Pope launches urgent appeal for an end to use of weapons in Libya

VATICAN RADIO Following the midday Angelus prayer this Sunday (27th March 2011), Pope Benedict XVI launched the following urgent appeal: "Faced with the increasingly dramatic reports from Libya, my trepidation for the safety and security of civilians and my concern for the unfolding situation, currently signed by the use of arms, is growing. In times of greatest tension, the need to put to use all means available to diplomacy becomes increasingly urgent and to support even the weakest signs of openness and willingness on both sides involved, for reconciliation in search of peaceful and lasting solutions. In view of this, as I lift my prayer to the Lord for a return to harmony in Libya and the entire North African region, I also appeal to the international bodies and all those in positions of military and political responsibility, for the immediate start of dialogue and the suspension of the use of weapons”. "Finally, my thoughts turn to the authorities and citizens of the Middle East, where in recent days there have been several incidents of violence, so that the path of dialogue and reconciliation be privileged in the search for a just and brotherly coexistence".

New Patriarch for the Maronites!

And the Patriarch Is....

Shortly after 11am Lebanon time (5am ET), the bells began tolling at the Bkirki "conclave," with word emerging that Archbishop Beshara Rai of Jbeil, 71, had been elected head of the 3 million-member Maronite church, the Middle East's largest Catholic community.

According to the wire, the 77th patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant -- the first religious elected to the post in some time -- "is known as a moderate" who enjoys "good relations with all Lebanese factions although he is seen by some as being a supporter of the Western-backed coalition." (Rai is shown above entering a nationally-televised Mass today that followed his election and the Synod's emergence from a week of seclusion.) In a statement, President Michel Suleiman said that Rai made for "the best successor to the best predecessor" -- a reference to the retiring patriarch, 91 year-old Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir -- while a former head of state praised the choice as "a man of unity." His name meaning "sponsor of the good news" in Arabic, the patriarch will be formally enthroned on 25 March.

We wish congratulate our Maronite parishioners as we do the Parishes of Our Lady of Our Lady of Lebanon and Our Lady of the Cedars.

How to convert witches to Catholicism

Witches can and should be converted to Catholicism, according to a robust new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society that portrays spell-casting as spiritually empty, exhausting and immoral. Instead of “seeking to change God’s mind or violently alter his plans through circle-casting”, it says, Wiccans should be encouraged to surrender this often frightening burden and accept the love of Christ.

In other words, come to Mass, leaving your broomstick at the door.

Actually, I should make it clear that Wicca & Witchcraft: Understanding the dangers by Elizabeth Dodd doesn’t make any silly cracks about broomsticks. But I can’t resist. There’s no eco-bore like a Wiccan eco-bore. I’ve met a few and, believe me, you need to be under a spell to sit through a three-hour whinge about Mother Gaia from a practitioner of white magick. It makes one long for the days when witches restricted themselves to a quick cackle before riding off into the night. (Just kidding, witches and pagans! Seriously, last time I had a go at them they reported me to the Press Complaints Commission, which proved resistant to their magick.)

Ms Dodd is reasonably polite about Wicca/paganism, but she’s not buying any of its bullshit about being descended from prehistoric totemic and animist religion via the Pharaohs, Rosicrucians, Cunning Men, Illuminati etc. “Modern Wicca’s origins lie in Victorian occultism,” she says (also finding room to mention the movement’s early links with Aleister Crowley). “Wiccans are encouraged to develop their own pantheon of gods and goddesses with whom they are comfortable to work – a religious ‘dream team’ … There are no limits to the creativity Wiccans can employ when creating their religious pantheons: it would not be uncommon to come across a Wiccan who worshipped Odin, Poseidon and the Buddhist Bodhisattva Kawn-Yin simultaneously.” (And was willing to talk about it in detail, I’ll bet.)

As for the overlap between white and black magic, Dodd makes this point: “Whether or not a Wiccan can successfully communicate with the dead or summon a spirit, whether spellwork is effective or not, has no bearing on the psychological damage that can be done to a young person who is convinced that they have summoned the dead, or have performed a spell that has hurt or injured another. Wicca has no hierarchy or support structure in place for these vulnerable young people … The use of magic, the practice of witchcraft, offends God because it is rooted in our sinful and fallen nature. It attempts to usurp God.”

You wouldn’t read anything this feisty from the Bishops’ Conference, but that’s typical of CTS, which stopped watering down its Catholicism years ago and is thriving as a result. Whether Dodd’s tips for evangelising witches actually work I can’t say – you’re supposed to emphasise that Christianity frees us from the self-centredness of Wicca and to find common ground over ecology (though even here Dodd is combative, accusing Wiccans of worshipping creation itself).

One thing’s for sure: should a group of right-on Wiccans convert to Catholicism, they’d be welcomed a damn sight more warmly by certain south coast bishops than the members of the Ordinariate. There’s always room for female eco-fanatics in the episcopal bureaucracy. Especially if they’re already members of a magic circle.

By Damian Thompson who is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a journalist specialising in religion. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke.

“Eve” by Madeleine L’Engle

Eve and Mary* by Sr. Grace Remington, O.C.S.O

“Eve” When we left the garden we knew that it would be forever. The new world we entered was dark and strange. Nights were cold. We lay together for warmth, and because we were afraid of the unnamed animals, and of the others; we had never known about the giants, and angels gone wild. We had not been told of dwarves and elves; they teased us; we hid whenever they played.

Adam held me. When my belly grew taut and began to swell I didn’t know what was happening. I thought it was the beginning of death, the very first death. I clung to Adam and cried. As I grew bigger something within me moved. One day I fell and the pains started. A true angel came and pushed the grinning creatures back. Adam helped. There was a tearing. I thought I’d died. Instead, from within me came a tiny thing, a new creature, red-faced, bellowing, mouth groping for my breast. This was not death, but birth, and joy came to my heart again. This was the first-born child. How I did laugh and sing! But from this birth came death. He never gave me any rest. And then he killed his brother. Oh, my child. Oh, my son Cain. I watched from then on over every birth, seeing in each babe cruelty ready to kill compassion. For centuries the pattern did not change. Birth always meant death. Each manchild who was born upon the longing earth in gratefulness and joy brought me only a fresh ration of tears. I had let hate into the world with that first breath.

Yet something made me hope. Each baby born brought me hurrying, bringing, as in the old tales, a gift looking – for what? I went to every slum and cave and palace seeking the mothers, thinking that at least I could warn their hearts. Thus perhaps the balance might shift and kindness and concern replace self-will and malice.

So I was waiting at that extraordinary intersection of Eternity and Time when David’s son (Adam’s, too) was born. I watched the Incarnate at his mother’s breast making, by his humble, holy birth the one possible correction of all that I by disobedience had done. I knelt and saw new Adam, and I cried, “My son!” and came at last to rest. — Madeleine L’Engle

Poem Source: Magnificat Magazine

*Eve and Mary, reprinted with the permission of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey. For background on the image, and link to a lovely choral piece which grew from it see here.

Pope Benedict heralds beginning of Advent with pro-life vigil

On Saturday 26th November at 4:30pm St Anne's hosted First Vespers of the First Sunday of Advent joining His Holiness the Pope in his Pro-Life Vigil. The Recitation of the Divine Office office was attended by the sisters of the Holy Cross Provincialte and some parishioners.

Vatican City, Nov 28, 2010 / 11:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI heralded the beginning of Advent this year with an unprecedented worldwide pro-life vigil. On Saturday night at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, he urged respect for human life and warned against adult “selfishness” and the “darkening of consciences” in modern society.

On Nov. 27, St. Peter's was the center of global focus, as dioceses around the world joined the Pope's invitation to prepare for the season of Christmas by joining in a special Vespers service for the unborn.

Although it is common for the Pope to encourage prayer for particular intentions, the request for a coordinated worldwide vigil – to be held on the same date and approximately the same time, in all dioceses – is highly exceptional.

Pope Benedict began his homily saying that God became a child to experience the life of man in order to “to save it completely, fully.”

“The beginning of the liturgical year helps us to relive the expectation of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,” he said, adding that the “Incarnation reveals to us, with intense light and in an amazing way, that every human life has an incomparable, a most elevated dignity.”

Because “God loves us so deeply, totally, without distinction,” the Pope noted that belief in “Jesus Christ also means having a new outlook on man, a look of trust and hope.”

Humankind, therefore, “has the right not to be treated as an object of possession or something to manipulate at will, not to be reduced to a mere instrument for the benefit of others and their interests,” he said.

“In this vein we find the Church's concern for the unborn, the most fragile, the most threatened by the selfishness of adults and the darkening of consciences,” the Pontiff added.

He then reiterated the Church's stance against abortion, warning against “cultural tendencies that seek to anesthetize consciences with misleading motivations.”

“With regard to the embryo in the womb, science itself highlights its autonomy capable of interaction with the mother, the coordination of biological processes, the continuity of development, the growing complexity of the organism,” he said. “This is not an accumulation of biological material, but a new living being, dynamic and wonderfully ordered, a new unique human being.”

“So was Jesus in Mary's womb, so it was for all of us in our mother’s womb.”

Pope Benedict went on to say that even after birth, children around the world face abandonment, hunger, poverty, disease, abuse, violence or exploitation.

“I urge the protagonists of politics, economic and social communications to do everything in their power to promote a culture which respects human life, to provide favorable conditions and support networks for the reception and development of life,” he said.

The Pope concluded by entrusting prayers for the unborn to the Virgin Mary, “who welcomed the Son of God made man with faith, with her maternal womb, with loving care, with nurturing support and vibrant with love.”

Our Holy Father Benedict XVI Urges the Whole World to Unite in a Prayer Vigil for All Nascent Human Life

In the evening of November 27, 2010 at the liturgical beginning of Advent - a time of joyful anticipation for the birth of Christ - His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate a prayer vigil in St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican for the intention of all nascent human life. At the request of the Holy Father, a letter was sent to all the episcopal conferences of the Catholic Church this past June asking them to take part in this prayer and to organize prayer vigils at the beginning of Advent in all local churches. This letter was jointly sent by Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Pontifical Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and by Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Let’s do everything possible so that our parishes, communities, prayer groups and families join in this universal prayer for life, in communion with the Holy Father. Personal prayer in union with the Church for the intention of defending preborn human life is our duty and raises great hope that with God’s help the civilization of life and love will triumph.

Na noite de 27 de novembro de 2010, o início do Advento litúrgico - um tempo de alegre expectativa para o nascimento de Cristo - Sua Santidade o Papa Bento XVI vai celebrar uma vigília de oração na Basílica de São Pedro, no Vaticano pretende todos os seres humanos a nascer. A pedido do Santo Padre, uma carta foi enviada a todas as conferências episcopais da Igreja Católica em junho de 2010 pedindo-lhes para participar nesta oração e organizar vigílias de oração no início do Advento, em todas as igrejas locais. Esta carta foi enviada conjuntamente pelo cardeal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefeito da Congregação Pontifícia para o Culto Divino ea Disciplina dos Sacramentos, e pelo cardeal Ennio Antonelli, presidente do Conselho Pontifício para a Família.

Fazendo tudo que podemos fazer as nossas paróquias, comunidades, grupos de oração e as famílias para participar desta oração universal para a vida em comunhão com o Santo Padre. A oração pessoal em união com a Igreja para a defesa da vida humana por nascer é um dever. Esta iniciativa nos dá grande esperança de que com a ajuda de Deus a civilização da vida e do amor triunfará

To pledge you commitment to this vigil and send your details to the Holy Father go to: http://www.yes-for-benedict.net/?lang_un=en

At Evening Mass, "Bloodbath" in Baghdad

Earlier tonight, during evening Mass at a parish in central Baghdad, armed vigilantes seeking the release of jailed Al-Qaeda members stormed the church and held the congregation of 100-plus hostage.

According to reports, as explosions could be heard from inside the church -- dedicated to Our Lady of Salvation -- on their entrance, the gunmen immediately killed the priest-celebrant. (The church is shown above, under guard during Christmas Mass in 2005.)

Shortly thereafter, as security forces raided the building, clashes ensued... and as the smoke clears, the wires have sent word of a "bloodbath," with the assailants said to have detonated "suicide vests," and according to most early briefs, at least a quarter of the Massgoers (at least one child among them) reported to have been killed, with scores of others wounded.

Lord, have mercy on us... and just in case any of this crowd needed the reminder, let us never take what we have for granted, lest we forget the suffering of the many who could only dream of it.

SVILUPPO: As reports continue to emerge, by late morning Baghdad time the death toll climbed to at least 39 hostages, with 56 more injured.

Seven security forces personnel were likewise killed, with 15 others injured.