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Abbreviated Summer issues begin today for next two and a half months

    As has been the tradition of the DAILY CATHOLIC each summer - from the last two weeks of June through the end of August, we traditionally pare back our original features. Thus, beginning with today's issue, the summer issue format is in effect. This means there will be only one VIEW FROM THE PEW by Pat Ludwa a week - on Thursdays, and one CATHOLIC PewPOINT each Friday. Sister Mary Lucy Astuto's weekly column GETTING TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER on Fridays will continue as well as our COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION three times a week and the usual Monday feature VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS. However, as for features, we are going to recycle those from earlier editions so that newer readers over the last two years can have the opportunity to read what they may have missed. Just as the networks run re-runs, we are running reruns of earlier successful articles. However, we will have a very special new feature beginning in July when we begin our COUNTDOWN OF THE TOP 100 CATHOLICS OF THE CENTURY. We will suspend for the summer the SITE OF THE DAY and CATHOLIC CANVAS and focus more on the news features of the day to emphasize the daily, up-to-date strengths of the DAILY CATHOLIC. As always, we welcome your feedback and what you, the reader, wants to see in this publication that is fast approaching four million visits since we went on line daily on All Saints Day of 1997.

Message to the Americas:
Suffer the children to come to God along the Path to Communion

    Following up a year after the Bishops of North, Central and South America, along with the Caribbean contingent, met for the month-long Synod of the Americas in Rome at the end of 1997, Pope John Paul II officially closed the Synod with his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City in January 1999. Because of its significance for all Americans, we bring you this important document in several installments over the next few months. For those wanting to read the entire encyclical or check footnotes, go to Ecclesia in America For the seventeenth installment on Chapter Four: The Path to Communion - Leading Children to Encounter Christ , click on THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS.

Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America

From Pope John Paul II to the Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Men and Women Religious, and all the Lay Faithful on the encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: The Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America

48. Children are God's gift and a sign of his presence. “There is a need to accompany children in their encounter with Christ, from Baptism to First Communion, since they are part of the living community of faith, hope and love”. (182) The Church is grateful for the efforts of parents, teachers, pastoral, social and health care workers, and all those who seek to serve the family and children with the same attitude as Jesus Christ who said: “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 19:4).

    The Synod Fathers rightly deplored and condemned the painful condition of many children throughout America who are denied their dignity, their innocence and even their life. “This condition includes violence, poverty, homelessness, lack of adequate health care and education, the harm inflicted by drugs and alcohol, and other states of neglect and abuse”. (183) In this regard, special mention was made during the Synod of the problem of the sexual abuse of children and child prostitution, and the Fathers made an urgent appeal “to all those holding authority in society, that, as a priority, they do all in their power to alleviate the suffering of children in America”. (184)

Elements of communion with other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities

    49. Between the Catholic Church and the other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities there exists a drive towards communion rooted in the Baptism which each administers. (185) It is a drive nourished by prayer, dialogue and joint action. The Synod Fathers wished to express their special desire “to cooperate in the dialogue already under way with the Orthodox Church, with which we share many elements of faith, sacramental life and piety”. (186) The specific proposals of the Synodal assembly concerning non-Catholic Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities as a whole were numerous. It was suggested in the first place “that Catholic Christians, Pastors and faithful foster cooperation between Christians of the different confessions, in the name of the Gospel, in response to the cry of the poor, by the promotion of justice, by common prayer for unity and by sharing in the word of God and the experience of faith in the living Christ”. (187) Also to be promoted, when possible and appropriate, are meetings of experts from the different Churches and Ecclesial Communities aimed at facilitating ecumenical dialogue. Ecumenism should be a subject of reflection and shared experience between the different Catholic Episcopal Conferences in America.

    Although the Second Vatican Council refers to all those who are baptized and believe in Christ as “brothers and sisters in the Lord”, (188) it is necessary to distinguish clearly between Christian communities, with which ecumenical relations can be established, and sects, cults and other pseudo-religious movements.

The Church's relations with Jewish communities

    50. American society also includes Jewish communities, with which the Church has fostered increasing cooperation in recent years. (189) The history of salvation makes clear our special relationship with the Jewish people. Jesus belongs to the Jewish people and he inaugurated his Church within the Jewish nation. A great part of the Holy Scriptures, which we Christians read as the word of God, constitute a spiritual patrimony which we share with Jews. (190) Consequently any negative attitude in their regard must be avoided, since “in order to be a blessing for the world, Jews and Christians need first to be a blessing for each other”. (191)

Non-Christian religions

    51. As for non-Christian religions, the Catholic Church rejects nothing in them which is true and holy. (192) Hence, with regard to other religions Catholics intend to emphasize elements of truth wherever they are to be found, while at the same time firmly bearing witness to the newness of the revelation of Christ, preserved in its fullness by the Church. (193) Consistent with this attitude, they reject as alien to the spirit of Christ any discrimination or persecution directed against persons on the basis of race, color, condition of life or religion. Difference of religion must never be a cause of violence or war. Instead persons of different beliefs must feel themselves drawn, precisely because of these beliefs, to work together for peace and justice.

    “Muslims, like Christians and Jews, call Abraham their father. Consequently throughout America these three communities should live in harmony and work together for the common good. The Church in America must also work for greater mutual respect and good relations with the native American religions”. (194) A similar attitude should be fostered with regard to the followers of Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions who have come to America as a result of recent waves of immigration from the East.

NEXT MONDAY: Installment eighteen - Chapter Five: PATH TO SOLIDARITY Lay faithful and the renewal of the Church

"Trust Me and receive My Mercy, for in this way, I, Myself, shall clothe you in the garment of My Mercy when you are judged, and the Father shall welcome you into the Kingdom of Heaven."

    Those powerful words from Our Lord were imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart on the feast of Saint Martin of Tours on November 11, 1994 in which Jesus reinforces the magnitude of His Mercy and alerts His children of the sorrows that are to come, offering us the shelter of grace to best cope with what lies ahead. He follows this up two days later reiterating the importance of remaining loyal to His Holy Church and Vicar on earth and again beseeching His little ones to pray for Divine Mercy that the chastisements be mitigated and more find salvation despite the evil one's treachery and trickery. For Messages #563 and #564 from the Sacred Heart, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Message Five-Hundred-sixty-three, November 11, 1994

(Imparted to the Hidden Flower by the Sacred of Jesus)

    Beloved Hidden Flower of My Mother's Immaculate Heart, I love you. I bless you.

    Please tell everyone that I, Jesus Christ, say unto them: Trust Me! Trust Me! Trust Me!

    O! What joy and comfort do I receive from a soul that trusts in Me. To that soul I look with eyes of forgiveness. To that soul I pour out abundant Mercy, and that Mercy then goes out upon the world, for never has a soul placed Trust in Me and lacked in Mercy and Charity towards others!

    These are the end times, My children. Every day I open My tender and Sacred Heart to receive all of My little ones. I call out, but you do not answer. I seek you, but you run and hide. Does a soul hide from Him in Whom all trust is placed?

    Therefore, I solemnly say unto you: Trust Me and receive My Mercy, for in this way, I, Myself, shall clothe you in the garment of My Mercy when you are judged, and the Father shall welcome you into the Kingdom of Heaven.

    Pray much during these days. Be ever watchful. I give you signs, but if your heart and soul are closed you will not see them! Therefore, pray and give all honor and reverence to Me, your Savior, Lord and God. I, in My turn, shall bring to fulfillment all I have begun in you. I love you. I bless you. I give to you My Peace.

    Pray very much, for the Hour of Judgment opens upon the world!

Message Five-Hundred-sixty-four, November 13, 1994

(Imparted to the Hidden Flower by the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

    Beloved Hidden Flower of My Mother's Immaculate Heart, I love and bless you and all your family.

    Please, My little hidden one, tell all the world how I long to give in abundance My Divine Mercy. Tell all of My children that I desire their eternal salvation, and through you, My little hidden one, I seek to tell them of My Mercy in these grievous times.

    O! Each day brings more tears, more sorrows. I solemnly tell all the world that the Divine Justice shall descend upon you. No nation shall be spared. The sorrows are the results of your sins, and you do not repent of your sins but heap evil upon evil by repeating your evils.

    Hear Me, O world! The day is already at hand when you shall cry out to the Heavens, but you shall see fire raining down. You will weep and gnash your teeth as foretold in Sacred Scripture, and My angels shall separate the wheat from the chaff.

    How I desire to shorten this time of great chastisement and sorrow. I, your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, do solemnly tell you that if you would see the moment of My Holy Mother's Immaculate Heart triumph, if you would see the darkness come quickly and the preceding chastisements mitigated, you must learn to plead for and seek My Divine Mercy.

    O! I want all of My children to come and drink from the Font of Divine Mercy. I want My consecrated daughters to be as chalices into which My unfathomable Mercy is poured. O! The graces that can and will be poured out upon all the world if My Mercy is so honored, loved, revered and trusted in throughout the world. Then shall punishments be mitigated. Then shall the Father's Justice be swift and the world shall enter upon that period of time when I am fully recognized as King of All Nations. O! Hear Me! The time is not far off when you shall know in an unprecedented manner that I Am truly God, truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity and that I alone Am King.

    Every tongue shall proclaim Me. There will be but one flock and I, Jesus Christ, Lord God, Savior of the world, shall be the One Shepherd. Pray very much. The days ahead are filled with sorrows and the trickery of satan. Cry out My Name, and cling to My Cross, and be ready for My Coming - I Am near! My Mercy I desire to give. Will you still reject Me? O! Come and drink from the Font of Divine Mercy!

SIMPLY SHEEN: Holiness has nothing to do with smarts, just that it's smart to be holy!

    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".

"A learned person is not necessarily a saint. Nor is a saint or an individual of strong character necessarily learned. The knowledge we possess of things outside of us has little or nothing to do with our moral temperament."

The Archbishop emeritus of Caracas is now retired after a dedicated life as one of Venezuela's favorite sons

    We continue with this new series that debuted the beginning of the year, bringing you on a regular basis three times a week the Princes of the Church. Our sixty-eighth red-hat we feature, in alphabetical order is Cardinal Jose Ali Lebrun Moratinos, the Archbishop emeritus of Caracas, Venezuela who turned 80 on March 19th. He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope John Paul II in the Consistory of February 2, 1983. For more on Cardinal Lebrun, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

68.   Cardinal Jose Ali Lebrun Moratinos

    Having turned eighty a few months ago, the Archbishop emeritus of Caracas, Venezuela Cardinal Jose Ali Lebrun Moratinos is no longer eligible to vote in the Sacred Conclave as lives in retirement at the Palacio Arzobispal, Qta. Silvestre, Calle Otama, Valle Arriba, Caracas 1060, Venezuela. Born on March 19, 1919 in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, he entered the Caracas diocesan minor seminary in his early teens and transfered to Rome for Major scholasticate at the Latin American Pius College while completing his philosophical studies at the Gregorian University there.

    After being ordained on December 19, 1943 in Rome during the height of World War II, he returned to his native Venezuela where he was assigned pastoral work and some teaching in the seminary until August 2, 1956 when Pope Pius XII announced he was to become titular bishop of Arado and auxiliary bishop of Maracaibo, a position to which he was installed on September 2, 1956. Two years later he was transfered to the Diocese of Maracay as head of that diocese on June 21, 1958. There he remained for four more years until Pope John XXIII appointed him Bishop of Valencia on his birthday in 1962. There he remained for ten years during which he dedicated his episcopacy to promoting vocations and building new churches and parishes throughout the diocese. On September 16,1972 Pope Paul VI appointed him titular archbishop of Voncario and coadjutor archbishop of Caracas.

    On May 24, 1980 Pope John Paul II elevated him to Archbishop of Caracas. Three years later the Holy Father afforded him an even higher honor, naming him in the Consistory of February 2, 1983 where he received the titular church of St. Pancratius. The only curial membership he held was in the second section of the Secretariat of State. At the age of 76, he resigned as active Archbishop of Caracas on Mazy 27, 1995 to live the rest of his life in retirement.

    On this date 997 years ago Bruno Egisheim was born in Lorraine. He would go on to become the 152nd successor of Peter as Pope Saint Leo IX who would become known as the Pontiff who excommunicated the Eastern Patriarch Michael Cerularius in 1054 prompting the thousand year schism between East and West. For other pertinent events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on MILLENNIUM MILESTONES AND MEMORIES

Historical Events in Church Annals for June 21:

1002 A.D.


Birth of Bruno Egisheim, son of Count Hugh in Lorraine, who would grow up to become Pope Saint Leo IX, 152nd successor of Peter who entered Rome to be coronated as Pope barefoot out of humility. He would excommunicate Michael Cerularius, the man responsible for the lasting schism between the Greek Church and the Latin Church.

1591 A.D.


Death of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, an early Jesuit pioneer who sought to teach the youth and minister to the dying victims of the plague which he also eventually caught and died after receiving the last rites from Saint Robert Bellarmine. He was canonized in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII and later declared Patron Saint of Youth by Pope Pius IX.

1633 A.D.


Italian physicist Galileo is forced by the Court of Inquisition to reject his Copernican heliocentric views, which the Church would later allow when more facts revealed the astronomer was correct in his findings.

   Today is the Feast of the Jesuit seminarian Saint Aloysius Gonzaga while tomorrow is the triple celebration of the Twelfth Tuesday in Ordinary Time, and the feast of Saint Paulinus of Nola, bishop, plus the feast of the English martyrs Saint John Fisher, bishop and Saint Thomas More, married man. For the readings, liturgies and meditations for today and tomorrow, click on DAILY LITURGY.

Monday, June 21, 1999

Monday, June 21:
Feast of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious

White vestments

First Reading: Genesis 12: 1-9
Psalms: Psalm 33: 12-13, 18-20, 22
Gospel Reading: Matthew 7: 1-5

  Known as the "Patron Saint of Seminarians and Altar Boys," Saint Aloysius Gonzaga never achieved his life-long goal of becoming a Jesuit priest. God took him home at the tender age of 23. Aloysius was born into nobility in 1568 during the reign of the great St. Pius V. Exposed to the spoils of the world, he was spoiled at a very early age, adapting a filthy mouth. However his mother roundly scolded him for his obscenities and swearing, reminding him over and over that it offended her, but it offended God and His Mother even more. This touched home with Aloysius who from that time on began a devoted life of prayer, learning to love the Lord and the time with Him in prayer. Though he had been deeded great wealth and property, he turned it all over to his brother in order to become a member of the Society of Jesus. He entered the seminary in Rome at the age of 16 where his spiritual director was St. Robert Bellarmine. There he studied under this wise saint and received minor orders at Rome's St. John Lateran. When a plague broke out in the city, many of the seminarians were recruited to minister to the sick. Willingly he went about this dangerous work for many of his fellow Jesuits also had taken sick. Not immune, Aloysius contracted the disease which took its toll on him at the stroke of midnight on June 21. Aloysius had always combined a remarkable innocence with the spirit of penance and was strengthened greatly by the Holy Eucharist of which he had an undying love for. He died with the name Jesus on his lips.

Tuesday, June 22:
Twelfth Tuesday in Ordinary Time and
Feast of Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop and
Feast of the Martyrs Saint John Fisher, Bishop, and Saint Thomas More,

Green or White or Red vestments

First Reading: Genesis 13: 2, 5-18
Psalms: Psalm 15: 1-5
Gospel Reading: Matthew 7: 6, 12-14

   One of the lesser known saints, Saint Paulinus of Nola shares this day with two other saints below: Saint John Fisher and the more well-known Saint Thomas More. Paulinus was a bishop born in 353 in Bordeaux, France. His life took him into politics where he became governor of Campania, Italy after extensive travels throughout France, Spain and Italy. In 381 he met and married a Spanish sweetheart Theresia. Together they vowed to live a strict evangelical life with their tutors being Saint Ambrose and Saint Martin of Tours. Because of their influence, Paulinus was baptized in 389 and moved to Spain. After the death of his first child Celsus, Paulinus decided to forsake all his worldly possessions for a monastic life. However, urged on by the people and receiving a special dispensation from Rome, he was ordained a priest in 394 in Barcelona, Spain. Shortly after that he retired to Nola, Italy south of Naples and their founded a small monastery with his wife who also had vowed a life of celibacy. Together they worked, setting up a hospice and caring for the sick and meeting the needs of pilgrims to the shrine of Saint Felix. Because of his work he was appointed Bishop of Nola in 409 and died 22 years later in the same city.

   Both Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More were beheaded by the rebellious king of England Henry VIII because they refused to disobey Rome. For their obedience to God and not man they were welcomed into the Heavenly realm in 1535.

    Fisher was born in Yorkshire, England in 1469, became a priest at the age of 25 after graduating cum laude from Cambridge University. His claim to fame was his brilliant defense of the Faith against the attacks of Martin Luther. Because of his expertise in both theology and the humanistic arts, he was appointed Chancellor at Cambridge in 1504 and later became the Bishop of Rochester. Soon after he was summoned by Queen Elizabeth of York, mother of Henry VIII, to minister to the royals where he emphasized a monastic austerity in their prayer life and an insistence on the Liturgy of the Hours by all. Though he was beloved by Elizabeth, he was resented by Henry who had succumbed to the world, the flesh and the devil. When he officially proclaimed Henry's first marriage valid after Henry tried to annull it, the good bishop was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1533. Given another chance by Henry to refute what he had proclaimed and to take an oath of loyalty to the King of England over the Pope of Rome, Fisher who had been appointed a Cardinal while in prison by Pope Paul III refused, condemning the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn. For this he was beheaded, receiving his crown of martyrdom.

   While Fisher was a Cambridge grad, More was an Oxford man, having studied law. Born in 1477 in London, Thomas was married twice. With his first wife he had four children. After she died, he remarried for the welfare of his children. After Fisher had been imprisoned, Henry VIII appointed Thomas the new Chancellor, a position at that time which was second only to the king. He succeeded Cardinal Wolsey. The ribald king had thought that by placing a layman in this position he could further distance himself from Rome and better control the Church of England. But Thomas was a holy man who owed his allegiance to the King of Kings before the king of England. More than a few times when summoned by Henry while Thomas was attending Holy Mass, he replied by messenger: "As soon as my audience with the King of Heaven is ended, I will at once obey the desire of my earthly king." This did not sit well with Henry who was determined to have his own way. When Henry proclaimed himself head of the Church of England, Thomas, who also was opposed to the king's divorce, abstained from taking the oath and resigned as Chancellor, refusing to recognize Henry's spiritual supremacy before God. Like Fisher's fate, Henry retaliated vehemently and had him imprisoned in the same Tower of London where he too was beheaded shortly after Fisher in 1535, joining the ranks of martyrdom for the One, True Faith.

   Dear children! Also today I call you to convert and to more firmly believe in God. Children, you seek peace and pray in different ways, but you have not yet given your hearts to God for Him to fill them with His love. So, I am with you to teach you and to bring you closer to the love of God. If you love God above all else, it will be easy for you to pray and to open your hearts to Him. Thank you for having responded to my call.
For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

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June 21, 1999 volume 10, no. 119   DAILY CATHOLIC