ITN news presenter Julie Etchingham

The Bishops Conference of England and Wales website carries a news release about an awards ceremony for the diocesan media officers who went to Sydney for World Youth Day. The awards were presented by Julie Etchingham, a presenter of ITN's News at Ten. The most interesting part of the release is the part that refers to Julie Etchingham's own experience:

Ms Etchingham felt a particular affinity with the young Communications Officers because she had been invited by her bishop 17 years earlier to serve as a Media Officer at World Youth Day in Czestochowa for her home diocese of Nottingham:
“It was a very far cry from all the amazing kit that is available to you. I simply kept a written diary as we were trudging through fields and making our way through Eastern Europe on a bus, across cobbled motorways. We didn’t have Facebook; we didn’t have Bebo, we weren’t communicating on mobile phones. It was out of the ark when I was there.

“That WYD was a very special one – it was in Pope John Paul II’s home country and it was a big homecoming for him and it was just after the Berlin Wall had come down so a very visual barrier had been removed in terms of communication. There was an extraordinary spirit at the time of young people wanting to get to know each other from across that very concrete divide.

The experience helped affirm her desire to pursue journalism as a career: “I think as a Catholic it can be quite a noble profession. In its best moments, it speaks rofoundly human being to human being about the truth of the world that we live in, the challenges that we all face, it allows us to be a witness. And it is a very privileged position to be in, to witness some of the dreadful things in life, but to communicate them compassionately and also to witness some of the glorious things in life and make sure that we provide a window on the world and with all these extraordinary facilities that you all have now…it is something to be embraced.”

Nostalgia ...

... or, remembering the days when I was young enough to qualify for World Youth Day. Except that they hadn't been invented then.

I am undertaking a big clean/cull of the bookshelves and office at the moment. A lot is being thrown out, though I must admit to having a little pile of "things to scan before throwing away". This afternoon I came across a type script - yes, from a typewriter, not from a printer - of a homily preached at the chaplaincy of Oxford University on 27th May 1979.

The Church and the World.
Official Sermon of Fr George Pell at the Catholic Chaplaincy, Oxford, 27th May 1979.

In choosing a single sentence to summarise the homily, I am not doing justice to the balance of the whole and to the underlying analysis of the situation of the Church and of the world, but here goes:

What I am saying is that we are in a battle situation, and that the wholesale dismantling of the Catholic tradition is pastorally disastrous.

Fr George Pell was an Australian priest, staying at Campion Hall in Oxford for a year of studies. A number of us running the Oxford University Newman Society at the time got to know him - I think he gave a talk to the society at one point. We were what one might describe as "being on the same wavelength".

Now, I wonder what happened to Fr Pell after his return to Australia?

Benedict XVI: God's proposal brought Mary's Yes

Looking through ZENIT's reporting of the closing Mass of World Youth Day, my particular attention was caught by Pope Benedict's Angelus address at the end of Mass. Full text here.

"The covenant with Israel was like a period of courtship, a long engagement," he said. "Then came the definitive moment, the moment of marriage, the establishment of a new and everlasting covenant. As Mary stood before the Lord, she represented the whole of humanity. In the angel's message, it was as if God made a marriage proposal to the human race. And in our name, Mary said yes....

"Dear young people, we too must remain faithful to the "yes" that we have given to the Lord's offer of friendship. We know that he will never abandon us. We know that he will always sustain us through the gifts of the Spirit. Mary accepted the Lord's "proposal" in our name. So let us turn to her and ask her to guide us as we struggle to remain faithful to the life-giving relationship that God has established with each one of us. She is our example and our inspiration, she intercedes for us with her Son, and with a mother's love she shields us from harm."

World Youth Day: Stations of the Cross

As I write this post, I am watching video coverage of the Stations of the Cross accessible from the Media Player page of the World Youth Day website. [I do love the strap line of the video clip that comes up as you first arrive at the page - "Word Youth Day - the time of your eternal life".] Video clips showing the complete celebration, and a highlights clip, have been posted there. I do recommend that you watch them!

The way the Stations were devised combines some very traditional elements (eg the versicle "We adore you O Christ and we bless you .." at the start of each station) with some very modern elements (the scourging is presented in a way reflective of some contemporary forms of torture, with Jesus hanging from his arms and then upside down). The music is also a mixture of traditional and modern - the Ave Verum at the representation of the Last Supper, a choral piece which includes a refrain "What have we done to you" echoing the Reproaches at the scene depicting Jesus meeting with the women of Jerusalem, and with his Mother. The setting against the backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and docks is very striking. I have not watched it all, but it does look to have been quite something.

I get the impression of a very prayerful event. It really does make you reflect on the nature of a work of art as a reflection and manifestation of what is most deeply of the human spirit.

World Youth Day: "Sent out into the world: the Holy Spirit, the principle agent of mission"

This is the third of my catecheses on the themes of the World Youth Day catecheses. It was used at our "first Friday" Eucharistic Adoration at the beginning of July. I rather simplified the Reading/teaching for the Children's adoration!

Reading/teaching

Three “articles” of Missionary activity according to the decree Ad Gentes of the Second Vatican Council:

Article 1: Christian witness

The Church must be present in these groups through her children, who dwell among them or who are sent to them. For all Christians, wherever they live, are bound to show forth, by the example of their lives and by the witness of the word, that new man put on at baptism and that power of the Holy Spirit by which they have been strengthened at Confirmation. Thus other men, observing their good works, can glorify the Father (cf. Matt. ES:16) and can perceive more fully the real meaning of human life and the universal bond of the community of mankind.


Article 2: Preaching the Gospel and assembling the People of God

Wherever God opens a door of speech for proclaiming the mystery of Christ, there is announced to all men with confidence and constancy the living God, and He Whom He has sent for the salvation of all, Jesus Christ. This is in order that non - Christians, when the Holy Spirit opens their heart, may believe and be freely converted to the Lord, that they may come sincerely to Him Who, being the "way, the truth, and the life" fulfils all their spiritual expectations, and even infinitely exceeds them.

This conversion must be taken as an initial one, yet sufficient to make a man realize that he has been snatched away from sin and led into the mystery of God's love, who called him to enter into a personal relationship with Him in Christ. For, by the workings of divine grace, the new convert sets out on a spiritual journey, by means of which, already sharing through faith in the mystery of Christ's Death and Resurrection, he passes from the old man to the new one, perfected in Christ

Article 3: Forming the Christian community

The Holy Spirit, who calls all men to Christ by the seeds of the word and by the preaching of the Gospel, stirs up in their hearts a submission of faith. In the womb of the baptismal font, He brings to a new life those who believe in Christ, He gathers them into the one People of God which is "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people”.

Therefore, let the missionaries, God's co-workers, raise up congregations of the faithful such that, walking worthily of the vocation to which they have been called, they may exercise the priestly, prophetic, and royal office which God has entrusted to them. In this way, the Christian community will be a sign of God's presence in the world. Through the Eucharistic sacrifice, this community goes continually with Christ to the Father; carefully nourished on the word of God it bears witness to Christ; and finally, it walks in charity and is fervent with the apostolic spirit.

Testimony(1): the Ark of the New Covenant of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress

I had prepared the account of the life of Madeleine Delbrel, below, as my testimony for this catechesis. However, what I actually did on the day, for both the Children's Adoration (with the children gathered round me so they could see better my "little Ark" that I had brought back from Quebec) and for the Holy Hour with the grown ups, was to talk about the pilgrimage of the Ark of the New Covenant of the recent International Eucharistic Congress. It reflected all three of the articles of missionary activity as it visited parishes and communities in Canada, most especially during its 9 week journey from Midland, Ontario to Quebec between Easter Sunday and the Feast of Corpus Christi. [To watch nine TV programmes produced by Salt and Light TV covering this pilgrimage go here.]

Testimony (2)

Madeleine Delbrêl was born in 1904 in Mussidan, in the Dordogne region of France. Her father worked on the railways and was frequently moved from place to place. In 1916, the family finally settled in Paris.

Madeleine was deeply committed to learning, and to enjoying everything that Paris had to offer. Her learning was manifested in her success when she enrolled as a student at the Sorbonne, where she won awards in philosophy, literature, modern art and history. Madeleine’s enjoyment of Paris was shown in her love of dancing - she spent many late nights with her friends in the cabarets of Paris - and her extra-short Charleston dresses. She was by now a thorough going atheist, a rebel who took joy in any unconventional thought.

Madeleine’s outlook on life is summarised by the title of an essay she wrote at this time: “God is Dead - Long Live Death”. This absurdity of life once God was absent, combined with her meeting several friends at the Sorbonne who were believers and for whom “God appeared to be as necessary as the air”, forced Madeleine to consider the question of faith. At 20, she underwent a conversion which she herself described as “violent”, and which was then followed by an intellectual search for religious faith. Madeleine continually maintained that it was God who found her rather than she who found God.

In 1933, after ten years as a Catholic, Madeleine and two friends moved to Ivry-sur-Seine to found a centre for social action. Ivry was a communist stronghold to the south of Paris, and, in the early 1930’s, a place of considerable poverty.

Ivry was a workers district, with many people moving into the area from other parts of France. The open hostility between the communist majority in Ivry and the Catholic minority was a great shock to Madeleine, who had seen nothing like it before. The communists of Ivry, however, were her neighbours, and so she committed herself to work amongst the poor of the area. In Madeleine’s own phrase, a gulf existed between her and communism but not between her and her communist neighbours.

How does Madeleine Delbrêl provide us with a model for today? Like Madeleine, we are called to live a religious culture, which is ours through our Christian faith, in the face of the secular culture of the places where we work. She approached her collaboration as a Christian believer, refusing all actions that were directly or indirectly opposed to God. The Gospels were her constant source of judgement in all her decision making; her love for the Catholic Church was profound. Those with whom she worked were in no doubt about the Christian inspiration of her work.

Secondly, Madeleine’s work of charity was directed to those who were poor regardless of their political or social background. She saw this as her response to the call in the Gospels to love her neighbour. Madeleine challenges us with the same question that she faced in Ivry: “Who is my neighbour?”. For Madeleine, the startling answer was “the communists”. For us, in our own life situations, we should expect the answer to be equally startling.

World Youth Day: "The Holy Spirit, soul of the Church"

As promised, here is the second of the catecheses that I prepared for our July "first Friday" Holy Hour, on the themes of the World Youth Day catecheses.

Reading

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church nn.797-798

"What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church."[St Augustine]

"To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body [ie the Church] are joined one with the other and with their exalted head [ie with Jesus Christ]; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members." [Pope Pius XII Mystici Corporis]. The Holy Spirit makes the Church "the temple of the living God" [St Paul].

“Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the ‘Gift of God’ [ie the Holy Spirit] has been entrusted.... It is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God....

For where the Church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace.” [St Irenaeus].

Teaching

1. The Church is a visible society: the Pope, Bishops, priests and communities of the faithful can be seen in the world

2. The Church is an invisible society, in which all the members are intimately joined: living a communion of life because we believe the same things, celebrate the same sacraments, act in communion with the same Bishops

3. The Holy Spirit as soul of the Church - the Holy Spirit is present as holding together these two aspects of the Church as a society: it is through the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ’s abiding presence in the visible/invisible Church is guaranteed

3.1 The Holy Spirit guided the authors of the Sacred Scriptures, who wrote under his inspiration; and the Holy Spirit allows the texts of Scripture to speak to us today

3.2. The Holy Spirit guides the infallible teaching office of the Pope, and the bishops in communion with him, so that we can know with certainty the faith that we believe

3.3. The Holy Spirit makes effective the sacraments that we celebrate, bringing about the action of Christ in the Church - every Sacrament is celebrated in the power of the Spirit

3.4. The Holy Spirit acts to give specific gifts to the faithful - “charisms”, vocations to a specific state of life in the Church, vocations to a particular mission in the Church, the founding of particular orders or organisations in the Church

Testimony

from Pope John Paul II Gift and Mystery, reflecting on the day of his priestly ordination.

Veni Creator Spiritus!

I can still remember myself in that chapel during the singing of the Veni, Creator Spiritus and the Litany of the Saints, lying prostrate on the floor with arms outstretched in the form of a cross, awaiting the moment of the imposition of hands. It was a very moving experience! Subsequently I have presided many times over this same rite as a Bishop and as Pope. There is something very impressive about the prostration of the ordinands, symbolizing as it does their total submission before the majesty of God and their complete openness to the action of the Holy Spirit who will descend upon them and consecrate them. Veni, Creator Spiritus, mentes Tuorum visita, imple superna gratia quae Tu creasti pectora. Just as in the Mass the Holy Spirit brings about the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, so also in the Sacrament of Holy Orders he effects the priestly or episcopal consecration. The Bishop who confers the Sacrament of Holy Orders is the human dispenser of this divine mystery. The imposition of hands is the continuation of the gesture used by the early Church to signify that the Holy Spirit is being given for a specific mission. Paul imposed hands on the disciple Timothy, and the gesture has remained in the Church as the efficacious sign of the Holy Spirit's active presence in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

"Christianity an overwhelming force for good in the world": Prime Minister of Australia

I found it interesting to look at the World Youth Day's website, and their official media player , yesterday evening. Videos of the opening Mass (the whole thing ...) have already been posted. You might find it best to look at the highlights video, in which you can find the welcome speech by Mr Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister. The speech is reported at Zenit, under the title Prime Minister notes Faith-Reason Partnership. I think it is worth watching it on video, rather than just reading the news report or a text. I think it is very interesting as a genuine exercise of dialogue with the Catholic Church by a political leader.

I think there are three noteworthy aspects of Prime Minister Rudd's speech. The first is his emphasis, and I felt there was an emphasis on this in his speech, that the World Youth Day pilgrims are welcome in Australia. This is a valuable counter to those who may undertake anti-Catholic protests during the coming days.

The second is his observation about the partnership of faith and reason:

"Some say there is no place for faith in the 21st century. I say they are wrong. Some say that faith is the enemy of reason, I say, also they are wrong. Because faith and reason are great partners in our human history and in our human future. Rich in humanity, rich in scientific progress."

This observation can clearly be seen in the context of Pope Benedict XVI's own interest in the relationship between faith and reason, an interest which is a prominent feature of his pontificate. It is a welcome participation in dialogue to see the theme being picked up by the leader of a nation such as Australia. I think, too, that a greater exploration of Prime Minister Rudd's last sentence would be useful. He seems to suggest that it is faith that contributes the humanity to our history and future, faith that makes science (cold, hard) human (warm, good). Pope Benedict would have something to say about this.

The third noteworthy aspect is what Prime Minister Rudd said about the contribution of Christianity in the world.

"Some say only that which they see wrong in Christianity and in the Church, I say let us speak also about what is right in Christianity and the Church."

He then highlighted that it was the Church that first opened schools, hospitals and social action for the poor.

"And I say this, that Christianity has been an overwhelming force for good in the world."

One slight note of caution, perhaps, about exactly what Prime Minister Rudd understands by the word "faith". It is not completely clear that he understands the word in a truly religious sense; and his references to "Christianity" and to the "Church" are sufficiently open to refer to Christian denominations other than Catholicism as well as to Catholicism. He does not necessarily see them as "religious" rather than "social" - but nevertheless, I think he has engaged in a dialogue in a proper and encouraging way. What he says about Christianity can be fairly said of all Christian denominations, including Catholicism. His final affirmation is particularly welcome and courageous given the focus of media attention on things that are, or have been, wrong in the Church.

World Youth Day: "Called to live in the Spirit"

The young people gathered in Sydney for World Youth Day meet on Wednesday morning for the first of three sessions of catechesis. These sessions consist of a time of worship, a catechesis with questions/answers given by a bishop and finish with the celebration of Mass. The theme for the Tuesday catechesis is "Called to live in the Spirit".

For our "first Friday" Adoration at the beginning of this month, I used the three themes of the WYD catecheses. I will publish the notes of these catecheses each day to accompany the catecheses in Sydney.

Scripture Readings
Luke 1:26-35

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." And Mary said to the angel, "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.


Acts 2: 1-4
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Teaching
At the beginning of the Gospel (ie the book that tells the story of Jesus life on earth): the Holy Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and empowers her to conceive the Son.

At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (ie the book that tells the story of the beginning of the Church on earth): the Holy Spirit empowers the Apostles to preach the Christian message, and make the Church/Body of Christ present on earth

The Holy Spirit is present at the beginning of the two key phases in the presence of Christ on earth, his Incarnation and his presence in the mystical body of the Church

As Christians, we are called to live in the Holy Spirit. How do we experience this call in our lives?

The Sacraments of initiation:

Baptism: calls us to live the life of grace, of the Spirit
Confirmation: when we receive particularly the gift of the Holy Spirit
The Eucharist: when the Spirit brings us into communion with the Son in Holy Communion

During our time of silent prayer, we ask that we might answer the call of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We pray that we will be faithful to his gifts received in Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.

Testimony
[Two Accounts of the baptism of St Edith Stein]

Edith Stein spent New Year’s Eve (1921-1922) in prayer. On New Year’s Day 1922, at age 30, she received holy baptism in the parish church of Bergzabern and her first holy communion. She wore her Protestant friend Hedwig Conrad-Martius’s wedding cloak, and Hedwig also acted as her God mother. Father Breitling invited everyone to a celebration afterwards. For all participants the day remained unforgettable. Only the day of Edith’s clothing ceremony in the Cologne Carmel equalled the day of her baptism in splendour and happiness. Hedwig Conrad-Martius, who on that day stood by Edith too, writes: “Edith had always had something childlike in her nature, but the childlike joy, and sense of security she had now achieved, were, if I may say so, enchanting”.

[Nikolas Lauer “Edith Stein: remembering a colleague” in Never Forget pp.95-97]


Hedwig Conrad-Martius describes a certain privacy that was a feature of her very close friendship with Edith Stein, such that Edith was to say to Hedwig about her conversion to the Catholic faith “That is my secret”.

“This tension did not trouble the profound sense of community that united us: the test of this was when, at the request of Edith and with the permission of the bishop, I was chosen as god mother for her baptism, something I agreed to do with joy. The day of her baptism she wore my wedding cloak - there was inflation and you could not buy anything. I followed here closely towards the altar. Years later I was present at her clothing in the Carmel of Cologne and after the ceremony I was able to talk with her at length through the grill ….

“Edith always had, by her nature, a childlike soul and a friendly attitude. But the spirit of childhood, the spontaneous joy and the feeling of being certain that she had now gained, was, if I can speak of it like this, an enchantment. The double meaning of the wonderful word grace - freely given gift and charm or delight in a human sense- were here joined together.”
[Hedwig Conrad-Martius “Edith Stein” in Archives de Philosphie (1959) XXII No.2 pp.163-174. My own translation from French]

Guide to some main events of World Youth Day

Blog by the Sea has a post which gives a useful guide to following the World Youth Day "from afar". It includes timings of broadcasts of events from a number of satellite/internet providers, and links to the World Youth Day website that will allow you to download the texts for the three main liturgical celebrations: the Opening Mass on Tuesday, the Stations of the Cross on Friday and the closing Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday.

I think it is a nice touch - and a recognition that the internet now makes events such as World Youth Day more "global" than ever - that the texts for these celebrations have been posted on the World Youth Day website. It allows people following the events from home to achieve a better participation than would otherwise be possible.