Sts. Peter & Paul Parish

The Sts. Peter and Paul Seniors Club will meet on Tuesday, Sep. 7th at 1:00 PM in the Parish hall. We will have a guest speaker.

From the Chancery Office:

On August 26, 2010, in honour of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Blessed Mother Teresa, the Peace Bridge Authority has agreed to the joint request of the Diocese of St. Catharines and the Diocese of Buffalo that the Peace Bridge be illumined that night in the familiar blue and white colours of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Blessed Mother Teresa.

For more information please go to: www.peacebridge.com

While priests have celebrated Mass at the Miller Road Shrine in Port Colborne for the past 25 years, we need to be clear that it is not a Diocesan Shrine but rather a private Shrine cared for by two families over these years.

Indian Railways will be introducing a new train on her centenary, “Mother Express.” The coaches of the train will be painted blue, the colours of her habit’s border.

Commemorative coins: The Monnaie de Paris - the French Mint will be issuing four Mother Teresa collector coins. Weighing in at five ounces each, one of the coins features of her holding a young boy and says, “In our house there is always a bed ready for one more child.”

Mother Teresa stamps:  In Austria, Kosovo and the United States, stamps will be issued. While the Austrian and American stamps will feature images of Mother Teresa, the stamp from Kosovo will feature a silver statue of the Nobel Prize winner.

Celebrating in Mother Teresa’s homeland: in Albania, some of the centennial celebrations will include events at Tirana’s Opera Theatre, National Theatre, Art Gallery and National Library.

Christmas concert: Fast-for-warding to Dec. 19, a Christmas concert will be held in Rome in honour of the centenary.

“The Catholic story is being told, but (sometimes) being told by the wrong people in the wrong way. We need to tell our own story. We need to get the message out so as to drawn people in. Catholicism is smart. Catholicism is beautiful. Catholicism is colourful. It is textured, it engages the mind and the heart and the body. Christianity always has explosive power. If we let it be itself, it always has this trans formative power.” (Fr. Robert Barron of Word on Fire Ministries as featured on Salt + Light’s first episode of Perspectives)

Encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate of the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI to the bishops, priests and deacons, men and women religious, the lay faithful and all people of good will on integral human development in charity and truth.

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore withness by his earthly life and especially by his dath and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the suthentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love - caritas - is an extrordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to his truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22) .... To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity in fact, "rejoices the truth" (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humaity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himdelf is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

2. Charity is at the heart of the Church's social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbour; it is the principle not only of micro-relationships (with friends, with family members or within small groups) but also of macro-relationships (social, economic and political ones). For the Church, instructed by the Gospel, charity is everything because, as Saint John teaches (cf. 1 Jn 4:8, 16) and as I recalled in my first Encyclical Letter, “God is love” (Deus Caritas Est): everything has its origin in God's love, everything is shaped by it, everything is directed towards it. Love is God's greatest gift to humanity, it is his promise and our hope. I am aware of the ways in which charity has been and continues to be misconstrued and emptied of meaning, with the consequent risk of being misinterpreted, detached from ethical living and, in any event, undervalued. In the social, juridical, cultural, political and economic fields — the contexts, in other words, that are most exposed to this danger — it is easily dismissed as irrelevant for interpreting and giving direction to moral responsibility. Hence the need to link charity with truth not only in the sequence, pointed out by Saint Paul, of veritas in caritate (Eph 4:15), but also in the inverse and complementary sequence of caritas in veritate. Truth needs to be sought, found and expressed within the “economy” of charity, but charity in its turn needs to be understood, confirmed and practised in the light of truth. In this way, not only do we do a service to charity enlightened by truth, but we also help give credibility to truth, demonstrating its persuasive and authenticating power in the practical setting of social living. This is a matter of no small account today, in a social and cultural context which relativizes truth, often paying little heed to it and showing increasing reluctance to acknowledge its existence.

3. Through this close link with truth, charity can be recognized as an authentic expression of humanity and as an element of fundamental importance in human relations, including those of a public nature. Only in truth does charity shine forth, only in truth can charity be authentically lived. Truth is the light that gives meaning and value to charity. That light is both the light of reason and the light of faith, through which the intellect attains to the natural and supernatural truth of charity: it grasps its meaning as gift, acceptance, and communion. Without truth, charity degenerates into sentimentality. Love becomes an empty shell, to be filled in an arbitrary way. In a culture without truth, this is the fatal risk facing love. It falls prey to contingent subjective emotions and opinions, the word “love” is abused and distorted, to the point where it comes to mean the opposite. Truth frees charity from the constraints of an emotionalism that deprives it of relational and social content, and of a fideism that deprives it of human and universal breathing-space. In the truth, charity reflects the personal yet public dimension of faith in the God of the Bible, who is both Agápe and Lógos: Charity and Truth, Love and Word.

4. Because it is filled with truth, charity can be understood in the abundance of its values, it can be shared and communicated. Truth, in fact, is lógos which creates diá-logos, and hence communication and communion. Truth, by enabling men and women to let go of their subjective opinions and impressions, allows them to move beyond cultural and historical limitations and to come together in the assessment of the value and substance of things. Truth opens and unites our minds in the lógos of love: this is the Christian proclamation and testimony of charity. In the present social and cultural context, where there is a widespread tendency to relativize truth, practising charity in truth helps people to understand that adhering to the values of Christianity is not merely useful but essential for building a good society and for true integral human development. A Christianity of charity without truth would be more or less interchangeable with a pool of good sentiments, helpful for social cohesion, but of little relevance. In other words, there would no longer be any real place for God in the world. Without truth, charity is confined to a narrow field devoid of relations. It is excluded from the plans and processes of promoting human development of universal range, in dialogue between knowledge and praxis.

5. Charity is love received and given. It is “grace” (cháris). Its source is the wellspring of the Father's love for the Son, in the Holy Spirit. Love comes down to us from the Son. It is creative love, through which we have our being; it is redemptive love, through which we are recreated. Love is revealed and made present by Christ (cf. Jn 13:1) and “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Rom 5:5). As the objects of God's love, men and women become subjects of charity, they are called to make themselves instruments of grace, so as to pour forth God's charity and to weave networks of charity. Development, social well-being, the search for a satisfactory solution to the grave socio-economic problems besetting humanity, all need this truth. What they need even more is that this truth should be loved and demonstrated. Without truth, without trust and love for what is true, there is no social conscience and responsibility, and social action ends up serving private interests and the logic of power, resulting in social fragmentation, especially in a globalized society at difficult times like the present. This dynamic of charity received and given is what gives rise to the Church's social teaching, which is caritas in veritate in re sociali: the proclamation of the truth of Christ's love in society. This doctrine is a service to charity, but its locus is truth. Truth preserves and expresses charity's power to liberate in the ever-changing events of history. It is at the same time the truth of faith and of reason, both in the distinction and also in the convergence of those two cognitive fields.

6. “Caritas in veritate” is the principle around which the Church's social doctrine turns, a principle that takes on practical form in the criteria that govern moral action. I would like to consider two of these in particular, of special relevance to the commitment to development in an increasingly globalized society: justice and the common good. First of all, justice. Ubi societas, ibi ius: every society draws up its own system of justice. Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is “mine” to the other; but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is “his”, what is due to him by reason of his being or his acting. I cannot “give” what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is inseparable from charity[1], and intrinsic to it. Justice is the primary way of charity or, in Paul VI's words, “the minimum measure” of it[2], an integral part of the love “in deed and in truth” (1 Jn 3:18), to which Saint John exhorts us. On the one hand, charity demands justice: recognition and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples. It strives to build the earthly city according to law and justice. On the other hand, charity transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving[3]. The earthly city is promoted not merely by relationships of rights and duties, but to an even greater and more fundamental extent by relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion. Charity always manifests God's love in human relationships as well, it gives theological and salvific value to all commitment for justice in the world.

7. Another important consideration is the common good. To love someone is to desire that person's good and to take effective steps to secure it. Besides the good of the individual, there is a good that is linked to living in society: the common good. It is the good of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society[4]. It is a good that is sought not for its own sake, but for the people who belong to the social community and who can only really and effectively pursue their good within it. To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity. To take a stand for the common good is on the one hand to be solicitous for, and on the other hand to avail oneself of, that complex of institutions that give structure to the life of society, juridically, civilly, politically and culturally, making it the pólis, or “city”. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practise this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the pólis. This is the institutional path — we might also call it the political path — of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbour directly, outside the institutional mediation of the pólis. When animated by charity, commitment to the common good has greater worth than a merely secular and political stand would have. Like all commitment to justice, it has a place within the testimony of divine charity that paves the way for eternity through temporal action. Man's earthly activity, when inspired and sustained by charity, contributes to the building of the universal city of God, which is the goal of the history of the human family. In an increasingly globalized society, the common good and the effort to obtain it cannot fail to assume the dimensions of the whole human family, that is to say, the community of peoples and nations[5], in such a way as to shape the earthly city in unity and peace, rendering it to some degree an anticipation and a prefiguration of the undivided city of God.

8. In 1967, when he issued the Encyclical Populorum Progressio, my venerable predecessor Pope Paul VI illuminated the great theme of the development of peoples with the splendour of truth and the gentle light of Christ's charity. He taught that life in Christ is the first and principal factor of development[6] and he entrusted us with the task of travelling the path of development with all our heart and all our intelligence[7], that is to say with the ardour of charity and the wisdom of truth. It is the primordial truth of God's love, grace bestowed upon us, that opens our lives to gift and makes it possible to hope for a “development of the whole man and of all men”[8], to hope for progress “from less human conditions to those which are more human”[9], obtained by overcoming the difficulties that are inevitably encountered along the way.
At a distance of over forty years from the Encyclical's publication, I intend to pay tribute and to honour the memory of the great Pope Paul VI, revisiting his teachings on integral human development and taking my place within the path that they marked out, so as to apply them to the present moment. This continual application to contemporary circumstances began with the Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, with which the Servant of God Pope John Paul II chose to mark the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Populorum Progressio. Until that time, only Rerum Novarum had been commemorated in this way. Now that a further twenty years have passed, I express my conviction that Populorum Progressio deserves to be considered “the Rerum Novarum of the present age”, shedding light upon humanity's journey towards unity.

9. Love in truth — caritas in veritate — is a great challenge for the Church in a world that is becoming progressively and pervasively globalized. The risk for our time is that the de facto interdependence of people and nations is not matched by ethical interaction of consciences and minds that would give rise to truly human development. Only in charity, illumined by the light of reason and faith, is it possible to pursue development goals that possess a more humane and humanizing value. The sharing of goods and resources, from which authentic development proceeds, is not guaranteed by merely technical progress and relationships of utility, but by the potential of love that overcomes evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21), opening up the path towards possibility of integral human developmen.The Church does not have technical solutions to offer[10] and does not claim “to interfere in any way in the politics of States.”[11] She does, however, have a mission of truth to accomplish, in every time and circumstance, for a society that is attuned to man, to his dignity, to his vocation. Without truth, it is easy to fall into an empiricist and sceptical view of life, incapable of rising to the level of praxis because of a lack of interest in grasping the values — sometimes even the meanings — with which to judge and direct it. Fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom (cf. Jn 8:32) and of the possibility of integral human development. For this reason the Church searches for truth, proclaims it tirelessly and recognizes it wherever it is manifested. This mission of truth is something that the Church can never renounce. Her social doctrine is a particular dimension of this proclamation: it is a service to the truth which sets us free. Open to the truth, from whichever branch of knowledge it comes, the Church's social doctrine receives it, assembles into a unity the fragments in which it is often found, and mediates it within the constantly changing life-patterns of the society of peoples and nations[12].

10. A fresh reading of Populorum Progressio, more than forty years after its publication, invites us to remain faithful to its message of charity and truth, viewed within the overall context of Paul VI's specific magisterium and, more generally, within the tradition of the Church's social doctrine. Moreover, an evaluation is needed of the different terms in which the problem of development is presented today, as compared with forty years ago. The correct viewpoint, then, is that of the Tradition of the apostolic faith[13], a patrimony both ancient and new, outside of which Populorum Progressio would be a document without roots — and issues concerning development would be reduced to merely sociological data.

21. Paul VI had an articulated vision of development. He understood the term to indicate the goal of rescuing peoples, first and foremost, from hunger, deprivation, endemic diseases and illiteracy. From the economic point of view, this meant their active participation, on equal terms, in the international economic process; from the social point of view, it meant their evolution into educated societies marked by solidarity; from the political point of view, it meant the consolidation of democratic regimes capable of ensuring freedom and peace. After so many years, as we observe with concern the developments and perspectives of the succession of crises that afflict the world today, we ask to what extent Paul VI's expectations have been fulfilled by the model of development adopted in recent decades. We recognize, therefore, that the Church had good reason to be concerned about the capacity of a purely technological society to set realistic goals and to make good use of the instruments at its disposal.

Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty. The economic development that Paul VI hoped to see was meant to produce real growth, of benefit to everyone and genuinely sustainable. It is true that growth has taken place, and it continues to be a positive factor that has lifted billions of people out of misery — recently it has given many countries the possibility of becoming effective players in international politics. Yet it must be acknowledged that this same economic growth has been and continues to be weighed down by malfunctions and dramatic problems, highlighted even further by the current crisis.

23. Many areas of the globe today have evolved considerably, albeit in problematical and disparate ways, thereby taking their place among the great powers destined to play important roles in the future. Yet it should be stressed that progress of a merely economic and technological kind is insufficient. Development needs above all to be true and integral. The mere fact of emerging from economic backwardness, though positive in itself, does not resolve the complex issues of human advancement, neither for the countries that are spearheading such progress, nor for those that are already economically developed, nor even for those that are still poor, which can suffer not just through old forms of exploitation, but also from the negative consequences of a growth that is marked by irregularities and imbalances. After the collapse of the economic and political systems of the Communist countries of Eastern Europe and the end of the so-called opposing blocs, a complete re-examination of development was needed.

Pope John Paul II called for it, when in 1987 he pointed to the existence of these blocs as one of the principal causes of underdevelopment[57], inasmuch as politics withdrew resources from the economy and from the culture, and ideology inhibited freedom. Moreover, in 1991, after the events of 1989, he asked that, in view of the ending of the blocs, there should be a comprehensive new plan for development, not only in those countries, but also in the West and in those parts of the world that were in the process of evolving[58]. This has been achieved only in part, and it is still a real duty that needs to be discharged, perhaps by means of the choices that are necessary to overcome current economic problems.

24. The world that Paul VI had before him — even though society had already evolved to such an extent that he could speak of social issues in global terms — was still far less integrated than today's world. Economic activity and the political process were both largely conducted within the same geographical area, and could therefore feed off one another. Production took place predominantly within national boundaries, and financial investments had somewhat limited circulation outside the country, so that the politics of many States could still determine the priorities of the economy and to some degree govern its performance using the instruments at their disposal. Hence Populorum Progressio assigned a central, albeit not exclusive, role to “public authorities”[59]. In our own day, the State finds itself having to address the limitations to its sovereignty imposed by the new context of international trade and finance, which is characterized by increasing mobility both of financial capital and means of production, material and immaterial. This new context has altered the political power of States.

Today, as we take to heart the lessons of the current economic crisis, which sees the State's public authorities directly involved in correcting errors and malfunctions, it seems more realistic to re-evaluate their role and their powers, which need to be prudently reviewed and remodelled so as to enable them, perhaps through new forms of engagement, to address the challenges of today's world. Once the role of public authorities has been more clearly defined, one could foresee an increase in the new forms of political participation, nationally and internationally, that have come about through the activity of organizations operating in civil society; in this way it is to be hoped that the citizens' interest and participation in the res publica will become more deeply rooted.

34. Charity in truth places man before the astonishing experience of gift. Gratuitousness is present in our lives in many different forms, which often go unrecognized because of a purely consumerist and utilitarian view of life. The human being is made for gift, which expresses and makes present his transcendent dimension. Sometimes modern man is wrongly convinced that he is the sole author of himself, his life and society. This is a presumption that follows from being selfishly closed in upon himself, and it is a consequence — to express it in faith terms — of original sin. The Church's wisdom has always pointed to the presence of original sin in social conditions and in the structure of society: “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals”[85].

In the list of areas where the pernicious effects of sin are evident, the economy has been included for some time now. We have a clear proof of this at the present time. The conviction that man is self-sufficient and can successfully eliminate the evil present in history by his own action alone has led him to confuse happiness and salvation with immanent forms of material prosperity and social action. Then, the conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from “influences” of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise. As I said in my Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, history is thereby deprived of Christian hope[86], deprived of a powerful social resource at the service of integral human development, sought in freedom and in justice. Hope encourages reason and gives it the strength to direct the will[87]. It is already present in faith, indeed it is called forth by faith. Charity in truth feeds on hope and, at the same time, manifests it. As the absolutely gratuitous gift of God, hope bursts into our lives as something not due to us, something that transcends every law of justice. Gift by its nature goes beyond merit, its rule is that of superabundance. It takes first place in our souls as a sign of God's presence in us, a sign of what he expects from us. Truth — which is itself gift, in the same way as charity — is greater than we are, as Saint Augustine teaches[88]. Likewise the truth of ourselves, of our personal conscience, is first of all given to us. In every cognitive process, truth is not something that we produce, it is always found, or better, received. Truth, like love, “is neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings”[89].

In the list of areas where the pernicious effects of sin are evident, the economy has been included for some time now. We have a clear proof of this at the present time. The conviction that man is self-sufficient and can successfully eliminate the evil present in history by his own action alone has led him to confuse happiness and salvation with immanent forms of material prosperity and social action. Then, the conviction that the economy must be autonomous, that it must be shielded from “influences” of a moral character, has led man to abuse the economic process in a thoroughly destructive way. In the long term, these convictions have led to economic, social and political systems that trample upon personal and social freedom, and are therefore unable to deliver the justice that they promise. As I said in my Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, history is thereby deprived of Christian hope[86], deprived of a powerful social resource at the service of integral human development, sought in freedom and in justice.

Hope encourages reason and gives it the strength to direct the will[87]. It is already present in faith, indeed it is called forth by faith. Charity in truth feeds on hope and, at the same time, manifests it. As the absolutely gratuitous gift of God, hope bursts into our lives as something not due to us, something that transcends every law of justice. Gift by its nature goes beyond merit, its rule is that of superabundance. It takes first place in our souls as a sign of God's presence in us, a sign of what he expects from us. Truth — which is itself gift, in the same way as charity — is greater than we are, as Saint Augustine teaches[88]. Likewise the truth of ourselves, of our personal conscience, is first of all given to us. In every cognitive process, truth is not something that we produce, it is always found, or better, received. Truth, like love, “is neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings”[89].
Because it is a gift received by everyone, charity in truth is a force that builds community, it brings all people together without imposing barriers or limits. The human community that we build by ourselves can never, purely by its own strength, be a fully fraternal community, nor can it overcome every division and become a truly universal community. The unity of the human race, a fraternal communion transcending every barrier, is called into being by the word of God-who-is-Love. In addressing this key question, we must make it clear, on the one hand, that the logic of gift does not exclude justice, nor does it merely sit alongside it as a second element added from without; on the other hand, economic, social and political development, if it is to be authentically human, needs to make room for the principle of gratuitousness as an expression of fraternity.

35. In a climate of mutual trust, the market is the economic institution that permits encounter between persons, inasmuch as they are economic subjects who make use of contracts to regulate their relations as they exchange goods and services of equivalent value between them, in order to satisfy their needs and desires. The market is subject to the principles of so-called commutative justice, which regulates the relations of giving and receiving between parties to a transaction. But the social doctrine of the Church has unceasingly highlighted the importance of distributive justice and social justice for the market economy, not only because it belongs within a broader social and political context, but also because of the wider network of relations within which it operates. In fact, if the market is governed solely by the principle of the equivalence in value of exchanged goods, it cannot produce the social cohesion that it requires in order to function well. Without internal forms of solidarity and mutual trust, the market cannot completely fulfil its proper economic function.

And today it is this trust which has ceased to exist, and the loss of trust is a grave loss. It was timely when Paul VI in Populorum Progressio insisted that the economic system itself would benefit from the wide-ranging practice of justice, inasmuch as the first to gain from the development of poor countries would be rich ones[90]. According to the Pope, it was not just a matter of correcting dysfunctions through assistance. The poor are not to be considered a “burden”[91], but a resource, even from the purely economic point of view. It is nevertheless erroneous to hold that the market economy has an inbuilt need for a quota of poverty and underdevelopment in order to function at its best. It is in the interests of the market to promote emancipation, but in order to do so effectively, it cannot rely only on itself, because it is not able to produce by itself something that lies outside its competence. It must draw its moral energies from other subjects that are capable of generating them.

37. The Church's social doctrine has always maintained that justice must be applied to every phase of economic activity, because this is always concerned with man and his needs. Locating resources, financing, production, consumption and all the other phases in the economic cycle inevitably have moral implications. Thus every economic decision has a moral consequence. The social sciences and the direction taken by the contemporary economy point to the same conclusion. Perhaps at one time it was conceivable that first the creation of wealth could be entrusted to the economy, and then the task of distributing it could be assigned to politics. Today that would be more difficult, given that economic activity is no longer circumscribed within territorial limits, while the authority of governments continues to be principally local. Hence the canons of justice must be respected from the outset, as the economic process unfolds, and not just afterwards or incidentally. Space also needs to be created within the market for economic activity carried out by subjects who freely choose to act according to principles other than those of pure profit, without sacrificing the production of economic value in the process. The many economic entities that draw their origin from religious and lay initiatives demonstrate that this is concretely possible. In the global era, the economy is influenced by competitive models tied to cultures that differ greatly among themselves. The different forms of economic enterprise to which they give rise find their main point of encounter in commutative justice. Economic life undoubtedly requires contracts, in order to regulate relations of exchange between goods of equivalent value. But it also needs just lawsand forms of redistribution governed by politics, and what is more, it needs works redolent of the spirit of gift. The economy in the global era seems to privilege the former logic, that of contractual exchange, but directly or indirectly it also demonstrates its need for the other two: political logic, and the logic of the unconditional gift.

38. My predecessor John Paul II drew attention to this question in Centesimus Annus, when he spoke of the need for a system with three subjects: the market, the State and civil society[92]. He saw civil society as the most natural setting for an economy of gratuitousness and fraternity, but did not mean to deny it a place in the other two settings. Today we can say that economic life must be understood as a multi-layered phenomenon: in every one of these layers, to varying degrees and in ways specifically suited to each, the aspect of fraternal reciprocity must be present. In the global era, economic activity cannot prescind from gratuitousness, which fosters and disseminates solidarity and responsibility for justice and the common good among the different economic players. It is clearly a specific and profound form of economic democracy. Solidarity is first and foremost a sense of responsibility on the part of everyone with regard to everyone[93], and it cannot therefore be merely delegated to the State.

39. Paul VI in Populorum Progressio called for the creation of a model of market economy capable of including within its range all peoples and not just the better off. He called for efforts to build a more human world for all, a world in which “all will be able to give and receive, without one group making progress at the expense of the other”[94]. In this way he (Pope Paul VI) was applying on a global scale the insights and aspirations contained in Rerum Novarum, written when, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the idea was first proposed — somewhat ahead of its time — that the civil order, for its self-regulation, also needed intervention from the State for purposes of redistribution. Not only is this vision threatened today by the way in which markets and societies are opening up, but it is evidently insufficient to satisfy the demands of a fully humane economy. What the Church's social doctrine has always sustained, on the basis of its vision of man and society, is corroborated today by the dynamics of globalization.

When both the logic of the market and the logic of the State come to an agreement that each will continue to exercise a monopoly over its respective area of influence, in the long term much is lost: solidarity in relations between citizens, participation and adherence, actions of gratuitousness, all of which stand in contrast with giving in order to acquire (the logic of exchange) and giving through duty (the logic of public obligation, imposed by State law). In order to defeat underdevelopment, action is required not only on improving exchange-based transactions and implanting public welfare structures, but above all on gradually increasing openness, in a world context, to forms of economic activity marked by quotas of gratuitousness and communion. The exclusively binary model of market-plus-State is corrosive of society, while economic forms based on solidarity, which find their natural home in civil society without being restricted to it, build up society. The market of gratuitousness does not exist, and attitudes of gratuitousness cannot be established by law. Yet both the market and politics need individuals who are open to reciprocal gift.

40. Today's international economic scene, marked by grave deviations and failures, requires a profoundly new way of understanding business enterprise. Old models are disappearing, but promising new ones are taking shape on the horizon. Without doubt, one of the greatest risks for businesses is that they are almost exclusively answerable to their investors, thereby limiting their social value. Owing to their growth in scale and the need for more and more capital, it is becoming increasingly rare for business enterprises to be in the hands of a stable director who feels responsible in the long term, not just the short term, for the life and the results of his company, and it is becoming increasingly rare for businesses to depend on a single territory. Moreover, the so-called outsourcing of production can weaken the company's sense of responsibility towards the stakeholders — namely the workers, the suppliers, the consumers, the natural environment and broader society — in favour of the shareholders, who are not tied to a specific geographical area and who therefore enjoy extraordinary mobility.

Today's international capital market offers great freedom of action. Yet there is also increasing awareness of the need for greater social responsibility on the part of business. Even if the ethical considerations that currently inform debate on the social responsibility of the corporate world are not all acceptable from the perspective of the Church's social doctrine, there is nevertheless a growing conviction that business management cannot concern itself only with the interests of the proprietors, but must also assume responsibility for all the other stakeholders who contribute to the life of the business: the workers, the clients, the suppliers of various elements of production, the community of reference. In recent years a new cosmopolitan class of managers has emerged, who are often answerable only to the shareholders generally consisting of anonymous funds which de facto determine their remuneration. By contrast, though, many far-sighted managers today are becoming increasingly aware of the profound links between their enterprise and the territory or territories in which it operates. Paul VI invited people to give serious attention to the damage that can be caused to one's home country by the transfer abroad of capital purely for personal advantage[95]. John Paul II taught that investment always has moral, as well as economic significance[96]. All this — it should be stressed — is still valid today, despite the fact that the capital market has been significantly liberalized, and modern technological thinking can suggest that investment is merely a technical act, not a human and ethical one.

There is no reason to deny that a certain amount of capital can do good, if invested abroad rather than at home. Yet the requirements of justice must be safeguarded, with due consideration for the way in which the capital was generated and the harm to individuals that will result if it is not used where it was produced[97]. What should be avoided is a speculative use of financial resources that yields to the temptation of seeking only short-term profit, without regard for the long-term sustainability of the enterprise, its benefit to the real economy and attention to the advancement, in suitable and appropriate ways, of further economic initiatives in countries in need of development. It is true that the export of investments and skills can benefit the populations of the receiving country. Labour and technical knowledge are a universal good. Yet it is not right to export these things merely for the sake of obtaining advantageous conditions, or worse, for purposes of exploitation, without making a real contribution to local society by helping to bring about a robust productive and social system, an essential factor for stable development.

41. In the context of this discussion, it is helpful to observe that business enterprise involves a wide range of values, becoming wider all the time. The continuing hegemony of the binary model of market-plus-State has accustomed us to think only in terms of the private business leader of a capitalistic bent on the one hand, and the State director on the other. In reality, business has to be understood in an articulated way. There are a number of reasons, of a meta-economic kind, for saying this. Business activity has a human significance, prior to its professional one[98]. It is present in all work, understood as a personal action, an “actus personae”[99], which is why every worker should have the chance to make his contribution knowing that in some way “he is working ‘for himself'”[100]. With good reason, Paul VI taught that “everyone who works is a creator”[101]. It is in response to the needs and the dignity of the worker, as well as the needs of society, that there exist various types of business enterprise, over and above the simple distinction between “private” and “public”. Each of them requires and expresses a specific business capacity.

Political authority also involves a wide range of values, which must not be overlooked in the process of constructing a new order of economic productivity, socially responsible and human in scale. As well as cultivating differentiated forms of business activity on the global plane, we must also promote a dispersed political authority, effective on different levels. The integrated economy of the present day does not make the role of States redundant, but rather it commits governments to greater collaboration with one another. Both wisdom and prudence suggest not being too precipitous in declaring the demise of the State. In terms of the resolution of the current crisis, the State's role seems destined to grow, as it regains many of its competences. In some nations, moreover, the construction or reconstruction of the State remains a key factor in their development. The focus of international aid, within a solidarity-based plan to resolve today's economic problems, should rather be on consolidating constitutional, juridical and administrative systems in countries that do not yet fully enjoy these goods. Alongside economic aid, there needs to be aid directed towards reinforcing the guarantees proper to the State of law: a system of public order and effective imprisonment that respects human rights, truly democratic institutions. The State does not need to have identical characteristics everywhere: the support aimed at strengthening weak constitutional systems can easily be accompanied by the development of other political players, of a cultural, social, territorial or religious nature, alongside the State.

The articulation of political authority at the local, national and international levels is one of the best ways of giving direction to the process of economic globalization. It is also the way to ensure that it does not actually undermine the foundations of democracy.

42. Sometimes globalization is viewed in fatalistic terms, as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will[102]. In this regard it is useful to remember that while globalization should certainly be understood as a socio-economic process, this is not its only dimension. Underneath the more visible process, humanity itself is becoming increasingly interconnected; it is made up of individuals and peoples to whom this process should offer benefits and development[103], as they assume their respective responsibilities, singly and collectively. The breaking-down of borders is not simply a material fact: it is also a cultural event both in its causes and its effects. If globalization is viewed from a deterministic standpoint, the criteria with which to evaluate and direct it are lost. As a human reality, it is the product of diverse cultural tendencies, which need to be subjected to a process of discernment. The truth of globalization as a process and its fundamental ethical criterion are given by the unity of the human family and its development towards what is good. Hence a sustained commitment is needed so as to promote a person-based and community-oriented cultural process of world-wide integration that is open to transcendence.
Despite some of its structural elements, which should neither be denied nor exaggerated, “globalization, a priori, is neither good nor bad. It will be what people make of it”[104].

43. “The reality of human solidarity, which is a benefit for us, also imposes a duty”[105]. Many people today would claim that they owe nothing to anyone, except to themselves. They are concerned only with their rights, and they often have great difficulty in taking responsibility for their own and other people's integral development. Hence it is important to call for a renewed reflection on how rights presuppose duties, if they are not to become mere licence[106]. Nowadays we are witnessing a grave inconsistency. On the one hand, appeals are made to alleged rights, arbitrary and non-essential in nature, accompanied by the demand that they be recognized and promoted by public structures, while, on the other hand, elementary and basic rights remain unacknowledged and are violated in much of the world[107]. A link has often been noted between claims to a “right to excess”, and even to transgression and vice, within affluent societies, and the lack of food, drinkable water, basic instruction and elementary health care in areas of the underdeveloped world and on the outskirts of large metropolitan centres.  A link has often been noted between claims to a “right to excess”, and even to transgression and vice, within affluent societies, and the lack of food, drinkable water, basic instruction and elementary health care in areas of the underdeveloped world and on the outskirts of large metropolitan centres.

The link consists in this: individual rights, when detached from a framework of duties which grants them their full meaning, can run wild, leading to an escalation of demands which is effectively unlimited and indiscriminate. An overemphasis on rights leads to a disregard for duties. Duties set a limit on rights because they point to the anthropological and ethical framework of which rights are a part, in this way ensuring that they do not become licence. Duties thereby reinforce rights and call for their defence and promotion as a task to be undertaken in the service of the common good. Otherwise, if the only basis of human rights is to be found in the deliberations of an assembly of citizens, those rights can be changed at any time, and so the duty to respect and pursue them fades from the common consciousness. Governments and international bodies can then lose sight of the objectivity and “inviolability” of rights. When this happens, the authentic development of peoples is endangered[108].

A link has often been noted between claims to a “right to excess”, and even to transgression and vice, within affluent societies, and the lack of food, drinkable water, basic instruction and elementary health care in areas of the underdeveloped world and on the outskirts of large metropolitan centres. Such a way of thinking and acting compromises the authority of international bodies, especially in the eyes of those countries most in need of development. Indeed, the latter demand that the international community take up the duty of helping them to be “artisans of their own destiny”[109], that is, to take up duties of their own. The sharing of reciprocal duties is a more powerful incentive to action than the mere assertion of rights.

The Holy Father’s new encyclical letter “Caritas in Veritate” is available on the website of the Holy See www.vatican.va

October and the Rosary

Catholic popular devotion has long given a special place to the Rosary during the month of October.  “A very practical and simple way of persevering in prayer with Mary the Mother of Jesus is to recite the Rosary, through which we can live again all the mysteries and transform the whole Bible and the whole history of redemption into prayer.” (Fr. Raniero Cantalasness)

1.Sign of the Cross
2. “Our Father”, “Hail Mary”, “I believe …”
3. On the “Our Father” bead before each decade: Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world”
4. On the “Hail Mary” beads of each decade: “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.”
5.(Three times)  Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Congratulations and thank you to our Parish Webmaster Tony Gallaccio. Visitors to our web site have surpassed 20,000. We also extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to Mr. Frank Dechellis at Internet Access Worldwide for hosting our website.

A Prayer for Priests

Lord Jesus, you have chosen your priests from among us and sent them out to proclaim your word and to act in your name. For so great a gift to your Church, we give you praise and thanksgiving. We ask you to fill them with the fire of your love, that their ministry may reveal your presence in the Church. Since they are earthen vessels, we pray that your power shine out through their weakness. In their afflictions let them never be crushed; in their doubts never despair; in temptation never be destroyed; in persecution never abandoned. Inspire them through prayer to live each day the mystery of your dying and rising. In times of weakness send them your Spirit, and help them to praise your heavenly Father and pray for poor sinners. By the same Holy Spirit put your words on their lips and your love in their hearts, to bring good news to the poor and healing to the brokenhearted. And may the gift of Mary your mother, to the disciple whom you loved, be your gift to every priest. Grant that she who formed you in her human image, may form them in your divine image, by the power of your Spirit, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

St. John Vianney (Patron of priests)

St. John Vianney was ordained a priest in 1815, his reputation as a confessor and director of souls made him known throughout the world.  His life was one of sustained mortification.  He retained a childlike simplicity and remains a living image of the priest after the heart of Christ.  He heard confessions for sixteen hours each day and his life was filled with works of charity and love.  He was canonized on May 31, 1925.

Pope Benedict XVI declared a year of the priest from June 19, 2009 to June 19, 2010, Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

During the Year for Priest we pray that Jesus Christ our High Priest would renew all priests in their vocation to serve Him and the People of God…

During this Year for Priests, we ask St. John Vianney, the patron saint of all priests, to intercede for our own priests here in the Diocese of St Catharines, that all may be zealous in the ministry and holy in their lives, we pray ...

Prayer for Canada:

Lord, Jesus, bring peace to the world.  Help all nations to work in harmony.  Bless our country and help us to work together for peace.  Guide those who govern us and help them to work for the good of all.  Make us generous in sharing our gifts with other people.  Teach us to do your will and to grow in our service to others.  Be with us Jesus, and bless Canada today and always.

Pope John Paul II Day Act

Bill 25, Pope John Paul II Day Act was supported by all three political parties and passed unanimously. It was then referred to the Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly. For final approval of the Act, the bill returns to the Legislature for Third Reading and final approval.

We invite all  to Email Premier McGuinty: dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org thanking the Premier and his Liberal Caucus for supporting this Private Members Bill and requesting that his government ensure that it will be returned to the Legislature as soon as possible for Third Reading and final approval.

10th Anniversary of the blessing of our new church

The 10th Anniversary of the blessing of our new church was held on Saturday, December 13th.  Solemn Eucharist was celebrated at 5 o’clock by Bishop James Wingle as the main celebrant and homilist, assisted by Deacon Gerry Demers; concelebrants: Provincial of the Oblates Fr. Janusz Błażejak, former pastor Fr. Jan Wądołowski, Fr. Ben Vanco, Fr. Mel Stevens, Fr. Stan Bijak. Dinner followed at the Polish Hall. Entertainment was provided by “Sweet  Harmony” Singers.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all who contributed with the preparation and presentation of this momentous occasion of our 10th Anniversary Celebration. Fr. Stan

Why the YEAR OF ST. PAUL?

Periodically, the Church sets aside an entire year to encourage all of us to focus on some particular and important aspect of our Faith. This year, we are given an opportunity to honour one of the great saints and founders of the early Church - the Apostle Paul.        

In order to commemorate the 2000th anniversary of his birth, Christians all over the world celebrate “The Year of St. Paul”.

JUBILEE YEAR IN HONOUR OF ST. PAUL

On this special occasion of the bi-millennium of Saint Paul’s birth the Congregation of the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is giving us and option of using this Sunday proper texts  for the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle.

From his letters, we know that Paul was far from being good speaker; on the contrary, he shared with Moses and Jeremiah a lack of oratory skill. “His bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account” (2 Corinthians 10:10), his adversaries said of him. (Pope Benedict XVI, The Apostles)

How would God choose such a man to be an Apostle who, prior to his conversion, even persecuted Christians? And how did this man succeed  in proclaiming the Gospel with such power that it earned him the title “Founder of the Christian Church”?

We know the answer to this from St. Paul’s own words: “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20)

Pope Benedict continues: The extraordinary apostolic results that [Paul] was able to achieve cannot, therefore, be attributed to brilliant rhetoric or refined apologetic and missionary strategies.

The success of his apostolate depended above all on his personal involvement in proclaiming the Gospel with total dedication to Christ; a dedication that feared neither risk, [nor] difficulty, nor persecution.

In light of this, what challenges - many of which may insurmountable - do we face in our own lives? Are we focused on living our lives or living our Faith, as St. Paul did? Are we allowing Christ to live - to breathe, speak, walk, and reach out - in our daily lives, beyond Sunday Mass?

May we spend this Jubilee Year of St. Paul rising to the challenge o the great Apostle’s exemplary perspective and actions. 

Pauline Year 2008

Benedict XVI Inaugurates the Pauline Year. VATICAN CITY, 28 JUNE 2008 (VIS) - At 6 p.m. today in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, Benedict XVI presided at the celebration of first Vespers for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul Apostles, which also marked the opening of the Pauline Year. Among those participating in the ceremony were the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and representatives from other Churches and Christian communities.

The Holy Father, Bartholomew I, delegates from other Christian confessions, and monks from the abbey of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls walked in procession to the portico of the basilica where, before the statue of the saint, the Pope lit a candle from a brazier which will remain burning for the entire Pauline year. After the Pope the ecumenical patriarch and the representative of the primate of the Anglican communion also lit candles. The procession then entered the basilica through the Pauline Door.

„We are gathered around the tomb of St. Paul, who was born 2000 years ago in Tarsus in Cilicia, in modern-day Turkey", said the Pope in his homily. "For us, Paul is not a figure of the past whom we recall with veneration. He is also our master, the Apostle and announcer of Jesus Christ to us too. Hence we are gathered here not to reflect upon a past history which has been left irrevocably behind. Paul wishes to speak to us today".

Thus, the Pope explained, the Pauline Year serves "to listen to him and to learn from him, as from a master, the faith and the truth in which the reasons for the unity of Christ's disciples are rooted".

"It is of great joy to me", said the Holy Father, "that the opening of the Pauline year should have a particularly ecumenical character, thanks to the presence of many delegates and representatives of Churches and ecclesial communities, whom I welcome with all my heart".

"We are gathered here to ask ourselves about the great Apostle of the Gentiles. ... His faith was the experience of being loved by Jesus Christ with an entirely personal love; it was an awareness of the fact that Christ faced death not for some unidentified cause, but for love of him - of Paul - and that, being Risen, He loves him still. Christ gave Himself for him. ... His faith was not a theory, an opinion on God and on the world, His faith was the impact of God's love on his heart. And so this faith was love for Jesus Christ".

The Holy Father then recalled how many people see Paul as "combative" noting that, "in fact, there was no lack of disputes on the Apostle's path. He did not seek superficial harmony. ... The truth was too great for him to be disposed to sacrifice it in the name of exterior success. The truth he experienced in his encounter with the Risen One was, for him, well worth struggle, persecution and suffering. But his deepest motivations were the fact that he was loved by Jesus Christ and his desire to transmit this love to others. ... Only on this basis can the fundamental concepts of his message be understood".

The Pope then went on to consider Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus, when the Risen Christ proclaimed "I am Jesus Whom you are persecuting". By "persecuting the Church", said Benedict XVI, "Paul was persecuting Jesus" Who "identifies Himself with the Church as one single subject". This exclamation which transformed Saul's life "contains the entire doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ. Christ has not withdrawn to heaven, leaving a group of followers on earth to pursue 'His cause'. the Church is not an association that seeks to promote a particular cause" but "the person of Jesus Christ Who, even when Risen remained as 'flesh'. ... He has a body. He is personally present in His Church".

Finally, the Holy Father recalled Paul's words to Timothy shortly before his heath: "Join with me in suffering for the Gospel". The Pope went on to note that the "duty of announcement and the call to suffer for Christ are inseparable. ... In a world where lies are so powerful, truth is paid with suffering. Those who wish to avoid suffering, to keep it away, keep away life itself and its greatness; they cannot be servants of truth or servants of the faith. ... Where there is nothing worth suffering for, life itself loses value. The Eucharist - the focus of our being Christian - is founded on Jesus' sacrifice for us, it was born of the suffering of love".

"It is of this self-giving love that we live. It gives us the courage and the strength to suffer with Christ and for Him in this world, knowing that this is the way our lives become great, and mature, and true".

On Sunday, June 29th the Feast of our patrons of Sts. Peter and Paul, Deacon Gerry Demers preached the homily at the 5 o’clock and 9 o’clock Masses.

At 11 o’clock (Polish) Mass we welcomed to our Parish another newly ordained Deacon Józef Simson and his wife Joanna. Deacon Simson has been assigned by Bishop Wingle to our neighbouring Parish of St. Andrew the Apostle. After 11 Mass all are welcome for coffee and donuts to the Parish  Hall.

Catholics around the world celebrate the YEAR of ST. PAUL, which kicks off June 28th, by focusing on rediscovering Pauline teaching, improving unity among Christians, and embarking on pilgrimages to places associated with the Apostle’s life. Pope Benedict assigned the “Pauline Year” to celebrate 2,000th  Anniversary of the Apostle’s birth. Activities include daily liturgical celebrations, conferences, congresses, and concerts, art exhibitions, publications, the coining of a special St. Paul medal, the issue of a stamp, and a 2-euro coin by the Governatore of Vatican City State. The Web site annopaolino.org will be updated throughout the Pauline year, which ends June 29, 2009.

Year of St. Paul
“Paul of Tarsus” By Pope Benedict XVI

Called by the Lord himself, by the Risen One, to be true Apostle, is Paul of Tarsus. He shines like a star of the brightest magnitude in the Church’s history, and not only in that of its origins. St John Chrysostom praised him as a person superior even to many angels and archangels. (St. John Chrysostom, Panegirico, 7,3).

Certainly, after Jesus, he is one of the originals of whom, we have the most information. In fact, we possess not only the account that Luke gives in the Acts of the Apostles, but also a group of Letters that have come directly from his hand which, without intermediaries, reveal his personality and thought.

Luke tells us that his name originally was Saul (Acts 7:58, 8:1) in Hebrew also Saul (Acts 9:14, 17; 22:7, 13; 26:14), like King Saul (Acts 13:21), and he was a Jew of the Diaspora, since the city of Tarsus is situated between Anatolia and Syria.

Very soon he went to Jerusalem to study the roots of the Mosaic Law in the footsteps of the great Rabbi Gamaliel. (Acts 22:3) He also learned a manual and common trade, tent making, (Acts 18,3) which later permitted him to provide personally for his own support without being a weight on the Churches. (Acts 20:34; 1 Cor 4:12; 2 Cor 12:13).

It was decisive for him to know the community of those called themselves disciples of Jesus. Through them he came to know a new faith - a new “way,” as it was called - that places not so much the Law of God at the centre but rather the person of Jesus, Crucified and Risen, to whom was now linked the remission of sins.

It was precisely on the road to Damascus at the beginning of the 30s A.D. that, according to his words, “Christ made me his own.” (8 Phil 3:12) While Luke recounts the fact wit abundant detail - like how the light of  the Risen One touched him and fundamentally changed his whole life - in his letters he goes directly to the essential and speaks not only of a vision, (1 Cor 9:1) but of an illumination, (2 Cor 4:6) and above all of a revelation and of vocation in in the encounter with re Risen One. (Gal 1:15-16)           

In fact, he will explicitly define himself as “apostle by vocation” (Rom 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1) or “apostle by the will of God,” as if to emphasize that his conversion was not the result of development of thought or reflection, but the fruit of divine intervention, an unforeseeable, divine grace.

Henceforth, all that had constituted for him a value paradoxically became, according to his words, a loss and refuse. (Phil 3:7-10) And from that moment all his energy was placed at the exclusive service of Jesus Christ and his Gospel.

From here we draw a very important lesson: what counts is to place Jesus Christ at the centre of our lives, so that our identity is marked essentially by the encounter, by communion with Christ and with his Word.

Another fundamental lesson offered by Paul is the universal breadth that characterizes his apostolate. Acutely feeling the problem of the Gentiles, of the pagans, to know God, who in Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen offers salvation to all without exception, he dedicates himself to make this Gospel - literally, “good news” - known, to announce the grace destined to reconcile men with God, self and others.

From the first moment he understood that this is a reality that did not concern only the Jews or a certain group of men, but one that had a universal value and concerned everyone, because God is the God of everyone.

The point of departure for his travels was the Church of Antioch in Syria, where for the first time the Gospel was announced to the Greeks and where also the name “Christians” was coined for believers in Christ (Acts 11:20, 26).

From there he first went to Cyprus and then on different occasions to the regions of Asia Minor (Pisidia, Laconia, Galatia), and later to those of Europe (Macedonia, Greece). The most famous were the cities of Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth, without forgetting Berea, Athens and Miletus.

From a passage of the Letter to the Romans (Rom 15:24, 28) appears his proposal to push on even to Spain, the Far West, to announce the Gospel everywhere, even to the then-known ends of the earth.

It is clear that he would not have been able to face such difficult and at times desperate situations if he did not have a reason of absolute value, before which no limit could be considered insurmountable. For Paul, this reason, as we know, is Jesus Christ, of whom he writes: “The love of Christ impels us… so that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised, (2 Cor 5:14-15 ) for us, for all.

In fact, the Apostle renders the supreme witness of blood under the Emperor Nero in Rome, where we keep and venerate his mortal remains. Clement of Rome, my predecessor to this Apostolic See, wrote of him in the last years of the first century: “Because of jealousy and discord, Paul was obliged to show us how one obtains the prize of patience… After preaching justice to all in the world, and after having arrived at the limits of the West, he endured martyrdom before the political rulers; in this way he left this world and reached the holy place, thus becoming the greatest model of perseverance. (Clement of Rome, To the Corinthians, 5)

St. Paul’s New Outlook (Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Nov. 8,2006)

In St. Paul’s Letters, after the Name of God which appears more than 500 times, the name most frequently mentioned is Christ (380 times). Thus, it is important to realize what a deep effect Jesus Christ can have on a person’s life, hence, also on our own lives.

Looking at Paul, this is how we could formulate the basic question: how does a human being’s encounter with Christ occur? And of what does the relationship that stems from it consist? The answer given by Paul can be understood in two stages.

In the first place, Paul helps us to understand the absolutely basic and irreplaceable value of faith. This is what he wrote in his letter to the Romans: “we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law.” (Rom 3:28)

This is what he also wrote in his Letter to the Galatians: ”Man is not justified by the works of the law but only through faith in Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one be justified.” (Gal 2:16)

“Being justified” means being made righteous, that is being accepted to God’s merciful justice to enter into communion with him and, consequently, to be able to established a far more genuine relationship with all our brethren: and this takes place on the basis of the complete forgiveness of our sins…

“Being justified“…Well, Paul states with absolute clarity that this condition of life does not depend on our possible good works but on the pure grace of God: “We are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. (Rom 3:24)

With these words St. Paul expressed the fundamental content of his conversion, the new direction his life took as a result of his encounter with the Risen Christ.

Before his conversion, Paul had not been a man distant from God and from his Law.  On the contrary, he had been faithful observant, with an observance faithful to the point of fanaticism. On the light of the encounter with Christ, however, he understood that with this he had sought to build up himself and his own justice, and that with all this justice he had lived for himself.

Paul, therefore, no longer lives for himself, for his own justice. He lives for Christ and with Christ: in giving of himself, he is no longer seeking and building himself up.

Before the cross of Christ, the extreme expression of his self-giving, there is no one who can boast of himself, of his own self-made justice, made for himself! Elsewhere, re-echoing Jeremiah, Paul explains this thought, writing, “Let him who boasts boast of the Lord” (1 Cor 1:31 = Jer 9:23-24ff) or “Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal 6:14)

In reflecting on what justification means, not for actions but for faith, we thus come to the second component that defines the Christian identity described by St. Paul in his own life.

The Christian identity is composed of precisely two elements: this restraint from seeking oneself by oneself but instead receiving oneself from Christ and giving oneself with Christ, thereby participating personally in the life of Christ to the point of identifying with him and sharing both his death and his life. This is what Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: “All of us… were baptized into his death… we were buried therefore with him… we have been united with him…. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  (Rom 6:3, 4, 5 11)

This is what Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: “All of us… were baptized into his death… we were buried therefore with him… we have been united with him…. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  (Rom 6:3, 4, 5 11)  The last words themselves are symptomatic: for Paul, in fact, it was not enough to say that Christians are baptized or believers; for him, it was just as important to say they are “in Christ Jesus.” (See also Rom 8:12, 2, 39; 12:5; 16:3).

In fact, although faith unites us closely to Christ, it emphasizes the distinction between us and him; but according to Paul, Christian life also has an element that we might describe as “”mystical,” since it entails an identification of ourselves with Christ and of Christ with us. In this sense, the Apostle even went so far as to describe our suffering as “the suffering of Christ” in us (2 Cor 1:5), so that we might “always carry in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Cor 4:10)

We must fit all this into our daily lives by following the example of Paul, who always lived with this great spiritual range, Besides, faith must constantly express humility before God, indeed, adoration and praise.

Indeed it is to him and his grace alone that we owe what we are as Christians. Since nothing and no more can replace him, it is necessary that we pay homage to nothing and one else but Him.

Moreover, our radical belonging to Christ and the fact that “we are in him” must imbue in us an attitude of total trust and immense joy. In short, we must indeed exclaim with St. Paul: “If God is for us, who is against us? (Rom 8:31) And the reply is that nothing and no one “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:39) Our Christian life, therefore, stands on the soundest and safest rock one can imagine. And from it we draw all energy, precisely as the Apostle wrote: “I can do all things in him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13) Therefore, let us face our life with its joys and sorrows supported by these great sentiments that Paul offers to us.

We have before us a GIANT, not only in terms of his actual apostolate but also of St. Paul’s extraordinary profound and stimulating theological teaching.

After meditating last on what Paul wrote about the central place that Jesus Christ occupies in our life of faith, now let us look at what he said about the Holy Spirit and about his presence in us, because  here too, the Apostle has something very important to teach us.

St. Paul and the Spirit …We know what St. Luke told us of the Holy Spirit from his description of the event of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles. The Spirit of Pentecost brought with him a strong impulse to take on the commitment of the mission in order to witness to the Gospel on the highways of the world.

In his Letters, however, St. Paul also spoke to us of the Spirit. He did not end by describing solely the dynamic and active dimension of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, but also analyzed his presence in the lives of Christians, which marks their identity. 

 In other words, in Paul’s reflection on the Spirit he not only explained his influence in the action of Christians, but also on their being. Indeed, it is he who said that the Spirit of God dwells in us (Rom 8:9; 1 Cor 3:16) and that “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” (Gal 4:6)           

In Paul’s opinion, therefore, the Spirit stirs us to very depths of our being. Here are some of his words on this subject which have and important meaning: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death… you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself” (Rom 8:2, 15) who speaks in us because, as children, we can call God “Father.”

Thus, we can see clearly that even before he does anything, the Christian already possesses a rich and fruitful interiority, given to him the Sacrament of Baptism And Confirmation, an interiority which establishes his in an objective and original relationship of sonship with God. This is our greatest dignity: to be not merely images but also children of God.

God considers us his children, having raised us to a similar if not equal dignity to that of Jesus himself, the one true Son in the full sense. Our filial condition and trusting freedom in our relationship with the Father is given or restored to us in him.

We thus discover that for Christians the Spirit is no longer only the “Spirit of God,” as He is usually described in the ld Testament and as people continue to repeat in Christian language. (Genesis 41:38; Exodus 31:3; 1 Corinthians 2:11, 121; Philippians 3:3; etc.) Nor is He any longer simply a “Holy Spirit” generically understood, in the manner of the Old Testament, (Isaiah 63:10, 11; Psalm 51{50}:13 ands of Judaism itself in its writings. (Qumran, rabbinism)

Indeed, the confession of an original sharing in this Spirit by the Risen Lord, who himself became A “life-giving Spirit,” (1 Corinthians 15:45) is part of the specificity of the Christian faith.

Or this very reason, St. Paul spoke directly of the “Spirit of Christ,” (Romans 8:9) of the “Spirit of His Son” (Galatians 4:6) or of the “Spirit of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:19)

Paul teaches us another important: he says that there is no true prayer without the presence of the Spirit within us. He wrote: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.

It is as if to say that the Holy Spirit, that is, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, is henceforth as it were the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from which an impulse of prayer rises ceaselessly to God, whose words we cannot even begin to explain.

In fact, the Spirit, ever alert within us, completes what is lacking in us and offers to the Father our worship as well as our deepest aspirations.

This, of course, requires a degree of great and vital communion with the Spirit. It is an invitation to be increasingly sensitive, more attentive to this presence of the Spirit in us, to transform it into prayer, to feel this presence and thus to learn to pray, to speak to learn to pray, to speak to the Father as children in the Holy Spirit.

There is also another typical aspect of the Spirit which St. Paul teaches us: the connection with love.

In my Encyclical Letter “Deus Caritas Est”, I cited a most eloquent sentence of St. Augustine: “If you see charity, you see the Trinity,” and I continued by explaining: “The Spirit, in fact, is that interior power which harmonizes [believers] hearts with Christ’s Heart and moves them to love their brethren as Christ loved them. (Deus C.E.) The Spirit immerses us in the very rhythm of divine life of love, enabling us to share personally in relations between the Father and the Son. It is not without significance that when Paul lists the various elements that constitute the fruit of the Spirit he puts love first: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,” etc. (Galatians 5:22)

And since by definition, love unites, this means first of all that the Spirit is the creator of communion within the Christian community, as we say at the beginning of Mass, borrowing Paul’s words: “May the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [that is, what he brings about] be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

Furthermore, however, it is also true that the Spirit stimulates us to weave charitable relations with all people. Therefore, when we love we make room for the Spirit and give him leeway to express himself fully within us.

We thus understand why Paul juxtaposes in the same passage of his Letter to the Romans the two exhortations : “Be aglow with the Spirit” and “Repay no one evil for evil.” Finally according to St. Paul, the Spirit is a generous down payment given to us by God himself as a deposit at the same time, a guarantee of our future inheritance. (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:13-14.

We cannot take our leave of St. Paul without considering one of the decisive elements of his activity and one of the most important subjects of his thought the reality of the Church.

We must first of all note that his initial contact with Person of Jesus happened through the witness of the Christian community of Jerusalem. It was a turbulent contact. Having met the new group of believers, he immediately became a fierce persecutor of it. He acknowledged this himself at least three times in as many of his Letters: “I persecuted the Church of God,” (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14) as if to describe his behaviour as the worst possible crime.

History shows us that one usually reaches Jesus by passing through the Church! In a certain sense, this proved true, we were saying, also for Paul, who encountered the Church before he encountered Jesus. In his case, however, this contact was counter- productive; it did not result in attachment but violent rejection.

St. Paul and the Church  … For Paul, adherence to the Church was brought about by a direct intervention of Christ, who in revealing himself on the road to Damascus identified himself with the Church and made Paul realize that persecution of the Church was persecution of himself, the Lord.

In fact, the Risen One said to Paul, persecutor of the Church: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? (Acts 9:4) In persecuting the Church, he was persecuting Christ.

Paul, therefore, was at the same time converted to Christ and to the Church. This leads one to understand why the Church later became so present in Paul’s thoughts, heart and activity.

He felt bound to the Communities he founded in a way that was far from cold and bureaucratic but rather intense and passionate. Thus, for example, he described the Philippians as “my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown.” (Phil 4,1)

On other occasions her (Paul) compared the various Communities to a letter of recommendation, unique in its kind: „You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men.” (2 Corinthians 3:2)

At yet other times, he (Paul) showed a real feeling for them (Church communities) that was not only paternal but also maternal, such as when he turned to those he was addressing, calling them „My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19, cf. also 1 Corinthians 4:14-15; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8)

Paul also illustrates for us in his Letters his teaching on the Church as such. Thus, his original definition of the church as the „Body of Christ,” which we do not find in other Christian authors of the first century, is well known. (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12; 5:30; Colossians 1:24)

We find the deepest root of this surprising designation of the Church in the Sacrament of the Body of Christ. St. Paul said: „Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body.” (1 Corinthians 10:17) In the same Eucharist, Christ gives us His Body and makes us His Body.  Concerning this, St. Paul said to the Galatians: „You are all one in Christ.” (Galatians 3:28) By saying all this, Paul makes us understand that not only does the belonging of the Church to Christ exist, but also a certain form of equality and identification of the Church with Christ himself.

From this („You are all one in Christ„), therefore, derive the greatness and nobility of the Church, that is, of all of us who are part of her: from our being members of Christ, an extension as it were of his personal presence in the world. And from this, of course, stems our duty to truly live in conformity with Christ.

Paul’s exhortations concerning the various charisms that give life and  structure to the Christian community also derive from this.

It is important, however, that all the charisms cooperate with one another for the edification of the community and do not instead become the cause of a rift.            

In this regard, Paul asked himself rhetorically: „Is Christ divided?” (1 Corinthians 1:13) He knows well and teaches us that it is necessary to „maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.” (Ephesians 4:3-4)

Obviously, underlining the need for unity does not mean that ecclesial life should be standardized or levelled out in accordance with the single way of operating. Elsewhere, Paul taught: „Do not quench the Spirit,” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), that is, make room generously for the unforeseeable dynamism of the charismatic manifestations of the Spirit, who is an ever new source of energy and vitality.

Make room generously for the unforeseeable dynamism of the charismatic manifestations of the Spirit, who is an ever new source of energy and vitality.

But if there is one tenet to which Paul stuck firmly it was mutual edification: „Let all things be done for edification.” (1 Corinthians 14:26) Everything contributes to weaving the ecclesial fabric evenly, not only without slack patches but also without holes or tears.

Then, there is also a Pauline Letter that presents the Church as Christ’s Bride. (Ephesians 5:21-33) With this, Paul borrowed an ancient prophetic metaphor which made the People of Israel the Bride of the God of the Covenant. (Hosea 2:4, 21; Isaiah 54:5-8) He did so to express intimacy of the relationship between Christ and his Church, both in the sense that she is the object of the most tender love on the part of her Lord, and also in the sense that love must be mutual and that we too therefore, as members of the Church, must show him passionate faithfulness.

Thus, in short, a relationship of communion is at stake: the so to speak vertical communion between Jesus Christ and all of us, but also the horizontal communion between all who are distinguished in the world by the fact that they “call on the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Corinthians 1:2)

This is our definition: we belong among those who call on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we clearly understand how desirable it is that what Paul himself was hoping for when he wrote to the Corinthians should come to pass: “If an unbeliever or an uninitiated enters while all are uttering prophesy, he will be taken to task by all and called to account by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. Falling prostrate, he will worship God, crying out, ’God is truly among you.’ (1 Corinthians 14:24-25)

Our liturgical encounters should be like this. A non-Christian who enters one of our assemblies ought finally to be able to say: “God is truly with you.” Let us pray to the Lord to be like this, in communion with Christ and in communion among ourselves.

The above was adopted from Chapter 16 of The Apostles, by Pope Benedict XVI, published by Our Sunday Visitor.

PERMANENT DIACONATE

On Saturday, May 31st the Diocese of St. Catharines celebrated the first ordinations of PERMANENT DIACONATE. Seven candidates (including our parishioner Gerard Demers) “received the imposition of hands not into the priesthood, but into ministry” (Vatican II) by His Excellency Bishop James Wingle. These men have had travelled faithfully with God on a long road of formation and were eagerly awaiting this momentous occasion to make their solemn promise of obedience and respect to the Bishop and his successors.           

This ancient ministry of service has a long and rich tradition in the Catholic Church dating back to the times of the Apostles, and Vatican II has restored the "diaconate as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy."

Diaconate is a ministry for men who work in the service of the bishop of the diocese in support of the disenfranchised of the diocese - the poor, the imprisoned, those who are hospitalized and those who, through other circumstances, have become isolated from the Church. Besides this special outreach ministry, each deacon will also be assigned to a parish as a supportive member of the pastoral team. Among his possible parish duties are preaching, proclaiming the Gospel, baptizing, acting as a witness to marriages and other duties, which will assist the pastor but not overshadow the work of other ministers.          

A deacon has a threefold responsibility: to his family, to his job by which he earns a living and to his ministry as an ordained deacon. This ministry is not a full-time commitment, but one, which requires a specific weekly or monthly commitment of time, and it is generally not a paid ministry.            

In the Diocese of St. Catharines every two years a new group of candidates will begin their formation.

Get God and get moving.

Don’t’ ask God to guide your footsteps if you’re not willing to move your feet.

  www.oneliners-andproverbs.com

Glimpse from the Past:

The Diocese of St. Catharines was erected 49 years ago on Nov. 9, 1958.  Pope Pius XII died just before the establishment of our Diocese was announced.  Five days after becoming Pope, Pope John XXIII erected the Diocese of St. Catharines and appointed Bishop Thomas J. McCarthy as its first Bishop.  St. Thomas Aquinas Parish was the first parish established in the new Diocese. Bishop Thomas J. McCarthy died Nov. 15, 1986.  His successor, Bishop Thomas B. Fulton died Nov. 11, 2002.  His successor, Bishop John A. O’Mara celebrates his birthday on November 17th.  His successor, Bishop James M. Wingle was named as fourth Bishop of our Diocese 6 years ago, Nov. 9, 2001. God truly is good!

As we begin a new civic year, we look forward with hope to the new opportunities to spread Christ’s kingdom in this year of our 50th Anniversary as a particular Church - Diocese of St. Catharines.

PRAYER FOR ASKING GRACES THROUGH THE INTERCESSION

OF THE SERVANT OF GOD POPE JOHN PAUL II

O Blessed Trinity, We thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendour of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints. Amen.

With ecclesiastical approval - CARDINAL CAMILLO RUINI,

The Holy Father's Vicar General, For the Diocese of Rome.

October is the month in which  Mary Most Holy, Queen of the Holy Rosary, is venerated. Within the current international context, I invite all - individuals, families, communities - to pray this Marian prayer, possibly every day, for peace, so that the world can be preserved from the wicked scourge of terrorism.    -  John Paul II, September 30, 2001, after the morning Mass opening the Synod of Bishops.

Welland Multicultural Centre

Looking for volunteers to have fun!

            If you like to coach, cook, sew, dance, do crafts, plan parties, or share your talent with others, please consider donating an hour or two to enjoy using these gifts with immigrants and refugees arriving to our community.

                        The Host Program at the Welland Multicultural Centre is seeking volunteers to participate in these activities with our newcomers. Have an evening of fun and introduce people from around the world to our community and culture. Please call Lori at 905-735-5337 ext. 33 or e-mail at lwebster@iaw.on.ca.

We can’t do it without you! 

The love of God, unutterable and perfect
flows onto a pure soul the way that light rushes into a transparent object.
The more love that it finds, the more it gives itself;
so that, as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of loving is.
And the more souls who resonate together,
the greater the intensity of their love, for, mirror-like, each soul reflects the others.

December 08/2006

 ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight’

Dear brothers and sisters,

On this Second Sunday of Advent, we hear John the Baptist crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ We are charged to take seriously our responsibility to live as disciples of the Lord by following His teaching. Christians are meant to be a ‘leaven in society’, reflecting the goodness and light that comes from Christ in the circumstances of the world today.

What a terrible irony it is to witness our country sinking ever deeper into the morass of moral chaos and confusion as we ignore the sane order established by God for the good of creation. This order can be discovered by all through the use of right reason, but it becomes compellingly clear for those who believe in God’s revelation.

On December 07/06, a majority of our elected representatives in the Federal Parliament voted not to reopen the debate on the redefinition of civil marriage. The previous government had abruptly changed the definition of marriage for civil purposes, to refer to the union of any two persons, rather than the lifelong union of one man and one woman. Marriage had ever been understood in this way down through the ages, and across cultures.

Our new Canadian legal definition of marriage, which this Parliament refuses to re-examine, radically changes the core meaning of the institution. We know that the family, founded on the marriage of a man and a woman, is the primary and essential cell of society. Rather than protecting this institution, so critical to the health and stability of society, our government denatures marriage and the family. The unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society that men and women make when they enter into marriage, and especially when they beget and educate children, is no longer treasured or protected by those who make our laws. The rights of children to grow up in the love and care of their parents, despite being enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, are ignored by this new law. Confusing the pursuit of private interests with the public good, as does this new definition of marriage, the government neglects its duty to promote and preserve the common good of society, founded upon the sane and reasonable order established by God.

The Catholic Church is clear and unwavering in its teaching and practice concerning marriage, as God intended this fundamental institution: authentic marriage is the loving union of a man and a woman in a lifelong partnership that is open to the begetting and rearing of children. When both spouses are Christians, the union is raised to an even greater dignity as a sacrament. Men and women and their children living this reality deserve our profound respect and esteem.

I wish to thank all those working to uphold and promote the authentic understanding of marriage, as we have received it in God’s good creation. We will continue our efforts to do everything possible to see that such an understanding is restored to its proper recognition in law. As we look to the numerous valleys needing to be filled, the mountains and hills to be made low, the crooked paths needing to be straightened and the rough ways made smooth, let us be full of confidence and courage in the Lord, our God, who comes to save us.

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Reverend James M. Wingle,
Bishop of St. Catharines

The nature of Marriage.

Observation and common sense tell us that marriage  is the life long commitment of a woman and man to each other and to the children with which they are blessed. This remains the relationship to which young people aspire. It is the healthiest form of relationship fo the spouses and the best setting in which to bring up children. This is an institution which serves both individuals and society. It is well worth preserving, supporting, celebrating and enhancing. You are requested to point out these simple facts to your MP and to request that he or she vote to re-open the issue of marriage.

How important is Marriage?

For Catholics it is a sacrament. It is a sacred covenant and vocation for the wife and husband. It creates and unites families, providing an extended group within which young people can lay the foundations of spiritual formation and social interaction. The learning and development that takes place within the extended family is the gift that  one generation has given to the next from the beginning of time. The change in definition made by the court and the government has not destroyed this opportunity for our children overnight but there are already signs it is undermining it. Civil marriage has become nothing more than a „living arrangement” for any two adults. We owe it to future generations to demand that our politicians discuss the issue again and that our representatives be allowed a free vote uninfluenced by party considerations.

What marriage means to Catholics

Marriage:

... is a sacrament that woman and man give to each other and they then become the living sign of the sacrament,
... is a natural institution that has served the needs of society by producing and educating their children, our new citizens,
... is the domestic church where the great gift of the faith is passed on from generation to generation,
... is a blessing of mutual love and intimacy between a man and a woman,
... is a healthy, safe and very successful setting for the long years of development and information needed by children to become mature, contributing adults,
... is the key institution that ensures the continuation of the human race and the prosperity of a nation,
... is a wholesome healthy model for relationships that we should hold up to our children and grandchildren as an example,
... is an encouragement to individuals to be aware of their place in the mainstream of humanity, their heredity and their self worth,
... is an institution that has endured and given stability to people for millennia in spite of disasters, wars, plagues and the interference of secular rulers,
... is a contributor to the meaning of life, care for others, glimpses of immortality and a perspective beyond the self,
... is a vocation for a man and a woman, not just relationship, involving self giving, a path to sanctity and the responsibility of dedicated parenthood.

Religion and reason are Rooted in the Person,

The speech made last September 21st during the second session of the Human Rights Council by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, permanent observer to the Office of the Unitied Nations and Specialized Instituations in Geneva, was published today.

Archbishop Tomasi said that the implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Belief "remains in many ways still a distant goal", and because of this requires "Concerted action to promote the standards of religious freedom recognized by the international community.

"Religion and the reason for religious tolerance are rooted in the person, believer or not. Focussing on ideologies rather than on people and communities of believers carries the risk of transforming religious claims into political self-interest.

Vaticn City, Septmber 28, 2006 (VIS)

President of Pontifical Council for Health Care Reiterates Moral Gravity of Euthanasia

The President of the Pontifiical Council for Health care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, has reiterated the Church's teaching that euthanasia is a form of murder. Speaking to the Italian daily "La Repubblica," the Mexican cardinal emphasized, "This is one of the teachigs of the Church in the field of the teachings of the Church in the field of medicine and serious illness, a truth that the believer must never forget." "Man can never take the place of God," he said, "as those who promote euthanasia pretend to do."

Rome, September 27th, 2006 (CNA)

„Miracles of John Paul II”

The book gives compelling evidence of the power of prayer in  the life of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II the Great. This provocatively entitled work stimulates the reader to reflect on the meaning of God’s intervening grace manifested in miracles. Miracles of John Paul II includes testimonies by people who were healed of life-threatening illnesses following the prayerful intervention of the late Pontiff. If you wish to order the book ($23) please contact Fr. Stan after Mass or visit http://miracles.catholicradio.ca

POPE HOPES CONTROVERSY WILL SPUR DIALOGUE

At his weekly public audience on September 20, Pope Benedict XVI said that his controversial address to the University of Regensburg was intended as a "call for a dialogue of the Christian faith with the modern world, and for a dialogue between all cultures and religions."

At his Angelus audience on Sunday, September 17, the Pope had said that he was dismayed by the angry reactions to his speech, and sorry that his remarks had offended Muslims. During his Wednesday audience he did not apologize for the speech, but argued that the negative response was based on a misinterpretation.

The Holy Father emphasized that his speech was not an attack on Islam, and said that he still hoped that, "following the initial reactions," the Regensburg address could furnish the basis for "positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith."

Pope Benedict traveled from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo to hold the audience at the Vatican. More than 40,000 people-- twice the number originally expected-- flocked to St. Peter's Square to hear the Pope, in a demonstration of the public interest roused by his speech on September 12 and the angry responses from the Islamic world.

Following what has now become a custom following a papal trip, the Holy Father devoted the audience to a discussion of his voyage. He spoke about each of the stops on his trip to Bavaria, and reflected that he had planned the trip to his homeland not as "a simple return to the past, but also as a providential opportunity to look with hope to the future."

The main focus of the Pontiff's remarks, however, was the speech that has provoked so much discussion since he delivered it at the University of Regensburg, where he once taught theology. He observed that the theme of that speech was "the relationship between faith and reason."

In quoting the words of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus-- which he characterized as "incomprehensibly brusque"-- the Pope stressed that he did not intend to incite polemics. Quite on the contrary, he said, "I wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason, go together."

Sept. 20 (CWNews.com)

POPE DENOUNCES CANADIAN RELATIVISM

Pope Benedict XVI denounced the growing relativism of Canadian culture, in a September 8th discourse to visiting bishops from Ontario.

In his talk to the Canadian bishops, who were making their ad limina visits, the Holy Father spoke bluntly about recent political developments in that country. "In the name of tolerance your country has had to endure the folly of the redefinition of spouse," he said; "and in the name of freedom of choice it is confronted with the daily destruction of unborn children."

Speaking in English to the Canadian bishops, who met with him as the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope remarked that in his first epistle, St. John warned the early Christian community about the divisions that arise when Christians do not "constantly drink anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ." Switching to French for a moment, the Pontiff added that the warning voiced by St. John "remains always current."

"In societies that are more and more secularized," the Pope continued, people are less inclined to experience the truths of the faith. The results, he said, are "the desert of individual isolation, the breakdown of society, and the loss of cultural identity."

Pope Benedict warned the Canadian Church leaders against replacing the bold proclamation of the Gospel with "indefinite talk of 'kingdom values.'" An indirect approach to the truth of Christianity weakens both the Church and society, the Pope said: "When believing is replaced by doing, and witness by talk of 'issues,' there is an urgent need to recapture the profound joy and awe of the first disciples."

In Canada, the Pope said-- becoming more specific as his talk continued-- society suffers from "the split between the Gospel and culture, with the exclusion of God from the public sphere." Church leaders must fight against that secularist bias, he said. A democratic country, he argued, cannot prosper without a solid foundation in moral principle, and believers cannot accept an approach to public life that excludes religious beliefs from consideration. As the Pontiff put it:

Democracy succeeds only to the extent that it is based on truth and a correct understanding of the human person. Catholic involvement in political life cannot compromise on this principle; otherwise Christian witness to the splendour of truth in the public sphere would be silenced and an autonomy from morality proclaimed.

In his lengthy address, the Pope saluted the contributions of the Canadian Church in the fields of health care and education. Particularly in the schools, he said, Catholic influence is need to overcome the "particularly insidious obstacle" posed by "that relativism which, recognizing nothing as definitive, leaves as the ultimate criterion only the self with its desires."

Relativism, the Pope said, results in "a timidity before the category of the good, and a relentless but senseless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom." To counteract that unhealthy attitude, he urged the bishops to emphasize an "apostolate of intellectual charity," by proclaiming the truths of the faith with vigour and courage.

Castel Gandolfo, September 8 (CWNews.com)

Statue of Pope John Paul II Draws Pilgrims to Native Town August 18, 2006 (CWNews.com)

In Wadowice, the Polish boyhood home of Karol Wojtyla, a newly inaugurated statue of the late pope John Paul II (bio - news) is drawing attention for an unexpected reason.

Pilgrims are collecting water from a small spring at the base of the statue, the Italian Korazym web site reports.

Although there are claims that the water may have miraculous powers, the source of the spring is not mysterious; the granite statue was designed to issue a trickle of water, through a pipe in the base connected to an underground source near the basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The statue -- showing John Paul II in his papal vestments -- is located just outside that basilica, where the late Pontiff was baptized.

Since the statue was formally iaugurated by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz on June 30th, 2006, many visitors have collected the water, drunk it, and bathed in it, Korazym reports. Some hope that it will prove to have curative powers.

Father Jakub Gil, the pastor in Wadowice, told Korazym that there are no reports of miracles from the use of the water. Nevertheless, he said, "Nothing is impo0ssible for those who believe, and if this water encourages faith, then great things could happen."

Peace Prayer

As the tragic conflicts continue in various areas of our world, let us intensify our prayer for God’s precious gift of peace:

God of peace and harmony, your Son walked this earth in a land we now call holy.

Hear our prayers for the peoples of the Middle East.

Let your justice rain down from the heavens and peace spring forth from the earth.

Give wisdom to political leaders and the strength of will to negotiate a lasting settlement that brings concord to all people.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God,
forever and ever.  Amen

Couch-Potato Shepherd?

The TV is my shepherd, I shall not want. It makes me to lie down on the sofa. It leads me away from the faith. It destroys my soul. It leads me to the path of sex and violence for the advertiser’s sake. Even though I walk in the shadow of Christian responsibilities, there will be no interruption, for the TV is with me. Its cable and remote control, they comfort me. It prepares a commercial for me in the midst of my worldliness; And anoints my head with secular humanism and consumerism. My covetousness runs over; Surely ignorance and laziness shall follow me all of the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of wretchedness watching TV forever.

(From Fr. Tommy Lane, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Md.)

SERENITY  PRAYER

„Lord give me the strength to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can;

and wisdom to know the difference.”

LET US RETRIEVE THE WORD "LOVE"

VATICAN CITY, JAN 23, 2006 (VIS) - This morning, Benedict XVI participated in a congress organized by the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum." The event is being held in the Vatican's New Synod Hall on January 23 and 24, and its theme, taken from St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, is: " ... But the greatest of these is love."

In his address, the Holy Father made frequent reference to his first Encyclical, "Deus caritas est," which is due to be published on Wednesday, January 25.

"The cosmic journey in which Dante, in his 'Divine Comedy,' wishes to involve the reader," the Pope began, "ends before the eternal light that is God Himself, before that Light which is, at the same time, 'the love that moves the sun and the other stars'."

The God Who appears in Dante's central circle of light "has a human face and, we may add, a human heart. Dante's vision shows the continuity between the Christian faith in God and research based on reason; ... at the same time, however, there appears a novelty that goes beyond all human research: ... the novelty of a love that impelled God to assume a human face, to take on flesh and blood. ... The 'eros' of God is not just a primordial cosmic force, it is the love that created human beings and stretches reaches out towards them."

"The word 'love,' is so overused today," the Pope continued, "that one is almost afraid to pronounce it. Yet, ... it is the expression of a primordial reality, ... and we must retrieve it, ... so that it may illuminate our lives. ... This awareness is what induced me to choose love as the theme of my first Encyclical. I wanted to try and express, for our own times and our own lives, something of that which Dante encapsulated in his vision."

Faith should become "a vision-understanding that transforms us," said the Holy Father. "I wanted to highlight the centrality of faith in God, in the God Who assumed a human face and a human heart. ... In an age in which ... we are witnessing the abuse of religion even unto the apotheosis of hatred, ... we have need of the living God Who loved us even unto death. Thus, in this Encyclical, the themes of God, Christ and Love are fused together as a central guide to the Christian faith."

"A first reading of the Encyclical could perhaps give rise to the impression that it is divided into two parts with little in common between them: a first theoretical part discussing the essence of love, and a second part covering ecclesial charity and charitable organizations. Yet I was interested precisely in the unity between the two themes, only if seen as a single thing can they be properly understood. ... On the basis of the Christian image of God, it was necessary to show how man was created to love, and how this love, which initially appears above all as 'eros' between man and woman, must then be internally transformed into 'agape,' into the giving of self to others."

"On this basis, it was necessary to clarify how the essence of the love for God and for others, ... is the core of Christian life, the fruit of faith." Then, "in the second part, it was necessary to highlight that the totally personal act of 'agape' can never remain a purely individual issue, rather it must also become an essential act of the Church as community; in other words, it also needs the institutional form that finds expression in the community activity of the Church."

The Pope concluded: "The ecclesial organization of charity is not a form of social assistance, a casual addition to the reality of the Church. ... Rather, it is part of the nature of the Church, ... [and] must in some way make the living God visible. ... The spectacle of suffering man touches our hearts. But charitable commitment has a meaning that goes well beyond simple philanthropy. It is God Himself Who encourages us from within our most intimate selves to alleviate misery. ... It is He Himself Whom we carry into a suffering world. The greater the awareness and clarity with which we bear Him as a gift, the more effectively will our love change the world."

THE MASS ISN’T ENTERTAINMENT

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship in a comprehensive assessment of the recent Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist and of developments in liturgical practice 40 years after the Second Vatican Council.

“People don’t come to Mass in order to be entertained. They come to Mass to adore God, to thank Him, to ask pardon for sins, and to ask for other things that they need. When they want entertainment, they know where to go -- parish hall, theatre, presuming that their entertainment is acceptable from a moral theological point of view,” added the cardinal.

Cardinal Francis Arinze

The cradle of wood,
the wood of the cross;
from the cradle to cross,
like a lullaby;
the wail of an infant,
lost on the wind -
the arms of a girl
in a circle of love,
rocking to rest;
a woman’s arms
in a circle of love,
the young Man dead
on His Mother’s breast.
The jewels that glow
low in the grass
on the feet of Christ,
Risen from death,
touching the flowers
and touching the dust,
even in glory.
The dust of the earth
on the feet of God,
walking the soft blue meadows of stars.

                                     (Stanza IV of THE ROSARY by Caryll Houselander)

LIFE IS A GIFT FROM GOD

Over the last few years, many scholars of different Christian denominations have given very weighty natural law argument against euthanasia and physician assisted suicide. What we mean here by natural law is argumentation from human reason which does not rely on revelation from Scripture or Tradition, and so can reach all people, believers and non-believers alike. Their arguments are about what we know of ourselves as human beings and also to the social consequences that would follow from legalizing euthanasia and/or physician assisted suicide.

These arguments are quite sufficient to convince any non biased reader of the grave moral wrong and social tragedy involved in legalizing direct killing of the innocent. You can have confidence in the logic and facts of these arguments and your own common sense as you urge their members of parliament to vote down any proposed law to legalize euthanasia and physician assisted suicide.

However, Catholics do also rely on revelation for their own convictions in these matters. We know that God is the Author of life and we ourselves are only stewards of this great gift. We acknowledge that only God knows whether a person is better off alive or dead. Judgements of this kind are beyond the power of human beings. Directly to kill an innocent human being for his or her own proposed good (and this is precisely what is involved in euthanasia and physician assisted suicide) is to claim to have this knowledge - quite literally to make gods of ourselves. The sacred mystery of human being's life is thereby reduced to some THING, something that can be disposed of by us. May Almighty God save us from this overweening (arrogant) pride!

Ministry of ACOLYTE

Congratulations to our parishioner Gerard Demers, who was instituted into the ministry of ACOLYTE by Bishop Wingle (along with the eight candidates to the Diaconate Program) at the Cathedral of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

A special minister of the Eucharist the acolyte is qualified to give communion outside the Mass to himself and to other members of the faithful in the absence of an ordinary (deacon, priest) minister of communion or if such minister is impeded by age, bad health, or other duties of the pastoral ministry. Thus he may bring communion to the sick - in their homes, in hospitals and other institution, homes for the aged etc.

Following the above principle about the unavailability of an ordinary minister of the Eucharist, the acolyte is also permitted to expose the Blessed Sacrament (without bestowing the blessing) when necessary.

In addition to the above mentioned functions, the acolyte should be called upon to instruct others who assist in the liturgical celebration.

MAY - THE MONTH OF MARY

Cardinal John Henry Newman wrote in his work on meditations and devotions: “Here then we have a reason why May is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the first of creatures, the most acceptable child of God, the dearest and nearest to Him. It is fitting then that this month should be hers, in which we especially glory and rejoice in His great Providence to us, in our redemption and sanctification in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost”.

As we prepare to celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, we cannot fail to rejoice in the intimate connection between the mystery of the Church and the person of Mary, the Virgin Mother of the Lord. As we find in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church: “the Church… by receiving the Word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By preaching and Baptism she brings forth sons, who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God, to a new and immortal life. She herself is a virgin, who keeps in its entirety and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse.”

  The Monstrance

Waiting for each tender soul
    To come and stay a while
Is Jesus Christ our saviour Lord,
    Our source of truth, not guile.

He bids us come and stay with Him;
    An hour would be blest.
Three apostles once were asked,
    But chose instead to rest.

Who knows what graces you’ll receive?
    Only the Giver knows!
His love can warm the coldest heart
    Where only selfish shows.

Come and visit Him today;
    Leave your cares behind.
You’ll find that He’s replaced them with
    His gentle peace of mind.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 By Margaret Peterson

HABEMUS PAPAM !!!

We Have A Pope !!!

Courtesy: TVNZ
His Holiness Pope BENEDICT XVI
Vicar of Christ, 264th  Successor of Saint Peter

Joseph Ratzinger, was born on 16 Apr. 1927, in Marktl am Inn, Germany. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1951. In March 1977, Pope Paul VI elected him Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Created and proclaimed Cardinal by the same pope in the consistory of 27 June 1977. On 25 Nov. 1981 he was nominated by His Holiness John Paul II Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Elected  Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals, 6 Nov. 1998. On 30 Nov. 2002 the Pope approved the election, by the order of cardinal bishops, as Dean of the College of Cardinals. On 19 April 2005 he was elected as the new Pope Benedict XVI.

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Pope Benedict XVI:

“Dear brothers and sisters, after our great pope, John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me, a simple, humble worker in God's vineyard. I am consoled by the fact that the Lord knows how to work and how to act, even with insufficient tools, and I especially trust in your prayers. In the joy of the resurrected Lord, trustful of his permanent help, we go ahead, sure that God will help. And Mary, his most beloved mother, stands on our side.”

 E-mail in English:  benedictxvi@vatican.va
 Vatican site: www.vatican.va

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POPE BENEDICT XVI: BIO

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and International Theological Commission, Dean of the College of Cardinals, was born on 16 April 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Germany. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1951.

His father, a police officer, came from a traditional family of farmers from Lower Bavaria. He spent his adolescent years in Traunstein, and was called into the auxiliary anti-aircraft service in the last months of World War II. From 1946 to 1951, the year in which he was ordained a priest and began to teach, he studied philosophy and theology at the University of Munich and at the higher school in Freising. In 1953 he obtained a doctorate in theology with a thesis entitled: "The People and House of God in St. Augustine’s doctrine of the Church". Four years later, he qualified as a university teacher. He then taught dogma and fundamental theology at the higher school of philosophy and theology of Freising, then in Bonn from 1959 to 1969, Münster from 1963 to 1966, Tubinga from 1966 to 1969. From 1969, he was a professor of dogmatic theology and of the history of dogma at the University of Regensburg and Vice President of the same university.

Already in 1962 he was well known when, at the age of 35, he became a consultor at Vatican Council II, of the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joseph Frings. Among his numerous publications, a particular post belongs to the ‘Introduction to Christianity’, a collection of university lessons on the profession of apostolic faith, published in 1968; Dogma and revelation, an anthology of essays, sermons and reflections dedicated to the pastoral ministry, published in 1973.

In March 1977, Paul VI elected him Archbishop of Munich and Freising and on 28 May 1977 he was consecrated, the first diocesan priest after 80 years to take over the pastoral ministry of this large Bavarian diocese.
Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Paul VI in the consistory of 27 June 1977, of the Titles of the Suburbicarian Church of Velletri-Segni (5 April 1993) and Suburbicarian Church of Ostia (30 November 2002).

On 25 November 1981 he was nominated by John Paul II Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; President of the Biblical Commission and of the Pontifical International Theological Commission.

Relator of the 5th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (1980).
President Delegate to the 6th Synodal Assembly (1983).
Elected Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals, 6 November 1998. On 30 November 2002, the Holy Father approved the election, by the order of cardinal bishops, as Dean of the College of Cardinals.
President of the Commission for the Preparation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and after 6 years of work (1986-92) he presented the New Catechism to the Holy Father.
Laurea honoris causa in jurisprudence from the Libera Universita Maria Santissima Assunta, 10 November 1999.
Honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 13 November 2000.

Curial Membership:

Secretariat of State (second section)
Oriental Churches, Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Bishops, Evangelization of Peoples, Catholic Education (congregations)
Christian Unity (council)
Latin America, Ecclesia Dei (commissions)

19-April-2005 - Vatican Information Service

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BENEDICT XVI, A POPE OF CHRIST, COMMUNION, COLLEGIALITY

VATICAN CITY, APR 20, 2005 (VIS) - Following is the complete text of the first message of Pope Benedict XVI which he delivered in Latin at the end of this morning's Mass with the members of the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the 264th successor to St. Peter in early evening yesterday.

"Grace and peace in abundance to all of you! In my soul there are two contrasting sentiments in these hours. On the one hand, a sense of inadequacy and human turmoil for the responsibility entrusted to me yesterday as the Successor of the Apostle Peter in this See of Rome, with regard to the Universal Church. On the other hand I sense within me profound gratitude to God Who - as the liturgy makes us sing - does not abandon His flock, but leads it throughout time, under the guidance of those whom He has chosen as vicars of His Son, and made pastors.

"Dear Ones, this intimate recognition for a gift of divine mercy prevails in my heart in spite of everything. I consider this a grace obtained for me by my venerated predecessor, John Paul II. It seems I can feel his strong hand squeezing mine; I seem to see his smiling eyes and listen to his words, addressed to me especially at this moment: 'Do not be afraid!'

"The death of the Holy Father John Paul II, and the days which followed, were for the Church and for the entire world an extraordinary time of grace. The great pain for his death and the void that it left in all of us were tempered by the action of the Risen Christ, which showed itself during long days in the choral wave of faith, love and spiritual solidarity, culminating in his solemn funeral.

"We can say it: the funeral of John Paul II was a truly extraordinary experience in which was perceived in some way the power of God Who, through His Church, wishes to form a great family of all peoples, through the unifying force of Truth and Love. In the hour of death, conformed to his Master and Lord, John Paul II crowned his long and fruitful pontificate, confirming the Christian people in faith, gathering them around him and making the entire human family feel more united.

"How can one not feel sustained by this witness? How can one not feel the encouragement that comes from this event of grace?

"Surprising every prevision I had, Divine Providence, through the will of the venerable Cardinal Fathers, called me to succeed this great Pope. I have been thinking in these hours about what happened in the region of Cesarea of Phillippi two thousand years ago: I seem to hear the words of Peter: 'You are Christ, the Son of the living God,' and the solemn affirmation of the Lord: 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church ... I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven'.

"You are Christ! You are Peter! It seems I am reliving this very Gospel scene; I, the Successor of Peter, repeat with trepidation the anxious words of the fisherman from Galilee and I listen again with intimate emotion to the reassuring promise of the divine Master. If the weight of the responsibility that now lies on my poor shoulders is enormous, the divine power on which I can count is surely immeasurable: 'You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church'. Electing me as the Bishop of Rome, the Lord wanted me as his Vicar, he wished me to be the 'rock' upon which everyone may rest with confidence. I ask him to make up for the poverty of my strength, that I may be a courageous and faithful pastor of His flock, always docile to the inspirations of His Spirit. "I undertake this special ministry, the 'Petrine' ministry at the service of the Universal Church, with humble abandon to the hands of the Providence of God. And it is to Christ in the first place that I renew my total and trustworthy adhesion: 'In Te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum!'

"To you, Lord Cardinals, with a grateful soul for the trust shown me, I ask you to sustain me with prayer and with constant, active and wise collaboration. I also ask my brothers in the episcopacy to be close to me in prayer and counsel so that I may truly be the 'Servus servorum Dei' (Servant of the servants of God). As Peter and the other Apostles were, through the will of the Lord, one apostolic college, in the same way the Successor of Peter and the Bishops, successors of the Apostles - and the Council forcefully repeated this - must be closely united among themselves. This collegial communion, even in the diversity of roles and functions of the Supreme Pontiff and the bishops, is at the service of the Church and the unity of faith, from which depend in a notable measure the effectiveness of the evangelizing action of the contemporary world. Thus, this path, upon which my venerated predecessors went forward, I too intend to follow, concerned solely with proclaiming to the world the living presence of Christ. "Before my eyes is, in particular, the witness of Pope John Paul II. He leaves us a Church that is more courageous, freer, younger. A Church that, according to his teaching and example, looks with serenity to the past and is not afraid of the future. With the Great Jubilee the Church was introduced into the new millennium carrying in her hands the Gospel, applied to the world through the authoritative re-reading of Vatican Council II. Pope John Paul II justly indicated the Council as a 'compass' with which to orient ourselves in the vast ocean of the third millennium. Also in his spiritual testament he noted: ' I am convinced that for a very long time the new generations will draw upon the riches that this council of the 20th century gave us'.

"I too, as I start in the service that is proper to the Successor of Peter, wish to affirm with force my decided will to pursue the commitment to enact Vatican Council II, in the wake of my predecessors and in faithful continuity with the millennia old tradition of the Church. Precisely this year is the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of this conciliar assembly (December 8, 1965). With the passing of time, the conciliar documents have not lost their timeliness; their teachings have shown themselves to be especially pertinent to the new exigencies of the Church and the present globalized society.

"In a very significant way, my pontificate starts as the Church is living the special year dedicated to the Eucharist. How can I not see in this providential coincidence an element that must mark the ministry to which I have been called? The Eucharist, the heart of Christian life and the source of the evangelizing mission of the Church, cannot but be the permanent centre and the source of the petrine service entrusted to me. "The Eucharist makes the Risen Christ constantly present, Christ Who continues to give Himself to us, calling us to participate in the banquet of His Body and His Blood. From this full communion with Him comes every other element of the life of the Church, in the first place the communion among the faithful, the commitment to proclaim and give witness to the Gospel, the ardor of charity towards all, especially towards the poor and the smallest.

"In this year, therefore, the Solemnity of Corpus Christ must be celebrated in a particularly special way. The Eucharist will be at the centre, in August, of World Youth Day in Cologne and, in October, of the ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops which will take place on the theme "The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Life and Mission of the Church.' I ask everyone to intensify in coming months love and devotion to the Eucharistic Jesus and to express in a courageous and clear way the real presence of the Lord, above all through the solemnity and the correctness of the celebrations.

"I ask this in a special way of priests, about whom I am thinking in this moment with great affection. The priestly ministry was born in the Cenacle, together with the Eucharist, as my venerated predecessor John Paul II underlined so many times. 'The priestly life must have in a special way a 'Eucharistic form', he wrote in his last Letter for Holy Thursday. The devout daily celebration of Holy Mass, the centre of the life and mission of every priest, contributes to this end.

"Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel stimulated to tend towards that full unity for which Christ hoped in the Cenacle. Peter's Successor knows that he must take on this supreme desire of the Divine Master in a particularly special way. To him, indeed, has been entrusted the duty of strengthening his brethren.

"Thus, in full awareness and at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome that Peter bathed with his blood, the current Successor assumes as his primary commitment that of working tirelessly towards the reconstitution of the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, this is his compelling duty. He is aware that to do so, expressions of good feelings are not enough. Concrete gestures are required to penetrate souls and move consciences, encouraging everyone to that interior conversion which is the basis for all progress on the road of ecumenism.

"Theological dialogue is necessary. A profound examination of the historical reasons behind past choices is also indispensable. But even more urgent is that 'purification of memory,' which was so often evoked by John Paul II, and which alone can dispose souls to welcome the full truth of Christ. It is before Him, supreme Judge of all living things, that each of us must stand, in the awareness that one day we must explain to Him what we did and what we did not do for the great good that is the full and visible unity of all His disciples.

"The current Successor of Peter feels himself to be personally implicated in this question and is disposed to do all in his power to promote the fundamental cause of ecumenism. In the wake of his predecessors, he is fully determined to cultivate any initiative that may seem appropriate to promote contact and agreement with representatives from the various Churches and ecclesial communities. Indeed, on this occasion too, he sends them his most cordial greetings in Christ, the one Lord of all. "In this moment, I go back in my memory to the unforgettable experience we all underwent with the death and the funeral of the lamented John Paul II. Around his mortal remains, lying on the bare earth, leaders of nations gathered, with people from all social classes and especially the young, in an unforgettable embrace of affection and admiration. The entire world looked to him with trust. To many it seemed as if that intense participation, amplified to the confines of the planet by the social communications media, was like a choral request for help addressed to the Pope by modern humanity which, wracked by fear and uncertainty, questions itself about the future.

"The Church today must revive within herself an awareness of the task to present the world again with the voice of the One Who said: 'I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.' In undertaking his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today: not his own light but that of Christ.

"With this awareness, I address myself to everyone, even to those who follow other religions or who are simply seeking an answer to the fundamental questions of life and have not yet found it. I address everyone with simplicity and affection, to assure them that the Church wants to continue to build an open and sincere dialogue with them, in a search for the true good of mankind and of society.

"From God I invoke unity and peace for the human family and declare the willingness of all Catholics to cooperate for true social development, one that respects the dignity of all human beings.

"I will make every effort and dedicate myself to pursuing the promising dialogue that my predecessors began with various civilizations, because it is mutual understanding that gives rise to conditions for a better future for everyone. "I am particularly thinking of young people. To them, the privileged interlocutors of John Paul II, I send an affectionate embrace in the hope, God willing, of meeting them at Cologne on the occasion of the next World Youth Day. With you, dear young people, I will continue to maintain a dialogue, listening to your expectations in an attempt to help you meet ever more profoundly the living, ever young, Christ.

''Mane nobiscum, Domine!' Stay with us Lord! This invocation, which forms the dominant theme of John Paul II's Apostolic Letter for the Year of the Eucharist, is the prayer that comes spontaneously from my heart as I turn to begin the ministry to which Christ has called me. Like Peter, I too renew to Him my unconditional promise of faithfulness. He alone I intend to serve as I dedicate myself totally to the service of His Church.

"In support of this promise, I invoke the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy, in whose hands I place the present and the future of my person and of the Church. May the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, also intercede. "With these sentiments I impart to you venerated brother cardinals, to those participating in this ritual, and to all those following to us by television and radio, a special and affectionate blessing."

20-April-2005 - Catholic News Agency

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(Courtesy AP)

OUR VERY DEAR HOLY FATHER JOHN PAUL II THE GREAT, THE VICAR OF CHRIST HAS DIED!!!

(Courtesy AP)

We continue to pray with thanksgiving for the eternal repose of the soul of Pope John Paul II Great, who we commend to the mercy of Christ. “Requiescat in pace” (may he rest in peace).

WHITE SILK VEIL placed on the face of the Holy Father John Paul II Great is a symbol of ETERNAL LIGHT.

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JOHN PAUL II GREAT

“We will miss him - The Catholic Register.  “We’ve lost a giant of our time” - Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic archbishop of Toronto.  “He looked after Poland as a mother looks after her family” - Lech Walesa. Apart from the Pope's role as a spiritual guide “he was a tireless advocate of peace, a true pioneer in interfaith dialogue and a strong force for critical self evaluation by the church itself” - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said Italians are “mourning the loss of a father”. President Fidel Castro joining the world's leaders declared three days of mourning in the officially atheistic country.  Irish President Mary McAleese  said Pope John Paul's story “is that of a man of immense faith and conviction and, in latter years, great personal courage. He engaged with human culture and civilization in every aspect and in every corner of the world.” Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev called the Pope the “No. 1 humanist on the planet.”

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Rome, Apr. 02 ( CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II died late on Saturday night, April 2, ending one of the longest and most influential pontificates in the history of the Catholic Church.

The Holy Father remained "extraordinarily serene" during his final illness, according to his spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls. He had suffered heart failure the previous evening while being treated for an infection of his urinary tract. As his condition deteriorated rapidly during the day on Friday and then Saturday, with his body wracked by septic shock and kidney failure, the Pope remained in prayer with his closest aides, losing consciousness only late in the evening before his death.

Pope John Paul was 84 years old at the time of his death. He had been afflicted by Parkinson's disease, causing a serious curtailment of his activities, for several years. In February 2005, he was hospitalized twice for severe respiratory problems. Doctors at the Gemelli Hospital had inserted a tube in his throat to ease his breathing, and earlier this week the Vatican had disclosed that a feeding tube had also been inserted to provide him with supplementary nourishment because of his difficulty in swallowing.
The Pope's last public appearance came on Easter Sunday, when he came to the balcony of his apartment in the apostolic palace to deliver the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing. During that public appearance the Pope was in obvious pain, and unable to speak.
In October 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, Poland, was elected the 264th Roman Pontiff-- the youngest Pope of the 20th century and the first non Italian to serve as leader of the Catholic world in over 400 years. He took the name John Paul II, and in a memorable first appearance as Pope, immediately won the hearts of the Roman crowd as he greeted them with the words of Jesus, which would echo throughout his 26 year pontificate: "Be not afraid!"

Only two Popes-- Blessed Pius IX, who served over 31 years, and St. Peter himself-- have held the papacy for longer than John Paul II. During his extraordinary pontificate, he became the most widely recognized man in human history, travelling to greet millions of people all around the world, and earning credit as one of the principal architects of the fall of Soviet Communism. His years in the papacy saw a series of "firsts," and an astonishing output of encyclicals, apostolic letters, and other writings.
Born in Wadowice, Poland, on May 18, 1920, Karol Wojtyla was raised primarily by his father, a military officer also named Karol, after his mother's death in 1929. When his father died in 1941, he was left alone, as a student in Krakow's Jagiellonian Unversity. During the occupation of Poland by Nazi forces in World War II, he was pressed into labor as a stonecutter, then in a chemical factory, but worked with the Polish underground and maintained an avid interest in theatre.
In 1942 the young Wojtyla entered a clandestine seminary, and after the war, in 1946, he was ordained by Cardinal Adam Sapieha of Krakow. He continued his studies in Rome under the famous French Dominican, Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, and earned degrees in theology and philosophy, with a dissertation on the mystical works of St. John of the Cross. He returned to Poland to teach at the Krakow seminary, while also serving as a parish priest, and forming friendships with a number of young families-- friendships that remained intact throughout his life.

At the age of just 38 he was named an auxiliary bishop of Krakow by Pope Pius XII, and in 1962 he became the city's archbishop. He was raised to the College of Cardinals by Pope Paul VI at the age of 47.

The scholarly young Polish prelate was an influential figure in the deliberations of the Second Vatican Council, taking a particularly active role in the writing of Gaudium et Spes (doc) , the dogmatic constitution on the Church and the modern world.
In August 1978, he took part in the conclave that elected Cardinal Albino Luciani of Venice to become Pope John Paul I; when that Pontiff died abruptly after just 33 days, he again entered the conclave-- to emerge as Pope John Paul II.
During visits to his native Poland, John Paul II proved to be a lightning-rod for the growing opposition to the country's Communist regime. On May 13, 1981, he was shot and severely wounded by Mehmet Ali Agca in an assassination attempt that took place immediately after a public audience in St. Peter's Square. Vatican officials immediately suspected that the leaders of the Soviet Union had authorized the attempt on the Pope's life-- a hypothesis that appears to have been confirmed by documents recently discovered in the archives of the East German secret service.

Alongside his historic role in the fall of Communism, John Paul II has also been the world's most influential defender of the dignity of human life; his memorable calls for the development of a "culture of life"-- and his parallel denunciations of the "culture of death"-- have been instrumental in rallying opposition to abortion, contraception, euthanasia, and embryonic tissue research.
The Polish Pontiff was an ardent exponent of Christian unity, who made special efforts to reach out to other Christian churches. He was especially insistent on the need to bring together the Eastern and Western Christian traditions, saying that the Church must "breathe with both lungs."

By far the most travelled Pontiff in history, John Paul II made 104 trips outside Italy during his pontificate, as well as 146 inside the country. His long papacy saw a huge increase in the number of saints formally recognized by the Church; he beatified 1,338 people, and canonized 482. He was the author of 14 encyclicals, 15 apostolic exhortations, 11 apostolic constitutions, 45 apostolic letters, and five books that appeared during the time he served as Pope.

Courtesy: CW News.com

LAST MOMENTS OF JOHN PAUL II  DESCRIBED

 Rome, Apr. 03 ( CWNews.com) - The Vatican press office released the following official statement by papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls regarding the sequence of events preceding and following Pope John Paul's death on Saturday:

"At 8 p.m. the celebration of Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday began in the Holy Father's room, presided by Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz with the participation of Cardinal Marian Jaworski, of Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko and of Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki.

"During the course of the Mass, the Viaticum was administered to the Holy Father and, once again, the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

"The Holy Father's final hours were marked by the uninterrupted prayer of all those who were assisting him in his pious death, and by the choral participation in prayer of the thousands of faithful who, for many hours, had been gathered in St. Peter's Square.

"Present at the moment of the death of John Paul II were: his two personal secretaries Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz and Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, Fr. Tadeusz Styczen, the three nuns, Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, who assist in the Holy Father's apartment, guided by the Superior Sr. Tobiana Sobodka, and the Pope's personal physician Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, with the two doctors on call, Dr. Alessandro Barelli and Dr. Ciro D'Allo, and the two nurses on call.

"Immediately afterwards Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano arrived, as did the camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State, and Archbishop Paolo Sardi, vice-camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.

"Thereafter, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Jozef Tomko also arrived."
The first announcement of the Pope's death came from Navarro-Valls who, minutes after the Holy Father expired, sent an email to journalists informing them of the event. A formal announcement from Archbishop Sandri to the tens of thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square. "Our Holy Father, John Paul, has returned to the house of the Father," he said. "We all feel like orphans this evening."

As the end of his life approached, the Holy Father reportedly dictated a message for the Catholic faithful to his secretary: "I am happy and you should be happy too. Do not weep. Let us pray together with joy."

Father Jarek Cielecki, director of a Vatican TV station, gave more of the details of the Holy Father's last moments: "The Holy Father died looking towards the window as he prayed, and that shows that in some way he was conscious," Cielecki said. "A short while before dying, the Pope raised his right hand in a clear, although simply hinted at, gesture of blessing, as if he became aware of the crowd of faithful present in St Peter's Square, who in those moments were following the reciting of the Rosary," he added. "Just after the prayer ended, the Pope made a huge effort and pronounced the word 'Amen'. A moment later, he died."

Courtesy: CW News.com

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Courtesy: Derrick Cayrac/AFP/Getty Images    Laski Diffusion/Getty Images    Derrick Cayrac/AFP/Getty Images

(Courtesy AP)

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(Courtesy AP/Vatican TV)                                                (Courtesy: AFP)

His Holiness Pope John Paul II Biography

Karol J. Wojtyla, known as John Paul II since his October 1978 election to the papacy, was born in Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometres from Cracow, on May 18, 1920. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla and Emilia Kaczorowska. His mother died in 1929. His eldest brother Edmund, a doctor, died in 1932 and his father, a non-commissioned army officer died in 1941.

He made his First Holy Communion at age 9 and was confirmed at 18. Upon graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Cracow's Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a school for drama.

The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry (1940-1944) and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany.

In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses in the clandestine seminary of Cracow, run by Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha, archbishop of Cracow. At the same time, Karol Wojtyla was one of the pioneers of the "Rhapsodic Theatre," also clandestine.

After the Second World War, he continued his studies in the major seminary of Cracow, once it had re-opened, and in the faculty of theology of the Jagiellonian University, until his priestly ordination in Cracow on November 1, 1946.

Soon after, Cardinal Sapieha sent him to Rome where he worked under the guidance of the French Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. He finished his doctorate in theology in 1948 with a thesis on the topic of faith in the works of St. John of the Cross. At that time, during his vacations, he exercised his pastoral ministry among the Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland.

In 1948 he returned to Poland and was vicar of various parishes in Cracow as well as chaplain for the university students until 1951, when he took up again his studies on philosophy and theology. In 1953 he defended a thesis on "evaluation of the possibility of founding a Catholic ethic on the ethical system of Max Scheler" at Lublin Catholic University. Later he became professor of moral theology and social ethics in the major seminary of Cracow and in the Faculty of Theology of Lublin.

On July 4, 1958, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cracow by Pope Pius XII, and was consecrated September 28, 1958, in Wawel Cathedral, Cracow, by Archbishop Baziak.

On January 13, 1964, he was nominated Archbishop of Cracow by Pope Paul VI, who made him a cardinal June 26, 1967.

Besides taking part in Vatican Council II with an important contribution to the elaboration of the Constitution Gaudium et spes, Cardinal Wojtyla participated in all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops.

Since the start of his Pontificate on October 16, 1978, Pope John Paul II has completed 95 pastoral visits outside of Italy and 142 within Italy . As Bishop of Rome he has visited 301 of the 334 parishes.

His principal documents include 14 encyclicals , 13 apostolic exhortations , 11 apostolic constitutions and 42 apostolic letters. The Pope has also published three books : "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" (October 1994); "Gift and Mystery: On the 50th Anniversary of My Priestly Ordination" (November 1996) and "Roman Tryptych - Meditations", a book of poems (March 2003).

John Paul II has presided at 138 beatification ceremonies ( 1,310 Blesseds proclaimed ) and 48 canonization ceremonies ( 469 Saints ) during his pontificate. He has held 8 consistories in which he created 201 cardinals . He has also convened six plenary meetings of the College of Cardinals.

From 1978 to today the Holy Father has presided at 15 Synods of Bishops : six ordinary (1980, 1983, 1987, 1990, 1994, 2001), one extraordinary (1985) and eight special (1980, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998[2] and 1999).

No other Pope has encountered so many individuals like John Paul II: to date, more than 16,700,000 pilgrims have participated in the General Audiences held on Wednesdays (more than 1,000). Such figure is without counting all other special audiences and religious ceremonies held [more than 8 million pilgrims during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 alone] and the millions of faithful met during pastoral visits made in Italy and throughout the world. It must also be remembered the numerous government personalities encountered during 38 official visits and in the 690 audiences and meetings held with Heads of State , and even the 226 audiences and meetings with Prime Ministers.

Courtesy: Catholic Online

The Vatican's home page: http://www.vatican.va

Catholic Online:  http://www.catholic.org/

Catholic World News: http://www.cwnews.com

The above monument by the Credit Union on Roncesvalles Ave. in Toronto has become a pilgrimage site for people who would like to pay their last respects to John Paul II

Eternal Flame for John Paul II the Great

In union with the Church throughout the world we pray for our deceased Holy Father:

Lord Jesus, Eternal Priest and Shepherd of the Flock, into your gentle care we entrust the good soul of Pope John Paul II, the Great, the servant You have chosen to guard and govern your Church in this earth. Eternal rest, grant unto him O Lord, and let perpetual light shine on him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

The Friendly Visiting Program

The Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region is currently in urgent need of Friendly Visitors to visit those suffering from Alzheimer Disease and related dementias.

The Friendly Visiting Program - Friendly Visitors make home visits of 1 ½ - 2 hours a week to our clients. Visitors will receive a certified Training Course before they begin to visit.  Volunteers are placed based on their and the client’s preferences, interests and location.  The program is very flexible so the visits can be worked into any schedule.

The program is designed to help caregivers who are often overwhelmed with their care giving people. The visitor will provide socialization and meaningful activities to the person with the Disease. The program has been very rewarding to all involved!

There sis approximately 6500 people in the Niagara Region who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer Disease or a related dementia. Our aging population is only increasing the need for volunteers for the Friendly Visitor Program.

If you can help, please call Trisha Haight at 905-687-8656 ext. 551.

Salt + Light Television

The mission of salt + Light Television is to spread the teachings of Christ and the Catholic Church through programming that is uplifting, inspirational and designed to reach Catholics of all ages. Salt + Light Television is now available on a national basis through Bell ExpressVu.

If you currently have acces to Bell ExpressVu’s Nimiq 2 Satellite, you can immediately start viewing Salt + Light Television on Channel 654 free of charge until January 21, 2005. You can subscribe by calling 1-888-SKY-DISH (1-888-759-3474) or by visiting their website: www.bell.ca. Other service providers in Ontario include Rogers Digital Cable and Cogeco Digital Cable (select areas only eff. Dec. 15/04). To learn more about Salt + Light Television, please visit www.saltandlighttv.org.

To subscribe: Bell ExpressVu: 1-888-SKYDISH or  www.bell.ca; Cogeco: 1-866-427-7451 or www.cogeco.ca; Rogers: 1-888-764-3771 or www.rogers.com

Did You Know That ...

• Canada has no abortion laws, thereby sanctioning abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
• Abortion was "Legalized" over 30 years ago, before we understood about a baby's life prior to birth through sonograms and medical advancements.
• Over 40,000 unborn babies are killrd by abortion in Ontario each year.
• many women are coerced into abortions by their boyfriends who don't want the responsibility of a child.
• Women who have abortions may suffer deep regret and depression for years afterward.
• There are thousands of people waiting to adopt a child.

 . . . to save lives

"The Knights of columbus in Ontario has always supported the Right to Life. There is no more pressing need at this time in our church and country that the end to abortion. I wholeheartedly endorse this media campaign which will make clear the need for all to respect human life from conception until natural death. May God bless you in your efforts."

Dan Hefferman
Pro-Life Chairman
Ontario State Council
Knights of Columbus

"Your campaign is addressing one of the most urgen needs in Canadian society - saving unborn children. Focus on the Family is passionate about the unborn child and looks forward to the continued success of your efforts."

Darrel Reid, President
Focus on the family (Canada)

"We knights have no higher calling. We must fight for laws that unconditionally protects the rights to life....We will not rest until the culture of death has been replaced with a culture of Life"

Supreme Knight Carl Anderson
Dallas, Texas. August 5, 2004

 

"I appeal uregently to all of you, dear brothers and sisters, to do everything in your power to ensure that life, each and every life, will be respected from conception to its natural end. Life is a sacred gift, and no one can presume to be its master."

Pope John Paul II
Lourdes, August 16th, 2004

The Catholic Church is Pro-Life

"God is the author of Life". As Pope John Paul II says, Christians believe that "all human life is sacred, for it is created in the image and likeness of God." Aborting an unborn child destroys a unique creation which God has called specially into existence.

Christian teaching obliges us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who spoke and acted strongly and compassionately in favor of the most despised and vulnerable persons in society. Jesus touched lepers, spoke with prostitutes, and showed special mercy and tenderness to the sick, the poor, and children.

Our society today has many vulnerable persons - including women in crisis pregnancies as well as unborn children whose lives may be legally ended at any time during pregnancy and for any reason. In the tradition of Jesus Christ, Chatholics have a responsibility to speak and act in defense of these persons. This is part of our "preferential options" for the poor and powerless.

Please support this campaign and mail your contributions to:

Reaching Minds Through Media Campaign
St. Catharines Right to Life Association
3 King Street, Suite #2
St. Catharines, Ontario
L2R 3 G8

POPE JOHN PAUL II presided at a Eucharistic celebration in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, April 25 at 10 a.m. during which he proclaimed six new Blesseds: August Czartoryski, priest of the Salesians of St. John Bosco (1858-1893); Laura Montoya, virgin, foundress of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate and of St. Catherine of Siena (1874-1949); Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, virgin, co-foundress of the Handmaids of St. Margaret Mary and of the Poor (1878-1963); Nemesia Valle, virgin, of the Congregation of Charity of St. Joan Antida Thouret (1847-1916); Eusebia Palomino Yenes, virgin, of the Institute of Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (1899-1935); Alexandrina Maria da Costa, lay woman, of the Union of Salesian Cooperators ( (1904-1955).

Augusto Czartoryski (1858-1893)

A POLISH PRINCE-TURNED-PRIEST TO BE BEATIFIED
After Ordination, Augustus Czartoryski Lived Only a Year

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 20, 2004 (Zenit.org)- Among the three members of the Salesian family that John Paul II will beatify next Sunday is Augustus Czartoryski, a scion of a Polish family of nobility who became a priest.

Augustus Czartoryski (1858-1893) was born in exile in Paris from where his family -- linked to Poland's dynastic interests -- directed a vast action among compatriots and the foreign ministries of Europe to help restore the homeland's unity. The land had been dismembered and divided among the great powers since 1795.

Augustus' parents were Princess Maria Amparo Munoz de Vista Alegre, daughter of the then queen consort and regent of Spain, and Ladislao Czartoryski, prince of Poland in exile.

From his birth Augustus was seen as the point of reference of those who dreamed of the rebirth of Poland. His interests, however, were far from the court.

He came under the instruction of Joseph Kalinowski, a future canonized saint. Kalinowski, who after suffering 10 years of forced labor in Siberia became a Carmelite, was from 1874 to 1877 private tutor of the young prince, exercising great influence on him.

Yet what proved decisive for Augustus was his meeting at age 25 in Paris with St. John Bosco (1815-1888), founder of the Salesians.

In 1883, Don Bosco was traveling in France asking for alms. He accepted the invitation of the Czartoryski noble Polish family and celebrated Mass in the Hotel Lambert, their palace in Paris.

The altar servers that day were Ladislao, the head of the family, and Augustus, his firstborn. At the end of the Mass, Augustus asked Don Bosco for a private meeting.

After the meeting, Augustus not only felt his vocation to the religious state reinforced, but had the clear conviction that he was called to be a Salesian.

As often as he could, Augustus went to Turin to meet with Don Bosco and to receive his advice. He also undertook several courses of Spiritual Exercises under the direction of the future saint.

Don Bosco was always cautious about accepting the prince in his congregation. But Pope Leo XIII, recognizing Augustus' determination, said: "Tell Don Bosco that it is the Pope's will that he receive you among the Salesians."

At the end of June 1887, after having given up all his rights in favor of his brothers, Augustus was sent to St. Benigno Canavese for a brief period as an aspirant, during which his father visited him on several occasions to dissuade him from his vocation.

Finally, on Nov. 24, 1887, Augustus took the habit in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians from the hands of Don Bosco, who died two months later. Prince Czartoryski became a Salesian, making his religious vows on the saint's tomb in Valsalice.

He was ordained a priest on April 2, 1892. Don Czartoryski's priestly life lasted only a year, which he spent in a room. The tuberculosis he suffered from his youth worsened in time. He died in Alassio on April 8, 1893, at age 35, having lived only five years as a Salesian.

His remains were taken to Poland and buried in the parish crypt of Sieniawa, next to the family's tombs. Subsequently, they were taken to the Salesian church of Przemysl, where they rest today.

Cardinal Giovanni Cagliero summarized the last period of the young Salesian's life saying: "He was no longer of this world! His union with God, his perfect union with the Divine Will in his aggravated illness, his desire to be conformed to Jesus Christ in his sufferings and afflictions, made him heroic in patience, calm in spirit, and invincible more than in suffering, in the love of God."

 Photo Credit: The Vatican Web Site

MARRIAGE AND THE COMMON GOOD

As explained recently in the Vatican’s Doctrinal Note on Catholic Participation in Political Life, Catholics need to speak with or write to their members of parliament when actions are proposed that would harm family life and undermine the natural and moral order, both of which are foundation or a stable, healthy society. In reaction to the current government’s proposal to redefine marriage, The Ontario Bishops, in their letter on marriage explain that on an issue as important as marriage, Catholics have an obligation to ensure that the political representatives understand that “to equate same-sex unions and marriage in law is to undermine marriage and harm the common good.”

Marriage and Family

The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws… God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this greatness is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.

THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

The matrimonial covenant, by which a man an a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of sacrament.

Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than “the family of God”. From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers ’together with all their household’. When they were converted, they desired that ’theirs whole household’ should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.

MARRIAGE

The Catholic bishops of Canada have made it clear to the federal government that we are firmly committed to the maintenance of the common law definition of marriage as “the voluntary and lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others” and to the sacramental nature of that union.

From recent announcements, it would  appear that the federal government is ready to abandon that concept of marriage in favour of some other. The bishops of Ontario are opposed to this federal initiative. In the coming months we will be asking you to join us in defending marriage as it has existed for millennia.

Marriage and family are fundamental institutions which contribute to the common good in terms of the formation of children, loyalty, faithfulness and responsibility in our society. Marriage, as we have known it, cannot be allowed to slip quietly away. 

The Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops

AN ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

O Holy Spirit, divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to You my understanding, my heart and my will, my whole being for time and for eternity.

My understanding be always submissive to Your heavenly inspirations and to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, of which You are the infallible Guide.

May my heart be ever inflamed with love of God and of my neighbour; may my will be ever conformed to the divine Will, and my whole life be a faithful imitation of the life and virtues of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and You, Holy Spirit, be honour and glory forever. Amen.  St. Pius X, pope, June 5, 1908

PREGNANT?    NEED  HELP?

Call  BIRTHRIGHT - (905) 685-1913

The Poor

When we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt to justice.

Pope St. Gregory the Great: Rule for Pastoral Care.

In Ontario at this time, are we paying these debts to justice? Why do we have homeless people on our streets? Do you know what percentage of our children are classified as poor? Is it acceptable to you that so many people need to make use of food banks? Would you believe that there are people in this province with no income at all? Those are choices that we, the people of Ontario, have been making.

A Culture of Life

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2273:  The inalienable right to life of every innocent human person is a constitutive element of a civil society and its legislation.

Would you say that our society lives up to this standard? Where are we as a society with regard to abortion and euthanasia? Are we looking after the health needs of the most vulnerable in our society? Are we supporting life in all of its aspects and all of its stages?

                Centesimus Annus: The Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum, #43 (Encyclical by John Paul II)

The Church has no (political) models to present: models that are real and truly effective can only arise within the framework of different historical situations... For such a task the Church offers her social teaching as an indispensable and ideal orientation, a teaching which... recognizes the positive value of the market and of enterprise, but which at the same time points out that these need to be oriented towards the common good.

               Centesimus Annus:  The Hundredth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum, 46 (Encyclical by John Paul II)

The Church values the democratic system inasmuch as it ensures the participation of citizens in making political choices, guarantees to the governed the possibility both of electing and holding accountable those who govern them, and of replacing them though peaceful means when appropriate.

 Vision TV

The daily Mass on Vision TV continues to be broadcast Monday through Friday at 8:00 AM and repeated at 12:00 noon and on Saturdays at 8:00 AM only.

Catholic Radio

Now broadcasting four nights a week on channel AM 530 throughout southern Ontario: Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays from 9 –10 PM and Thursdays from 9 PM - midnight.  Providing news, music, spiritual reflections, call-in programs, book and movie reviews, special features for youth and families and more.

See the website at:  www.catholicradio.ca

Retreat   Centre:

MOUNT   CARMEL
Spiritual Centre, 7021 Stanley Ave.,
Niagara Falls, ON.  L2G 7B7
(905) 356-4113  Fax (905) 358-2548
 www.carmelniagara.com

Open Arms Mission Welland Inc.:

"Give to the Poor" Matthew 19:21

Open Arms Mission is our mission to the needy and disadvantaged in Welland. They are presently in need of food such as peanut butter, pasta, sauce, dry cereals, tuna, baby food, etc. They also need clean plastic containers with lids. God bless and thank you for supporting this cause.

...HOLY CROSS CEMETERY...

Holy Cross Cemetery has purchased a Columbarium. A Columbarium is a practical alternative to conventional cemetery burial. It provides a series of niches for the individual internment of cremated remains. Our granite Columbarium has 80 niches and each niche can contain 2 cremated remains. We welcome any inquiries from area parishioners.

Hours:  8:00 AM to 4:30 PM Monday to Friday.

Address:  50 Woodlawn Road, Welland, Ontario. L3C 3J5

VOLUNTEER TRANSPORTATION SERVICE

Volunteer transportation service is available for long term care consumers. Transportation is provided for eligible consumers for medical and other appointments, banking, shopping or recreational activities within the communities of Welland and Pelham as well as to/from other communities such as St. Catharines, Hamilton or Toronto. For more information call Meals on Wheels/Community Support Services at 788-3181. Ask for transportation!

Volunteers Required

Woodlands of Sunset

D. H. Rapelje Lodge Home for the Aged

Volunteers are required for variety of activities. A couple of hours of your time once a week or even once a month can make an incredible difference to our residents quality of life.

For more information regarding these opportunities please call Sylvia Bleyswyk (coordinator of volunteers) at Woodlands of Sunset 892-3845 ext. 249 or D. H. Rapelje Lodge 714-7428 ext. 249.

FAMILY & CHILDREN SERVICES

Family and Children's Services Niagara once again has a tremendous need for foster parents to provide care for children - infants to teens.  Currently the number of children in care is at an all time high.  Financial support and training is provided.

Please call (905) 937-7731 or toll free 1-888-9377731

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