France’s Catholic primate has condemned the current presidential campaign as his country’s “worst ever” and urged Christians to help prevent democracy from “losing its sense.” “Left and right rivalled each other and had their radical wings, but there was also a centre. Now, left and right have stepped back, and the main candidates are divided by other unclear criteria. I have the impression our voters are totally lost,” said Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon.
FRANCIS GRANTS SSPX RIGHT TO CELEBRATE MARRIAGE IN SIGN OF RECONCILIATION
Pope Francis has granted permission for priests of the traditionalist Society of Saint Pius X to celebrate valid marriages, in another sign that the quasi-schismatic group are on the verge of being reconciled back into the Church. In a ruling approved by Francis, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has said that SSPX clergy can celebrate wedding liturgies providing they are assisted by a priest from the local diocese who would act as a witness to the vows. However, if there are no diocesan priests available the CDF states that a priest of the society can conduct the ceremony on his own.
The latest move, authored by Cardinal Gerhard Muller and by Arcbishop Guido Pozzo, who is in charge of the Vatican body tasked with reconciling the group back into the Church, states it is part of the process of “institu-tional regularisation” of the SSPX. Significantly, the state-ment says the group is in a “canonical irregular” situation” only “for the time being.”
Known as the Lefebvrists after their founder- a French missionary Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre -the society broke away from the Church in protest at the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
This split occurred definitively when Archbishop Lefebvre ordained four bishops for the society without Holy See approval.
Today the group, which celebrate the sacraments solely according to the old rite, remain in a sort of canonical limbo: al-though excommunicated Arch-bishop Lefebvre’s ordinations of his bishops were valid because he himself was a legitimate bishop.
For the Indian Church, yoga is not needed to experience the divine
The Syro-Malabar Church, one of the three rites of the Catholic Church in India, has issued a note to its clergy, saying that “Yoga is not a means to experience the divine, although it may contribute to physical and mental health.” In the statement, the Church’s Synod of Bishops recognises the important role yoga plays in Indian culture, but adds that it “must be considered as a physical exercise, a posture to concentrate or meditate.” By contrast, “the divine experience does not need any particular posture.”
For former Synod spokesman Fr Paul Thelakat, yoga is “acceptable and useful for concentration, meditation and for the holistic well being of body and mind. However,” he told AsiaNews, “the Synod does not consider yoga as a mythic or esoteric short cut to the spiritual life.”
In India, yoga is a required subject in schools. Every year, on International Yoga Day of (21 June), education in schools takes a back seat to yoga events and initiatives.
In the recent past, some Indian activists and intelle-ctuals have claimed that the observance is mandatory, forcing students to sing Hindu hymns and mantra. This limits freedom of worship among minorities and represents a lack of “sensitivity” towards Christian and Muslim students.
The note, signed by Card George Alencherry, head of the Synod, clarifies the position of the Church in the matter. The “God in whom we believe is a personal God,” it reads. “God is not some-one who can be reached through a particular post-ure.” For this reason, “It is not quite right to think that the experience of God and the personal encounter with the Lord is possible through Yoga.” In view of this, “every one should take utmost care to avoid getting into those prayer groups and spiritual movements which are against the Catholic faith and do not recognise the official teachings of the Church.” In fact, the “Synod does not consider yoga as a mythic or esoteric short cut to spiritual life,” Fr Paul Thelakat added. The “Catholic Church teaches the ways of self-purification and union with God are found in asceticism and prayer.”
New pastoral centre for isolated Korean Catholics
Chunchon Diocese realized a long-term dream when it opened a pastoral centre to offer faith education and cultural events to Catholics living in this isolated area of South Korea.
The diocese held the blessing ceremony for its Yeongdong Catholic Pastoral Centre in the coastal city of Gangneung’s Juminjin harbour on March 31. Bishop Lucas Kim Un-hoe of Chunchon presided over the ceremony.
The seeds of Catholic faith were sown in Yeongdong some 100 years ago. However, as most of the pastoral events were held in Chuncheon, the city where the diocese is based, Catholics from other areas could not join because the diocese is divided by two mountain ridges. Bishop Kim said, “This area lacks venues for education and it was hard to offer programs here. The new centre will appease the thirst of the faithful.” From April, the centre will offer classes on the Bible, Catechism and a reading forum. It will also offer monthly lecture programs.
Odd Text from Cardinal Sarah Is Often Praiseworthy, Some-times Questionable, Unfortunate and Downright Mistaken
Over the weekend, Cardinal Robert Sarah, who runs the Congre-gation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, argued in a message sent to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the publi-cation of the Motu proprio Summorum Pontificum by Pope Benedict XVI that those promoting a “modern liturgy” had caused disaster, devastation and schism by trying to reduce the Mass into a “simple convivial meal.”
Here Fr Anthony Ruff, who is a Benedictine monk and liturgical expert, gives his opinion on the text. “This is an interesting, rather odd talk by Cardinal Sarah. It is at times praiseworthy, at times questionable, and at times unfortunate and downright mistaken.
But Cardinal Sarah attaches excessive weight to Summorum Pontificum as if it is the fulfilment of Vatican II, when it is contrary to the intent and clear directives of the Vatican II liturgy constitution. His claim that Vatican II did not abandon the Missal of Pius V is simply mistaken.
His interpretation of Vatican II in general is questionable, for it emphasises only continuity (which of course is there) and underemphasises how much rupture is involved in the liturgy constitution’s paradigm shift.
It’s unfortunate that Cardinal Sarah is so unrelentingly negative about the liturgical reform. It seems that in his mind the reformers have brought only “disaster, devastation, schism, destruction, self-destruction, liturgy wars, and superficial, devast-ating subjectivism.”
It would be good if he could study the reforms more deeply and understand, for example, what “mystery” means in Catholic theology, or how “sacrifice” and “meal” are not opposed to each other in some sort of zero-sum game.
And this is odd: Cardinal Sarah strongly supports Liturgiam Authenticam and the botched new English Missal. That’s a risky move when his boss seems to be going in another direction.”
Kerala Bishop issues dress code for women
A Catholic bishop in Kerala, southern India, has urged girls to avoid wearing outfits shorter than knee-length while inside the church. In a pastoral letter, Bp Mathew Anikuzhikattil of Idukki has women to keep special clothes to wear for prayers and rituals.
The pastoral letter was published in the latest edition of the diocesan bulletin. The bishop, who will turn 75 on September 23, also wants parents to teach their children to respect and obey Church authorities and expecting mothers to take part in prayers.
“Baptism of newborns should be conducted within eight days of their birth. The ceremony should not be delayed for weeks and months in the name of grand celebrations,” said the letter. The bishop also asked parents to give Christian names to their children, including their pet names. Parents, he added, should not blame priests and nuns in front of their kids, which would in turn affect children’s inclination toward divinity.
The Syro-Malabar prelate also urged parents not to encourage their kids to go after material gains. “Many young Christians choose married life without purity and this is reason for lack of faith,” he said. He also urged parents to restrict the use of social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.
Father Jimmy Poochakkat, official spokesperson of Syro Malabar Church, supports the bishop’s letter. “There is proper dress code to be followed by women even in Vatican. The bishop’s instructions are in good faith and it will help girls to feel safe and secure when they are out in public or face the audience while reading out the Holy Bible inside the church,” the priest explained.
Bishop Anikuzhikattil was embroiled in a controversy last December when he issued a pastoral letter asking Christian couples to produce children till the end of their reproductive capacity.
Christian prayer meet called off in Bengaluru over ‘conversion’ allegations
A Christian prayer meeting was cancelled in the country’s IT capital Bengaluru on Apr 8 after complaints were lodged that this could facilitate forced conversions in the city which was to host two American preachers for this event. The cancellation came just about 12 hours before the prayer meeting was to be held. Nearly 1,000 people were expected to attend the meetings spread over April 8 and 9. It was cancelled in the wake of protests lodged by Hindutva groups like the Bajrang Dal.
In Bengaluru, the first complaint was filed by one Girish Bhardwaj, who wrote to the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office — a police wing that tracks foreigners visiting Karnataka — that two American evangelists were in India for “religious conversion,” in violation of their visa norms.
“The two foreigners had applied for Indian visa only to attend religious campaigns. Clearly, they are misleading the Indian Consulate,” he alleged.
Later Bajrang Dal convenor Keshav Nayak filed a police complaint that this progra-mme was “aimed at converting innocent Hindus, was being held daringly in public, where cash would be offered to the converts. As such, it hurts the religious sentiments of the Hindus.”
Jailed in Vietnam, Christian lawyer wins German award
Jailed Christian attorney Nguyen Van Dai received an award by the German Association of Judges on April 5 for his efforts to defend human rights in Vietnam.
Dai, who has been held incommunicado at a prison in Hanoi, was the first Vietnamese lawyer to win the Human Rights Prize for fighting for a democratic and liberal future in the communist country, said Deutscher Richter-bund (German Association of Judges) the largest professional organization of judges and public prosecutors in Germany.
“The path to democracy in Vietnam is still long and needs people like Dai,” the organization said.
On April 4, Dai’s wife, Vu Minh Khanh, was stopped at Noi Bai Airport so she couldn’t fly to Germany to receive the award. She was told that she was not able to leave the country until 2019.
Vu Quoc Dung, the chairman of the human rights organization “Veto! Human Rights Defenders’ Network” based in German, received the award on Dai’s behalf.
Dai, 47, and his assistant Le Thu Ha were arrested in December 2015 for being accused of conducting “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam” after he had held a workshop on basic human rights at the house of a former political prisoner in Nghe An Province.
Catholics surge in Africa but priest shortages persist in other parts of the globe
The number of Catholics worldwide is rising fastest in Africa while the church continues to suffer from a shortage of priests in some parts of the world.
According to the Vatican’s latest statistics, released on April 6, the number of Catholics globally rose 1%, to 1.3 billion, in 2015.
In Africa, the number of baptized Catholics rose 19% – to 222 million, from 186 million in 2014. The Vatican noted that America — North, Central and South — had the greatest concentration of Catholics, while numbers in Europe remained relatively stable.
Despite an increase in the number of Catholics, there was a fall in the number of priests called to ministry in some parts of the world. The number of priests rose by more than 1,100 in Africa and 1,100 in Asia but fell by 2,502 (6 percent) in Europe between 2014 and 2015. There were a total of 47 new priests in the Americas in 2015.
“After reaching its highest in 2011, the number of seminarians has been undergoing a gradual contraction,” the Vatican said. “The only exception is Africa, which does not seem affected by the vocation crisis for the moment and will remain the region with the greatest potential.”
Worldwide, there were 466,215 ordained Catholics, including 5,304 bishops, 415,656 priests and 45,255 deacons. Brazil had the highest number of Catholics – 172 million – accounting for 1 in 4 Catholics in the Ameri-cas, while Mexico had 110 million and the U.S. recorded 72 million Catholics. Colombia had 45 million, Argentina 41 million.
Protest over demolition of houses on Hyderabad church land
Locals along with members of St John’s church in Secu-nderabad held a protest on Mar 28 against demolition of houses on church land by district authorities. The protesters demanded that the victims be relocated in new houses.
As many as 16 people were rendered homeless after the revenue department demolished their homes behind the Civil Court in Secunderabad the previous day.
The affected residents claimed that the land belonged to the Marredpally church, built in 1813, and they had been living there with permission from the Anglican church.
“We are completely helpless. We have small children, where does the government expect us to go?” said Mathilda, a beautician who was ousted from her house. According to her, the authorities did not issue any prior notice before the demolition drive.
Another resident, Assunkossu, said, “I not only have an ailing father-in-law but also two children to take care of. Without a roof over my head, where do I go now?” The homeless had to turn to their neighbours for shelter for their children. The adults spent the night in the open. Most of those evicted deliver newspapers to run their household.