Church (ecclesiology): November 2009 Archives

From a recent Zenit news article, I learned something that I never knew before: "It is estimated that there are 1.3 million deaf Catholics, and the Vatican is intent on ensuring that they can fully participate in the Church." Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, gave this statistic at his department's 24th international conference meeting this week in Rome. The conference's theme is "Ephphata: the Deaf Person in the Life of the Church."

"The prelate," according to Zenit said, "estimated that in developed countries, one child out of 1,000 is deaf, but the problem is more serious in poor countries, where 80% of the world's deaf live. In these cases, deafness is often the result of insufficient medical care and lack of medication." He indicated "the need to help people with this impairment, precisely as 'the world has begun to overcome the prejudices and superstitions linked to physical disability.'"

A liturgical resource for helping the deaf is Joan Blake's Signing the Scriptures:

Year A, Year B, Year C

Plus, there's the DVD Tips and Techniques for Signing the Scriptures.

Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register penned a piece "Cardinal Kasper on Anglicanorum Coetibus" which dispels much of the misinformation found in both the secular and Catholic media, including certain blogs, about the recent events between Canterbury and Rome. Hopefully, L'Osservatore Romano will provide an English translation of the article they published as a referenced by Mr. Pentin; I am curious to know more. One thing to remember is to interpret these things with charity and understanding. Pray, too, for a profitable meeting between Archbishop Williams and Pope Benedict on Saturday.

The English blogging priest who writes the blog Valle Adurni translated for us a rather interesting article from the recent issue of Paix Liturgique on the state of the Church in France. It is a devastating manifestation of the problem we all face. Of course, who are the ones standing in the way of change? Guess....

This morning the Holy See published the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus which provides a structure for Anglicans coming into full, visible communion with the Bishop of Rome.