Category: Church (ecclesiology)

The search for God of all people, believers and non-believers concerns us, Pope said

The Holy Father’s annual address to the Roman Curia -the
Cardinals and bishops resident in Rome and other officials of the Roman Curia who assist him in
his governance of the Universal Church– took place yesterday. In it the Pope points to some notable concerns that he thinks that ought to be the concern of all
of us who believe faith is central our lives. Namely, belief and unbelief,
doubt and certainty and freedom with regard to God and humanity’s search for God. In my humble opinion, this papal address should be an essential point in any diocesan, parish or ecclesial movement’s pastoral plan in 2010 and beyond. In part the Holy Father said,


Even the
people who describe themselves as agnostics or atheists must be very important
to us as believers. When we talk about a new evangelization, these people may
become afraid. They do not want to see themselves as an object of mission, nor
do they want to renounce their freedom of thought or of will. But the question
about God nonetheless remains present for them as well, even if they cannot
believe in the concrete nature of his attention to us. 


Benedict addresses Roman Curia 2009.jpg

In Paris, I talked
about the search for God as the fundamental motive from which Western
monasticism was born, and with it, Western culture. As the first step in
evangelization, we must try to keep this search alive; we must take pains that
man not set aside the question of God as an essential question of his
existence. Take pains that he accept this question and the longing concealed
within it.


Here I am reminded of the words that Jesus quoted from the prophet
Isaiah, that the temple should be a house of prayer for all peoples (cf. Isaiah
56:7; Mark 11:17). He was thinking about what was called the court of the
gentiles, which he cleansed of extraneous business so that it could be the
space available for the gentiles who wanted to pray to the one God there, even
if they could not take part in the mystery, for service of which the interior
of the temple was reserved.


A place of prayer for all peoples: by this was
meant the people who know God, so to speak, only from afar; who are
dissatisfied with their gods, rites, myths; who desire the Pure and the Great,
even if God remains for them the “unknown God” (cf. Acts 17:23). They
needed to be able to pray to the unknown God, and so be in relation with the
true God, although in the midst of obscurities of various kinds.


I think that
the Church should also open today a sort of “court of the gentiles”
where men can in some manner cling to God, without knowing him and before they
have found the entryway to his mystery, which the interior life of the Church
serves. To the dialogue with the religions it must above all add today a
dialogue with those for whom religion is something foreign, to whom God is
unknown, and who nonetheless would not like simply to remain without God, but
at least to approach him as the Unknown.

Deaf Catholics: finding room for the deaf in the Church

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.

Cardinal Walter Kasper speaks on Anglicanorum Coetibus

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.

How old is your Church?

From various sources:

If you are a Lutheran, Martin Luther, an apostate of the Roman Catholic Church, founded your religion in Germany, in the year 1517.

If you are a Mennonite, your church began in Switzerland with Grebel, Mantz, and Blaurock, in the year 1525.

If you belong to the Church of England, also know as Anglican, your religion began with King Henry VIII in 1534, who established his own church because the Pope could not grant him a divorce with the right to remarry.

If you are a Presbyterian, your religion was founded by John Knox, in Scotland, in the year 1560.

Continue reading How old is your Church?