Synod of Bishops for the Middle East

The Synod of Bishops for the Middle East begins today. The importance of this particular Synod is given by NCR correspondent John Allen.
The Synod’s meeting is the result of requests of bishops and the pastoral visits of the pope to that part of the Church. The Christian minority in the Middle East needs our help.
The Synod is using Arabic for the first time as an official language and a rabbi and 2 Muslims are observers to the Synod.
The North American contingent to the Synod is quite substantial. See the list…

The Synod meets from October 10-24.

We beg the Holy Spirit to guide the work of the Pope, the bishops and other attendees.

Mary is the model of Christian life, pope reminds

In his pastoral visit to Sicily last week the Holy Father called to mind the beauty and the place of the Mother of God in our lives: she’s an intensely loving mother who truly looks after her children. Here are some excerpts:


Madonna della Scala Correggio.jpg

To the Virgin Mary I wish to entrust all of the people
of God who live in this beloved land. May she sustain the families in love and
in educational commitment; may she fructify the seeds of vocation that God
liberally sows among the young people; may she instill courage in trials, hope
in difficulties, renewed strength in doing the good. May the Madonna comfort
the sick and all those who are suffering, and help the Christian communities so
that no one in them be forgotten or in need, but that each one, especially the
little and the weak, feel welcomed and valued.” 


The also told us that “in Parma, Anna Maria Adorni
is being beatified. In 19th century she was an exemplary wife and mother and
then, having become a widow, she dedicated herself to charitable work among
women in prison and in difficulty, for whose service she founded two religious
institutes. Mother Adorni, because of her constant prayer, was called the
“Living Rosary.” I am glad to mention her at the beginning of the
month of the rosary. May the daily meditation on the mysteries of Christ in
union with Mary, the prayerful Virgin, strengthen us in faith, in hope and in
charity.”

Benedict XVI
address at Palermo’s Foro Italico Umberto I
October 3,
2010

Abbot Timothy Kelly, OSB, RIP

Timothy Kelly.jpgThe monastic family of Saint John’s Abbey and the American Cassinese Congregation mourns the passing of Abbot Timothy Kelly who died on October 7. He was 76 and had been suffering from cancer.

Abbot Timothy was the 9th abbot of St John’s Abbey (1992-2000) and was the Abbot-President of his congregation of monks from 2001 till this past June. The Abbot’s monastic life was rich in service to abbey and the wider Church.
The present abbot of Saint John’s, John Klassen, has an obit here.
Saints Benedict and Scholastic, pray for Timothy and the Saint John’s community.
May the angels lead Abbot Timothy to the Kingdom.

Saint Louis Bertrand

St Louis Bertrand.jpgProclaim the glory of the Lord among the nations; God’s marvelous deeds to all the peoples; great is the Lord and worthy of all praise.

Almighty and merciful God, as You filled the heart of Saint Louis Bertrand with reverent fear of Your name, inflame our hearts with that same divine fire. With both love and reverence may we too serve You faithfully.

Hymn for Blessed John Henry Newman’s feast day

JHN icon.jpgO God, the source of wisdom’s fire,

Who formed the mind of man

In complex and mysterious ways

Within Your loving plan,

We thank You now for calling forth

This priest who praised Your Name

By teaching and exalting you

In words of living flame.

 

John Henry Newman, England’s son,

Was formed in Oxford’s halls,

Endowed with tow’ring intellect

To answer all the calls

Which Church and University

Gave forth in times of doubt,

A rebirth of the ancient truths

As rain for minds in drought.

 

He served the Church of England well

With scholarship and grace,

Restoring ancient roots of faith,

Removing error’s trace.

But scorned by leaders of his time,

He left his Oxford home,

In search of kindly, leading light

Which led him on toward Rome.

Continue reading Hymn for Blessed John Henry Newman’s feast day

Blessed John Henry Newman

Bl John Henry Newman.jpgO God, who bestowed on the priest Blessed John Henry Newman the grace to follow Your kindly light and find peace in Your Church; graciously grant that, through his intercession and example, we may be led out of shadows and images into the fulness of Your truth.

 

“God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another” (JH Newman, Meditations on Christian Doctrine).

Blessed John Henry’s feast day today is the anniversary of his conversion to Catholicism and not the date of his birth into eternal life (death), as most of the saints are honored. 

The other Propers for Mass and the Office of Readings for Newman’s feast day can be found here.

World’s “Oldest” Catholic university to reconsider “Catholic” identity

The Catholic University of Lueven, founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V is said to be entering into a process to re-consider their Catholic identity, even to the point of removing the adjective “Catholic” from their title, a news item on the Cardinal Newman Society’s webpage said, reporting a Brussels-based news article on October 7.

The university’s rector Mark Waer, 59, a trained physican and medical researcher in nephrology and immunology, has reportedly said, “The Catholic message is not appropriate for the university…” after the criticism from Catholics about the granting of the Nobel Prize to the instigator of IVF technology. Waer only began his term as rector of the university in 2009.

The University’s mission statement can be read here.

Ushaw College Seminary to close in 2011

UK’s The Tablet ran a news piece today saying the seminary for the North of England dioceses, Ushaw College, is closing at the end of the school year in June 2011. Currently, 7 English dioceses are served by UC. Ushaw was first founded in Douai, France in 1568 and has been located four miles west of Durham City since 1808.

From its heyday of 400 men studying for the priesthood to 26 today, the Ushaw has a staff of 62.

The story of Ushaw is grim and it sounds like St Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) which has fewer than 25 seminarians for the secular priesthood. For the time being SJS is working alone and is slated to merge with Huntington’s seminary.

4 Pillars of the Catholic Faith

A question was asked of me about the building blocks of the Catholic faith. Is there such a thing? Do Catholics actually have a structure of belief? Well, yes, there are 4 essential building blocks of our life of faith. These 4 areas are the very same areas by which the Catechism of the Catholic is structured.


The 4 Pillars of the Catholic Faith:

-Creed
-10 Commandments
-7 Sacraments
-The Lord’s Prayer (Christian prayer)

Christ giving the keys to Peter.jpg

Catholics believe in revealed
truth. Spirituality needs to be founded on truth otherwise you have nothing.
Hence creed, code & cult are essential aspects of Catholic Faith.

The study of faith needs two distinctions to understand what’s going with the army of words and ideas associated with theological reflection: fides quae and fides
qua.  

Fides quae (“faith which”) is the faith which is held by
the Church through divine revelation or sacred tradition (it is what is considered to be objective, verifiable faith).

Fides qua
(“faith by which”) is the faith by which a person is moved to respond
to God. A person’s understanding of his or her personal relationship
to God is spoken of here; here we usually filter what hear of divine revelation; in some instances personal
revelation is located in this type of faith, e.g., the teachings of the saints would be a distinction of fides qua (we’ll say this is subjective faith, a faith known through concrete experience).

Theologically speaking, a theologian be able to
distinguish between fides quae and fides qua and to always maintain conformity
in study and work with fides quae. Only a few theologian have held a personal
faith that has been enlightened enough to illuminate fides quae. The task of
theology is gain a deeper understanding of faith; it is, as St Anselm said:
faith seeking understanding. Our study of theology is done on our knees; that
is, we study the fact of God and the allied theological sciences from a posture of adoration of
God first, in the sacred Liturgy and second, in personal prayer. 

The student of
theology takes his or her first presupposition from the position of “faith.” Faith is not a gift of God it is also the manner by which we look at
reality, it’s the “starting point for a new way -that is, a true way of
becoming aware of reality itself.” Through faith we have access to truth and through we live truth.  Without faith in the study of theology
we have mere religious studies.