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Month: August 2015

Letter for 60th anniversary of the Apostolate of St James

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has sent a letter on behalf of Pope Francis for the 60th anniversary of the Apostolate of St James. The Apostolate is the Hebrew Catholic Vicariate of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
In the letter, dated 13 August 2015, Cardinal Pietro Parolin wrote, “The Holy Father was pleased to learn of the celebrations marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Apostolate of Saint James and he sends cordial good wishes to you and the priests, religious and Hebrew speaking Catholics of the Saint James Vicariate. As you reflect on the many graces bestowed by God upon the Apostolate and Vicariate throughout these years, His Holiness prays that all of you may be renewed in your joyful witness to the Gospel, ‘not only with words, but above all by lives transfigured by God’s presence’ (Evangelii Gaudium, 259). In this way, not only will the Vicariate community be strengthened, it will also become an ever more effective instrument of dialogue and peace within broader society and a sign of Christ’s love for those most in need. Commending the Saint James Vicariate to the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, Pope Francis willingly imparts his Apostolic Blessing as pledge of peace and joy in the Lord.”
The Apostolate of Saint James the Apostle, approved by the Patriarch Alberto Gori on February 11, 1955, was founded in order to answer the pastoral needs of Hebrew-speaking Catholics, Jews and non-Jews.
Today, there is a Hebrew-speaking community in four major cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Haifa and Beersheva. The Vicariate includes two Russian communities whose members are integrated into Israeli society.
Father David Neuhaus SJ, Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew speaking Catholics in Israel, had sent a copy of “Sixty Years – A Pastoral Letter” to the Holy Father. The letter can be read here .
(from Vatican Radio)…

Pope to parents: find time for prayer in busy family life

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday continued his reflections on family life, focusing especially on the importance of finding time for prayer. Greeting visitors from many different countries, gathered for the weekly General Audience in St Peter’s Square, the Pope said families often experience difficulty in devoting time for prayer. But he said a heart filled with the love of God can make even a silent thought or small gesture of devotion into a moment of prayer.
Pope Francis noted that family life is complicated and time consuming: parents, he said, should win Nobel prizes for the way they manage to squeeze 48 hours’ work into just 24 hours! But if we truly love God with all our hearts, and all our mind, and all our strength, we will discover that the heart of prayer is the love of God, who constantly caresses us with his love. The Pope urged parents to teach their children to pray, to read the bible and to make the sign of the Cross so that their homes may become places where Jesus always finds a warm welcome
Please find below the English summary of Pope Francis’ remarks at the Wednesday General Audience
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
 In our continuing catechesis on the family, today we reflect on the importance of devoting time to prayer.  We all know how important prayer is, yet it seems so difficult to find time for it.  Perhaps we need to ask if we truly love God, as he asks us to, with all our heart, and all our mind and all our strength.  For the heart of prayer is the love of God, the source of our life, who constantly “caresses” us with his own love. 
A heart filled with the love of God can make even a silent thought or a small gesture of devotion a moment of prayer.  The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray, to call God our Father, and to grow daily in his love.  Our families need to ask for the gift of the Spirit!  Through prayer, even in the busiest times, we give time back to God, we find the peace that comes from appreciating the important things, and we encounter the joy of God’s unexpected gifts.  Through daily prayer may our homes become, like the house of Martha and Mary, places where Jesus always finds a warm welcome.
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from England, Denmark, Malta, China, Dubai, Nigeria, Canada and the United States of America.  Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord Jesus.  God bless you all!
(from Vatican Radio)…

Eparchy of Mandya extended, Fr. Antony Kariyil CMI new bishop

The Holy Father has extended the boundaries of the eparchy of Mandya of the Syro-Malabar  and included neighbouring  six civil districts, in which lie the Syro-Malabar faithful: Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Chickballapur, Kolar, Tumkur and Ramnagara.
At the Synod of the Syro-Malabar Major Archbishops at Mount Saint Thomas in Kerala (India),  Rev. Dr. P. Antony Kariyil CMI was canonically elected bishop of the said eparchy of Mandya of the Syro-Malabar (India).  Fr. Antony Kariyil is currently the Director of ‘Rajagiri School of engineering and Technology’ ( RSET) in Cochin, Kerala.
Fr. Dr. Antony Kariyil CMI is an eminent scholar and academician, with many laurels to his credit. He was the professor and later the Principal of Christ College Bangalore from 1975 to 1997. He was also the Principal Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, from 1997 to 2002.

As a distinguished academician, he has served as the member of various academic bodies, including the Academic Council of the Bangalore University; Board of Studies in Sociology of Bangalore University and Calicut University; Board of Studies in Social Work of Calicut University; Senate of the Cochin University of Science & Technology; and Syndicate of the M.G. University. An avid researcher, he has several publications to his credit, including two books ‘Church and Society in Kerala: A Sociological Study’ and ‘Thiruvayassu’.

Dr. Antony Kariyil was the Vicar Provincial and Secretary for Social Work of the CMI Sacred Heart Province, Kochi from 1999 to 2002. He was elected the Prior General of the CMI congregation in 2002; after which he served as the Provincial Superior of the Sacred Heart Province and Manager of Rajagiri Educational Institutions from 2008 to 2011.

Dr.Antony Kariyil’s untiring efforts and hard work had been instrumental in the establishment of RSET. He has guided, supported and has shouldered a crucial role in the growth of RSET from the early days and continued to nurture the institution even when he was elected as the prior general of CMI congregation from 2002 to 2008. 
(from Vatican Radio)…

A Jewish perspective on ‘Nostra Aetate’ 50 years on

(Vatican Radio) In October the Catholic Church will officially mark the 50th anniversary of a document that has profoundly changed its understanding of other religious faiths. On October 28th 1965 bishops from around the world, gathered in Rome for the Second Vatican Council, issued ‘ Nostra Aetate ’ a groundbreaking declaration on the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions.
For the first time the bishops said the Church “rejects nothing that is true and holy” in other religious traditions, urging Catholics to pursue “dialogue and collaboration” with people of all different faiths . In particular the document radically reshaped Catholic relations with the Jewish world, condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and stating that Jews cannot be held responsible for the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ.
Susannah Heschel is an American author and professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College in the United States. She’s also the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who played an influential role in the drawing up of ‘ Nostra Aetate’ . At a recent conference, organised by the Ecclesiological Investigations network at Georgetown University, Philippa Hitchen talked to Susannah about her father’s role and about the importance of that document, half a century on…
Listen: 

(from Vatican Radio)…

Cardinal calls for change in attitude towards environment

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Peter Turkson has renewed the call for radical changes in thinking and attitudes towards environment, ecology and creation.   In a message delivered to the second international gathering for talks on climate change, organised by the Peruvian government in Lima, the President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Cardinal Turkson, invited participants “[to] assume a new ecological spirituality which favors the bond between man and environment, through an integral, ecological, community conversion.”
The 5-day event, starting on the 24th of August, is the second appointment of the COP20 forum, a global initiative which gives nations the opportunity to showcase plans to reduce carbon emissions in preparation for the Paris conference on climate change due to take place later in the year.
The forum opened with a presentation of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, which was organised by the Jesuit University Ruiz de Montoya in Lima. The opening presentation event hosted 250 people, including experts, policy makers and religious leaders, who offered analysis of the Pope’s encyclical from a scientific, economic, political and theological perspective.
In his message, Cardinal Turkson expressed the hope that this second conference dedicated to environmental emergency might promote a “deeper ecological conversion, able to reflect itself in the different aspects of human life: in one’s lifestyle, education, in the dialogue between science, culture and faith, and in national politics and international negotiations.”
He concluded his message citing the last words of Pope Francis’ encyclical: “To re-establish harmony with Creation, people ought to reflect on their lifestyles and ideals, in order to contemplate the Creator, who lives in us and in what surrounds us.”
(from Vatican Radio)…