IRL News Briefs Dec. 12, 2005

Dec. 12, 2005 — Vol. 4, No. 18

Pope Benedict XVI asked Catholics to lend their spiritual and material support to contemplative religious.
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CONTENTS:

Papal Plea for Contemplative Religious on Eve of "Pro Orantibus" Day
Pope Encourages "Apostolic Drive" of Secular Franciscans
Pope to the CEI: Increase Pastoral Care of Vocations
3 Recently Beatified, Including 2 Italian Founders of Religious Congregations
Bishops to Back Spanish Friar's Canonization Cause
Newly Beatified Monk Lived Humble Faith with North African Muslims
Mistreatment of Chinese Priests and Franciscan Nuns Assailed by Vatican
Pope Gives Jurisdiction of Assisi Franciscan Basilicas to Local Bishop
At 105, Nun Has Many Blessings to Count
Pope Chooses Polish Dominican As Theologian of Papal Household
News Blackout Follows Beating of Nuns in China Traces of Xian Incident Disappearing
Memorial Mass Held To Be Held for IRL Founder John A. Hardon, S.J. Dec. 30
IRL Website Launches "Sacred Suncatchers" Gift Line

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Benedict XVI appealed to Catholics to give spiritual and material support to people who have consecrated their lives to God in prayer. The Pope made his appeal on the eve of "Pro Orantibus" Day, which is dedicated to prayer for men and women religious of the contemplative life. The day is observed every year on the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the temple.

"On behalf of the whole Church, I express gratitude to those who consecrate their lives to prayer in the cloister, offering an eloquent testimony of the primacy of God and of his kingdom," the Holy Father told the crowds gathered in St. Peter's Square, after he led the recitation of the midday Angelus. He added: "I invite all to be close to them with our spiritual and material support."

Benedict XVI greeted representatives of the Secular Franciscan Order at a general audience and encouraged them to witness to the Gospel in the world. These spiritual children of St. Francis were taking part in their general chapter in Assisi, through Saturday. The event has attracted members from 57 chapters, in 46 countries, as well as some 30 observers and relaters.

Before taking leave of the 25,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope expressed the hope that the Secular Franciscan's general chapter "will be for all of you an opportunity of renewed apostolic drive when it comes to spreading the Gospel everywhere, following the example of St. Francis of Assisi."

The Secular Franciscan Order comprises lay people who follow the Rule and Franciscan spirituality. Its origins go back to 1221. Today it has 435,000 professed members, in 99 countries.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a recent Message to the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), which met in Assisi, Italy, from November 14 to 18 to celebrate its 55th general assembly. During the meeting attention will be given, among other themes, to the formation of future priests and to the presence of the Church in the world of health care.

"The Church today," wrote the Pope, "needs priests who are fully aware of the gift of grace they receive with priestly ordination and with the mission entrusted to them in times of swift and profound changes."

After recalling all the priests working in Italy, "who contribute to making our parishes and communities lively and rich in grace," Benedict XVI highlighted the concern he shares with the bishops "for the drop in numbers of clergy and for the progressive increase in the average age of priests. There is, therefore, an urgent need to boost vocational pastoral care and to define the formative option ever more clearly, so as to guarantee a human, intellectual and spiritual preparation capable of meeting the new challenges that priestly ministry is called to face. ... It is equally important that such formative activity should be carried out in a community context, in order to reflect that communion of life which Jesus had with His disciples, and to ensure that the various elements of the educational program are unified around the needs of pastoral charity."

The Church has three new blessed, including Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), the apostle to the Tuaregs in the Sahara. French-born Foucauld (1858-1916) was beatified along with two Italian religious: Maria Pia Pastena (1881-1951), founder of the Sisters of the Holy Face, and Maria Crocifissa Curcio (1877-1957), founder of the Congregation of Carmelite Missionary Religious of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus.

The three were beatified at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, presided over in the Pope's name by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes. The cardinal read the apostolic letter in which the Pope inscribed the three Servants of God in the catalogue of the blessed. After the Mass, Benedict XVI himself came down to the basilica to venerate their relics.

The U.S. bishops gave their consent to backing the canonization cause of a Spanish friar who argued against the enslavement of native peoples by Spanish conquistadors. By a voice vote, the bishops voted to back the canonization cause for Fray Bartolome de las Casas Nov. 15 during their fall general meeting in Washington. The request to support the cause came at the request of the Spanish bishops' conference. The matter had been referred earlier to the U.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine, which said the bishops could act on the request if they chose. Fray Bartolome, a Dominican, was the first bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, in the 16th century. As bishop, he was an outspoken critic of the barbarities committed by Spanish conquerors against indigenous peoples. His defense of the oppressed resulted in his forced resignation after only nine years as head of the Chiapas see when the Spanish crown sided with powerful colonial figures the Dominican had angered.

Charles de Foucauld, a French monk known for his humble form of spirituality, was among three people beatified at the Vatican in mid-November. Born to a wealthy family, Blessed Foucauld lost his faith as an adolescent and lived the easy life for many years. Exploring Morocco in 1884, he saw the way Muslims worshiped God, and he was impressed and intrigued. Two years later, at age 28, he rediscovered his own faith after a visit to the Holy Land. Inspired by Jesus' years at Nazareth, he tried to live a truly contemplative life among the poor. He spent seven years as a Trappist in France and Syria before leading a life of prayer and eucharistic adoration near a convent in Nazareth, Israel. Ordained a priest at age 43, he spent the last 15 years of his life in the northern Sahara, in what is now Algeria, living among the mostly Muslim populations of the region. He was killed in 1916 by a band of marauders.

The Vatican condemned the violence perpetrated against 16 nuns in Xian and expressed its concern for the arrest of six priests of the "unofficial" Church. Joaquín Navarro Valls, director of the Vatican press office, published a communiqué last Friday in response to a Nov. 23 attack against the Franciscan missionary nuns and the Nov. 18 arrest of the priests in Hebei province.

"News agencies have recently reported on two regrettable incidents, suffered respectively by the Franciscan Sisters of Xian and by six priests in the Diocese of Zhengding," said the Vatican statement. "Though it is not possible to verify these incidents in terms of the exact extent of circumstances, reports of them are, nevertheless, the source of grief and disapproval. The violence committed in Xian against several defenseless nuns can only be firmly condemned."

Saying the work of the Franciscan friars in Assisi needs to be better coordinated with the work of the local diocese, Pope Benedict XVI issued a formal order giving jurisdiction over activities at the two Franciscan basilicas to the local bishop. The apostolic letter containing new norms for the basilicas of St. Francis and St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi was published Nov. 19 at the Vatican. The same day, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had named Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino, 57, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, to head the Diocese of Assisi, Nocera Umbra and Gualdo Tadino. In his brief letter, Pope Benedict said the popes always have had "unique bonds and special concern" for the Basilica of St. Francis, where the saint is buried, and the Basilica of St. Mary, which is built around the small chapel where St. Francis founded his order.

Sister Celine Wuebbels, an Adorer of the Blood of Christ, had plenty to be thankful for this past Thanksgiving. The nun, who turned 105 Nov. 27, is believed to be one of the oldest Catholic women religious in the St. Louis metropolitan area and is the oldest of the nearly 400 members of her congregation's U.S. province, which is based in St. Louis. Although her community had planned a surprise birthday party for her, it was no secret to Sister Wuebbels. In an interview the week before her birthday with the St. Louis Review, archdiocesan newspaper, the nun said the party "should be a secret" but she knew all about it. She remains in the know on what is happening in her religious community and the world at large. She is an avid reader and watches the news on television daily.

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen a 54-year-old British-born Polish Dominican to serve as theologian of the papal household. The Vatican announced the appointment of Father Wojciech Giertych Dec. 1. He succeeds 83-year-old Swiss Cardinal Georges Cottier, a Dominican who held the position since 1989. The theologian of the papal household serves as a private theological consultant to the pope, living in an apartment in the Apostolic Palace. He also serves as a consultant to the congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith and for Saints' Causes and to the International Theological Commission. At the time of his nomination, Father Giertych was serving as assistant to the master general of the Dominicans with special responsibility for Dominican schools, universities and the intellectual life of the order's members. He is a member of the Dominican general council in Rome and a professor of moral theology at Dominican-run Angelicum University in Rome.

News Blackout Follows Beating of Nuns in China Traces of Xian Incident Disappearing

The Holy See's missionary news agency Fides expressed alarm over the beatings of nuns in Xian, China, and the subsequent news blackout. On Nov. 23, when they tried to stop the demolition of a diocesan school, which the government had illegally sold to a construction company, the nuns of the Congregation of Franciscan Missionaries of the Sacred Heart were insulted and beaten by some 40 men, reported AsiaNews.

As early as last Thursday, the agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions stated that no Chinese newspaper reported the news "of the 16 nuns kicked in Xian." The Holy See protested the attack in a communiqué by spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls.

On Friday, the Fides agency of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples warned that, "after being the first to publish detailed news on the 'violence used in Xian against defenseless nuns,' Faith, the best-known Chinese Catholic site, at http://www.chinacatholic.org, of the Catholic community of Hebei, was blacked out during several hours on Nov. 30." "Other Chinese Catholic sites that published news of the incident suffered the same fate," Fides added. "Since yesterday, these sites are again visible, but, incredibly, all traces of the Xian incidents have disappeared."

A Rosary procession and Memorial Mass will be held Fri., Dec. 30 in Michigan in memory of IRL Founder Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. It has been five years since Fr. Hardon passed to his eternal reward. The Rosary procession to Father's gravesite will be held at 6:30 p.m., and the Memorial Mass will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the Colombiere Jesuit Retirement Center Chapel, in Clarkston, MI. For more information, call John Best at 248-548-0204, or click on the pdf flyer at http://www.religiouslife.com/FrHardonMassFlyer2005.pdf.

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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.

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