Catholic News 2
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stepping into a raging diplomatic argument, Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday staunchly defended the Obama administration's decision to allow the U.N. Security Council to declare Israeli settlements illegal and warned that Israel's very future as a democracy is at stake....
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to young people from the ecumenical community of Taizé who are participating in a European Meeting of Young Adults taking place in Riga, Latvia, from 28 December to 1 January. It is the first time a European Meeting is taking place in a Baltic State.Listen to our report: The Holy Father’s letter to the young people dwelt especially on the virtue of hope. “The Pope is particularly close to you,” it said, “because he has often called you to not let anyone rob you of your hope.”Pope Francis thanked them for leaving their “comfortable homes” to take part in the meeting in Riga. Their participation, he said, shows that they desire to be “protagonists of history,” and that they desire to not let others determine their future. He encouraged them “to stand firm in hope by letting the Lord live in your hearts and your daily lives,” saying, “with Jesus, the fa...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has sent a message to young people from the ecumenical community of Taizé who are participating in a European Meeting of Young Adults taking place in Riga, Latvia, from 28 December to 1 January. It is the first time a European Meeting is taking place in a Baltic State.
Listen to our report:
The Holy Father’s letter to the young people dwelt especially on the virtue of hope. “The Pope is particularly close to you,” it said, “because he has often called you to not let anyone rob you of your hope.”
Pope Francis thanked them for leaving their “comfortable homes” to take part in the meeting in Riga. Their participation, he said, shows that they desire to be “protagonists of history,” and that they desire to not let others determine their future. He encouraged them “to stand firm in hope by letting the Lord live in your hearts and your daily lives,” saying, “with Jesus, the faithful friend who never disappoints, you will be able to walk along the path toward the future with joy, and devote your talents and abilities to the good of all.”
Precisely because so many people feel discouraged by violence and suffering, and believe that evil is “stronger than anything,” Pope Francis invited the young people “to show in your words and deeds that evil is not the last word in our history.”
Pope Francis expressed his hope that the meeting in Riga would help young people to not be afraid of their limits, but “to grow in trust in Jesus, who believes and hopes in you.” Invoking the simplicity of Brother Roger, the founder of the Taize community, he prayed that the young people might “build bridges of friendship and make visible the love with which God loves us."
Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ letter to the young people of the Taize community who are meeting in Riga:
Dear young people,
Coming from every part of Europe, and from a number of other continents, several thousand of you have gathered in Riga, Latvia, for the 39th meeting organized and led by the Taizé Community. With the theme of bearing witness to hope that will be at the heart of your reflection and prayers, Pope Francis is particularly close to you because he has often called you to not let anyone rob you of your hope. During the WYD prayer vigil in Kraków he strongly emphasized this essential reality of the Christian faith: “At the moment when the Lord calls us, he looks at all that we might be able to do, all the love we are capable of sharing. He always wagers on the future, on tomorrow. Jesus urges you on toward the horizon, never toward the museum” (30 July 2016).
The Holy Father thanks you for choosing to leave your comfortable homes to live out this pilgrimage of trust in response to the call of God’s Spirit.
Young Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic Christians, by these days lived in real fraternity you manifest your desire to be protagonists of history and not let others decide your future. The Pope encourages you to stand firm in hope by letting the Lord live in your hearts and your daily lives. With Jesus, the faithful friend who never disappoints, you will be able to walk along the path toward the future with joy and devote your talents and abilities for the good of all.
Today, many people are disconcerted and discouraged by violence, injustice, suffering and divisions. They have the impression that evil is stronger than anything. Therefore, Pope Francis invites you to show in your words and deeds that evil is not the last word in our history. For “it is the time of mercy for each and all, since no one can think that he or she is cut off from God’s closeness and the power of his tender love” (Apostolic Letter, Misericordia and Misera, section 21).
The Pope hopes that these days that bring you together in Riga will help you not to be afraid of your limits but to grow in trust in Jesus, the Christ and Lord, who believes and hopes in you. May you, in the simplicity to which Brother Roger bore witness, build bridges of friendship and make visible the love with which God loves us.
From the depths of his heart, the Holy Father gives you his blessing, to you young people participating in this meeting, to the Brothers of Taizé, and to all the people who welcome you in Riga and the surrounding region.
(Vatican Radio) Among the guests in the Paul VI Hall on Wednesday for Pope Francis’ weekly General Audience was a group of performers from the Golden Circus – a circus festival underway this week here in Rome.Now in its 33rd iteration, the Golden Circus Festival has become a regular feature of Roman life at Christmas.The performers often visit the Vatican for a General Audience at Christmastide, during the festival’s run in Rome.
(Vatican Radio) Among the guests in the Paul VI Hall on Wednesday for Pope Francis’ weekly General Audience was a group of performers from the Golden Circus – a circus festival underway this week here in Rome.
Now in its 33rd iteration, the Golden Circus Festival has become a regular feature of Roman life at Christmas.
The performers often visit the Vatican for a General Audience at Christmastide, during the festival’s run in Rome.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis returned to the theme of “Christian Hope” in the catechesis during the weekly General Audience. On Wednesday, he focused his attention on the figure of Abram, who became Abraham, our “father in faith and in hope.”Listen to Christopher Wells' report: Saint Paul himself pointed to Abram “to indicate the way of faith and of hope.” Abram’s confidence in God’s promise to give him a son was truly a hope “against every hope”, precisely because of his advanced age, and the sterility of Sara, his wife. But Abram believed, and his faith gave way to a new hope, a hope which, to all appearances was unreasonable. His hope “opens new horizons, making him capable of dreaming what is unimaginable.” Hope, the Holy Father said, allows us “to enter into the darkness of an uncertain future to journey in the light.”It is a difficult journey, though, he continued. Even Abram had mo...
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis returned to the theme of “Christian Hope” in the catechesis during the weekly General Audience. On Wednesday, he focused his attention on the figure of Abram, who became Abraham, our “father in faith and in hope.”
Listen to Christopher Wells' report:
Saint Paul himself pointed to Abram “to indicate the way of faith and of hope.” Abram’s confidence in God’s promise to give him a son was truly a hope “against every hope”, precisely because of his advanced age, and the sterility of Sara, his wife. But Abram believed, and his faith gave way to a new hope, a hope which, to all appearances was unreasonable. His hope “opens new horizons, making him capable of dreaming what is unimaginable.” Hope, the Holy Father said, allows us “to enter into the darkness of an uncertain future to journey in the light.”
It is a difficult journey, though, he continued. Even Abram had moments of crisis and discouragement. In the Gospel passage, the scene where Abram questions God takes place at night – but, the Pope said, in the heart of Abram there is the darkness of disappointment, of discouragement. Even though he spoke familiarly with God, Abram in these moments felt alone, old and tired, with death on his doorstep.
Pope Francis said that even this moment of questioning by Abram is a form of Faith. Despite his disappointment, Abram continued to believe in God – or else why would he complain to Him? Faith, the Pope said, “is not only silence that accepts everything without reply, hope is not a certainty that makes you secure from doubts and perplexity.” Faith can also be “struggling with God, showing our bitterness without ‘pious’ fictions.” And hope, he continued, “is also not being afraid to see reality for what it is and to accept the contradictions.”
The sign that God gives to Abram – “Look at the heavens and count the stars… just so will your descendants be” – is “a call to continue to believe and to hope.” To believe, the Pope concluded, “it is necessary to know how to see with the eyes of faith: They are only stars, which everyone can see, but for Abram they have to become the sign of the faithfulness of God.”
And this, Pope Francis said, is the journey of hope that each one of us must walk.
Washington D.C., Dec 28, 2016 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A reputed “Catholic Spring” surfaced in the news this fall, after hacked emails from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, indicated plans for an effort to sow revolution within the Church.But grants to the think tank Podesta founded also suggest links to other efforts targeting religion. The Center for American Progress appears to be part of an influence network that advocates restrictions on religious freedom while promoting dissent within Christianity on sexual morality, especially LGBT issues.Podesta co-founded the Center for American Progress in 2003 after serving as White House Chief of Staff in President Bill Clinton’s final term. He served as the center’s CEO until 2011. He became a special adviser to President Barack Obama in 2013, and joined the Hillary Clinton campaign in early 2015.Two six-figure grants to the think tank from the Arcus Foundation seem to place it within a...
Washington D.C., Dec 28, 2016 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A reputed “Catholic Spring” surfaced in the news this fall, after hacked emails from John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, indicated plans for an effort to sow revolution within the Church.
But grants to the think tank Podesta founded also suggest links to other efforts targeting religion. The Center for American Progress appears to be part of an influence network that advocates restrictions on religious freedom while promoting dissent within Christianity on sexual morality, especially LGBT issues.
Podesta co-founded the Center for American Progress in 2003 after serving as White House Chief of Staff in President Bill Clinton’s final term. He served as the center’s CEO until 2011. He became a special adviser to President Barack Obama in 2013, and joined the Hillary Clinton campaign in early 2015.
Two six-figure grants to the think tank from the Arcus Foundation seem to place it within a multi-million dollar campaign targeting religious freedom protections that conflict with LGBT political issues and the provision of abortion and contraception.
The Arcus Foundation in 2013 gave $400,000 to the Center for American Progress’ Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative in order to “articulate and disseminate a socially progressive framework of religious liberty.” A $250,000 Arcus grant in 2016 backed the center’s Reclaiming Religious Liberty as a Progressive Value Project “to promote religious liberty as a core progressive American value that includes LGBT equality and women's reproductive health and rights,” grant listings on the foundation website say.
On the Center for American Progress website, the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative described religious liberty as “a core American value.” But it added caveats.
“Unfortunately, many opponents of marriage equality and women’s reproductive health claim that religious liberty allows them to opt out of laws to which they object,” it said. “We work to raise the voices of faith-based leaders and advocates to promote an inclusive vision of religious liberty – one that supports human and civil rights and does not use religious liberty to discriminate or coerce others to abide by beliefs not their own.”
The initiative opposes “policies with overly broad religious exemptions that cause harm to others” and supports policies it said “promote religious liberty for all, rather than a favored few.”
The Arcus Foundation describes its strategy for “fair and non-discriminatory religious exemption policies” on its website in a section labeled social justice. It is among several wealthy funders backing various groups to oppose religious freedom exemptions. These groups include the ACLU, a project at Columbia Law School, Planned Parenthood, the Movement Advancement Project, and Podesta’s Center for American Progress.
The Arcus Foundation also pursues a strategy of cultivating allies among religious groups. It provided financial support for Center for American Progress senior fellow V. Gene Robinson, whose controversial election as the Episcopalian Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 helped split the Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion.
In 2011 and again in 2012, the Arcus Foundation provided $30,000 to Podesta’s think tank in order to “amplify on a national level the voice and impact of the progressive social justice advocacy of Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop,” the foundation’s tax forms show.
Robinson is currently listed as an expert in the Center for American Progress’ Religion and Values section.
Podesta is now listed as a member of the board of directors of the Center for American Progress, alongside names like Secretary of State Madeline Albright, former U.S. Sen. Tom Daschle, and billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer.
A February 2012 email exchange involving Podesta concerned the religious freedom controversy over a new federal rule that required employers to cover sterilizations and contraceptives, including abortifacient drugs, even if doing so would violate their religious beliefs.
Podesta’s interlocutor, progressive leader Sandy Newman, noted Catholic bishops’ outspokenness and discussed the possibilities of a “Catholic Spring,” similar to Arab protests, to lead Catholics to demand “the end of a middle ages dictatorship and the beginning of a little democracy and respect for gender equality in the Catholic church.” Newman wondered how one would plant “the seeds of revolution.”
Podesta responded that he and his allies had created Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good for a moment like the one Newman saw. At the same time, Podesta suggested the groups lacked the leadership to do so. He suggested consulting with former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
The Center for American Progress and the Catholics United Education Fund are among the many partners the Arcus Foundation lists on its website. Among its other grantees are Catholics for Choice and Dignity USA, a group that rejects Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
The Arcus Foundation helped fund Dignity USA and its aligned Equally Blessed Coalition “to influence and counter the narrative of the Catholic Church and its ultra-conservative affiliates” ahead of the Synod on the Family.
The foundation also funded a project through the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups to counter the influence of African bishops at the synod by documenting and circulating the stories of people from their countries who identify as LGBT. That project was funded in collaboration with the Swiss bishops’ development charity Fastenopfer, known as the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund.
The Arcus Foundation was founded by billionaire heir Jon Stryker, a major Clinton donor. Its executive director is Kevin Jennings, a former Obama administration Department of Education official. The foundation is a prominent partner of the U.S. State Department’s Global Equality Fund, which promotes LGBT advocacy worldwide.
CNA contacted the Arcus Foundation and the Center for American Progress for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.
This article was originally published on CNA Oct. 27, 2016.
MOSCOW (AP) -- Search teams on Wednesday recovered another flight recorder from a military plane that crashed in the Black Sea, killing all 92 people aboard, the Defense Ministry said....
BEIRUT (AP) -- Turkish and Russian officials are discussing the contours of a cease-fire for Syria, Syrian opposition factions said, building on cooperation between the two countries following a deal they brokered for the evacuation of opposition fighters from the northern city of Aleppo earlier this month....
JERUSALEM (AP) -- A senior member of Israel's nationalist government on Wednesday called U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's planned Mideast policy speech a "pathetic move," further heightening tensions between the two close allies as the Obama Administration prepares to leave office....
ATLANTA (AP) -- Jonathan Allen reflects on his first two years at Alabama as total flops, not even worth remembering, much less bestowed with any sense of accomplishment....
Newly widowed, Kay McCowen quit her job, sold her house, applied for Social Security and retired to Mexico. It was a move she and her husband, Mel, had discussed before he passed away in 2012....
