In the circle of the saints

In girotondo con i santi is the title of an interview published in the Italian, daily edition of the L'Osservatore Romano. It is an interview with Fr Francois-Marie Lethel OCD, who has been preaching the Lenten retreat for Pope Benedict and the Curia this week. The theme for his retreat is "The Light of Christ in the Heart of the Church: John Paul II and the theology of the saints", chosen because Fr Lethel wanted to give his meditations an orientation as a spiritual preparation for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. Fr Lethel believes that the beatification of Pope John Paul II has an enormous signficance for the life of the Church.

Per sviluppare il tema, ho scelto un'icona della comunione dei santi: un dipinto del beato fra Angelico che rappresenta i santi e gli angeli in cielo che si danno la mano e fanno come un girotondo. I santi si danno e ci danno la mano per guidarci sul cammino della santità. Questo è il senso della conversione quaresimale: impegnarci di più entrando anche noi in questo "girotondo dei santi". Un girotondo guidato da Papa Wojtyla, che dà la mano ai due santi più vicini a lui: san Luigi Maria di Montfort, che ha ispirato il suo Totus tuus, e santa Teresa di Lisieux, l'unica santa proclamata dottore della Chiesa durante il suo Pontificato.

To develop the theme, I chose an image of the communion of saints: a painting by Blessed Fra Angelico that represents the saints and angels in heaven holding hands and making a kind of circle. The saints give their hands to each other and give their hands to us to guide us on the way of sanctity. This is the meaning of Lenten conversion: to dedicate ourselves again to entering in this "circle of the saints". A circle guided by Pope Wojtyla, who gives his hand to the two saints most close to himself: Saint Louis Marie de Montfort, who inspired his motto "Totus tuus", and Saint Therese of Lisieux, the only saint proclaimed a doctor of the Church during his Pontificate.

Fr Lethel's identification of the two saints closest to John Paul II - Louis Marie de Montfort and Therese of Lisieux - is very interesting.

H/T to ZENIT here.

50th Eucharistic Congress: Dublin 2012

I read with interest Pope Benedict's remarks to the recent meeting of the Pontifical Committee of International Eucharistic Congresses.

Of particular interest were Pope Benedict's remarks about the "statio orbis" Mass which concludes the celebration of each International Eucharistic Congress. Pope Benedict's account of his participation in the Congress in Munich which launched the idea of the "statio orbis" was interesting and brought to mind my little part in the most recent "statio orbis" at the end of the 2008 Eucharistic Congress in Quebec.

Moreover, the International Eucharistic Congresses have a long history in the Church. Through the characteristic form of "statio orbis," they highlight the universal dimension of the celebration: In fact, it is always a celebration of faith around the Eucharistic Christ, the Christ of the supreme sacrifice for humanity, to which the faithful participate not only those of a particular Church or nation, but, in so far as possible, from several places of the globe. It is the Church that recollects itself around its Lord and God. Important in this regard is the role of the national delegates. They are called to sensitize the respective Churches to the event of the congress, above all in the period of its preparation, so that from it will flow fruits of life and of communion.

Asides on "Stand up .."

This week's Tablet (ie the issue of 30th January - editorial here) carries a report of the Stand Up for Vatican II inaugural meeting. It reports an attendance of over 200 people, though some present, according to the report, expressed concern that the majority of those present were aged over 60.

I found an interesting juxtaposition between the calls for smaller parishes (extra priests to be provided by lifting the obligation of celibacy), elected diocesan pastoral councils (only 5 dioceses currently have these, my own of Brentwood being one, though I have never been aware of any mechanism that has extended a franchise to me in terms of electing its members - but, to be fair, as someone said to me once "Oh, you don't do [parish] AGM's, do you?", though I have occasionally been known to do the party afterwards; and whether or not they really give bishops a way of knowing what the ordinary parishioner in the pew is thinking is rather a moot point), peaceful protest against the curia, another lay pastoral congress (I suspect that, should such an event take place again, the participation of the new movements will alter its character completely, and not in the way intended by Stand up ...) etc ... and a report being carried by ZENIT today.

This latter presents the contribution of Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, to a seminar in Rome organized by the Emanuel Community and the Pierre Goursat University Institute, in collaboration with the Pontifical Institute "Redemptor Hominis.": Cardinal offers new style for Priest-Lay Teamwork.  In part, this contribution discusses the type of collaboration that exists between priests and lay people in the new movements, suggesting that this can be a model for that collaboration in parishes.

Priests must guard against "paternalistic and authoritarian attitudes in the governance of parish communities," he said, and they should take care to respect the true lay vocation, never using it as an excuse to get out of "their own pastoral duties toward the Christian community."

Oddly enough, the experience of the movements suggests that, where there is a firm unity of laity and religious or clergy in living a particular charism in faithfulness to the Church, then precisely that "familiarity" of lay-priest relations advocated by the "liberal tendency" who do not major on ecclesial faithfulness, becomes a living reality.

As a postscript: The Tablet report of the Stand up ... meeting gives an impression of the agendas that are being pursued: end to clerical celibacy (when the new movements bear witness to a renewal of the evangelical counsels, but the willingness to ordain married former-Anglican clergy is a frustrating-for-some counter witness to celibacy); more lay responsibility for internal diocesan and parish structures; ordination of women; concern at "losing the whole impetus of the vision of the Vatican council and that it might even drift into oblivion" (though it is not made explicit in the Tablet's report to what "impetus of the vision" refers).

"My hope .. is that when my moment of weakness comes, I will be able to accept it and rejoice over what is given to me"

The following is among the news items from ZENIT today. It is a report of a conference at UNESCO to be given by Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche, on 10th February this year. This is the eve of the World Day for the Sick, on 11th February. Jean Vanier gives a conference each year, organised by the French Christian Office for People with a Disability (OCH).

I was struck by the following, towards the end of ZENIT's short report (the added emphasis is mine):

Vanier himself will turn 82 this year. The Christian Office for People With a Disability asked him to describe his experience of this stage of life.

"My hope and my prayer is that when my moment of weakness comes, I will be able to accept it and rejoice over what is given to me," Vanier said. "Human life begins in frailty and ends in frailty. During our whole life we remain avid for security and dependent on tenderness..."

This reflects something that I find myself saying quite regularly when I meet people who are sick. It's OK to need other people to help you; there will have been times when you have helped someone else, and it's OK now when you, in your turn, need someone else to help you.

Malaysia update

Two interesting updates on the situation in Malaysia, where Christian Churches (both Catholic and Protestant) have been attacked in the light of a controversy over the use of the word "Allah" by Christians to translate the word God in the Malay language.

ZENIT and Fides are reporting (here and here respectively) responses from the Muslim community in Malaysia that reflect the solidarity that I referred to in my earlier post as occurring in India and Pakistan. The clearest expression of this, from the ZENIT report:

In fact, Fides reported, moderate Muslim groups have organized watches in churches to prevent a repeat of the violence.

The first paragraph of Fides report suggests a political motivation for the situation that has arisen:

The dispute over the name "Allah" contains political undertones, not theological ones. It is the attempt by the ruling party, the UMNO (United Malays National Organization), to regain the support they have progressively lost, as was evident in the last elections in 2008. This is what emerges from the interventions, discussions, and debates underway among Malaysian Christians and among the churches of various denominations present in Malaysia. As Fides learns from local sources, this idea is also shared by the opposition parties, many of whom are Muslims who condemn "the attempt to polarize Malaysian society on religious grounds."

Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve homily

Other bloggers, with a primarily Liturgical intent in doing so, have highlighted a passage from this homily in which Pope Benedict urges his listeners to put the things of God first in their lives, quoting from the Rule of St Benedict:

The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God's work alone. The Rule of Saint Benedict contains this teaching: "Place nothing at all before the work of God (i.e. the divine office)". For monks, the Liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes later. In its essence, though, this saying applies to everyone. God is important, by far the most important thing in our lives. The shepherds teach us this priority. From them we should learn not to be crushed by all the pressing matters in our daily lives. From them we should learn the inner freedom to put other tasks in second place -- however important they may be -- so as to make our way towards God, to allow him into our lives and into our time. Time given to God and, in his name, to our neighbour is never time lost. It is the time when we are most truly alive, when we live our humanity to the full.

However, as usual with Pope Benedict XVI, it is worth reading the whole homily. The full text can be found here at ZENIT. What the Holy Father does in his homily is take the shepherds of the Christmas story as an example of how we should respond to the invitation that God puts forward to us, not only in the mystery of the Incarnation, but also in the signs of his presence in our lives. It is the urgency and promptness of their response to the invitation to go to Bethlehem that Pope Benedict proposes as an example for us to follow. Whilst the passage in which he refers to the Liturgy and our Christian response in charity to our neighbour (cf the two part treatment of Deus Caritas Est - first God's love for us and our call to love God, and then, inseperable from it, our call to love of our neighbour) is most immediately addressed to those who might be called "practising Christians", other passages are addressed to those who might be non-Christian or lukewarm in their Christian practise.

In the second paragraph there is a call to adherence to the truth, another typical Benedictine them:

The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch -- they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean? The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His "self" is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people. Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world. Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another.

Pope Benedict goes on to talk about man's receptivity to God:

Awake, the Gospel tells us. Step outside, so as to enter the great communal truth, the communion of the one God. To awake, then, means to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which he chooses to guide us; for the many indications of his presence. There are people who describe themselves as "religiously tone deaf". The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed -- our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today's world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us "tone deaf" towards him. And yet in every soul, the desire for God, the capacity to encounter him, is present, whether in a hidden way or overtly.

The section of the homily that caught my eye, however, was one in which Pope Benedict suggests that the shepherds "went over" to see the Christ child at Bethlehem rather as if they were going to visit a neighbour (my italics added, because I was very attracted by this sentence - not that I think it applies to me!).

Some commentators point out that the shepherds, the simple souls, were the first to come to Jesus in the manger and to encounter the Redeemer of the world. The wise men from the East, representing those with social standing and fame, arrived much later. The commentators go on to say: this is quite natural. The shepherds lived nearby. They only needed to "come over" (cf. Lk 2:15), as we do when we go to visit our neighbours. The wise men, however, lived far away. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey in order to arrive in Bethlehem. And they needed guidance and direction. Today too there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, his neighbours and they can easily go to see him. But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us.

And, to try to summarise, using two passages, one from near the beginning and one from near the end of Pope Benedict's homily:

For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent. If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then, I too must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there. The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received.....

Let us once again listen directly to the Gospel. The shepherds tell one another the reason why they are setting off: "Let us see this thing that has happened." Literally the Greek text says: "Let us see this Word that has occurred there." Yes indeed, such is the radical newness of this night: the Word can be seen. For it has become flesh. The God of whom no image may be made -- because any image would only diminish, or rather distort him -- this God has himself become visible in the One who is his true image, as Saint Paul puts it (cf. 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). In the figure of Jesus Christ, in the whole of his life and ministry, in his dying and rising, we can see the Word of God and hence the mystery of the living God himself. This is what God is like.

Mary, the most beautiful flower that has sprung up from the word of God

I have just seen this post at Blog-by-the-Sea, and link to it by way of marking the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. A full text of Pope Benedict's Angelus address can be found at ZENIT.

"Jesus the Divine Word; Mary the Most Beautiful Flower Germinated from the Word of God" - such delight in language is vintage Pope Benedict.

Dear friends, the most beautiful flower that has sprung up from the word of God is the Virgin Mary. She is the first fruits of the Church, garden of God on earth. But, while Mary is the Immaculate One -- as we will celebrate her the day after tomorrow -- the Church has constant need of purifying herself, because sin infects all her members. In the Church there is always a struggle taking place between the desert and the garden, between the sin that parches the earth and the grace that waters it so that it produces abundant fruits of holiness. Let us therefore pray to the Mother of the Lord that she will help us, in this Advent season, to "straighten" our ways, letting ourselves be guided by the word of God.

Whilst on the one hand a paragraph with a great felicity of language, we should recognise in it the richly Biblical source of the imagery. The desert and the garden, the earth that is parched compared to the waters that make earth fruitful; both of these pairings as representations of sin and grace.

The Economy of Communion in "Caritas in Veritate"

A section of Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate (nn.34-42) is devoted to development in the economic order, and the question is taken up again in the chapter on "The Development of People" (nn.45-47). If one wants to focus on two key terms to understanding the teaching of Pope Benedict, those terms would be "civil society" and "gratuitousness". Rather than just treating of an economic system that has two players, often seen as being in conflict with each other, namely private enterprise and the State, he argues that there is a range of organisations that sit between these two, the realm of "civil society". This he sees as being the ideal area for the operation of businesses that have not only a profit motive but a genuine interest in the welfare of all those who are stakeholders in the business - owners, employees, other businesses that form part of their supply chain or purchase their goods. This genuine interest is "gratuitous" - to be effective, it cannot be just the product of legal ordinance (the State) or just the product of a profit motive (private enterprise). One element of this exercise of businesses in civil society is the existence of businesses that are "not-for-profit", but Pope Benedict points out that other models exist too.

When we consider the issues involved in the relationship between business and ethics, as well as the evolution currently taking place in methods of production, it would appear that the traditionally valid distinction between profit-based companies and non-profit organizations can no longer do full justice to reality, or offer practical direction for the future. In recent decades a broad intermediate area has emerged between the two types of enterprise. It is made up of traditional companies which nonetheless subscribe to social aid agreements in support of underdeveloped countries, charitable foundations associated with individual companies, groups of companies oriented towards social welfare, and the diversified world of the so-called “civil economy” and the “economy of communion”. This is not merely a matter of a “third sector”, but of a broad new composite reality embracing the private and public spheres, one which does not exclude profit, but instead considers it a means for achieving human and social ends. Whether such companies distribute dividends or not, whether their juridical structure corresponds to one or other of the established forms, becomes secondary in relation to their willingness to view profit as a means of achieving the goal of a more humane market and society. It is to be hoped that these new kinds of enterprise will succeed in finding a suitable juridical and fiscal structure in every country. Without prejudice to the importance and the economic and social benefits of the more traditional forms of business, they steer the system towards a clearer and more complete assumption of duties on the part of economic subjects. And not only that. The very plurality of institutional forms of business gives rise to a market which is not only more civilized but also more competitive. [Caritas in Veritate n.46]

The phrase "economy of communion", used by Pope Benedict XVI, is also the name of an initiative of the Focolare Movement in the area of economics. This initiative comprises some 750 organisations world wide, who deploy the profits of their business in three ways. The first part is ploughed back in to the business to help it grow and to maintain its strength. The second part is used to promote the idea of the "economy of communion" through conferences and training that encourages others to engage in this type of activity (or, I think, it can be used to support other businesses that are at the time less successful). And the third part goes directly to the poor, to help with basic needs: food, shelter, education and health care.

One of the essential aspects of this "economy of communion", though, is that those who at one time might receive from the more successful businesses are seen as full partners making an equivalent contribution to communion. This is "gratuitousness" lived in its fullest sense.

To read a fuller account of the "economy of communion", look at this two part interview at ZENIT: part one, part two. This is the home page for the Economy of Communion initiative.

Bidding farewell to a dynasty

This is the title of Elizabeth Lev's commentary on the deaths of Edward Kennedy and Eunice Shriver, that can be found on the ZENIT website.

The 800 Martyrs of Otranto

Elizabeth Lev has written an informative piece about the capture of the Italian city of Otranto by the Ottoman's in 1480. This can be found here, at the ZENIT website. In some ways the story is "of its time" - a time when religious leadership and political leadership were much closer together than they are in developed countries today - so a defence against military invasion was also a defence against a religious persecution in a way that we do not find easy to recognise today.

But the martyrdom of the 800 men who had been captured by the victorious Turks is a pure offering of their lives out of faithfulness to their Christian religion; it is an act of pure religion. It is interesting to reflect on the significance of their martyrdom for the 21st century.

For those familiar with the writing of Hans Urs von Balthasar, the story has something of an echo of the legend of Cordula that he uses as the motif for his book about the significance of martyrdom, published with the English title The Moment of Christian Witness.

Snippets from ZENIT

ZENIT today carries the text of Pope Benedict XVI's message for this year's World Youth Day, celebrated in the dioceses and parishes of the world on Palm Sunday. I was rather taken by the concluding paragraph:

Mary, Mother of hope

May Saint Paul be your example on this path of apostolic life. He nourished his life of constant faith and hope by looking to Abraham, of whom he wrote in the Letter to the Romans: "Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become the father of many nations" (Rom 4:18). Following in the footsteps of the people of hope - composed of prophets and saints of every age - we continue to advance towards the fulfilment of the Kingdom, and on this spiritual path we are accompanied by the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope. She who incarnated the hope of Israel, who gave the world its Saviour, and who remained at the foot of the Cross with steadfast hope, is our model and our support. Most of all, Mary intercedes for us and leads us through the darkness of our trials to the radiant dawn of an encounter with the Risen Christ.

I would like to conclude this message, my dear young friends, with a beautiful and well-known prayer by Saint Bernard that was inspired by one of Mary's titles, Stella Maris, Star of the Sea: "You who amid the constant upheavals of this life find yourself more often tossed about by storms than standing on firm ground, do not turn your eyes from the brightness of this Star, if you would not be overwhelmed by boisterous waves. If the winds of temptations rise, if you fall among the rocks of tribulations, look up at the Star, call on Mary ... In dangers, in distress, in perplexities, think on Mary, call on Mary ... Following her, you will never go astray; when you implore her aid, you will never yield to despair; thinking on her, you will not err; under her patronage you will never wander; beneath her protection you will not fear; she being your guide, you will not weary; with her assistance, you will arrive safely in the port" (Homilies in Praise of the Virgin Mother, 2:17).

Mary, Star of the Sea, we ask you to guide the young people of the whole world to an encounter with your Divine Son Jesus. Be the celestial guardian of their fidelity to the Gospel and of their hope.

There is also a news item entitled "Pope coaches priests on evangelising parishioners". This is a report of Pope Benedict's meeting with the priests of Rome for a question-and-answer session, something that is now a Lenten tradition. Dare one call this an example of dialogue? An extract quoted in the news report:

"It is very important," he emphasized, "that these faithful really find in their parish priest a pastor who loves them and helps them to listen today to the Word of God, to understand that it is a Word for them and not only for people of the past or the future, to help them even more, in the sacramental life, in the experience of prayer, in listening to the Word of God, and on the path of justice and charity, because Christians should be the leaven of our society with so many problems [...]."

This paragraph suggests to me the importance of what one might term the more "Churchy" aspect of Christian living - prayer and sacramental life - so as to enable the more "outreach" aspect - justice and charity. How far do our priests deliver on the first of these? The two aspects do, of course, go together. The full question and answer can be found here, and are worth a read. I particularly like the reference to "a place of hospitality of the faith", suggested particularly with regard to those attracted to the Church but not yet members, to provide a kind of "way in". I think this idea has an analagous application to those who are already members of a parish. Is the parish really a place of hospitality for their faith? Or does it stop at the level of their culture or social life?

Message of the Parish Priest of Gaza

ZENIT are carrying the text of a message written by the Parish Priest in Gaza for an ecumenical day of prayer for peace and justice in Jerusalem. The message is dated 3rd January, and is written rather in the spirit of one of St Paul's letters.

It is a very moving letter, containing testimonies of two children affected by the Israeli attack.

We want you to pray to God fervently and continually and to mention the suffering in Gaza before God in every mass or service that you hold. I send short letters with Scripture to the Christian community here to bring hope to their hearts. We have all agreed to say the following prayer every hour on the hour: "O God of peace, shower us with peace. O God of peace, bring peace to our land. Have mercy on your people, O Lord, and do not be angry with us forever." I ask you to stand up now and say the same prayer. Your prayers with us will stir the world, showing it that any type of love that is not extended to your brothers and sisters in Gaza is not the love of Christ and His church, which does not let religious and social obstacles or even wars stand in its way. When your love is extended to us here in Gaza, it makes us feel that we are an indispensable part of Christ's one universal church. The Moslems among us are our brothers and sisters. We share with them their joys and their sufferings. We are one people, the people of Palestine.

Sixth World Meeting of Families: continued

ZENIT are carrying a series of reports of events at the Sixth World Meeting of Families in Mexico City.

One report is entitled Families Praying for Families, and describes the availability of the Sacrament of Penance, of daily celebration of Mass and of Eucharistic Adoration during the pastoral-theological congress that has been taking place Wednesday-Friday.

Michael Waldstein offers a range of reflections on the situation of parents in relation to their children in the north American countries. This address urges parents to really take up their responsibility as the first educators of their children, and not to delegate that responsibility to schools, particularly given the increasingly secularised nature of public schooling. He ended his address referring to home schooling:

In describing the situation of the United States and Canada, however, I must also point to a more radical way in which parents are becoming involved in the education of their children, namely, homeschooling. According to recent credible estimates, there are about two million families in the United States that educate their children at home. My wife and I have eight children. We have been and are educating them from first grade all the way up to the end of high school. Four of them have already entered universities. The main reason why we began home schooling was the report we heard from close friends about the effect of home schooling on their family. The children, they said, became more friends with each other, because they shared the same experience of schooling in the home. The parents also became more friends with their children, because they shared more of their life. Like many other homeschoolers, we have seen that the global youth culture is not an irresistible force. It is possible to pass on our own Christian culture. The generation gap is not inevitable.

For parents who find themselves unable to home school, however, the question is raised here of the correct relations between the responsibility of the parents and the responsibilities of the school. Michael Waldstein highlights that this relationship should not rightly be one of delegation of responsibility from the parents to the school. It should represent a much more balanced, collaboration of the school in assisting parents in fulfilling their responsibility. And that, by implication, begins to set boundaries as to the engagement of the state in the running of schools. Public funding should not be equated to public control ...

The Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travellers, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, highlighted Families With Greatest Challenges: Immigrants. This is a very topical question in the current situation of the world.

Further reports can be found at the ZENIT homepage.

Sixth World Meeting of Families: it is under way

ZENIT have carried some reports of the beginning of the theological congress of the 6th World Meeting of Families, taking place in Mexico City 13th-18th January 2009.

Family Meeting on Air indicates ways of following the Meeting via the internet and radio or television. Blog-by-the-sea gives some more links, to the official website of the World Meeting. Unfortunately, I have not been able to track down where (or if) there is a site somewhere that is quickly posting texts of talks etc from the World Meeting.

A Million Expected for Family Meeting reports Cardinal Ennio Antonelli's press conference in Rome to present the World Meeting to the news media. Cardinal Antonelli is the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Vatican department that supports the World Meeting of Families. The million referred to is the number of people that it is hoped will take part in the concluding celebration of Mass and families on Sunday. Enthusiasm and Numbers Grow for Family Meeting gives a list of some of the speakers due to take part in the World Meeting, and suggests that participation will be greater than the last World Meeting of Families in Valencia in 2007.

Preacher Gives Families Strategy to Win Back World is a report of the talk given by Father Raniero Cantalamessa at the World Meeting. Fr Cantalamessa's address appears to have been very wide ranging, but two points seem to stand out from ZENIT's report. The first is the emphasis on the spousal nature of marriage, rooted, as one might expect from Fr Cantalamessa, in a Biblical vision. A recovery of a spousal vision of marriage, not I think in contradiction to marriage seen as an "institution" but as an expression of what the idea of marriage as an institution really means, is what Fr Cantalamessa suggests. The second interesting point is a suggestion for how Catholics should respond to the current attacks on marriage in many developed nations. Fr Cantalamessa strongly criticises the "gender revolution" in terms that are, if anything, stronger than those used by Pope Benedict XVI in his pre-Christmas address to the Roman Curia. But his underlying suggestion is that, rather than focussing on changing laws that undermine marriage, Catholics should instead prioritise the renewal of their own married life so that the witness of this life can then be offered to wider society and be accepted by that society. This change in customs prepares the way for changes in laws.

Though Pope Benedict XVI is not in Mexico for the World Meeting, he is represented there by the Secretary of State of Vatican City and will be following the events of the meeting closely. He is due to make two contributions via satellite/video links, one being at the end of the concluding Mass on Sunday. If the 5th World Meeting in Valencia is anything to go by, a highlight will be the celebration and testimonies of family life that is scheduled to take place on Saturday evening.

JOSP Fest: Journey of the Spirit Festival

Today's ZENIT news report has pointed me in the direction of this - the "First International Festival of Journeys of the Spirit". Below is the content of the page dedicated to the theme of this festival, which combines professional exhibition with a spiritual theme.

The Theme
“Sing also now, not just to enjoy the rest, as to relieve the fatigue. Sing as a traveller. Sing but walk. Sing to alleviate the difficulty of the march, but don’t indulge laziness singing. Sing and walk.” (Saint Augustine)



“Sing and walk” is the theme of the first edition of Josp Fest because it accurately describes the pilgrimage experience. Walking is a sphere of life, and together with song, it can help to overcome the obstacles faced during a journey, especially when shared with others.

The Catholic Church and homosexuality

I was away from home over the weekend, so missed out on the furore over the leaflet on welcoming lesbians and homosexuals in Catholic parishes. See here and here (I think this latter is a cut and paste of Daily Mail coverage) for an idea of what was going on.

ZENIT is today carrying a report that offers a useful counter balance in terms of its approach to this question. It refers to activity of the Holy See at the United Nations, but sheds a useful light on what might have been said here in the UK.

I have a lot of sympathy with having to respond to a strategy by gay activists that puts together in the same document quite acceptable concerns about unfair discrimination with statements of moral approval of homosexual or lesbian behaviour. I think it is a tactic called "piggy backing", and it led to my resigning from the Executive of my trade union when they adopted an anti-discrimination statement with small print that I could not accept.

The UK Bishops Marriage and Family Life Project could perhaps have been rather more politically aware in preparing their leaflet. In the media response, one can quite definitely see the phenomenon of "piggy backing".

Catholic renewal in Canada

As the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec approaches (less than two weeks now!), ZENIT are carrying a report of Catholic renewal in Canada.

The report outlines how the Eucharistic Congress has come to be held in Quebec, suggesting an interesting openess of the civil authorities in Quebec to recognising the Catholic basis of the city's history and culture.

Another interesting aspect of the report is the reference to the annual gatherings of Canadian young people, which have been a key feature of the preparation for the Eucharistic Congress. This issued in the journey of the Ark of the New Covenant to which I referred here.

There is also an account of an interesting initiative in priestly formation, which involves seminarians living in community in a parish while they undertake their academic studies at a nearby seminary. It is based on a new community, established as a society of apostolic life of diocesan right.

And, if you read down the ZENIT report, you will find an account of how a group of homeschooling families came to establish a Catholic college to provide a Catholic alternative to the secularising influences of the education system.