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FRI-SAT-SUN February 18-20, 2000 vol. 11, no. 35 SECTION THREESee why so many consider the Daily CATHOLIC as the "USA Today for CATHOLICS!"
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Sharing festivities and ceremonies with artists this weekend are the worldwide congregation of Permanent Deacons in celebrating the Jubilee. With nearly 25,000 deacons worldwide, several thousand will be in Rome for the events sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy which includes special devotional time at St. Mary Major on Friday including Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and a special audience with the Holy Father on Saturday. Established in 1970 as a result of Vatican II, today the United States boasts half of the total number of deacons. continued inside.
VATICAN CITY, FEB 17 (ZENIT).- Permanent deacons from all over the world
will come to Rome to celebrate their Jubilee from February 18-20. These
men have been a real phenomenon in the Church in the last three decades.
In 1970 there were only 309 permanent deacons. Today their number has
risen to 24,407.
In its effort to update the life of the Church, Vatican Council II made
allowance for the diaconate "to be restored to its own permanent
position in the hierarchy" (Lumen Gentium, 29), also making it
possible for married men to be conferred this sacrament. The Council
established that the deacon assists the Bishop and priests in the
celebration of the divine mysteries, proclaims the Gospel and preaches,
presides at funerals, and dedicates time to charity works.
The institution of deacons has had stupendous results in the United
States and Europe, where many laymen have felt the calling and requested
the sacrament from the Bishop. In North America, there are 12,621
permanent deacons, and in Europe 7,536. In Central America there are
685, in the Caribbean 696, in South America 2,265, in the Middle East
39, in Southeast Asia 90, and in Oceania 167. 16% of permanent deacons
are celibate.
The deacons' Jubilee will begin tomorrow afternoon when Cardinal Dario
Castrillon Hoyos, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy,
will welcome them in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. They will spend
time in prayer and Eucharistic adoration.
The climax is scheduled for Saturday, when the deacons will meet the
Holy Father in the General Audience Hall. In the early afternoon a
special event for the families of married deacons is planned, although
the deacons' wives and children will be able to participate in all the
events of this special Jubilee. At 6 p.m. all participants will meet in
St. Peter's Square to join a penitential procession and prepare
spiritually to cross the threshold of the Holy Door of St. Peter's.
On Sunday, February 20. Cardinal Castrillon will ordain 18 new permanent
deacons -- 17 Italians and a Spaniard from Seville. The celebrations
will end with a noon Mass after which John Paul II will bid farewell to
all participants. Initially it was thought 1,500 deacons would attend
the Jubilee, but 3,000 have already registered.
ZE00021704
There is a potential problem brewing in Israel for the Holy Father's scheduled Papal Mass on the Feast of the Annunciation in Nazareth. An ultra-orthodox Jewish sect known as the United Torah Judaism party are demanding the Pope not celebrate Mass on that day, a Saturday, for it represents the Sabbath and it is wrong to have Jews working on the Sabbath. Their rationale is that since Israel is responsible for the Pontiff's safety, he would be left vulnerable with all Jews refusing to work. Note this comes from a Jewish sect, not the Israeli government and though it is a sensitive subject, because of the priority of the Annunciation at the place where the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary it is believed the Pope will not make any changes. continued inside.
JERUSALEM (CWNews.com) - Leaders of Israel's ultra-Orthodox
Jews said today they are asking Pope John Paul II to drop
plans for a Mass on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, during
his visit to the Holy Land next month.
Meir Porush, leader of the United Torah Judaism (UTJ)
political party, said Jews expect the Pontiff to respect
Jewish traditions during his March 21-26 visit, including
allowing Jews to properly observe the Sabbath. "He doesn't
need to observe the Sabbath, but when he conducts a
Saturday mass he makes soldiers, police and security forces
work," he said. "They'll bear arms and they'll use phones
and they'll need to travel -- all a desecration of the
Sabbath. I expect consideration from the Pope regarding
religious Jews."
The Holy Father has an outdoor Mass planned for Saturday,
March 25, in Nazareth.
Israeli government spokesmen said the Pontiff's schedule
was planned by both Israeli and Vatican officials. "The
entire visit from beginning to end was coordinated with the
government of Israel ... and since Israel is responsible for
the Pope's safety, all necessary security considerations
have been taken into account, including on Saturday," said
spokesman Moshe Fogel.
In Madrid for a special seminar on Faith and Reason patterned after the Pope's most recent encyclical Fides et Ratio, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith asserted the importance of Church leaders at every level sticking to their guns and educating Catholics that the Church of Rome is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and not to buy into the politically correct jargon that any religion is right. He also emphasized that any law that deprives the God-given right to life is wrong and cannot usurp God's laws. continued inside.
MADRID, 17 (NE) Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, gave yesterday a
conference during the International Theological Conference,
being held these days in Madrid to reflect on Pope John Paul II's
encyclical "Fides et ratio." The conference, which dealt with
the theme "Faith, truth and culture", took place and the Palace
of Congresses and Expositions in the Spanish capital city.
The Prefect said that the Pope's last encyclical aimed to
"restore the subject of truth in a world marked by relativism".
Without truth "faith loses the air in which it breathes", the
Cardinal emphasized. The encyclical Fides et ratio, he
continued, "simply wishes to encourage once again to the
adventure of truth".
Further on, Cardinal Ratzinger stated that "if people stop
talking about God and man, about sin and grace, death and
eternal life, then any scream our sound will be just a
meaningless attempt forget the silence of that which is properly
human". He also recalled that the dethronement of theology and
metaphysics, far from liberating human thought, as it once was
pretended, has made it even more limited.
The Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith also gave a press conference before the event. Answering
several questions from journalists, the Cardinal said that today
many faithful "believe that all religions are equal, that each
one is a way to truth and that it does not matter to belong to
one or another. Well," he emphasized, "we Catholics confess that
the way to truth is in the Catholic Church."
Asked about issues regarding the defense of life, Cardinal
Ratzinger stressed that the right to life is at the center of
all other rights, and therefore cannot be violated by any
legislation. He further added that "Catholics are convinced that
any human being can understand that a fetus is a person and has
every right to live."
In what will be the first visit ever by a Korean leader, President Kim Dae-Jung will pay the Holy Father a formal visit at the Vatican on March 4th after the Pope returns from Egypt on the second leg of his "Jubilee Journey." Dae-Jung's visit corresponds to his European tour. He represents a country where only eight percent are Catholic and sure to be discussed will be the Holy See's relations with South Korea as well as on-going Vatican negotiations with North Korea where the clergy was kicked out in 1948. continued inside.
VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung will visit
the Vatican on March 4, to meet with Pope John Paul II for the first time.
The South Korean leader will be traveling through Europe in March, making
stops in France and Germany as well as Italy. This will also be the first visit
to Rome for the Korean president. Pope John Paul has traveled to South
Korea twice during the course of his pontificate: in May 1984 and October
1989.
There are about 4 million Catholics in South Korea, making up 8 percent of
the country's population. But the Vatican is also actively pursuing contacts
with the government of North Korea. Although the Church has no official
presence in that Communist country-- all priests were expelled or
imprisoned after the Communist regime took power in 1948-- there are
believed to be at least 100,000 Catholics in the country's beleaguered
underground Church.
Important legislation in the House could provide the freedom for Catholic schools who are partially funded by Government grants to display the icons and crucifixes so necessary for the faith of the pupils but presently a roadblock to a godless government. It will further free the Church to work with poverty programs without having to cover up everything Catholics believe in. The bill, which passed easily, was sponsored by Indiana Congressman Mark Souder who summed it up that previous action in "trying to totally separate the faith of a society from any form of influence is ridiculous." continued inside.
WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - A new bill approved by a US
House committee on Wednesday would allow religious groups
to participate in federal literacy programs without forcing
them to hide or disguise their faith background.
The House Education and the Workforce Committee approved a
bill funding the $500 million Even Start program, which
offers tutoring to preschoolers and literacy and job
training for parents. Supporters say the changes in program
regulations will allow, for example, Catholic groups to run
programs without having to remove crucifixes from the walls.
"Trying to totally separate the faith of a society from any
form of influence is ridiculous," said Rep. Mark Souder,
R-Indiana, who sponsored the changes approved by the
committee.
But critics maintain that the changes violate the
separation of church and state. "The courts have never
allowed churches to get tax dollars to run educational
programs," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans
United for Separation of Church and State. "It is
particularly appalling that a congressional committee
thinks it is OK to fund programs that practice religious
discrimination in hiring."
So-called "charitable choice" programs that allow religious
groups to participate in federally funded social programs
have been the cornerstones of the presidential campaigns of
Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Democrat Vice
President Al Gore. They won their first victories in 1996
as part of federal welfare reform which allowed religious
groups to provide services to the poor.
Leave it to the dissidents' darling - Milwaukee's Archbishop Rembert Weakland, OSB to again try stirring things up. He's upset one of his priests was passed over by the House of Representatives for Chaplain and has put his auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba on it. Maybe it was because a priest has never served in that post or the House felt someone holding Weakland's liberal views might run into problems with true Roman Catholic teaching. Even more bizarre is that Weakland accused Republicans of being anti-Catholic while they've mostly embraced the Catholic doctrine on life while Weakland's preferred party - the party of the most immoral president ever to sit in office - has largely embraced the culture of death. While it would be nice to have a priest as a chaplain, the House felt better off without a liberal, modernist person in that post. continued inside
MILWAUKEE (CWNews.com) - A Milwaukee auxiliary bishop this
week entered the fray over the rejection of a Catholic
priest as chaplain for the US House of Representatives for
a Presbyterian minister.
Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba of Milwaukee said he was
asked by Archbishop Rembert Weakland to examine the case of
Father Timothy O'Brien, a Marquette University political
science professor. Marquette is located in the Milwaukee
archdiocese. "The appearance that religious discrimination
might be involved is abhorrent," said Bishop Sklba.
Liberal lobbyists and Democrat congressmen have accused the
House's Republican leadership of anti-Catholic bigotry in
rejecting Father O'Brien. GOP leaders replied that
Democrats are politicizing the issue, trying to score
election-year victories by bringing the bigotry charges.
Congressional sources have said Father O'Brien was mainly
passed over because he spent 18 years as an academic and
not in pastoral ministry, and that his past political
activities raised fears he would use his position to lobby
Congress, rather than minister to congressmen.
Jerry Topczewski, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of
Milwaukee, has said that the two bishops do not necessarily
believe bigotry was at work in passing over Father O'Brien,
but "even the perception that there may have been bias
makes Catholics in Milwaukee uneasy."
