St. Volodymyr Cemetery in Oakville, Ont., on Oct. 11 following a funeral service at St. Jospahat's the same day. Danylak, who kept her maiden name after marrying, would frequently be asked if she was Bishop Danylak's sister. When people found out she was, many would share with her "how he affected their lives, what he'd done for them, how he brought them to the faith or how he had helped them." The bishop had a great devotion to the Blessed Mother, she said, recalling a trip the siblings made to Germany years ago. Danylak had just finished university and was heading to Europe to study, and the bishop was going to Rome. "We were travelling a little bit before he dropped me off in Belgium before he went on," Danylak said, recalling one hectic trip to the airport. "We'd just got the electrical train, we'd just got the bus, we'd just got to the airport," she said. "So when we were finally on the plane flying to Brussels, I said, you know Roman, weren't you concerned that we would lose our flight? And his answer, and he said this very matter-of-factly, (was) 'I placed our trip in the hands of the Blessed Mother, and she's looking after us.' ” Bishop Danylak was born in Toronto in 1930 and ordained to the priesthood in 1957 at St. Josaphat's Seminary Chapel in Rome. He was a Doctor of Canon Law. Bishop Stephen Chmilar, of the Ukrainian Catholic eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada, recalled to mourners that 50 years ago the then Fr. Danylak was present at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. After completing his studies, Bishop Danylak returned home and became pastor at St. Jospahat's, as well as chancellor of the Toronto eparchy for 25 years. In 1992 he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Ukrainian Catholic eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada and ordained as Titular Bishop of Nyssa in 1993 at St. Michael's Cathedral in Toronto. He returned to Rome in 1998. He fulfilled “his commitment to the portion of the flock of Jesus Christ entrusted to him,” said Archeparch Lawrence Huculak. When his health began to fail, "Bishop Roman returned to his native Toronto. During this time, although unable to dedicate himself to active ministry due to health reasons, he developed the apostolate of prayer at his home," Chmilar said. Bishop Danylak's sister owned and lived in a sixplex and gave her brother an apartment downstairs. "We set up one of his rooms, when he came back, as a chapel," she said. "He had Mass there everyday, and there were always people coming for Mass." She recalls her brother’s talent for listening and for reaching out to youth. “I’m a social worker by profession. I didn’t listen the same way he did,” she said. “He never tried to force anything down anybody. He just knew how to reach them.”

October 16

Cardinal says converts’ top 3 Catholic things are penance, pope, Mary

October 16, 2012

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Adult converts to Catholicism regularly cite three things about Catholicism that they find attractive: the sacrament of confession, the pope and devotion to Mary, said New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. "Those three things, guess what, were kind of de-emphasized" after the Second Vatican Council, the cardinal said Oct. 15 during a brief meeting with English-speaking reporters at the world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization. In his formal talk to the synod, Cardinal Dolan had said that a renewed appreciation for the sacrament of reconciliation is essential for the church's new evangelization. He told reporters that "it seemed to be a truism after the Second Vatican Council that the council did away with the sacrament of penance, which, of course, is not true." Instead of renewing the sacrament as the council wanted, he said, "we just gave up and we said, 'Well, that ain't going over,' so we stopped trying." The interesting thing, Cardinal Dolan said, is that the sacrament of reconciliation actually is something attractive to many people, especially the young. "They will often say that the church seems impersonal to them, a little faceless nameless," he said. "Well, boy, you can't find a more personal sacrament than penance. I mean this is one on one." Cardinal Dolan said he never understood the desire to expand use of so-called general absolution, which the Vatican has severely restricted, because it was like "a drive-in carwash" and highly impersonal. "There is nothing more personal" than going to confession one-on-one, "actually articulating sins and hearing an unworthy ambassador of Jesus say you are forgiven," the cardinal said.

Bishops tell synod church needs lively parishes, Bible literacy

October 16, 2012

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The solemn yet exuberant liturgies of African Catholic churches are a model for other Catholic communities seeking to invigorate their parishes and reach out to lapsed members, a Nigerian bishop told the world Synod of Bishops. The celebrations of the Eucharist and other sacraments must be "more efficacious moments of faith impact," Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of Oyo told the synod Oct. 15. Bishop Badejo was one of dozens of synod members who spoke about enlivening parishes as the primary agents of the new evangelization. "This can be done if we continually update homiletics and sacramental procedure with engaging art, language, idioms and imagery, which can better communicate their power and meaning," the bishop said. "The solemn, but exuberant multimedia liturgy" found in many African parishes also helps people focus on the action of the Holy Spirit, he said, and gives them the strength needed to stand up against "consumerism, corruption, materialism and relativism." Bishop Badejo said church leaders need to leave the "catacombs of fear and self-consciousness" and go where people spend their time, including "the streets, town squares, market places, nightclubs, shopping malls, even pubs and the slums." "Priests and bishops may not get the 'high table' treatment in these places, but just a word or gesture from us" could be the first encounter leading to a life of faith, the bishop said. The bishop also told synod members that the Catholic Church must establish a new relationship with today's media-savvy youths. "Millions of youth all over the world are sharing the same stories, experiences and challenges -- irrespective of their location -- thanks to the new social, personal and digital media," he said. "The church must humbly seek their confidence and trust, knowing that youth prefer a co-communicator relationship to the old teacher-learner, speaker-listener model." When young people and their talents are recognized and welcomed, he said, they can bring their faith and values to Catholic social media "with the right format and language." Nigeria has been the scene of violence sown by terrorists claiming to act in the name of Islam. The bishop said that while dialogue with Muslims can be difficult at times, is necessary, especially for Catholic communities like his that have faithful who grew up in Muslim families. South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban told synod members that several dioceses in southern African, including his own, have experienced a blossoming of faith and a revival of parishes by using small-group faith-sharing programs like RENEW, which brings parish members together in each other's homes for six to eight weeks twice a year to focus on specific themes of discipleship or church teaching. The new energy, he said, led parishes to realize they must provide adults with continuing education in the faith; become more serious about preparing couples for marriage and offer support to newlyweds; and offer specific catechesis to those who have just received the sacraments of Communion, confirmation or matrimony. For Ugandan Bishop Sanctus Wanok of Nebbi, the church must improve its efforts to help Catholics understand the Bible, something which Catholics actually want to do, as seen in the growing interest in retreats and prayer meetings. The thirst to know the word of God is even clearer among youths and young adults of his diocese who, he said, go to Mass on Sunday morning, "but later go to listen to evangelical preachers at their gatherings" or on the radio and television. Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad, Iraq, also emphasized the importance of the Bible for strengthening the faith of Catholics. "Without the word, we cannot encounter the Word in person," he said, referring to the Bible and to Jesus. Christianity, he said, faces the serious obstacle of a "widespread mentality which scorns religion, considering it an obstacle to social and scientific development," creating a "fatal indifference, a type of masked atheism." Unfortunately, he said, the public image of the church is worsened by "disagreement within the church. A church which often finds itself defending, rather than witnessing to Christ," is one that weakens the faith of the simple and fails to attract, he said.

Congolese refugees fear going home but feel unwelcome in South Sudan

October 16, 2012

YAMBIO, South Sudan (CNS) -- As the military hunt for Joseph Kony continues throughout this region, refugees who fled across the border from Congo to escape his Lord's Resistance Army say their welcome in South Sudan is wearing thin. "I want to go home, but I'm afraid of Kony. As soon as the LRA is gone, I'll go back. It's my country," said Bernadet Adesa, 35, who lives in the Makpandu refugee camp near the border. "This has been a good place for us, but every day there are more and more problems between us and the South Sudanese. If anything bad happens here, we Congolese get blamed for it," she said. A Catholic priest who lives in the camp said the refugees are caught between being harassed inside South Sudan or returning to the Congo where the LRA, although weakened, still rampages through the forest, robbing, abducting and killing. "The Congolese no longer feel welcome here. They live on land that's not theirs, and their freedom to work and make money has been curtailed," Italian Comboni Father Mario Benedetti told Catholic News Service. After 38 years as a missionary in Congo, Father Benedetti accompanied the refugees to South Sudan in 2008. Today his parish is the refugee camp -- a ramshackle collection of mud huts 25 miles from Yambio. Father Benedetti suggests tough economic times are at the root of the tension. South Sudan has been in a crisis since January, when the government in Juba cut off the oil it pumps through pipelines that run through neighboring Sudan. A Sept. 27 agreement between the two governments will restart the oil flow, but it will take months for the situation to improve. "The Congolese are harder workers than the South Sudanese. They're better businesspeople. They can make enough money to buy a motorcycle, and the South Sudanese can't, so they get jealous of the refugees," the priest said. Authorities have closed a market the refugees opened in the middle of their camp, forcing them to cross the road to buy basic supplies in a Sudanese market. Father Benedetti said the police had prohibited the Congolese from selling bags of charcoal along the road. "The South Sudanese who live nearby weren't happy because of the competition. So now the refugees can only sell charcoal from their huts, but who's going to stop their car on the road and walk into the camp?" he asked. Father Benedetti said a local radio station in Yambio is constantly insulting the Congolese and blaming them for every problem, a role he compared to Radio Mille Collines in Rwanda during that country's genocide. "They're trying to discourage and frighten us, so we'll go back home. But it's not safe there yet. And here the Congolese have health care and schools, services they'd have to pay for back in the Congo," he said. The bishop of the border area, who was a refugee in Congo and the Central African Republic, said he has spoken with local political officials about the harassment. "Some of the local political leaders at times fail to respect the rights of the refugees, who are supposed to be protected and not harassed," Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio told Catholic News Service. "The host nation has the obligation to care for these people. But there's little knowledge of this, despite the fact that many of us were once refugees in their country." The bishop said some refugees have felt forced by the harassment to return to Congo, which was not a safe option. Security in the immediate area of the border has improved in the last year, in part because of the arrival of U.S. troops dispatched to help area armies combat the LRA. Yet Father Benedetti said he is disappointed in the results. The U.S. soldiers "say they're here to observe and train other soldiers. But so far we don't know what they're doing," he said. "Yet just as they found Bin Laden, why can't they find Kony? It's an international shame." Italian Comboni Sister Giovanna Calabria works in the nearby town of Nzara, where some of the U.S. troops are based as part of a joint operation with a special contingent of Ugandan troops. "People here were happy when they (Americans) came. But no one is sure what they're doing now. I have the impression that their wings are cut. I don't hear that from them, as they keep their mouths closed. But I hear it from others," she said. Bishop Kussala said that while stepped-up military patrols have recently kept Kony's forces at bay, the area is not truly at peace. "As long as he's still in the forest, it's a negative peace. There may not be shooting, but the enemy hasn't been arrested and removed," he said. Bishop Kussala said the church faces a variety of challenges in helping people move back home to rural settlements they abandoned when the LRA roamed the area. He also expressed concern for what might happen with community-based militias, widely known as the "Arrow Boys," which formed to defend isolated communities from LRA violence. "If the LRA isn't there anymore, they'll find someone to replace the LRA, because they're accustomed to having weapons and moving around. So we're starting a rehabilitation program for these young men, but we need support," he said. The bishop said that while he supported the military campaign to capture Kony, he was also pushing a diplomatic approach. "They've employed a military approach to Kony here since 2007, and they still haven't captured him. So we just sent three priests to the Congo to talk about organizing a regional conference to see how the church could deal with this," Bishop Kussala said. Sister Calabria said she doubts that diplomacy, religious or otherwise, will work. "There is only one way to stop Kony," she said. "I don't want to kill him. If he is killed, it's his fault because he doesn't surrender. She said Kony was "not a normal person, and he's forced many other people to not be normal anymore. "Probably I'm not a good Christian, but it's time to stop him," she added.