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SIMPLY SHEEN:Nothing can replace the joy of God

      They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".

"The man who has integrated his personality in accordance with its nature, and oriented his life towards God knows the intense and indestructible pleasure the saints call joy. No outward event can threaten him or ruffle his happiness. But many men look outward for their pleasure and expect the accidents of their lives to provide their happiness. Since nobody can make the universe his slave, everyone who looks outward for pleasure is bound to disappointment."

     The following verse, taken from 2 Machabees 12: 46 affirms what Our Lady said that if we pray the prayer "we'll deliver many souls": "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins." The Blessed Mother asks that we pray the words "I BELIEVE IN GOD" five times, and then say a Hail Holy Queen, Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be once followed by the prayer: Grant eternal rest unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them that they may rest in peace. Amen.

FATIMA PRAYER FOR SOULS

O My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell.
Lead all souls to Heaven, Especially those most need of Thy Mercy.

     There is also the special prayer that in honor of the poor souls in Purgatory. When one prays this prayer from the heart countless souls are released from Purgatory at God's will. It is an excellent way as members of the Church Militant to fulfill our role in the Communion of Saints:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son Jesus in union with all the Masses said throughout the world today; for the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, in my home and in my family. Amen.

It is recommended we pray this after every decade of the Rosary. Our Lady also imparted to Hungarian visionary Mrs. Elizabeth Szanto Erzebet, (mother of six who died in 1985), the following message on October 13, 1962 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the last apparition at Fatima. Proclaiming herself as "The Flame of Love", Our Lady said: "My Daughter, your compassion for suffering souls moved my Motherly heart so much that I will grant the grace that if anyone anywhere will say Three Hail Mary's in reference to my Flame of Love, then on each occasion a soul will be freed from Purgatory. Furthermore, "In the month of the Holy Souls (November) TEN SOULS WILL BE FREED FROM PURGATORY FOR EACH HAIL MARY...Suffering souls will also feel the effect of the grace coming from my Motherly Flame of Love."

This is our opportunity to storm Heaven with our Rosaries during this month. Think of the number of souls you will all be able to deliver from Purgatory into the Glory of Heaven through your Hail Mary's. They won't forget you!!!

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WORLDWIDE NEWS & VIEWS with a Catholic slant

HEADLINES:

Bishops begin final conference of the millennium in Washington D.C. with showdown looming on direction of Catholic Colleges

    High Noon could be coming to Washington D.C. this month when the National Conference of Catholic Bishops tackle an issue that is brewing between the bishops' loyalty to the Holy Father's directives in Ex Corde Ecclesia and a bloc of liberal Catholic College administrators who are fighting it tooth and nail in an effort to keep the education process status quo and separate itself further from the Catholic curriculum. Also on the agenda are new elections, reorganization and tightening seminary requirements. For more, click on Bishops' conference

US BISHOPS' MEETING FOCUSES ON CATHOLIC COLLEGES

    WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - The United States' bishops gathered in the biennial meeting on Monday with the group's president reiterating their stated purpose of implementing papal guidelines on Catholic higher education.

    Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the bishops that their task of maintaining Catholic identity in higher education mirrors their predecessors' efforts in the 19th century for parochial schools. The US bishops are struggling with how to implement the guidelines of Pope John Paul's apostolic exhortation "Ex Corde Ecclesia."

    Some Catholic college and university presidents are resisting efforts to impose any kind of guidelines from the hierarchy of the Church. Under the proposed rules, Catholic theologians would be required to obtain a mandate from the local bishop to teach in his diocese and schools would be encouraged to select mainly Catholics for their boards of trustees and faculty.

    Supporters of the rules have said they would prevent a further erosion of Catholic identity at most schools without sacrificing academic freedom, but some educators see the guidelines as a threat. The rules require a two-thirds approval for passage and a closed-door session on Tuesday will determine whether the majority exists.

    The conference is also scheduled to elect new leadership, reorganize the bishops' conference, and issue rules that would make it difficult for seminarians expelled from one seminary to enroll in another.

Pro-life victory with agreement that could solve UN funding issue while the right to pray moves front and center in Supreme Court

    Persistance and prayers do pay off as evident from a compromise agreement reached between the Hill and the President which effectively blocks him from vetoing the UN back-dues payment and keeps intact the important provision that none of it goes to the international population control fund for abortion. If it does, Clinton loses support for the sum of $385 million. Meanwhile in the Supreme Court the justices were ready to face the prayer in schools issue head on, studying its relevance in regard to student prayers during high school games, specifically football games where God and football rule on Friday nights across the U.S. but especially in Texas where the challenge comes from. For more, click on Pro-life and prayers

    WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - The Clinton administration and Congress came to an agreement on Sunday on the payment of back dues to the United Nations that kept intact a provision that banned funding for pro-abortion groups.

    The bill that would have paid $1 billion in dues that the United States owes to the UN was tied to a provision sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith, R-New Jersey, that would have forbid funding of international population control groups that lobby for legalization of abortion. President Bill Clinton's vow to veto the bill if it contained the abortion measure held up passage and threatened the US vote in the UN's General Assembly.

    Under the one-year deal, Clinton could waive the restriction, but if he did, there would a reduction in the $385 million set aside for international population control programs. In exchange, $926 million would be provided to pay the UN dues.

    A pro-life victory on the population control provisions could lead to quick agreements on other contentious fiscal matters that could cement a budget deal.

    Pro-abortion groups were upset at news of the agreement. "I'd find it disappointing in the extreme if this pro-choice president is the person who took what was only a policy during the Reagan-Bush years and wrote it into statutory law, the waiver notwithstanding," said Susan Cohen, assistant policy director for the Alan Guttmacher Institute. "Once it's written into statutory law, it would be very hard to undo."

    In a related story on Capitol Hill, the US Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal on whether public schools may allow students to lead prayers at school athletic events.

    The high court will review a lower-court decision that struck down a Galveston County, Texas, school board's policy as a violation of the separation of church and state. Previous Supreme Court decisions banned clergy-led prayers at public school graduation ceremonies in 1992 and banned organized, officially sponsored prayers from public school.

    In the Galveston County case, the school district allowed students to deliver any "message" or "invocation" over the public address system at football games and graduation ceremonies. The court will only review the football-game policy.

    On Monday, the court also refused to hear appeals regarding child visitation rights for a lesbian who helped raise a child with her former partner, the child's mother, upholding a lower court decision in her favor and a ruling against court and probation officials who had ordered a convicted drunk driver to continue attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The lower court said AA meetings included prayer and other religious content and the sentencing order violated the convict's religious rights.

Syria's Orthodox Church gives green light to Pope to visit Damascus and trace the footsteps of the Apostle Paul

    While the Greek Orthodox Church refused to extend the Holy Father an invitation, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignace Zakka I was only too happy to extend an invite to the Pope to include Damascus in his historic "Jubilee Journey" next year. The Patriarch pointed out the need for unity and that Pope John Paul II best represents and exhibits that goal. This could very well take the place of the anticipated Greece trip and would fit in very well with the Holy See's plans. For more, click on Pope Syrian-bound? .

    VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Mar Ignace Zakka I has invited Pope John Paul II to visit Syria, praising the Holy Father as "the foremost among the illustrious fathers of the Church who have sought for unity among the Christian churches in this century."

    The Orthodox leader, who is the Patriarch of Antioch, based in Damascus, told reporters in Genoa, "We hope that His Holiness can visit Damascus." He made his remarks at an inter-religious meeting in Genoa, organized by the St. Egidio community, which had drawn together over 1300 representatives of different Christian churches.

    "John Paul has made many pastoral visits, to many places in the world, always bearing the light of the Gospel just as the Apostle Paul did," the Patriarch said. "His first and last preoccupation is unity among Christians and brotherhood among peoples."

    So Patriarch Ignace Zakka I issued his invitation for the Pope to visit "Damascus, the town of the Apostle Paul, and Syria, the cradle of Christianity." He noted that the Holy Father has indeed indicated a desire to visit Damascus during the Jubilee Year.

    Relations between the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Holy See have been very close and warm in recent years. In June 1984, Pope John Paul and Patriarch Ignace Zakka signed a common declaration, affirming that the two churches profess the same faith, as formulated by the Nicene Creed, and that the causes of subsequent schisms "do not involve the substance of the faith."

Prefect for Congregation for Catholic Education Cardinal Pio Laghi retires

    On the eve of when the United States Bishops are about to decide the course of Catholic Education in America, the Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education Cardinal Pio Laghi has retired at the age of 77. The Holy Father has appointed fellow countryman Archbishop Zenon Grocholewski who had been the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. Cardinal Pio is no stranger to American politics and the situation with the Catholic university system in the states for he served as Apostolic Nuncio from 1984 to 1990. He steps down after 47 years of service to the Church in the papal diplomatic corps and the Roman Curia. For more, click on Cardinal Laghi steps down.

    VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- Cardinal Pio Laghi has retired from his position as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education. He is being replaced by Archbishop Zenon Grocholewski, the Polish-born bishop who was serving as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal for the Apostolic Signatura.

    Cardinal Laghi, who is 77 years old, became prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education after a long career in the Vatican diplomacy. He had been the Pope's representative in Jerusalem from 1969 to 1974, then to Argentina from 1974 to 1980, and finally to the United States from 1984 to 1990. He was raised to the College of Cardinals by Pope John Paul II in June 1991.

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November 16, 1999 volume 10, no. 217  DAILY CATHOLIC