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LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report
Friday, November 30, 2012
| For pro-life news updated throughout the day, visit LifeNews.com. |
Current Headlines
Top Stories
• Senate Expected to Vote on Pro-Abortion CRPD Treaty Tuesday
• Planned Parenthood Affiliate Quits, Mandated to Perform Abortions
• Chen Guangchengs Nephew Jailed for Activists Fleeing to U.S.
• D.C. Group Throwing Christmas Party Celebrating Abortion
More Pro-Life News
• Hobby Lobby Asks Appeals Court: Stop Obama HHS Mandate
• War on Womens Brains: Sandra Fluke Person of the Year?
• U.S. Birth Rate Falls to Lowest Ever, Fewer Babies is Bad News
• Baby Girl With Rare Heart Defect Saved by Surgery
• Activists Defend Planned Parenthoods Black Friday Discount
• Pro-Life Victories Piled Up in 2012 Despite Election Loss
• Every Picture Tells a Story, Especially Those of Unborn Babies
• Abortion is a War on Women: Death, Infertility, Emotional Damage
• How is It That Abortions Are Legal at 35 Weeks of Pregnancy?
• Englands Outrage: Dehydrating Disabled Babies in UK Hospitals
• Lancet Editorial Furthers Myth Abortion Prevents Womens Deaths
• Unsung International Pro-Life Hero Richard Wilkins Passes Away
Senate Expected to Vote on Pro-Abortion CRPD Treaty Tuesday
The Senate is expected to vote on the pro-abortion CRPD treaty on Wednesday and pro-life groups are asking pro-life advocates to contact members of the Senate urging them to vote against it.
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, after members voted 61-36 to move the treaty to the floor for debate.
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/senate-expected-to-vote-on-pro-abortion-crpd-treaty-tuesday/
Planned Parenthood Affiliate Quits, Mandated to Perform Abortions
Planned Parenthood of South Central New York based in the New York cities of Binghamton and Oneonta has quit its affiliation with the national Planned Parenthood abortion business because it mandates that its chapters do abortions.
Preferring to focus on family planning efforts, the chapter is breaking off of Planned Parenthood and renaming itself preferring not to submit itself to a mandate that all chapters have clinics that do abortions that Planned Parenthood wants in place next year. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/planned-parenthood-affiliate-quits-mandated-to-perform-abortions/
Chen Guangchengs Nephew Jailed for Activists Fleeing to U.S.
The nephew of Chen Guangcheng has been sentenced to 39 months in prison for supposedly injuring a Chinese government agent who raided his house in the aftermath of Chens escape to the United States.
Chinese officials have sentenced Chens nephew to three years in jail and the punishment is seen as retaliation for his uncles escape. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/chen-guangchengs-nephew-jailed-for-activists-fleeing-to-u-s/
D.C. Group Throwing Christmas Party Celebrating Abortion
Its the holiday season, and the abortion industry is working hard to capitalize on it. They already got Black Friday covered
next up? Christmas! You know, for choice!
Because what better way to celebrate the most famous birth in history than by celebrating abortion? Its that time of year again, for the hottest party of the holiday season: the Peace, Joy and Choice Winter Holiday Party! http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/d-c-group-throwing-christmas-party-celebrating-abortion/
Hobby Lobby Asks Appeals Court: Stop Obama HHS Mandate
Following a new ruling by a federal appeals court granting temporary relief from the HHS Mandate to a Missouri business, attorneys for Hobby Lobby asked another appeals court in its case to stop the pro-abortion mandate as well.
Attorneys with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty urged the 10th Circuit to grant identical relief in their appeal on behalf of Hobby Lobby, a Christian-owned-and-operated business that in five weeks faces crippling fines of up to $1.3 million per day if they do not comply with the HHS mandate against their religious beliefs. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/hobby-lobby-asks-appeals-court-stop-obama-hhs-mandate/
War on Womens Brains: Sandra Fluke Person of the Year?
Every year, TIME Magazine, a periodical which continues to insist upon its own relevancy despite the fact that no one under the age of 40 reads it, nominates a list of people to be its Person of the Year. The criteria for having this title bestowed upon you is that you be the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.
This year, they have nominated Sandra Fluke, the young woman you are sick to death of hearing about. The Georgetown law student was used as a political prop to great effect by Democrats when they held up a megaphone to her battle cry that Georgetown a Catholic university doesnt provide enough access to birth control pills for female students. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/war-on-womens-brains-sandra-fluke-person-of-the-year/
U.S. Birth Rate Falls to Lowest Ever, Fewer Babies is Bad News
The Pew research center is out with new data showing the birth rate in the United States has fallen to its lowest point ever. Although Pew doesnt say it, the abortion culture Roe v. Wade has produced is already causing problems, according to one pro-life opinion columnist.
Overall, the birth rate in the United States plunged 8 percent from 2007 to 2010. With new figures from the CDC showing the abortion numbers falling 5% from 2008-2009, the birth rate is not falling because more women are having abortions. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/u-s-birth-rate-falls-to-lowest-ever-fewer-babies-is-bad-news/
Baby Girl With Rare Heart Defect Saved by Surgery
A newborn Texan has proven that when given the chance, LIFE can triumph even against astronomical odds. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/baby-girl-with-rare-heart-defect-saved-by-surgery/
| Looking for a Pro-Life Speaker for 2013? |
| Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt is a low-cost speaker who can entertain and educate your audience as well as help you with a fundraising pitch if necessary. He can also speak on any pro-life topic. For more information, email news@LifeNews.com. |
Activists Defend Planned Parenthoods Black Friday Discount
One never knows which posts are going to get more attention than others. (Im usually wrong when I guess, actually.). http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/activists-defend-planned-parenthoods-black-friday-discount/
Pro-Life Victories Piled Up in 2012 Despite Election Loss
In a featured op-ed piece in the Washington Times AUL Vice President of Government Affairs Dan McConchie observed that despite the November election results, the outlook for pro-life victories is bright. His analysis should give abortion advocates a lot to be concerned about in the New Year. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/pro-life-victories-piled-up-in-2012-despite-election-loss/
Every Picture Tells a Story, Especially Those of Unborn Babies
There is something existential about sitting around the den during the holidays and watching home videos from when the children were young, dad was thin, and mom was trying to hold it all together amid the craziness. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/every-picture-tells-a-story-especially-those-of-unborn-babies/
| Looking for a Pro-Life Speaker for 2013? |
| Looking for a pro-life speaker for your next banquet, conference or convention? LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt is a low-cost speaker who can entertain and educate your audience as well as help you with a fundraising pitch if necessary. He can also speak on any pro-life topic. For more information, email news@LifeNews.com. |
Abortion is a War on Women: Death, Infertility, Emotional Damage
When women consider abortion, its important that theyre aware of the hard stuff, too not just the easy things that abortion clinic counselors often tell them. There are always two sides to every story, and its vital that women hear this other side. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/abortion-is-a-war-on-women-death-infertility-emotional-damage/
How is It That Abortions Are Legal at 35 Weeks of Pregnancy?
If one was to ask the average American if abortions at 35 weeks were legal in the U.S., most would say they were not. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/how-is-it-that-abortions-are-legal-at-35-weeks-of-pregnancy/
Englands Outrage: Dehydrating Disabled Babies in UK Hospitals
The Liverpool Care Pathway has become a checklist for killing. This is what happens when a country allows bureaucrats to control healthcare. (Yes, I am issuing an unsubtle warning about Obamacare.). http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/englands-outrage-dehydrating-disabled-babies-in-uk-hospitals/
Lancet Editorial Furthers Myth Abortion Prevents Womens Deaths
The opinions expressed in the prestigious British medical publication The Lancet carry enormous weight, even when the conclusions are at war with the facts. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/lancet-editorial-furthers-myth-abortion-prevents-womens-deaths/
Unsung International Pro-Life Hero Richard Wilkins Passes Away
The story goes that Richard Wilkins was lying in his bed one night back in the 90s and could not sleep. http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/30/unsung-international-pro-life-hero-richard-wilkins-passes-away/
Encourage Friends to Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
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- Website offers hope for reversing a medical abortion
- U.S. Birth Rate Hits Record Low
- Colombia overwhelmingly re-elects pro-life official
| Website offers hope for reversing a medical abortion
Posted: 30 Nov 2012 06:26 AM PST “When Rhonda, her mother, and Gary saw the embryo in her uterus with a beating heart, they began to cry.”
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| U.S. Birth Rate Hits Record Low
Posted: 29 Nov 2012 07:26 PM PST The U.S. birth rate dropped to its lowest level since the beginning of the Great Depression, led by a drop among immigrants, according to a report data released Thursday by the Pew Research Center.
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| Colombia overwhelmingly re-elects pro-life official
Posted: 29 Nov 2012 03:02 PM PST With 80 out 99 possible votes, the Colombian senate re-elected Attorney General Alejandro Ordonez on Nov. 27 to a new four-year term.
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Catholics Must Increase Their Prayers And Penances!
“With such force will Babylon the great city be thrown down, and will never be found again. No melodies of harpists and musicians, flutists and trumpeters, will ever be heard in you again. No craftsmen in any trade will ever be found in you again. No sound of the millstone will ever be heard in you again. No light from a lamp will ever be seen in you again. No voices of bride and groom will ever be heard in you again. Because your merchants were the great ones of the world, all nations were led astray by your magic potion.” (Rev. 18:21-23)
Of course this gospel talks about the end times, destruction, persecution, the end of the world, flames, etc.
I think there is a temptation for Catholics who try their best to follow Christ and live out the Catholic Faith to get excited when we hear about “Babylon the great city” the country whose “merchants were the great ones of the world” being razed and burned to the ground.
The temptation: “finally, all the wicked people will see I was right, all the people who hated me, who spat on me, who lied about me, who slandered me, who cursed me, they’ll all finally see I was right!!!” There is a temptation to see ourselves as above this fray, above Sodom and Gomorrah, to hold our noses at the stench and filth that exists in our world and say “well, I told you so.”
But neither the saints nor the Church have ever taken that stance. We don’t live in the first society that morally speaking is going down the toilet. The Church was just coming online as Rome was plummeting towards its glorious destruction and pillaging by the “barbarians” (which side were the “barbarians” is open to interpretation), and the Church has seen lots of other civilizations and nations rise to the top before gloriously and triumphantly imploding into a dung heap.
The saints and the Church call us not to aloofness but to do something radical…to try to call out to people EVEN as they spit on you, even as they mock you, just as they did with Jesus. The saints before us and the Church both ask us to not disengage, but to redouble our efforts in fasting, penance, almsgiving, etc.both for our own continuing conversion and for the conversion of those we live with.
We may live in Babylon the Great, and it may tire us, and we may be tempted to throw our hands up and say, “LATER! I’m out of here, I’m going to go get a good book to read as I watch this country burn from a safe distance.”
However, disengaging and waiting for the sky to fall isn’t an option for any true Catholic. Until the sands of time expire, we are asked to see every person as a member of the Body of Christ, and to work like heck to help every last person attain salvation, ourselves included.
Father Has A Pertinent Question For Catholics
I always want to ask Catholics who merely view the Catholic Faith as a handy dandy coping mechanism that just happens to suit them but isn’t right for everyone:
“You seem to believe that the only virtue in the world is “to be nice.” Do you think anyone, in the history of the world, has ever or will ever be thrown in jail or persecuted for being nice?”
Discover More
From http://www.courageouspriest.com/
Today we continue our reflections on how as people of true Christian hope we must have the courage to look honestly at the root of the corruption that we see around us and try to understand it so that we may respond accordingly. We must unite in charity and in truth, rather than in niceness and utility.
And the truth is that there is something that precedes the widespread crime of abortion — a mentality that has arisen from the acceptance and use of contraception. This contraceptive mentality is why otherwise educated people think that they can and even should have sex without the intention of having children. Thus, when contraception fails (or is not used), abortion is just the next logical means of preventing the unintended outcome, but the natural product, of their freely chosen action.
This is the destructive ignorance of the culture of death, which in its arrogance actually considers itself enlightened. It corrupts our media, art and politics, it destroys our families and relationships, and it darkens the view even of those who want something better, but who don’t know how to envision or choose anything different.
Much of the above scenario was predicted in Humanae Vitae, the flash of light that preceded (but did not cause) the earthquake in the Catholic Church. Upon the encyclical’s propagation, dissenters rallied opposition to what amounted to a reaffirmation and updating of permanent doctrine, ensuring that it would not be read, much less understood. Since then, this undeclared schism in the Church has undermined her authority and has seen millions lost in confusion. That we are starting to see signs of reawakening in the Church is a welcome turn, even as there have always been those defending the Church throughout the tumult.
Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on the transmission of human life obviously came during a time of widespread cultural turmoil. In the five years leading up to the encyclical, the Holy See had asked for and received a number of studies and opinions on the matter from lay people and clergy, many of which were uninformed about Church teaching. Many of the recommendations were based more on the spirit of the age, and the supposed benefits that would follow the inevitable acceptance of contraception. Finally, many believed, moral truth would be subject to democratic interpretation even by the Catholic Church.
When Pope Paul instead reaffirmed what the Church had always held was God’s “loving design” for human sexuality, those who preferred modern man’s design went ballistic. We saw an explosion of dissent, and no shortage of collared media personalities willing to be treated as royalty by anti-Catholic media. When the Holy Father acknowledged the need for “responsible parenthood” but refused to reverse the Church’s irreversible teaching on the “unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act,” the battle lines were drawn.
The case against Humanae Vitae, as it was then, is still almost always lacking in both charity and truth. Almost no one has read it, yet everyone feels entitled to have a negative opinion on it. But the truth of the four predictions of paragraph 17 have convinced many to reconsider the teaching, even some non-Catholics. This is a step toward truth, and an important one. Ultimately, truth is not a matter of popular vote or opinion. It may even hurt to confront the gap in our own lives between our own errors and the truth, but in faith we know that Our Lord welcomes us back at any time, and is always calling us toward the fullness of truth. It isn’t comfortable errors that set us free.
How great is His mercy that He would so generously and joyfully welcome back such obstinate and prideful sons and daughters. But He does. He also asks, however, that we in turn do everything in our power (really His, if we’re doing it right) to make the truth known to others. We can’t worry about those who are so given to the lies of the culture of death that they will not listen. We can pray for them, and we must, just as we pray for our own continuing conversion.
Pope John Paul II, who we are told was influential in the creation of Humanae Vitae, would spend a great deal of his pontificate revisiting this key encyclical with his talks and in his magisterial teaching. His Theology of the Body, which is still gaining in popularity, is widely understood to be an attempt to get at the roots of our experience, and the meaning of the way God created us as men and women. God doesn’t do random, and it isn’t up to us to simply remake ourselves in our own desired image, and ignore our true nature and purpose. From understanding our nature as man and woman created in the image of the Triune God, we better understand why the Church teaches what she does with regard to sexuality, and how liberating it is to know the truth about our bodies and ourselves.
Blessed John Paul also gave us an expansion of Humanae Vitae in his Evangelium Vitae, the Gospel of Life, which immediately became an essential document of Human Life International. Next week, we’ll take a quick look at this document as well, and how it applies to the task before us — the mission we all have to bring Christ to the world in the defense of all human life.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr Boquet signature
Father Shenan J. Boquet
President, Human Life International
Melinda Gates and her partners, including the British government and the world’s largest abortion providers, have launched a $4 billion campaign to push birth control onto poor women in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Ms. Gates claims that there is “no controversy” in powerful groups and governments promoting birth control for poor women, but here are the facts:
Bogotá, Colombia, Nov 29, 2012 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- With 80 out 99 possible votes, the Colombian senate re-elected Attorney General Alejandro Ordonez on Nov. 27 to a new four-year term.
Ordonez, whose firm pro-life stance has come under fire over the past several months, beat out candidate Maria Mercedes Lopez, who received five votes and Orlando Gallo, who received only two.
“I thank God and thank the Senators for their independence and the officials of the Justice Department,” Ordunez said in reaction to the news. In his speech to the senate before the vote, he said that he did not have “the slightest regret upon finishing this term.” “There were good decisions and bad ones,” he added, but he felt “absolutely certain and at peace” about the work he carried out. Ordunez’s re-election came despite heavy opposition led by local attorney Monica Roa and aided by Father Carlos Novoa of the Xaverian Pontifical University. The priest has publicly criticized the Attorney General for his pro-life stance and said he agreed with Roa regarding the debate over abortion. In Colombia, abortion has been legal in cases of rape, fetal deformation or life of the mother since a Constitutional Court ruling in 2006. The court ruling came despite overwhelming opposition from Colombians, who declare themselves to be pro-life by an 80 percent margin. In August of last year, a petition calling for constitutional protection of the unborn signed by five million Colombians was sent to the Senate.
Vatican City, 30 November 2012 (VIS) – Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for December is: “That migrants throughout the world may be welcomed with generosity and authentic love, especially by Christian communities”.
His mission intention is: “That Christ may reveal Himself to all humanity with the light that shines forth from Bethlehem and is reflected in the face of His Church”.
Photos by Peter Nguyen, JialianGao, Ash Lux, Ex13, Sigurd Rage, Leah Penn, York Minster, Mos810, Phil Dragash, skambalu, Eric Langhorst, robinsan, U.S. Department of Agriculture
(c)Mary TV 2012
The new confessionals outside St. James! Lots of room for all!
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J.M.J.
November 30, 2012
St. Andrew
Dear Family of Mary!
“Dear children! In this time of grace, I call all of you to renew prayer. Open yourselves to Holy Confession so that each of you may accept my call with the whole heart. I am with you and I protect you from the ruin of sin, but you must open yourselves to the way of conversion and holiness, that your heart may burn out of love for God. Give Him time and He will give Himself to you and thus, in the will of God you will discover the love and the joy of living. Thank you for having responded to my call.” (November 25, 2012)
Marie and Olga have helped us with their testimonies. We can see the Jesus loves to draw us to Confession, because it is there that He can reach in and heal us of all our woes. I want to go back to Fr. Wilson now, as he speaks about Jesus’ intention with Confession. Good catechesis on Confession can only help us all to open our hearts to it:
Confession expresses a human need, not a Divine need, and is necessary to satisfy man, not to satisfy God. When our Savior instituted Confession, He was thinking of us, not of Himself. Whenever there is sincere contrition, He pardons in a flash, and would pardon without more ado, if such an arrangement were good for us. He saw, however, that it would not be good for us to be let off without an apology for serious sin. Parents often insist on an apology from an erring child even when they have long since forgiven it in their hearts. They insist, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the child, whose ultimate good they unselfishly consider. In the same way, God insists on an apology from us, for our sake not for His.
It is evident that penitents often fail to realize this, because if they did realize it, they would not approach Confession as they do. Many of them seem to think that they have no hope of recovering the Divine Friendship until they have been through all the formalities of Confession, and woe betide them if they make any slips. What a complete misconception of the Sacrament! In that case, God is more difficult to propitiate now than He was before the Incarnation. If they are truly contrite, they are already in the grace and friendship of God. Confession is designed not to placate the Divine Justice nor to win a tardy concession of mercy, but to enable us to gain the maximum benefits of Divine mercy. If you are contrite, he has already forgiven you, and Confession means that He wants to enfold you in His arms and bathe you in His Precious Blood….
Let us not disdain the extra mercies of Christ. There is no absolute need of Confession as a prerequisite of satisfying the justice of God. Christ could have left us to our own devices and the torturing uncertainties of direct confession to God, but he was too kind. Not merely would He give us Scriptural reassurances of His mercy, He would also leave us a standing proof. He saw that auricular Confession would be necessary to give us conclusive proof of pardon and the maximum relief and peace of mind.
Besides being (as we have seen) indispensable medicine for the regaining of perfect spiritual health, Confession is also necessary to intensify our realization of the malice of sin. If we “got away with” sin too easily, we might make light of it. God insists on a formal, penal apology for serious sin to prevent us from confusing His mercy with unconcern. If he made no fuss about serious sin, we might easily conclude – to our own undoing – that it is not really so heinous and so odious to Him. He has, therefore, obliged us to confess our sins because He is wise and kind.
The Sacrament of Penance was instituted to make reparation for sin easier, not to make it more difficult. The inspiration of Confession is mercy not justice. It is remedial not revengeful. To have other thoughts about it is to insult the mercy of God and regard Jesus as a task-master. Let us never lose sight of the fact that Confession is meant to be a help not a bugbear. (Fr. Alfred Wilson, C.P. “Pardon and Peace”. P. 27-30)
In Confession we are truly enfolded in the arms of Jesus and bathed in His precious Blood! What a merciful God we have. He loves us so much, that when we willfully turn from Him, He supplies the most humane of ways to return to His embrace. In Medjugorje the lines for Confession are long. But no one minds. We all know that each person is being embraced and bathed in the confessional. We can wait. We can rejoice with each one. For the Healer is present, doing His work in them.
May the lines for Confession grow and grow in our own parishes, as more and more of God’s children return to His arms to receive His love.
In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2012
PS. The Novena to the Immaculate Conception began yesterday. It ends on December 7, in time for the great Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The prayers can be found at: http://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/immaculate.htm
PPS. Mirjana will encounter Our Lady on Sunday, December 2, and may have a message for us. I will send it out as soon as I receive it. Blessed Advent!!!
Click here for an update from Denis Nolan:
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vatican has uploaded Benedict XVI: formation to counter ignorance.
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Benedict XVI: formation to counter ignorance
by vatican
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Vatican City, 30 November 2012 (VIS) – “The Church in France has a long heritage of saints, doctors, martyrs and confessors of the faith. You are the heirs to a history of great human experience and immense spiritual richness. … These origins and this glorious past, always present in our thought and dear to our spirit, nurture great hope in solid and bold faith, allowing us to rise to the challenges of the third millennium and to listen to the hopes of contemporary humanity, to which only God can give a satisfactory answer”.
With these words, Benedict XVI received the third group of bishops from the Episcopal Conference of France at the end of their “ad limina” visit. The Pope observed that “the Good News we must announce to mankind in all times and in all languages and cultures, may be summarised in these words: God, creator of mankind, in His son Jesus, has shown us His love for humanity. ‘God is love’ and pursues the happiness of His creation, of all His children. The pastoral constitution ‘Gaudium et spes’ asks key questions on human existence, the meaning of life and death, evil, disease and suffering, all present in our world. It recalls that, in His paternal goodness, God brings answers to all these questions and that Christ founded His Church in order to bring those answers to all mankind. This is the reason why one of the gravest problems of our time is the ignorance of religion on the part of many men and women, also among the Catholic faithful”.
“This is why the new evangelisation, in which the Church is resolutely engaged, … assumes such importance”, the Pope continued. “One of the most formidable obstacles to our pastoral mission is ignorance of the content of faith. Indeed, this is a dual form of ignorance: the ignorance of Jesus Christ as a person and ignorance of the sublime nature of His teachings, of their universal and permanent value in the search for the meaning of life and happiness. In the new generations this ignorance produces an inability to understand history or to recognise themselves as heirs to this tradition, which has shaped European life, society, art and culture”.
“The new evangelisation will be effective if it engages deeply with communities and parishes. The signs of vitality and involvement of the laity in French society are already encouraging. … The laity are the face of the world within the Church, and at the same time the face the Church presents to the world”. Benedict XVI emphasised, however, that the Church in Europe and in France can no longer remain indifferent to the diminution of vocations and priestly ordinations. … All available energy must be urgently mobilised so as to bring the voice of the Lord to the young. God calls when and to whom He wishes. Without doubt, Christian families and communities offer particularly fertile ground”.
“The young are the hope and future of the Church and the world”, continued the Holy Father, emphasising “the importance of Catholic education”. “Catholic institutes clearly play a primary role in the great dialogue between faith and culture. The love of truth that shines in them is in itself a great evangeliser. Places of learning and dialogue, as well as centres of research, must be further developed and more ambitious in scope”. The Pope praised the initiatives of some French dioceses to encourage greater knowledge of theology among young people who study other disciplines. “Theology is a source of wisdom, joy and wonder that should not be reserved only to seminarians, priests and consecrated persons”, he added.
Benedict XVI concluded by mentioning Catholic schools, which “have shaped the Christian and cultural life” of France, and which bear ‘historical responsibility’. “A way must be found to place faith at the centre of their educational mission … Education in Christian values provides the key to the culture of your nation. By opening young people to hope and true freedom, such education will continue to be a source of dynamism and creativity. The ardour of the new evangelisation will be our greatest contribution to the flowering of human society and the best answer to the varied challenges we face at the beginning of the third millennium”.
I'm Deacon John, age 86, ordained 4/25/87 as a Permanent Deacon for the Diocese of Brooklyn.
Deacon John's Space 