ROME, OCT. 12, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: Could someone who has mental problems/disorders receive the anointing of the sick? For example, people who battle an illness such as anxiety/panic disorder, bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, etc. I would think that these types of illness are not in and of themselves necessarily life-threatening, but they could be and could lead to life-threatening situations. I have a friend in Nova Scotia who visited a shrine in Quebec last summer. The shrine held a special anointing of the sick, but the priest announced that it was only for those truly ill and/or with a life-threatening illness. My friend was truly upset and didn't know whether to receive the anointing. She has had cancer and now suffers an anxiety/panic disorder, always living in fear of the cancer returning. -- T.O., Vermont
A: In general the sacrament of the sick is reserved for serious (but not necessarily life- threatening) physical illness which significantly affects one's health and well-being. It can also be administered before a serious operation or one that requires complete sedation, even if the underlying condition is not in itself life-threatening. It may also be administered to those over 65 if notably weakened, even if they do not suffer from any particular illness.
Historically the Church has not administered this sacrament for less serious illnesses, even if chronic. Until relatively recently, mental illnesses were not usually considered as subjects for anointing.
Medical science, however, has discovered that some hitherto mental illnesses are in fact symptoms of physical imbalances. For example, the dementia associated with Alzheimer's is apparently mental, but it is also a fatal, and still incurable, disease.
Even if the serious mental illness is not caused by known physical phenomena, No. 53 of the introduction to Pastoral Care of the Sick: Rites of Anointing and Viaticum (PCS) opens up the possibility of the use the sacrament in such cases. To wit: "Some types of mental sickness are now classified as serious. Those who are judged to have a serious mental illness and who would be strengthened by the sacrament may be anointed. The anointing may be repeated in accordance with the conditions for other kinds of severe illness."
The minister should proceed with some caution with respect to anointing for mental illness. There is no clear cut standard to determine "seriousness." For this reason, such situations should be handled on a case-by-case basis and in consultation with the person's physician. As stated in PCS, No. 8: "A prudent or reasonably sure judgment, without scruple, is sufficient for deciding on the serious of an illness. If necessary a doctor may be consulted."
Also PCS, No. 52: "Those who receive this sacrament in the faith of the Church will find it a true sign of comfort and support in time of trial. It will work to overcome the sickness if this is God’s will."
Finally, while it is possible that anxiety and similar mental strains could reach a stage of seriousness that would warrant anointing, it is also important to recall that the Church's habitual sources of grace such as frequent recourse to the sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist, closeness to the Blessed Mother, as well as prayer and seeking spiritual guidance are of great benefit in helping us to overcome these burdens or at least bear patiently the trials permitted by God.
Slideshow of us at St Anne's
Thursday, October 14, 2010
The Pope has created a new office to fight 'eclipse of God' in the West
Vatican City, Oct 12, 2010 / 10:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The new Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization was unveiled at a press conference at the Vatican Oct. 12.
Pope Benedict XVI has created the new Vatican office to address the growing problem of secularization and the “eclipse of God” in the nations of Europe and the West.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the new office, presented a letter from Pope Benedict outlining its mandate.
According to the Pope, the Church faces a new challenge today in its mission of evangelization. That is the “phenomenon of the detachment from the faith, that has progressively manifested itself in societies and cultures that for centuries appeared to be impregnated by the Gospel.”
In his letter, the Pope described a religious landscape in the once-Christian West that is now characterized by a kind of practical atheism, where "economic well-being and consumerism ... inspire and sustain a life lived 'as if God did not exist.'"
In addition to widespread attitudes of indifference to religion, he also noted that in some places deliberate efforts are being made at "uprooting" the historic Christian faith.
In countries where ancient Christian traditions are threatened with eclipse, the Pope said, “only a new evangelization can ensure the growth of a clear and profound faith, capable of making of these traditions a force of true freedom."
To aid this new evangelization, the new pontifical office, known as a dicastery, will work with local bishops to promote missionary initiatives. The Pope stressed the need to find creative new ways to use communications media and to promote the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the "essential and complete formulation of the content of the faith for the men of our time."
Opposing the secularization and “de-Christianization” of the West has long been a deep concern of the Pope.
In a letter he sent to the world’s bishops in March 2009, Pope Benedict wrote that “the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and of the Successor of Peter at the present time” is "to lead men and women to God."
"In our days," the Pope explained, "when in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel, the overriding priority is to make God present in this world and to show men and women the way to God.”
In first announcing his plans for the new pontifical council at a vespers service, June 28, the Pope said that in the West, “Churches with an ancient foundation … are experiencing the progressive secularization of society and a sort of ‘eclipse of the sense of God,’ which pose a challenge to finding appropriate to propose anew the perennial truth of Christ's Gospel.”
In selecting Archbishop Fisichella to head the new office, the Pope has chosen a moral theologian with a longstanding concern for the Church’s engagement with the modern world. Archbishop Fisichella is said to have collaborated with the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the drafting of “Fides et Ratio” (“Faith and Reason”), Pope John Paul II’s 1998 encyclical letter on philosophy. Most recently, he served as head of the Pontifical Academy of Life.
Benedict established the office by a document known as a moto proprio (Latin for “of his own accord”). His apostolic letter establishing the office is entitled “Ubicumque et Semper (Everywhere and Always)."
"The Church has the duty to announce always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ," the letter begins. The "evangelizing mission," he adds is a continuation of Jesus' will and "is necessary and insubstitutible for the Church, an expression of its very nature."
Pope Benedict XVI has created the new Vatican office to address the growing problem of secularization and the “eclipse of God” in the nations of Europe and the West.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the new office, presented a letter from Pope Benedict outlining its mandate.
According to the Pope, the Church faces a new challenge today in its mission of evangelization. That is the “phenomenon of the detachment from the faith, that has progressively manifested itself in societies and cultures that for centuries appeared to be impregnated by the Gospel.”
In his letter, the Pope described a religious landscape in the once-Christian West that is now characterized by a kind of practical atheism, where "economic well-being and consumerism ... inspire and sustain a life lived 'as if God did not exist.'"
In addition to widespread attitudes of indifference to religion, he also noted that in some places deliberate efforts are being made at "uprooting" the historic Christian faith.
In countries where ancient Christian traditions are threatened with eclipse, the Pope said, “only a new evangelization can ensure the growth of a clear and profound faith, capable of making of these traditions a force of true freedom."
To aid this new evangelization, the new pontifical office, known as a dicastery, will work with local bishops to promote missionary initiatives. The Pope stressed the need to find creative new ways to use communications media and to promote the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the "essential and complete formulation of the content of the faith for the men of our time."
Opposing the secularization and “de-Christianization” of the West has long been a deep concern of the Pope.
In a letter he sent to the world’s bishops in March 2009, Pope Benedict wrote that “the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and of the Successor of Peter at the present time” is "to lead men and women to God."
"In our days," the Pope explained, "when in vast areas of the world the faith is in danger of dying out like a flame which no longer has fuel, the overriding priority is to make God present in this world and to show men and women the way to God.”
In first announcing his plans for the new pontifical council at a vespers service, June 28, the Pope said that in the West, “Churches with an ancient foundation … are experiencing the progressive secularization of society and a sort of ‘eclipse of the sense of God,’ which pose a challenge to finding appropriate to propose anew the perennial truth of Christ's Gospel.”
In selecting Archbishop Fisichella to head the new office, the Pope has chosen a moral theologian with a longstanding concern for the Church’s engagement with the modern world. Archbishop Fisichella is said to have collaborated with the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the drafting of “Fides et Ratio” (“Faith and Reason”), Pope John Paul II’s 1998 encyclical letter on philosophy. Most recently, he served as head of the Pontifical Academy of Life.
Benedict established the office by a document known as a moto proprio (Latin for “of his own accord”). His apostolic letter establishing the office is entitled “Ubicumque et Semper (Everywhere and Always)."
"The Church has the duty to announce always and everywhere the Gospel of Jesus Christ," the letter begins. The "evangelizing mission," he adds is a continuation of Jesus' will and "is necessary and insubstitutible for the Church, an expression of its very nature."
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Museum of the Shroud of Turin holds all the relic's secrets
October 2, 2010. The Museum of the Shroud of Turin in Italy receives thousands of visitors each year seeking answers to the mysteries surrounding the Shroud. Here you have the opportunity to see up close an exact copy of the linen cloth that according to tradition covered Jesus' body.
Here you can find the camera that took the first photograph of the Shroud. There is also the first photo of the Shroud, ant the chest in which it was kept when it belonged to the Savoy family.
Roman Square to be named after Mother Theresa
Rome recalled Mother Teresa of Calcutta on the centenary of her birth with a tribute in the City Hall. During the meeting, the mayor announced that there will be a square named in honor of the "mother of the poor."
Holy Father prays that The Rosary might fortify faithful in theological virtues
.- At noon on Sunday, Pope Benedict prayed that all people might be strengthened in faith, hope and charity through the intercession of Mary. He asked, in particular, that she lead the faithful to "walk quickly and joyfully on the way of holiness."Pope Benedict prayed the Angelus with an estimated 30,000 people present in Palermo, Sicily at the city's Foro Italico park during his pastoral visit there. Widely present among the attendees were banners bearing images of Fr. Pino Puglisi, a much-loved priest who was killed in Palermo by the mafia in 1993.
Reminded of the island's strong Marian devotion, Pope Benedict entrusted all Sicilian faithful to the Virgin Mary before the Angelus. He especially asked Our Lady to support families in love and educational commitment, to make the "seeds" of vocations fruitful among young people and to give people "courage in trials, hope in difficulties and renewed impetus to do good.
"May the Madonna comfort the sick and all the suffering," he continued praying, "and help Christian communities so that no person be marginalized or in need, but that each, especially the smallest and weakest, might feel accepted and valued."
Mary, said the Pope, "is the model of Christian life" to whom "we ask most of all to help us walk quickly and joyfully on the way of holiness, in the footsteps of so many brilliant witnesses of Christ, children of the Sicilian lands."
Remembering the concurrent celebration of the beatification of Anna Maria Adorni in Parma, Italy on Sunday, her devotion to saying the rosary and the beginning of the Marian month of October, the Holy Father prayed that the "daily meditation of the mysteries of Christ in union with Mary, the 'praying Virgin', might fortify us all in faith, hope and charity."
After the Mass, the Holy Father went to the Archbishop of Palermo's residence for lunch with all the bishops of Sicily. Following this occasion, his Sunday afternoon schedule included a meeting with priests, religious and seminarians at the cathedral and an open-air encounter with young people and families in a city square.
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