Church marks Sin’s death anniversary

MANILA, June 19, 2008 (CBCP News) —The late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin will be remembered anew on a memorial Mass for his 3rd death anniversary on June 21.

Described as the country’s conscience and moral touchtone, Cardinal Sin’s memory will again be cherished with fondness by the Catholic community he served.

Ranking Catholic bishops are now preparing to hold this Saturday a concelebrated Mass for Cardinal Sin to presided by his successor Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

The Eucharistic celebration will be held at 7:30 a.m. at the Metropolitan Manila Cathedral-Basilica in Intramuros, Manila.

Cardinal Sin died on June 21, 2005, two months before his 77th birthday. He was archbishop of Manila for 29 years.

Concelebrants at the Mass will include Sin’s former protégé and now Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas and other bishops, priests based in Manila archdiocese.

It is expected that other priests who will not be able to make it to the 7:30 a.m. Mass will be holding the liturgical celebration at other times during the day at the crypt, which is open for visitors.

During his pastoral stewardship of the archdiocese, he erected 109 parishes in Metro Manila with a Catholic population of almost 12 million.

He also ordained 530 men to the priesthood and was principal consecrator for 15 bishops.

Cardinal Sin was appointed as Manila archbishop on Jan 21, 1974, where he played a key role in the ouster of presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Joseph Estrada.

The prelate fought with then president Fidel Ramos over the population control issue, being one of the most vocal critics of the Ramos government's liberal approach to population management.

He served as president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines for two terms, from 1977 to 1981.

At the time of his retirement in 2003 on reaching his 75th birthday as mandated by Canon Law, the archdiocese had been subdivided to five new dioceses, namely, Cubao, Pasig, Parañaque, Kalookan and Novaliches. (Roy Lagarde)

Orthodox leader suggests "dual unity" for Eastern Catholics

Constantinople, Jun. 19, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople has responded favorably to a suggestion by the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church for a system of "dual unity" in which Byzantine Catholic churches would be in full communion with both Constantinople and Rome.

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople welcomed the proposal in an interview with the magazine Cyril and Methodius, the RISU news service reports. The acknowledged leader of the Orthodox world suggested that the "dual unity" approach would produce something akin to the situation of the Christian world in the 1st millennium, before the split between Rome and Constantinople.

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar of Kiev, the Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church-- the largest of the Eastern Catholic churches-- had offered the possibility that Byzantine Catholics might seek communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, without giving up their communion with the Holy See. Patriarch Bartholomew expressed distinct interest in the idea, saying that "the mother Church in Constantinople holds the doors open for the return of all her former sons and daughters."

Patriarch Bartholomew acknowledged that a restoration of unity would require study, and important differences would have to be overcome. However, he observed that major steps have already been taken to resolve disagreements-- most importantly the revocation of the mutual decrees of excommunication issued by Rome and Constantinople against each other in 1054.

While Catholic and Orthodox theologians continue their efforts to reach agreement on doctrinal questions, Patriarch Bartholomew said, "the people at the grass roots have to come together again." He pointed to the "dual unity" idea as a possible step toward practical unity.

Cardinal Husar, the Ukrainian Catholic leader, has suggested in the past that the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics of Ukraine should unite under the leadership of a single patriarch. That provocative suggestion is particularly interesting for two reasons.

First, Byzantine Catholics in Ukraine argued for years-- particularly since emerging vigorously from the shadow of Communist repression-- that the Ukrainian Catholic Church should be accorded the status of a patriarchate. Both the late Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have expressed some sympathy for that suggestion. The Byzantine-rite Ukrainian Catholic Church is substantially larger than other Catholic churches that are recognized as patriarchates, including the Maronite, Melkite, Chaldean, Syrian, Armenian and Coptic Catholic churches. However, Kiev is not a historical patriarchal see like Antioch or Alexandria. And the recognition of a Ukrainian Catholic patriarchate would be sure to provoke outrage from the Russian Orthodox Church, which has complained frequently and bitterly about the activities of Byzantine Catholics in Ukraine.

Second, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine is badly split, with three different groups competing for recognition as leaders of the Byzantine faithful. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Kiev Patriarchate is led by Patriarch Filaret, who was once acknowledged by Moscow but broke with the Russian Orthodox Church after Ukraine gained political independence. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church- Moscow Patriarchate retains ties to Russian Orthodoxy. The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, smaller than the other two, has frequently sided with the Kiev patriarchate in efforts to form a single, unified Orthodox Church in Ukraine, independent from Moscow.

Latin Mass in every parish?

London, Jun. 16, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI hopes to see the extraordinary form of the Latin liturgy used in every parish, a senior Vatican official told an audience in England.

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the president of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, told a June 14 press conference in London that the traditional Latin Mass should be reintroduced throughout the Catholic world. Asked whether the old liturgy would eventually be used in many parishes, the Colombian prelate replied: "Not many parishes; all parishes."

Cardinal Castrillon said that English seminaries should train priests to celebrate the pre-conciliar liturgy. In many parishes, he pointed out, there will be few Catholics who remember the old liturgy. Priests should re-introduce them to the extraordinary form, he said.

Polish teen aborts child in controversial case

Gdansk, Jun. 18, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The 14-year-old Polish girl whose pregnancy provoked a storm of debate on the country's abortion law has terminated her pregnancy, health minister Ewa Kopacz reports.

The abortion was performed in Gdansk. Kopacz told reporters: "This was the decision of the minor and her mother."

The local prosecutor in the girl’s hometown of Lublin determined that the girl’s pregnancy was not the result of rape-- a theory that had been set forth by Poland’s largest newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. Also it is now clear that the pregnant girl did, indeed, request the assistance of the priest-director of a local home for unwed mothers, Father Krzysztof Podstawka. Father Podstawka is also the head ot the Lublin archdiocese’s pro-life office.

Gazeta Wyborcza, whose editor is the well-known former anti-Communist activist and center-left political publicist Adam Michnik, attacked the person of the local priest for his efforts to help the girl continue her pregnancy.

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A RORATE CÆLI Editorial
Overseer of murder: He must resign

Catholic Charities of Richmond, Inc, an agency of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, first provided a "contraceptive device" to a poor 16-year-old Guatemalan girl. Then, according to Federal authorities, Catholic Charities' "members signed the consent form necessary for a minor to have an abortion and had someone drive her to and from the abortion clinic" in January 2008.

This is much more scandalous than the child abuse crisis. This is murder! Heads must roll, and not just those of the employees, but mainly that of the overseeing Bishop. He must resign.

Catholic Charities of Richmond is obviously out of control; the overseer (επίσκοπος) of all Catholic activities related to the Diocese of Richmond is its Bishop, Francis Xavier DiLorenzo. What took place under his watch was no mere "incident". It was the death of an innocent human being, placed by Divine Providence under the care of a Church agency, whose overseer was and is the Bishop. He must resign.

The national network of Catholic Charities, Catholic Charities USA, rightly identified the responsible authority, Bishop DiLorenzo, noting that "[Catholic Charities of Richmond] is incorporated under the leadership of the Richmond Diocese and that the bishop serves on [its] board". This Bishop is responsible for the great tragedy and sinful death that took place under his authority. He must resign.

The culture of death is entrenched in the main work of "outreach" of his diocese. An apologetic letter to his fellow Bishops - a secret letter! - is certainly not enough. This Bishop is the overseer of a murderous organization. This Bishop is a shame to the Catholic Church. He must resign.

Cardinal: If They Understand the Mass, They'll Come

International Eucharistic Congress Opens in Quebec

QUEBEC, JUNE 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- If Catholics really understood the meaning of Sunday Mass, they wouldn't miss it, Cardinal Josef Tomko said at the opening of the 49th International Eucharistic Congress.

Cardinal Tomko, the Pope's special envoy for the event, presided Sunday at the opening mass of the weeklong congress in Quebec. He will also preside at the closing Mass on June 22, during which Benedict XVI will address the participants live via satellite.

Some 11,000 pilgrims, 50 cardinals and more than 100 bishops have gathered for the inaugural Mass of the congress titled, "The Eucharist, the Gift of God for the Life of the World."

"The Eucharist is a gift of God," said Cardinal Tomko. "Not as an object, as the other gifts of God, but a very special one, because the gift of God himself.

"The Eucharist is Christ himself, a Person with his divine and human nature, given to us. It is the body and blood of the Risen Christ present with us under the sacramental signs of the bread and wine."

Life of the world

The cardinal explained: "Before leaving this world, Jesus wanted to leave to his Church and to the whole humanity the gift of his Presence. He has chosen the form of the bread and wine. Since the beginning of his public life, in Capernaum, he has promised the bread of life: 'The bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.'

"On the eve of his passion, in the Cenacle he took the bread and solemnly declared: 'This is my body given up for you.' And he said over the wine: 'Drink from it, all of you, this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins.'

"He has accomplished only a few hours in advance of and in a bloodless, sacramental manner, the sacrifice offered in bloody way on the Cross at Calvary. Jesus therefore instituted the Eucharist as his redemptive sacrifice. The Eucharist is a sacramental form of the sacrifice of Jesus on cross, Cenacle and Calvary are just one sacrifice 'for the life of the world.'"

"This sacrifice happened only once," added the papal legate, "but Jesus wanted to apply and to perpetuate it through the centuries. Therefore he gave a commandment to his apostles: 'Do this in memory of me.'

"It is a memorial and a command: not only to remember him with speeches and words, but to do what he has done."

2,000 Years

"From that time," said Cardinal Tomko, "the priests of his Church accomplish this sublime command doing the same action and pronouncing the same words. Through 2,000 years the same words of Jesus consecrating the bread and wine resounds."

"In each celebration of the Mass," he said, "Jesus Christ himself is present with us in the situation of sacrifice as the lamb of God who takes away the sins of our world, of our community, our sins."

"It is not a show, not a pure commemoration or remembrance," he stressed, "it is sacramental representation of this salvific event, a persevering memorial bringing its fruits to the faithful."

The cardinal added, "If we understand in depth the meaning of our weekly Eucharist, we will revise our frequentation to it. It will become clear for us why the martyrs of Abitine in Northern Africa declared to the pagan judge: 'We cannot live without the (Sunday) Eucharist' -- "Sine Dominico non possumus vivere" -- and why they offered their lives for this conviction."

Prelate: Faithful Not Mere Bystanders at Mass

Says They Are True Participants in New Passover

QUEBEC, JUNE 16, 2008 (Zenit.org).- When Catholics attend Mass they are not mere bystanders, but rather participants in the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection, says the archbishop of Washington, D.C.

Archbishop Donald Wuerl said this today at the 49th International Eucharistic Congress, which is being held through Sunday in Quebec. He spoke on "The Institution of the Holy Eucharist, Gift of God."

Some 11,000 pilgrims, 50 cardinals and more than 100 bishops have gathered in Quebec for the weeklong congress, which is titled "The Eucharist, the Gift of God for the Life of the World."

"This Eucharistic congress is intended to lift up for us once again the events of our salvation," said Archbishop Wuerl, "but to do so in a way that we actually participate in those saving actions. The Church calls us not just to a commemoration of the events of 2,000 years ago, as laudable as that might be, but also to enter the mystery itself today.

"We are not bystanders, but rather participants."

He continued: "Unlike any other form of remembrance or commemoration, the Mass, the Eucharistic liturgy, thanks to God’s gracious gift, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, has the power to make present the very reality it symbolizes.

"In the Eucharist, Jesus has instituted the sacrament in which his Passion, death and resurrection would be made present again in our lives in a way that enables us to share in the benefits of the cross.

"We speak of our dying to sin and rising to new life because we participate in the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection."

"The Church uses the word 're-present' to speak of what is happening in the Mass," the archbishop explained. "The term 'holy sacrifice' of the Mass is also exact because sacramentally, but really and truly, the death and resurrection of Christ are once again made present."

Gifts

"We are not simply bystanders at this memorial, at this Eucharist. We are participants in the new Passover," said Archbishop Wuerl. "This new ritual instituted at the Last Supper transforms us into God’s new people."

He asked: "What do we bring to this Eucharistic banquet, to this paschal celebration? As guests who have been invited not only to witness the memorial of our redemption but actually
participate in it, what do we bring? Certainly, we do not come empty-handed to the table of the Lord."

"The first gift we bring as we approach this extraordinary memorial is our own lively faith," the archbishop said. "Like Peter, we can reply when Jesus asks us, 'Who do you say that I am?' that 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.'

"We can reply as Martha did when Jesus proclaimed that he was the resurrection and the life and asked her, 'Do you believe this?' With her, we proclaim, 'Yes, Lord, I have come to believe.'"

"We also bring the gift of hope," he added. "Because we believe, because we see with the eyes of faith, because we place our trust in the words that Jesus has spoken to us, we can with confidence live out our faith."

The archbishop continued: "We can also approach the altar with hearts filled with love. At that Last Supper Jesus taught us that since we were sharers of his Body and Blood we were members of the same family and brothers and sisters to each other."

Present

"When we look around at this Eucharistic Congress," continued Archbishop Wuerl, "we see an expression of God’s grace at work even though each one of us remains in our uniqueness in what the Holy Father calls our particularity."

He continued: "Each one of us with our own heritage, tradition, ethnic and cultural background, speaks to a pluralism that is part of the human condition and yet in our faith, when we come forward, baptized in one Spirit to receive one Lord in the Eucharist, we are united in one faith in his one Church. We are, in fact, one people -- his people.

"Because we see with the eyes of faith, we see in the Church and in her sacraments Christ continuing to be with us, to touch us, to change us, to transform us.

"The institution of the Eucharist was to ensure that each of us today, here in Quebec in June 2008, is able to enter the mystery of the cross and the resurrection as if we actually were present, not as bystanders but as participants."

The Holy Father in Santa Maria di Leuca and Brindisi (Apulia - Italy)

PAPA RATZINGER FORUM has a splendid visual treat of Pope Benedict's Pastoral Visit in Apulia - Italy.