New Book of Cartoons

More to come...

from "Last Cracks in Legendary Cloisters"

by Brother Choleric

(Pub. Sheed & Ward London)

Prayers and esteem for the Church and for the noble Chinese people

Matteo Ricci, SJ (October 6, 1552 – May 11, 1610) Painted in 1610 by the Chinese brother
Emmanuel Pereira (born Yu Wen-hui).
It hangs in the Jesuit House in Rome  

“Father Ricci went to China not to bring science and Western culture, but to bring the Gospel, to make God known. He writes: ‘For over twenty years every morning and every night I prayed in tears to Heaven. I know the Lord of Heaven has compassion for living creatures and forgives them... . The truth about the Lord of Heaven is already in the hearts of men. But humans do not understand it immediately, and, moreover, are not inclined to reflect on similar issues’ (Il vero significato del “Signore del Cielo”, [The true meaning of the “Lord of Heaven”], Rome 2006, pp. 69-70). And it was indeed while bringing the Gospel, that Father Ricci found in his interlocutors the demand for a wider confrontation, so that the meeting motivated by faith also became a dialogue between cultures; a disinterested dialogue, free from economic or political ambition for power, lived in friendship, which makes the work of Father Ricci and his disciples one of the highest and happiest points in the relationship between China and the West”. With these words, Benedict XVI recalled the figure of Father Matteo Ricci, on the fourth centenary of his death. He concluded: “Like Father Matteo Ricci, today I too express my profound esteem for the noble Chinese people and their ancient culture, convinced that their renewed encounter with Christianity will bring abundant fruits of good, as it then encouraged peaceful coexistence between peoples. Thank you”. The Pope’s speech was published in L’Osservatore Romano of May 30 with the title Prayers and esteem for the Church and for the noble Chinese people. 

The cause of beatification of Father Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), originally begun in 1984, was reopened on January 24, 2010 at the cathedral of the east-central Italian Diocese of Macerata-Tolentino-Recanati-Cingoli-Treia

Click here: Investigate the fascinating Fr Matteo Ricci SJ on Wikki

New Official Portrait of Pope Benedict

Master artist Igor V. Babailov, M.F.A. has completed the new official portrait of His Holiness Benedict XVI, entitled: "The Truth, The Way and The Life: A Portrait of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI," Oil on Canvas, 72" x 48" (183 cm x 122 cm) Click here for a better resolution version of the portrait.

Six men arrested over plot to attack Pope Benedict XVI during state visit to Britain.

Sep 17 2010

SIX men were arrested today by police investigating a suspected plot to harm the Pope.

Scotland Yard officers swooped on several people after information emerged that Pope Benedict XVI could be in danger.

Some of the men were working as street cleaners, Westminster City Council revealed.  They were arrested by officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command shortly before 6am.

The five men were working for Veolia Environmental Services, a contractor which employs 650 on-street staff to keep Westminster's streets clean and free from rubbish.

The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50, were held under the Terrorism Act 2000 at business premises in central London.

A sixth man, aged 29, has was arrested later by counter-terrorism officers.

They were taken to a central London police station, where they will be interviewed by detectives.

It was later reported that the men were of Algerian origin.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the business was being searched, as well as homes in north and east London.

A spokesman said: "Initial searches have not uncovered any hazardous items.

"Today's arrests were made after police received information. Following initial inquiries by detectives, a decision was made to arrest the five men.

"Following today's arrests the policing arrangements for the Papal visit were reviewed and we are satisfied that our current policing plan remains appropriate.

"The itinerary has not changed. There is no change to the UK threat level."

Sources said the accuracy of the information received by police is yet to be checked and stressed that no suspicious items have been found.

The source refused to discuss the nature of the tip-off, but said it was only received a relatively short time before the arrests were made.

A multi-million-pound operation was put in place to protect the Pope during his tour of Scotland, London and the West Midlands.

Thousands of officers are involved in the operation from forces including the Met, Strathclyde, Lothian and Borders, West Midlands and British Transport Police.

The cost of policing the Pope's visit to Britain could reach s1.5million and is being co-ordinated by South Yorkshire Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes.

Senior officers said there was no information ahead of the visit to suggest any "specific group" wanted to attack the Pope.

But they warned people not to underestimate the "passion and the fervour" the visit would bring.

Police also interviewed mentally unstable people who they feared may pose a threat to the Pope.

A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said: "We have absolute confidence in the security operation to protect both the Pope and the public.

"The Pope is enjoying a wonderful visit, warmly welcomed wherever he goes."

Father Federico Lombardi, a spokesman for the Vatican, said the Popewas informed of the threat during his visit to St Mary's University College, in Twickenham, south west London.

He was 30 minutes late for prayers in St Mary's Chapel, but it is not known if this is because of the unexpected intervention.

Father Lombardi said: "We are totally confident in the work of the policeand Scotland Yard. We have no particular preoccupation with this.

"The police have already said that the information that they have collected until now demonstrates there is no need to change anything on the programme of the Pope and the security measures."

Father Lombardi added that the Pope remains "totally calm" and "happy" and will continue to enjoy his trip.

www.dailyrecord.co.za

Mass rape by paedophile Catholic priests is a myth, says secular humanist magazine

By Damian Thompson Religion

How The Independent reported the rape claims
A fascinating article today by the atheist Left-wing columnist Brendan O’Neill, editor of spiked, rubbishing claims that thousands of children were “raped by the Catholic Church’s army of paedophile priests”. Here’s an extract:

Were 10,000 children in America and thousands more in Ireland really raped by Catholic priests? In a word, no. Instead, what has happened is that in the increasingly caliginous, almost Inquisitorial mindset of sections of the New Atheist anti-pope lobby, every allegation of abuse against a Catholic priest … has been lumped together under the heading of ‘rape’, and every allegation has been described as an actual proven ‘rape’ regardless of whether it resulted in a legal trial, never mind a conviction.
The term ‘paedophile priest’ has become such a part of everyday cultural lingo that most people, when they read in last week’s relatively respectable UK Independent that ‘over 10,000 children have come forward to say they were raped [by Catholic priests]’, would probably think, ‘Yeah, that’s possible’. But it isn’t true.
You’ll need to read O’Neill’s piece to grasp the full details, but in essence he makes two points:

1. In America, between 1950 and 2002, a total of 10,667 people made allegations against 4,392 priests (ie, four per cent of priests in ministry during that period). Of these accusers, 1,203 made allegations of what we would consider rape. O’Neill asks:
How did a complex US report about all manner of allegations against priests come to be translated in the words of the Independent into the idea that ‘over 10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped [by priests]’? Because in the outlook of certain sections of the intolerant New Atheist lobby, everything from sex talk to fondling to being shown a porn flick is ‘rape’ – if it’s done by a priest, that is – and every priest is guilty of what he is accused of despite the question of whether or not he was convicted in a court of law.
In other words, the Catholic-baiting Independent seriously misled its readers.

2. In 2009, the Irish and British press reported that “thousands of children were raped” by Catholic priests and religious in Irish reform schools. The reality is that 242 male witnesses made 253 reports of sexual abuse against the staff of Irish reform schools at the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse – and of these, 68 claimed to have been raped. O’Neill adds:

Once again, not all of the allegations resulted in convictions. Some witness reports involved priests who had died, and out of the 253 male reports of sexual abuse, 207 related to the period of 1969 or earlier; 46 related to the 1970s and 1980s. How did 68 claims of anal rape made against the staff of Irish reform schools over a 59-year period translate into headlines about thousands being raped? Because once again, everything from being neglected to being smacked to being emotionally abused – which thousands of Irish reform-school kids were subjected to – was lumped together with being raped, creating a warped image of a religious institution that rapes children on an almost daily basis.

O’Neill has done us a service by writing this article on the eve of the Pope’s visit. And, please, there’s no need to remind me that vile acts were committed against children by Catholic clergy. I know. I was writing articles about the scandal of paedophile priests in the early 1990s, at a time when neither the Church nor public opinion seemed very interested.

But, at around the same time, I was also writing sceptically about the “Satanic Ritual Abuse” scare. Remember that? To put it mildly, many allegations of ritual abuse turned out to be unfounded. Yet anyone who refused to “believe the children” was denounced as an apologist for paedophilia.

I’m not claiming that the analogy is an exact one: clearly a small minority of priests were abusers, whereas the evidence for devil-worshipping paedophiles was virtually non-existent. But what I do remember from the early 1990s is that academics or journalists who asked awkward questions about the empirical basis of the Satanic claims were shouted down by a mob whose members consisted of religion-hating secularists and extreme Protestants. Call me paranoid, but I reckon the old alliance is back in business.

From newadvent.com Submitted by F Ron

News Letter from the Archdiocesan News Editor, Judy Stockill

Dear Archdiocesan News Reader

October issue delayed
Regretfully the October issue of the Archdiocesan News will only reach the pews on the second Sunday, 10 October. It will be ready for collection on Wednesday 6 October.
Since there are 5 Sundays in October there should be no knock-on effect and the November issue is planned for the first Sunday, 7th November, as usual.
That does mean there are a few more days to submit parish photographs, with a full caption-story, of Bible Sunday and Catechetical Sunday and another days grace to send notices.

Pull out and keep supplement
I hope you kept the supplement ‘Growing in your Faith’ from the September issue. It was compiled and paid for by the 6 institutes of learning here in the Archdiocese. If your Congregation would like a similar 4-page supplement please contact the Editor. The ADNews is also planning to compile a similar supplement for smaller movements, service organizations, sodalities and retreat centres that offer opportunities for spiritual growth and on-going formation. Please let me know if your organization would like to have a space. There will be a cost, R300 as a rough estimate. The exact cost will depend on uptake of the space. It won’t happen till 2011, hopefully early in the year but I would like to know soon if there is any interest in such a supplement. I think it would be a great service to the Archdiocese.

Budget for 2011
Parishes are preparing their 2011 budgets. Please remind your PFC to confirm the parish order for the AD News. The order can be increased during the year but not decreased. We have to have a total order of 15,500 to go to print at all.

Communications
Improved communication was a Synod ’08 outcome/priority. The Vicar General is overseeing a move towards making use of the latest technology starting with a new website and a weekly e-newsletter.
Make an offer if you think you could help.
The AD News seeks an editor. Must have industry experience and must be a Catholic. Just about everything else is negotiable.

I’ll repeat all this in the ADNews. Look out for it. Draw it to the attention of other readers/leaders. Also the notices below which will now be too late to be of use.

Have you filled in your 2012 consultation form yet?

Regards, Judy

Sunday 3 October 10:30
Rosebank Chamber Choir
will sing the Mass ‘The Prince of Peace’ by William Lloyd Webber and the motet
the ‘Cantique de Jean Racine’ by Gabriel Faure.
Church of The Immaculate Conception, Rosebank.

Pilgrimage to Ngome
8-10 October
Leaving from Mary, Mother of Sorrows Church
105 11th Avenue, Kensington
Book with Ann Moodley
011 622-2767 or
083-528-9033

Sat 9 October 12:00 to 16:00
THE JEWISH ROOTS OF THE SACRAMENTS
Closing lecture
Catholic Bible College, La Rochelle 011 435-7997 and Catechetics Dept


Wednesday 6 October
09:00
Clergy Ongoing Formation
Fr Rodney Moss speaks about The Priesthood
Trinity House, Braamfontein

Saturday 9 October
08:30 - 13:00
VATICAN III
Follow-up Discussion
St Vincent’s School for the Deaf, Melrose
RSVP Shelagh Mary hf (w) 011 402-6400
Cell 083 256 1422
e-mail shfcorrie@icon.co.za

Saturday 9 October
14:00-17:00
Annual General Meeting
Archdiocesan AIDS Commission
Cathedral Place
Invited are:
Members of the AIDS Commission
Deanery and Parish AIDS Coordinators

Archdiocesan News
Chancery 011 402-6400
www.catholic-johannesburg.org.za
adnews@icon.co.za

Pope Benedict World Youth Day Message

Pope Benedict XVI has released his message for the next World Youth Day to be held in Madrid 2011. In warm and personal way, the Pope has invited young people around the world to turn out for the celebrations which will be held in the Spanish capital next summer. Recalling his own youth, Benedict XVI reflected on his time as a university student and the challenges of responding affirmatively to his vocation to the priesthood.


Click here to read the full message