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Tag: Global

VoF conference looks at women’s role in the Church

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican celebrated “International Women’s Day” on Tuesday with a conference dedicated to giving a platform to women working for the Church around the world. Listen to our report:

Held at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, this week’s gathering was the third consecutive “Voices of Faith” conference, which is an initiative of Fidel Götz Foundation, with the partnership of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). The afternoon session of the 8 March event had a four-women panel discussion which centered on the role of women in the Church The panel was moderated by Fr. Thomas Smolich SJ, International Director of JRS in Rome. He shared his impressions with Tracey McClure about the conference, which often touched on mercy throughout. “The theme of VoF this year was that ‘Mercy requires Courage’,” Fr. Smolich said. “It’s very fitting with the Holy Year of Mercy, but also fitting in the stories that we heard from the people who spoke, both the women and men who, in a sense, share God’s mercy and also those who experience God’s mercy. It requires courage on both sides.” “What we also heard was a desire for the Church to recognize this courage, especially the courage of the voices of women, women who make up most of the Church, women who participate in many ways in the Church,” the Jesuit priest said. He added: “They are courageous to be here; they are courageous to do what they do. [They ask us:] ‘How can we, as Church, really be family and welcome all people? That’s what I took away from VoF this year.”  One of the Panelists at the VoF conference was Dr. Carolyn Woo, President and CEO of Catholic Relief Services in the US. “We are here to celebrate the gifts and contributions of women but, at the same time, to also remember the challenges which they deal with every day,” she told Tracey McClure in an interview. “Women have actually come a long way. Eighty-five percent of the work in the Church, which is not done by clerics, is done by women. At least in the United States, there are many key positions held by women.” Asked about the question of women’s ordination, Woo said, “I think the pope has spoken very clearly that there will be no women’s ordination. I think where the tragedy is, is that the conversation sometimes gets stopped right at that point. “Women don’t talk about other things because of that particular issue, and sometimes the Church may be skeptical about women’s voices out of the concern that every conversation may lead to a conversation about women’s ordination.” “I think we should actually let that rest, so that we could proceed on the other dimensions.” (from Vatican Radio)…

Cardinal Turkson: addresses seminar on health and sexuality

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Peter Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, on Tuesday addressed a seminar in Rome on health and sexuality in sustainable development goals and in Catholic Church teaching. The seminar, held on International Women’s Day, was co-sponsored by the Council for Justice and Peace, the World youth Alliance (WYA) and its sister organization, FEMM, that deals with women’s health issues. In his remarks at the seminar, Cardinal Turkson reaffirmed the Holy See’s commitment to both human life and the dignity of women and  warned that technology based on science provides humanity with tremendous “power over itself”, and “we need to work very hard together to make sure that it is used wisely.”
Please see below Cardinal Turkson’s prepared address to the seminar which was read on his behalf by a senior official from the Council for Justice and peace: 
Health and Sexuality in the Sustainable Development Goals and Catholic Church Teaching
Istituto Patristico Augustinianum, Rome, 8 March 2016
 
Opening Remarks
Thank you for coming to this important lecture, which the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is co-sponsoring with the World Youth Alliance (WYA), FEMM, and the Reproductive Health Research Institute (RHRI). The Council has worked closely with the World Youth Alliance since its founding in 1999, both at the United Nations and in supporting the organization’s work with young people in more than 160 countries around the world. This collaboration has been important and fruitful because of the foundational commitment of both organizations to defend the dignity of each person, and to advocate for person-centered responses in the actions that we take individually and globally.
We are happy, therefore, to continue and to advance our collaboration tonight, particularly in light of the recent encyclical, Laudato si’, in which the Holy Father exhorts humankind to combine the best science available with the Church’s values and teachings to “open up” the “immense possibilities … before us” [§102]. Tonight, we move beyond the advocacy of person-centered proposals to the development of programs that can meet the urgent and basic needs of people around the world. In particular, the World Youth Alliance, through its collaboration with its sister organizations FEMM and the RHRI, has developed cutting-edge educational and medical programs to advance the care for women’s health in response to needs expressed by governments, civil society and the Church. As such, these organizations exemplify the Holy Father’s words: “Science and religion, with their distinctive approaches to understanding reality, can enter into an intense dialogue fruitful for both” [§62].
When adopting the current Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Holy See rejected a one-dimensional interpretation of reproductive health requiring an ideological promotion of contraception and abortion. As Pope Francis notes in Laudato si’, “The more complex problems of today’s world … cannot be dealt with from a single perspective or from a single set of interests. A science which would of¬fer solutions to the great issues would necessarily have to take into account the data generated by other fields of knowledge, including … social ethics” [§110]. The Holy See has always maintained its commitment to both human life and the dignity of women, and has also reaffirmed a commitment to science and ongoing advances that can further defend and support the needs faced by women, families and children in human and effective ways. At the same time, technology based on science provides humanity with tremendous “power over itself”, and we need to work very hard together to make sure that it is used wisely [§104].
Tonight’s lecture demonstrates the impressive advances that can be achieved when a deep commitment to science in the service of the needs of the human person is offered. The work of RHRI, led by Dr. Pilar Vigil, is a testament to a lifetime of careful research and clinical care in order to provide solutions for the suffering of so many women, both in their health and in the management and use of their fertility.
WYA was awarded a Papal Foundation grant last year, highlighting Pope Francis’ recognition of its important work in support of the poor and defenceless and mirroring the gratitude of this Pontifical Council for WYA’s endeavors. This collaboration in the development of new programs that advance the science, research, and clinical ability to care for women and families is an enormous service to the families and to the world, and one which the Pontifical Council is proud to highlight and support. Trusting that this lecture will further expand awareness and understanding of WYA’s important work in the Vatican and throughout the world, we are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the organization’s vital work.
Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson
President
 
Please find below details of a press release describing the work of the WYA and FMM:
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is co-sponsoring   a joint lecture with World Youth Alliance (WYA) and its sister organization, FEMM. The Council has worked with WYA since its founding in 1999.  WYA also works closely with the Holy See’s Mission to the UN in NY. In 2015, WYA received a Papal Foundation grant, highlighting Pope Francis’ recognition of their important work in support of the poor and defenseless.
In order to provide constructive proposals internationally, WYA has developed a curriculum program that focuses on the understanding of the dignity of the person. This program, for ages 4-18, is a unique and powerful response to Pope Francis’ exhortation to focus on a deeper understanding of our anthropology as the key to engaging moral and sexual ethics.  WYA’s sister organization, FEMM, offers a ground-breaking approach to women’s health.   FEMM   enables   medical   providers   to   diagnose   and   treat ovulatory dysfunction   (symptoms   of   which   include   acne,   pain,   weight   gain,   depression, migraines,   PMS),   infertility and menopause,  rather  than  manage  or suppress symptoms with the pill and IVF.
These programs offer other concrete solutions to many of the needs facing communities and nations. They also offer a sound implementation or pathway for the newly adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), particularly in the most difficult areas of sexual education and women’s reproductive health. In recognition of this, the Holy See Mission in New York is co-sponsoring a similar event with WYA and FEMM during the upcoming Commission on the Status of Women. 
(from Vatican Radio)…

Spiritual exercises: Spotlight on Christ not the Church

(Vatican Radio) The priest leading the spiritual exercises for Pope Francis and the Roman Curia says the Church must not shine the spotlight on herself but instead on Christ. Father Ermes Ronchi’s reflections came during his meditations on Tuesday morning that were delivered at the ‘Divin Maestro’ centre in the town of Ariccia, south of Rome, where the Pope and the Roman Curia are spending their Lenten retreat.
The inspiration for Tuesday morning’s reflections by Father Ronchi came from the gospel account of where Peter professes his faith in Christ as the Son of God. Noting that this was preceded by Jesus asking the disciples who they thought He was, Father Ronchi said in this way Christ is not giving lessons or suggesting replies based on what other people say about him but instead is urging his apostles  to look inside their own hearts. Jesus wants to know if his disciples have opened their hearts to God who is living inside them. Our hearts, explained Father Ronchi, “can be the cradle or the tomb of God.”
He went on to say that Jesus also warned his apostles that following him means an appointment with a man on the Cross. Christ spills his own blood not that of anybody else and he doesn’t sacrifice other people, just himself.
Turning to the Church’s role, Father Ronchi said we are “the mediators between God and humanity.”  Like John the Baptist, we must prepare the path and then step to one side. He said “think of the beauty of a church that does not shine the spotlight on herself” but instead on Christ, and warned that we still have some progress to make on this point.  
(from Vatican Radio)…

Mother Teresa’s canonization date expected on March 15 ?

Pope Francis will hold an ordinary public consistory of cardinals in the Vatican March 15, during which he will sign the decree for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata and four others.  The dates and venue  of their sainthood ceremony are expected to be declared at the consistory.  Pope Francis had officially cleared Blessed Mother Teresa for sainthood on Dec. 17, 2015, recognizing the miraculous healing through her intercession of a Brazilian man with multiple brain abscesses.   Mother Teresa was conferred the title Blessed in Rome, Italy, on October 19, 2003, after Pope St. John Paul II recognized  the miraculous healing of an Indian woman with a tumour in her abdomen.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu‎ of Albanian parents on ‎August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in what ‎is ‎Macedonia today, Mother Teresa died in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, on September 5, ‎‎1997.  ‎Affectionately known as the “saint of the gutter” for her unconditional ‎love ‎for the poor, abandoned and the marginalized, she earned several international honours, including ‎the ‎Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. ‎
(from Vatican Radio)…

Pope’s Lenten retreat focusses on questions posed by the Gospel

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis and other members of the Roman Curia began their annual spiritual retreat on Sunday 6th February, the fourth Sunday of Lent.
On Sunday evening, after having prayed the Angelus together with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square at noon, Pope Francis boarded a small bus that took him to the “Casa Divin Maestro” Centre in the town of Ariccia in the Alban Hills just outside Rome.
This is where Fr. Ermes Ronchi, of the Servants of Mary, is leading the group in spiritual exercises based on 10 questions from the Gospels. 
These are the questions contemplated: 
1. “What are you looking for?” (John 1:38)
2. “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)
3. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?”   (Matthew 5:13)
4. “But who do you say that I am?” (Luke 9:20)
5. “Then, turning to the woman, he told Simon, ‘Do you see this woman?’” (Luke 7:44)
6. “How many loaves do you have?” (Mark 6:38, Matthew 15:34)
7. “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’” (John 8:10)
8. “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” (John 20:15)
9. “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16)
10. “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be?’” (Luke 1:34).
  
The Pope’s retreat lasts until Friday 10 March.
During the retreat Pope Francis will have no public meetings or audiences, including no Wednesday general audience.
 
(from Vatican Radio)…