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BERLIN (AP) -- A truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin on Monday evening, killing 12 people and injuring nearly 50 as it smashed through tables and wooden stands. Police said a suspect believed to be the driver was arrested nearby and a passenger died as paramedics were treating him....
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler OrsburnBy Dennis SadowskiWASHINGTON (CNS) -- The humanitarian work of Catholic Relief Services and its partner agencies directed toward refugees in the Middle East deserves far more attention than it has received and Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour says it's time Catholics in the pew know about it.The work of feeding, sheltering and providing health care for hundreds of thousands of people who have trekked to safety in Jordan and Lebanon from Iraq and Syria is a story that the mainstream media largely has ignored, much to the chagrin of Bishop Mansour, the incoming chairman of the board at CRS.In a Dec. 16 interview with Catholic News Service, he said that the focus of much media reporting has been on assessing blame for the catastrophe or analyzing the response of governments in the region with little attention paid to the plight of the people uprooted from their homes.Bishop Mansour heads the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn, New York, which includes Mar...
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn
By Dennis Sadowski
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The humanitarian work of Catholic Relief Services and its partner agencies directed toward refugees in the Middle East deserves far more attention than it has received and Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour says it's time Catholics in the pew know about it.
The work of feeding, sheltering and providing health care for hundreds of thousands of people who have trekked to safety in Jordan and Lebanon from Iraq and Syria is a story that the mainstream media largely has ignored, much to the chagrin of Bishop Mansour, the incoming chairman of the board at CRS.
In a Dec. 16 interview with Catholic News Service, he said that the focus of much media reporting has been on assessing blame for the catastrophe or analyzing the response of governments in the region with little attention paid to the plight of the people uprooted from their homes.
Bishop Mansour heads the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn, New York, which includes Maronite Catholics in the District of Columbia and 16 states. It is one of two Maronite eparchies in the U.S. The Maronite Catholic Church is a worldwide Eastern Catholic Church that traces its roots to a fourth-century Syrian monk named Maron.
"I think the Middle East has had a story to tell and unfortunately, all you hear about is the rebels and the regime in Syria," said the bishop, who is succeeding Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City as chair. "You don't hear about all the humanitarian work that is being done, Christians and Muslims alike in tandem working together."
Bishop Mansour critiqued the media for focusing blame and then doing nothing in the way of solutions.
"Pope Francis got it right: The media people, many of them just antagonize, make the situation worse. They're not doing what CRS is doing on the ground. They're not doing what Caritas (is doing). They're not doing what the Catholic Church is doing," he said.
The Maronite leader has been an outspoken advocate for persecuted Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East for years. He has visited Lebanon since the 1980s and Jordan and Egypt more recently. At the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' fall general assembly in Baltimore in November, he called on his brother bishops to focus greater attention to the plight of persecuted Christians in the region.
However, he explained to CNS that he has kept his advocacy for the rights of persecuted people separate from his role as a CRS board member since 2012 and promoting a purely humanitarian response to people in need. Even so, he sees both as equally important.
"I'd like to do the advocacy outside of CRS so that the American government can play a pivotal role, not be in loggerheads with Russia, but to work with Russia to resolve the issues. ... Syria is a man-made disaster and man can undo it with a bit of effort," he said.
The U.S. bishops' overseas development and relief agency's work around the world is often carried out in collaboration with members of the church's worldwide network of Caritas humanitarian agencies. Its work often focuses on leveraging its expertise in helping local agencies develop their capacity to take on the work the Baltimore-based agency has done.
Bishop Mansour cited CRS' support of Adyan in Lebanon as an example. Adyan, an Arabic word meaning religions, was formed by a Maronite priest and Sunni Muslim woman and a team of staffers and volunteers.
Adyan's work led Lebanon to declare a joint Christian-Muslim holiday, observed March 25, the feast of the Annunciation. Bishop Mansour described the day as the only one of its kind in the world. It allows Muslims and Christians, young and old, "to find a common interest in humanitarian, in cultural and in religious dialogue," he said.
It's not only the Middle East where CRS' work is making a difference. Bishop Mansour wants to make sure Catholics in U.S. parishes who contribute to the agency understand the positive results of its work. He cited, for example, the positive results of "impact investing" that would loan a small sum of money to a man knowledgeable about car repair so he can obtain the tools necessary to open a business in his town, or allows a poor family to buy equipment to make cheese from the milk of goats they own so they can sell the product at local markets.
He also pointed to the Faithful House program that helps married couples in developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. He said the program helps husband and wife "understand the mystery of marriage, the beauty of the fidelity of marriage" and know the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases while promoting natural family planning so that they understand "a healthy form of spacing children."
Bishop Mansour noted that CRS also receives funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as other humanitarian and development organizations. He stressed that any work CRS carries out falls in line with Catholic teaching.
He invited the agency's critics, who have repeatedly accused CRS of violating church teaching on contraception through its collaborations with other humanitarian groups, to "go through the door and really understand what CRS represents."
"We deal in a very tough neighborhood," he told CNS. "We work with 1,100 different relationships with different groups, and sometimes we get guilt by association because we're buying mosquito nets from someone that we really disagree with. Or we're working with USAID that has a very different objective than we do.
"But we are out there strong with 5,000 employees that maintain a Catholic identity, that maintain no artificial contraception, no abortion," he continued. "We look odd to the rest of the development agencies, but that doesn't bother us, doesn't bother me in the least."
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Follow Sadowski on Twitter: @DennisSadowski.
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Vatican City, Dec 19, 2016 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Young Catholics can be a force for joy and peace, Pope Francis told an audience with Catholic Action on Monday.“Proclaiming to all the love and tenderness of Jesus, you become apostles of the joy of the Gospel. And joy is contagious,” he told members of Catholic Action who had gathered in Vatican City’s Consistory Hall to wish the pontiff a Merry Christmas.Reflecting on the Nativity of Jesus Christ, he said: “The birth of Jesus is announced as a great joy, originating from the discovery that God loves us and, through the birth of Jesus, made Himself close to us to save us. We are beloved by God. What a wonderful thing!”“When we are a little sad, when it seems that everything is going wrong, when a friend disappoints us – or rather, when we disappoint ourselves – let us think ‘God loves me’, ‘God never abandons me’,” the Pope said Dec. 19.He said that ...
Vatican City, Dec 19, 2016 / 10:22 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Young Catholics can be a force for joy and peace, Pope Francis told an audience with Catholic Action on Monday.
“Proclaiming to all the love and tenderness of Jesus, you become apostles of the joy of the Gospel. And joy is contagious,” he told members of Catholic Action who had gathered in Vatican City’s Consistory Hall to wish the pontiff a Merry Christmas.
Reflecting on the Nativity of Jesus Christ, he said: “The birth of Jesus is announced as a great joy, originating from the discovery that God loves us and, through the birth of Jesus, made Himself close to us to save us. We are beloved by God. What a wonderful thing!”
“When we are a little sad, when it seems that everything is going wrong, when a friend disappoints us – or rather, when we disappoint ourselves – let us think ‘God loves me’, ‘God never abandons me’,” the Pope said Dec. 19.
He said that God is always faithful and never ceases to love us even when we stray.
“This is why in the heart of a Christian there is always joy,” the Pope said. “And joy multiplies when shared!”
Citing Catholic Action’s motto for the year, “Surrounded by Joy,” he encouraged those gathered to surround with joy those they meet each day.
Pope Francis also gave the youth a homework assignment: to share joy with their grandparents.
“Speak often with your grandparents. They too have this contagious joy,” he said. “Ask them many things, listen to them: they have the memory of history, the experience of life, and for this reason it will be a great gift that will help you on your path.”
“They too need to listen to you, to understand your aspirations, your hopes. … The elderly have the wisdom of life,” he added.
The Pope told Catholic Action that their commitment to peace is also contagious. He cited a Catholic Action initiative in a disadvantaged neighborhood of Naples, and asked God to bless it.
Pope Francis wished a merry Christmas to all of Catholic Action, especially its collaborators who are educators, assistants and national leaders. The Pope asked them to pray for him.
He also encouraged prayers for Bishop Mansueto Bianchi, a general ecclesiastical assistant for Catholic Action who passed away in August 2016.
Naples, Italy, Dec 19, 2016 / 12:06 pm (CNA).- Prayer was the response to a rare failure of a saint’s blood to liquefy in Naples, an occurrence some believe to portend misfortune.“We must not think of disasters and calamities. We are men of faith and we must pray,” said Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, the Abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, ANSA reports.The blood belongs to St. Januarius, Patron of Naples and former bishop and martyr of the city.Known in Italian as San Gennaro, his bones and a reliquary of his blood are preserved in Naples’ cathedral. He is believed to have been martyred during the infamous persecution of Christians during the rule of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who retired in 305.The reputed miracle is locally known and accepted, though has not been the subject of official Church recognition. The liquefaction is believed to happen at least three times a year: the Saturday before the first Sunday of May, Sept. 19, which is t...
Naples, Italy, Dec 19, 2016 / 12:06 pm (CNA).- Prayer was the response to a rare failure of a saint’s blood to liquefy in Naples, an occurrence some believe to portend misfortune.
“We must not think of disasters and calamities. We are men of faith and we must pray,” said Monsignor Vincenzo De Gregorio, the Abbot of the Chapel of the Treasure of San Gennaro, ANSA reports.
The blood belongs to St. Januarius, Patron of Naples and former bishop and martyr of the city.
Known in Italian as San Gennaro, his bones and a reliquary of his blood are preserved in Naples’ cathedral. He is believed to have been martyred during the infamous persecution of Christians during the rule of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who retired in 305.
The reputed miracle is locally known and accepted, though has not been the subject of official Church recognition. The liquefaction is believed to happen at least three times a year: the Saturday before the first Sunday of May, Sept. 19, which is the saint's feast day, and Dec. 16, the anniversary of the 1631 eruption of the Mount Vesuvius volcano.
During the miracle, the dried, red-colored mass confined to one side of the reliquary becomes blood that covers the entire glass. In local lore, the failure of the blood to liquefy signals war, famine, disease or other disaster.
The blood did indeed liquefy on Sept. 19, 2016.
Historically, the vial has sometimes changed upon the visit of a Pope.
On March 21, 2015, Pope Francis met with priests, religious and seminarians at the cathedral and gave a blessing with the relic.
Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples then received the vial back from the Pope and noted that the blood was still solid on one side of the vial.
The cardinal remarked: “It seems that St. Januarius loves the Pope, because the blood is already half liquefied.”
Pope Francis quipped in response: “you can see that the saint only loves us a little. We have to convert more.”
The last time blood liquefied in the presence of a Pope was in 1848 when Pius IX visited. The phenomenon didn’t happen when St. John Paul II visited the city in October 1979, or when Benedict XVI visited in October 2007.
