|
November
7,
2006 — Vol.
5, No. 10
Read
this on the IRL website.
CONTENTS:
- IRL's New Website Offers
Resources to Celebrate Special
Day for Cloistered Life
- Film About Carthusian Monastery
Wins Award
- Carmelite Priests Establishing
Monastery in Latvia and Aim to
Build Convent for Nuns in Ikskile
- Rapping Franciscan Priest Releases
New CD, Says Genre Speaks to Young
People
- St. Thérèse's "Vocation
of Love" Recalled As Vatican
Missionary, Dicastery Receives
Her Relics
- Mother Theodore Guerin's life,
Sainthood Seen as Summons to Holiness
- Benedictine Priest, 105, Credits
God for His Positive Outlook
- American Brother Elected to
General Council of Capuchin Franciscans
- Sacred Heart Brother Creates
Web Site, Provides Teachers
with Questions, Answers on
Church History
- Hospitaller Order Picks New
Superior
- Tennessee Woman
Moves from Corporate World to
Life of Contemplation as Passionist
Nun
- Reaching
New Vocations Through
Websites
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To Top
IRL's New Website Offers
Resources to Celebrate Special
Day for Cloistered Life
On November 21, the Church
will celebrate Pro Orantibus Day
(“For Those Who Pray”). The
faithful around the world
are encouraged to develop
their own way of commemorating
the day and honoring cloistered
women and men religious,
both at Mass and in other
special ways, such as by
offering up their prayers,
by visits to monasteries
and cloistered convents,
by sending cards or letters
to contemplative religious,
and by coordinating school
or catechetical activities.
Pro Orantibus Day
is intended to be a moment
of thanksgiving, solidarity
and support involving the
entire Church. And as Pope
Benedict XVI said in his Angelus message
marking last year's event,
it is a wonderful opportunity “to
express gratitude to those
who consecrate their lives
to prayer in the cloister,
offering eloquent testimony
of the primacy of God and
of His Kingdom.”
To assist the
faithful to celebrate this
day, the Institute on Religious
Life has launched a new website, www.cloisteredlife.com
to provide information and
resources. “This
will be our first effort
to make others aware of this
unique and special vocation
within the Body of Christ,” says
Michael Wick, IRL Executive
Director.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Film About Carthusian Monastery
Wins Award
The European Film Academy
has awarded a first prize
to "Into
Great Silence," a film about
a Carthusian monastery in France.
The German film was among the
eight finalists in the Documentary
2006-Prix Arte category.
In a citation, the academy
said: "Philip
Gröning's thoughtful film
touches on the mystic quality
of belief and our need for stillness
and silence in contrast to modern
life. It appears that the director,
with a lot of patience, gained
the trust of this enclosed community
and returned with amazing images
and sounds. The director Gröning
spent six months living the life
of the Carthusians.
The 162-minute
film is set in the Grande
Chartreuse of Grenoble,
France. It narrates with
images the daily life of
the monks, including liturgical
prayer, work, Gregorian chant
and community life.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Carmelite Priests Establishing
Monastery in Latvia and Aim
to Build Convent for Nuns
in Ikskile
Three Carmelite priests
have taken on the challenge
of establishing the only
contemplative community in
the Baltic nation of Latvia.
Father Alejandro Salazar,
from the province of Colombia,
and Father Jaroslaw Nenza,
from the province of Krakow
in Poland, arrived Sept.
7 in this country of 2.3
million inhabitants. They
will be joined by Father
Victor Hurtado, from the
province of Mexico, who is
finishing his studies at
the Teresianum in Rome.
The priests are living on
the grounds of a Catholic
school in the capital city
of Riga, and are learning
the language. "They
resolutely and with much hope
took on the responsibility of
rooting Carmel" in Latvia,
reported the order.
The priests' first building project
is to build a convent for the
Carmelite sisters in Ikskile,
in the suburbs of the capital.
The Carmelite fathers are supported
locally by a group of Lay Carmelites.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Rapping Franciscan Priest
Releases New CD, Says Genre
Speaks to Young People
He's at it again. Father
Stan Fortuna, the Franciscan
Friar of the Renewal who
is known as the "rapping priest," has
released his latest CD in the
genre. Eighteen songs, ranging
from old-school rap to world
beats, make up the new release,
which completes the series of
rap albums he has released over
the past few years. "Sacro
Song 3: The Completion of the
Trilogy" deals with a range
of topics, from the negative
effects visited on fatherless
children in "Daddy Wound," and
the grip of the culture of death
in "Hangin' in There," to
a message of peace in "Peace
Shout Out," and a tribute
to his beloved role model, the
late Pope John Paul II, in "I'm
Loving You," "The Great
One" and "KW." Throughout
the album, the doctrines of the
Catholic Church are a consistent
thread. "I continue to do
rap music because it's a genre
that makes the message intelligible
to many young people," Father
Stan said in an interview with
The Catholic Standard & Times,
Philadelphia's archdiocesan newspaper.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
St.
Thérèse's "Vocation
of Love" Recalled As
Vatican Missionary Dicastery
Receives Her Relics
The relics of St. Thérèse
of Lisieux, patroness of the
missions, are being venerated
in Rome at the start of the missionary
month of October. The relics
were received in the chapel of
the Propaganda Fide Palace, headquarters
of the Congregation for the Evangelization
of Peoples.
"Little Thérèse," as
she is known, wrote: "My vocation
is love. At the heart of the Church,
my Mother, I will be love, and
in this way I will be everything."
"Love and charity is the soul
of the mission," said Cardinal
Ivan Dias, prefect of the missionary
dicastery, as he recalled St. Thérèse's
experience and Benedict XVI's message
for the World Mission Sunday, Oct.
22. The cardinal pointed out the
meaning of the mission during a
concelebrated Mass in which those
who make up the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples and
the four general secretaries of
the Pontifical Mission Societies
participated, reported the Fides
news agency.
St. Thérèse of
the Child Jesus, a Doctor of
the Church, was proclaimed patroness
of the missions along with patron
St. Francis Xavier. The two patron
saints "remind us of the
two aspects of mission, contemplation
and action," said Cardinal
Dias. "We must be contemplatives
in action, working while not
forgetting prayer and the spiritual
aspect."
Taking these two figures of
the Church as reference, the
Vatican prefect reminded those
working in the Congregation
for the Evangelization of Peoples
that "it is not
the quantity of work but the
quality which counts and the
love with which it is performed."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Mother Theodore Guerin's
Life, Sainthood Seen as Summons
to Holiness
The vice postulator of the
sainthood cause of Mother
Theodore Guerin, foundress
of the Sisters of Providence
of St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind.,
sees her life and Oct. 15 canonization
in Rome as a summons to holiness.
Providence Sister Marie Kevin
Tighe, who was promoter and vice
postulator for the completed
cause, said she hoped that for
each Sister of Providence the
canonization "would deepen
her own understanding of the
call to holiness in her life
in imitation of St. Mother Theodore." Beyond
that, she said in a phone interview
Oct. 5, "I would hope that
every person would understand
the fact that God does not create
just some persons to become saints." Everyone
is called to holiness, she said,
citing a chapter with that theme
in the Second Vatican Council's
Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church. Sister Marie Kevin also
hoped "Catholics and others
would realize that the most important
aspect of sainthood is the way
the person lived life according
to the Gospels, and that the
miracles are secondary to that."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Benedictine Priest, 105,
Credits God for His Positive
Outlook
With a twinkle in his eyes,
a spring in his gestures
and a cheerful, calming smile,
Benedictine Father Angelo
Zankl shines with his sunny
perspective on life. "It
is a great, great thing!" said
the monk of St. John's Abbey
in Collegeville about his long
life in an interview with the
St. Cloud Visitor, newspaper
of the Diocese of St. Cloud.
He turned 105 in April, so his
perspective comes with much experience.
In his lifetime there have been
many changes. For example, he
was 20 months old when Wilbur
and Orville Wright made their
historic Kitty Hawk, N.C., airplane
flight. And through life's changes,
he has kept going with great
energy. He celebrated the 80th
jubilee of his ordination as
a priest in June. One object
of his enthusiasm is God, whom
Father Zankl credits as the one
who provides a positive outlook
on life.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
American Brother Elected to
General Council of Capuchin
Franciscans
Brother Mark Schenk has become
the first lay friar in the history
of the Capuchin Franciscans to
serve on the order's general council.
The Kansas-born Brother Mark had
been provincial vicar of the Denver-based
Capuchin province of Mid-America
since 2000. His parents, Bernard
and Mary Jo Schenk, live in Great
Bend, Kan. As one of eight general
councilors or definitors of the
religious community known formally
as the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin,
Brother Mark will live at the order's
general headquarters in Rome and
be involved in all the major decision-making
of the order. He also will serve
as a traveling liaison between
the order's general minister and
various provinces and other divisions
of the order. Brother Mark previously
served in Rome as undersecretary-general
of the order, 1988-94; secretary-general
pro tem, 1994-95; and information
systems manager, 1997-2000. There
are 11,000 Capuchins serving in
more than 100 countries. About
two-thirds of the members are priests
and the rest are brothers, also
called lay friars. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Sacred
Heart Brother Creates Web
Site, Provides Teachers
with Questions, Answers on
Church History
Religious education teachers
drilling their students on Church
history now have the resources
of a veteran teacher to use in
their classes. Sacred Heart Brother
Malcolm Melcher taught high school
religion for 40 years before
he retired, and for 30 of those
years saved material he composed
for use in drills, quizzes, tests
and other exams. He has made
many of his old tests and answers
available to religion teachers
on a Web site. Now he has added
to the collection more than 1,600
questions and answers on church
history. The Church history information
is available at www.boshf.org/churchhistorybank.
The other area he maintains on
the Web, www.boshf.org/moraltheologybank,
contains more than 600 questions
in a multiple-choice and free-response
format. To obtain password access,
religion teachers must send a
letter of application to Brother
Melcher at: 2609 Springhill Ave.,
Mobile, AL 36607. Letters must
be written on official school
letterhead and include the applicant's
current teaching assignment,
signature and e-mail address.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Hospitaller Order Picks
New Superior
The Hospitaller Order of St.
John of God has elected Brother
Donatus Forkan as its new prior
general. Delegates elected Brother
Donatus, 64, during the order's
66th general chapter in Rome,
a three-week event that ended
Sunday.
The new prior general was born
in Kinaffe, County Mayo, on April
5, 1942. He made his perpetual
vows in 1966 and was a member
of the General Council of the
Hospitaller Brothers of St. John
of God from 1994 until this year.
The group is one of the Church's
oldest lay orders. Founded in
1537 in Spain by St. John of
God, it offers corporal and spiritual
assistance to the sick. As it
is a lay order, most of its members
are brothers, though it has the
faculty to include the priests
necessary for the spiritual care
of the sick and its own communities.
The order is active in 50 countries
and has 220 communities. It numbers
1,347 members, including 142
priests.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Tennessee Woman Moves from
Corporate World to Life of
Contemplation as Passionist
Nun
Carole
Beauchemin really loved
her job as facility consultant
with the car company Saturn.
The Tennessee resident
traveled every other week
to Texas to oversee a number
of Saturn dealerships. She
enjoyed traveling, loved
the people with whom she
worked, and made a great
salary. This experience was
soon to change, because what
she didn't realize was that
God was calling her to a
different way of life. Now
a Passionist nun, Sister
Mary Beauchemin eventually
became less satisfied with
her life even though she
was at the height of her
career. "The more successful
I had become, the emptier
I felt," she said. In
1999, after five years with
the company, she asked Saturn
if she could take a two-year
sabbatical and the company
agreed. During her sabbatical
she went to Georgia to visit
a Trappist monastery once
a month as a lay Cistercian,
and then moved to the area
and lived with three other
laypeople in community. "I
didn't remain there very
long because I needed more
structure," Sister Mary
said. "When I searched
the Web, I found the Passionist
nuns of St. Joseph Monastery,
in Whitesville, Ky., and
after three weeks living
there, I realized it was
everything I wanted. I knew
that it was the right place
for me to be." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++To
Top
Reaching
New Vocations Through Websites
Three
Franciscan
and one Benedictine communities
have launched websites
in recent months, and have
experienced new interest
in their life. The Poor
Clares of Santa Barbara,
CA a contemplative
Franciscan community, launched
a website in May. "This
past week we had three
vocation inquiries," said
Sr. Aimee Marie, PCC, recently.
"One who mentioned
directly that she had visited
our site."
Also launching
websites were the
Poor
Clares of Chicago,
the Daughters
of St. Francis
of Assisi of Lacon, IL,
and the Starr
County Benedictines,
in TX. The Poor Clares
in California, and the
Daughters of St. Francis
of Assisi are IRL Affiliates.
With features such as
moving images and pictures
of happy sisters, they
are following a trend
among religious communities
to raise awareness and
attract vocations through
the use of the Internet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Return to top
Visit IRL's Catalog of Books,
Videos & Audios at http://www.religiouslife.com/catalog
IRL News Briefs is a periodic electronic newsletter
that culls the news services to present informative, inspirational
and/or insightful news items highlighting some aspect of the
priestly/consecrated life and ministry.
Pass this free e-newsletter on to your friends!
Click e-news-request@religiouslife.com
to subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-newsletter and put the word
subscribe or unsubscribe in the message line.
Institute on Religious Life
PO Box 410007
Chicago, IL
60641
773-267-1195
http://www.religiouslife.com |
