This Sept. 11 marks 796 years since perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament began in Avignon, France, a practice that has now spread throughout the world.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, perpetual adoration refers to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament without interruption or with pauses for only short periods of time.
The term is used “in a moral sense, when it is interrupted only for a short time, or for imperative reasons, or for circumstances beyond control, to be resumed, however, as soon as possible,” he added.
The encyclopaedia indicates that many experts attribute the beginning of the practice of ado-ration of Jesus in the Eucharist to the moment in which the feast of Corpus Christi was established in 1246 by Bishop Roberto de Thorete, at the suggestion of St. Juliana de Mont Cornillon.
However, the first recorded perpetual adoration was in Avignon in 1226.
On Sept. 11, King Louis VII asked to expose the Blessed Sacrament as a way to celebrate victory over the Albigensians, a sect that flourished in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries. “In thanksgiving, the Blessed Sacrament covered with a veil was exposed in the Chapel of the Holy Cross” in Orleans, reads the encyclopedia.
This Muslim NBA vet is marching for persecuted Christians
NBA veteran Enes Kanter Freedom has been using his plat-form as a professional basket-ball player to take direct aim at the Chinese Communist Party for its egregious human rights abuses.
“People need to understand this … the Chinese Communist Party does not represent the Olympic values of excellence, of respect, of friendship. The whole world knows that they’re a brutal dictatorship and they engage in censorship, they tread on freedoms, they do not respect human rights, and they hide the truth,” Freedom told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in February.
But with no team signing a contract with the 6-foot-10, 250-pound center since February, he, and others, say that he’s paying the price for his activism — activism that includes explicitly calling out the NBA, his former team the Boston Celtics, and other players in the league for hypocrisy, citing their relationship with, and failure to condemn, China.
The 30-year-old seems more determined than ever to work in defence of human rights.
Freedom, a practicing Mu-slim from Turkey, will be speaking on September 24 at the March for the Martyrs in Washington D.C., an event dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of persecuted Christians around the world.
But why did Chacon choose a Muslim to speak at an event advocating for persecuted Christians?
Gorbachev’s legacy inevitably bound to that of Pope John Paul II
This week’s death of former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev at the age of 91 has triggered an avalanche of commentary and tribute around the world, mostly focusing on Gorbachev’s role in the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet system for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.
A sidebar to the story that probably deserves more prominence than it’s received, however, is that the Mikhail Gorbachev the world is now lauding, meaning the reformer and change agent, arguably never would have come to be without the moral and political pressures on the Soviet system created by Pope John Paul II.
Let’s recall the tick-tock in the Gorbachev story.
Born in 1931, for most of his career Gorbachev followed the path of the typical Soviet apparatchik. He became a member of the Community Party’s Central Committee in 1978, the same year the Archbishop of Krakow was elected to the papacy, and a few months later Gorbachev became a member of the Politburo – the same time, as it turns out, the new pontiff was making his historic first visit to Poland, showing the world a people collectively asserting an alternative vision of life to official Soviet ideology.
Pope makes Archbishops Filipe Neri, Anthony Poola cardinals
Pope Francis on August 27 made 20 prelates, including Indian Archbishops Filipe Neri Ferrão of Goa and Daman and Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, in a consistory held at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
Cardinal Ferrao is the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (Latin Rite).
The ceremony was attended by thou-sands of faithful from around the world, including India.
Cardinals Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, attended the ceremony along with Cardinals George Cardinal Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Baselios Cleemis, head of the Syro-Malankara Church.
Other participants were Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore, Bishop Jaya Rao Polimera of Eluru, Joseph Raja Rao of Vijayawada, and Archbishop Emeritus Bernard Moras of Bangalore.
The 20 new cardinals represent the Church worldwide and reflect a wide variety of cultures, contexts and pastoral ministries, says a press note from CCBI deputy secretary general Father Stephen Alathara.
Seven of the new cardinals are from Europe, six from Asia, two from Africa, one from North America and four from Central and Latin America. Of the 20, 16 are cardinal electors under 80 years of age and thus eligible to participate in a conclave. The College of Cardinals currently consists of 229 cardinals, of which 131 are electors and 98 non-electors.
Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi, and Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, were made cardinals during their tenure as presidents of the CCBI, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. Cardinal Ferrão is the third CCBI president to be elevated to the cardinalate, the press note says.
Cardinal Ferrão, born on January 20, 1953, in Aldona, Goa, was ordained priest October 28, 1979. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman at the age of 40 by Pope John Paul II on December 20, 1993. His epis-copal ordination was April 10, 1994. On December 12, 2003, he was appointed the archbishop of Goa and Daman and patriarch of the East Indies and installed on March 21, 2004.
Citizen groups in Varanasi rally in support of Bilkis Bano
A powerful citizen’s movement in Varanasi has come to the streets demanding justice to Bilkis Bano, a rape survivor of the 2002 communal riots in the western Indian state of Gujarat.
The Sajha Sanskriti Manch (SSM, United Forum for Cultural Diversity), network of various social and human rights organization, has organized a series of public protests, rallies and signature campaign in various parts of the northern Indian holy city to demand repeal of the mercy given by the Gujarat High Court to the 11 rapists and murderers.
SSM, in collaboration with Joint Action Council, an organization of the Students of Ba-naras Hindu University and Dakhal (Initiative), a young women’s organization for the rights of women and transgenders through cultural and political interventions, organized its third public meeting August 26 at Sarnath, 10 km northeast of Varanasi.
SSM convenor Father Ana-nd Mathew of the Indian Missionary Society, while addressing the gathering said: “We are standing in front of the Sarnath museum where the Ashoka pillar, symbol of peace and dharma is preserved. The place is significant because it is here Buddha preached his first sermon, denoting the four noble truths of dharma. And from here we appeal to the judiciary not to perpetuate injustice.”
Odisha people observe Kandhamal violence’s 14th anniversary
A state-level peace and harmony convention was held in Odisha on the fourteenth anniversary of the Kandhamal communal massacre in the eastern Indian state.
More than 300 civil society groups, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, writers, students, and academicians, including priests, and nuns across the state joined the day-long peace and goodwill convention August 25 at Geet Govind Bhawan, Bhubaneswar, the state capital.
The chief speakers at the convention were Prakash Yash-want Ambedkar, a former Member of the Parliament, and Arfa Khanum Sherwani, a renowned journalist and the senior editor of the Wire online portal.
Sister Justine Geetanjali, a member of the Odisha unit of the Citizens for Communal Harmony Peace and Justice, in her introductory remark briefed about the current state of affairs in the country and about the Kandhamal riots.
Ambedkar, the grandson of the founder of the Constitution, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, who addressed the first session, raised questions on sensitive incidents such as the case of Bilkis Bano.
Restructure training program for seminarians, religious: Vocation commission
The sharp decline in the current standard of education has prompted the bishops of northeastern India to call for restructuring the initial forma-tion years for priests and reli-gious.
The all-promotion system in schools and making subjects like maths not compulsory to pass grade ten have adversely affected the reading, writing and numeracy skills of those entering minor seminaries and other formation houses, says a survey conducted by the Com-mission for Vocation, Seminaries, Clergy and Religious, North East India Regional Bishop’s Council.
The commission organized a meeting to address the current drawbacks in the training pro-grams.
Around 130 people engaged in training priests and nuns attended the August 17-18 meeting at Guwahati, the nerve center of northeastern India.
The meeting recommended increasing the initial formation to two years. Presently, the initial remedial education in formation houses is one year.
At the meeting, Bishop Thomas John Katrukuidyil, the commission chairman, presented a paper on the “Present Scenario of Formation” in north-eastern India.
The paper explained the results of an extensive survey the bishop undertook on the current vocation scenario in the region.
Former Patna Jesuit provincial dies
Father John D’ Mello, a former Patna Jesuit provincial and renowned spiritual director, died August 24. He was 89.
The death occurred at 7:30 am at Xavier Bhavan at Digha Ghat, a western suburb of Patna, where Father D’Mello was leading a retired life.
What does a charter draft by sadhus reveal about new India?
India’s constitution came into effect on Jan 26, 1950, completing the nation’s transition toward becoming an independent, democratic republic. But a self-appointed constituent assembly of 30 Hindu seers and scholars has come up with the draft of a “new constitution” for their proposed “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu nation).
If the Hindu savants associated with the Shankaracharya Parishad of Varanasi, the northern city regarded as India’s spiritual capital, have their way then Muslims and Christians will be barred from voting in the Hindu Rashtra.
Salesian college in Meghalaya completes 100 years
A Salesian college in Meghalaya has completed 100 years of service in the northeastern Indian state.
The centenary of the Salesians entry into the region and Don Bosco college in Tura recently took place at the college on August 18.
Minister of Food and Civil Supp-lies James Pangsang K Sangma, the chief guest, hailed the Salesians’ contributions to northeastern India and Garo Hills in particular. He expressed gratitude and assured that the people of the region are also grateful to them.