Catholic News 2

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Wednesday morning celebrated Mass for the French priest of Rouen, Fr. Jacques Hamel, whom he described, is part of the chain of Christian martyrs that runs throughout the history of the Church.

Father Hamel was murdered while celebrating Mass in his Parish Church by two men swearing allegiance to the so-called Islamic State in July.

Linda Bordoni reports:

To the congregation gathered at Santa Marta and which included Archbishop Dominque Lebrun of Rouen, along with 80 other pilgrims from the diocese, Pope Francis said that “to kill in the name of God is satanic”.

Reflecting on the many martyrs that are part of the history of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said: “this is a story that repeats itself in the Church, and today, he said, there are more Christian martyrs than there were at beginning of Christianity”

Today – he continued - there are Christians "who are murdered, tortured, imprisoned, have their throats slit because they do not deny Jesus Christ".

This history, the Pope said – continues with our Father Jacques: he is part of this chain of martyrs.

“Father Jacques Hamel was slain as he celebrated the sacrifice of Christ’s crucifixion. A good man, a meek man, a man who always tried to build peace was murdered (…). This is the satanic thread of persecution” he said.

And, Pope Francis continued: "What a pleasure it would be if all religious confessions would say: 'to kill in the name of God is satanic'".

Pope Francis concluded his homily holding up Fr Hamel and his example of courage and said we must pray to him to grant us meekness, brotherhood, peace and the courage to tell the truth: “to kill in the name of God is satanic”.    

On the altar, a simple photograph of Fr Hamel who was slain by two Islamist fanatics while celebrating Mass in the Church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray on 26 July 2016. 

The liturgy was broadcast live by the Vatican Television Station.

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(Vatican Radio) There was calm across much of Syria Wednesday following a Russian and US brokered ceasefire, although a number of violations were reported since it took hold. With the truce in place the northern city of Aleppo is awaiting much needed aid.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura said aid for the rebel-held city is a top priority, and that a key concern about the overall cease-fire is whether sporadic ``incidents'' worsen to threaten the deal.

Fr Ibrahim Alsabagh is the Parish priest in Aleppo and spoke to Lydia O’Kane about the desperate situation the people are facing there.

Listen to the full interview 

Ceasefire

Speaking about the effect of the ceasefire Fr Ibrahim said, that “we could sleep easily in this night and we hope really that this night could be a model for all the future nights. He added, that it has been “so so hard for us to live under continuous bombardment”.

Living conditions

Asked about the conditions for the people living in Aleppo, the Parish Priest said, “the war is posing many many difficulties and we are continuing to live (through) the results of this war. We are at times without water; we don’t have electricity at all in the city and no jobs. Many of the families are living under the level of the poverty (below the poverty line)”.

Fr Ibrahim said the  Church was already providing humanitarian assistance on the ground. …“from what we have from our benefactors  we are trying to buy from the local market what we need to prepare the elementary box and non-food items and to distribute to help the people and to assist them directly and in a continuous way and really as a Franciscan, as a priest I am proud of what the Church is offering here in Aleppo.”

He went to say that he hoped that international aid would arrive soon because the people are in huge need of it.

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The Catholic Diocese of Maralal’s Radio Mchungaji, which means The shepherd, is the eleventh Catholic radio station to go on air and to be established by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) through the Commission for Social Communications and the conference’s Waumini Communications Company. This is line with Waumini’s mission to have 20 radio stations by the year 2020.

Broadcasting on 95.4fm at a radius of 150 Km, Radio Mchungaji which is currently airing Nairobi’s Radio Waumini programmes is to have its own programming in Swahili, Samburu, Turkana and Pokot languages. The radio aims at promoting human and pastoral development, supporting peace-building and community empowerment; strengthening the Catholic faith in the Diocese of Maralal and facilitating awareness creation on projects managed by the Catholic dioceses of Maralal.

At the beginning of September 2016, Waumini Communications team led by the Managing Director, David Omwoyo conducted a one-week training session to equip the new radio personnel with broadcasting skills so as to reach out to the people of Maralal and Samburu counties in a more professional way.

Situated in northern Kenya, Samburu county is classified among Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL). The area is inhabited by Samburu, Turkana and Pokot communities that practice pastoralist livelihoods. The region has an estimated population of 223,947 people.

According to a Caritas Maralal report, Samburu county has a long history of marginalisation embedded in policies and practices of social, economic and political exclusion that reflect inadequate service delivery, poor infrastructure, high rates of illiteracy and morbidity.

(Rose Achiego, Waumini Communications in Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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(Vatican Radio)  Pope Francis on Wednesday told the faithful not to be afraid in times of discouragement, poverty or difficulty because we can rely on God and He will provide solace.

The Pope was speaking to the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly general audience.

Reflecting on the Gospel passage by Matthew in which  Jesus says: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest”, today – Pope Francis said -  we hear the Lord calling the discouraged, the poor and the little ones to himself, and telling them they can always rely on God.

And he invited all believers – especially those who feel most powerless - to trust in God’s mercy, to open their hearts to Him, even if they feel unworthy, and they will be filled with the joy of forgiveness.

The Pope referred again and again to the Holy Year of Mercy and said pilgrims around the world have been crossing the threshold of a Holy Door of mercy – be it in a hospital, in a prison or anywhere – in the search for conversion, for friendship with Jesus, for the comfort that only He can provide. 

He expressed his disapproval for those pastors of the Church who become ‘princes’ and distanced from their people and from the poor. “That – the Pope said: “is not the spirit of Jesus”.

Pointing out that in approaching the Lord’s inexhaustible mercy, we will discover his “easy yoke”: Jesus – he said - who bears the burdens and needs of humanity shows us the way to salvation; by participating in his sufferings and by learning from his service to the poor, we come to know the will of God for us.

So, Pope Francis concluded: “When we are tired or despondent, let us not be afraid, let us come to Christ, trust in him, rest in him and joyously serve him. 

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis remembered the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on Wednesday, at the end of his weekly General Audience.

In greetings to young people, newlyweds, and all persons suffering illness of any kind, the Holy Father recalled the liturgical feast, connected with St. Helen’s recovery of the Cross in the fourth century, and celebrated in gratitude for the redemption won for us by Christ on the Holy Cross, and in acknowledgement of the instrument of our salvation.

“Today,” said Pope Francis, “we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.”

The Holy Father went on to say, “Dear young people, as you return to the regular rhythms of life  after the summer holidays, strengthen your dialogue with God as well, spreading his light and his peace.”

To those suffering illness, Pope Francis said, “Find comfort in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, who continues His work of redemption in the life of every man.

Newlyweds received a special exhortation from Pope Francis, who told them, “Make the effort to maintain a constant relationship with Christ crucified, that your love might be the more true, fruitful and lasting.”

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Vatican City, Sep 14, 2016 / 02:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Referencing the recent murder of French priest Fr. Jacques Hamel, Pope Francis said the persecution of Christians happening today, under any form, is a work of Satan.

“This cruelty that asks for apostasy, let’s say the word, is satanic,” the Pope said in a homily Sept. 14.

“Today in the church there are more Christian martyrs than in the first times. Today there are Christians who are assassinated, tortured, jailed, their throats are cut because they don’t deny Jesus Christ,” Francis stated.

Pope Francis' comments were made during an early morning Mass celebrated in memory of Fr. Jacques Hamel at Casa Santa Marta Wednesday.

Fr. Hamel, 85, was killed July 26 in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen, while saying Mass. The assailants, who were armed with knives, declared their allegiance to the Islamic State, and were later shot dead by police.

“To the first Christians, apostasy was proposed – that is, say that our god is the true one, not yours. Make a sacrifice to our god, or our gods. And when they didn’t do this, when they refused apostasy, they were killed. This is repeated today,” the Pope said.

“How much we would like that all of the religions would say that killing in the name of God is satanic.”

Pope Francis called Fr. Hamel one of the newest martyrs in what is a new wave of Christian persecution happening around the world, saying that the priest accepted his own martyrdom with Christ “on the cross.”

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, celebrated by the Church on Sept. 14 every year, Pope Francis talked about how Christ gave himself on the cross as a martyr for the salvation of humanity.

“Jesus Christ was the first martyr, the first that gave his life for us. And from this mystery of Christ comes all the history of Christian martyrdom,” he said.

Even in the difficult moment of his death, Fr. Hamel, Francis said, saw who his assassin was and he said clearly, “'Be gone, Satan!'”

Like the first Christian martyrs, Fr. Hamel “gave his life for us and he gave his life for not denying Christ. He gave it in the very sacrifice of Jesus on the altar,” the Pope said.

Among those present at the Sept. 14 Mass were the Archbishop of Rouen Dominique Lebrun, the sister of Fr. Hamel, and other pilgrims from Rouen. Several Cardinals, including French Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, were also present.

The altar held a photograph of Fr. Hamel and a bouquet of pink roses.

“He was a good, meek man, (a man) of fraternity who always sought to make peace. He was assassinated as if he were a criminal,” Pope Francis continued.  

Fr. Hamel's example helps all of us “to go forward without fear,” he said.

“May he from Heaven – and we should pray to him, eh, he’s a martyr!” the Pope said, “we have to pray to him that he give us the meekness, fraternity, peace, and also the courage to say the truth: To kill in the name of God is Satanic.”

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Washington D.C., Sep 14, 2016 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After a dissenting Catholic group recently circulated an ad campaign promoting publicly funded abortions, bishops have fired back by reaffirming the Catholic Church’s teaching against abortion and reiterating the value of every human being.

“The recent full-page advertisement in the Star Tribune, paid for by a national group calling themselves ‘Catholics for Choice,’ woefully misrepresents the noble Catholic social justice tradition,” read a Sept. 12 statement from the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

“The ad itself makes no effort to ground its claims in any authoritative source of the Catholic faith, which is rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and is proclaimed by the Church,” the statement continued.

Catholics for Choice is a national, pro-abortion organization based in Washington, D.C. which advocates for Catholics who support abortion. Their recent advertisements have focused on promoting publicly funded abortions and have appeared in several papers across the United States, claiming that abortion is a “Catholic social justice value.”

Bishop Steven Lopes, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of The Chair of St. Peter, also reacted to the ad Sept. 12.

“The biggest falsehood in these advertisements is the statement that ‘as a Catholic’ a person can respect and support a decision to kill an unborn person,” Bishop Lopes said.

“The insinuation that Catholic faith can lead a person to sanction something which is always and everywhere a moral evil is fraudulent, deceitful, and simply wrong.” 

A statement from the ordinariate added that “as servants of the common good, it is imperative that Catholics work to protect the right to life of every human being, born and unborn. The Catholic Church calls each of Her members to oppose abortion, to support women and families whose circumstances may lead them to seek an abortion, and to defend the most vulnerable and defenseless members of the human family through prayer, education, public witness, and advocacy for life.”

The Minnesota bishops also found fault with the Catholics for Choice campaign, saying it is contrary to the foundation of Church teaching.

“The actual teachings of the Catholic faith embrace a consistent ethic of life from conception to natural death, and categorically condemn abortion as an act of violence against the most innocent and defenseless among us.”

The bishops also noted that the “ad fails to acknowledge this truth of our faith,” while neglecting to offer women and children real support and resources.

“If there is a desire to help a woman in need who is facing an unplanned pregnancy, the solution as a society is to provide her with the resources and support she needs to care for her child – not help her dispose of it.”

The bishops also underscored the fact that the Church’s teachings against abortion will remain unchanged, and quoted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that “since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.”

They also pointed to the example of Pope Francis, who “has repeatedly condemned such a mentality as part of the throwaway culture that attacks the dignity of the weak and vulnerable because they seem inconvenient and make a claim upon our care and resources.”

The Minnesota bishops highlighted some local services, such as Abria Pregnancy Resources, TLC Options for Women, and the Philomena House, which offers support to pregnant women who are looking for help.

“In response to this misleading ad, Minnesota Catholics are encouraged to support one of the many pregnancy resource services in our state, which do incredible work to care for both mothers and children in a manner consistent with true social justice,” the bishops said.

“The Minnesota Catholic Conference asks that you help spread the word about this misleading ad campaign and the truth of Catholic teaching by forwarding to your friends, and by sharing the MCC statement on your social media accounts.”

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Denver, Colo., Sep 14, 2016 / 06:02 am (CNA).- Catholic Twitter has been catfished.

To define some terms, Catholic Twitter is a subculture where (mostly young) and hipster-lifestyle-inclined Catholics follow each other, share ideas, and tweet about faith, life and everything in between.

For some, it can serve as a faith community in an otherwise very secular world. Strong friendships, and even relationships, forged in the Catholic Twitter forum are not uncommon.

Catfishing, then, is an internet-ism that refers to someone pretending to be someone they’re not on social media sites, such as Facebook. (For an explanation of the marriage of fish and internet terminology, check out this article by Slate. TL;DR, it’s from a movie.)

Today, Catholic Twitter found out that one of their own had been catfishing.

The popular account @ThisCatholicGirl, which had amassed thousands of followers (a feat on Catholic Twitter) was outed as a fake this week in a blog post by Chase Padusniak, a graduate student in English at Princeton University who writes for Patheos and Catholic Vote.

The account, which has since been deleted, catered to “both to angsty Catholic twenty-somethings and 17-year-old girls with Disney fantasies,” easily mixed a traditional faith with slightly left-leaning politics, and featured pictures of exotic travels and the beautiful girl (supposedly) behind the account, making her a well-liked Catholic Twitter-er.

Over the course of about six months, Padusniak formed a friendship with This Catholic Girl. They chatted about “really banal” things when they were bored, and would occasionally check in with each other.

After a while, things got more serious. Occasional check-ins became daily texts and snapchats. Both students, the two started dating in March, figuring a post-school-year meet-up would soon be feasible.

Even as she put off the in-person meeting, everything about Elspeth “El” Howard - the presumed single Catholic 20-something college student behind the successful account - seemed real.

“She had pictures, a Millennial sense of humor, constant and varied activity, several social media sites, including a Facebook, a Twitter, a Tumblr, an Instagram, an Academia.edu, and a blog,” he wrote.

“El would send me snapchats of her face, videos of her voice talking to her niece and nephew, and talk to me on the phone almost every night for hours at a time. Her schedule always made sense. She’d visit the Southwest and upload pictures of New Mexico; she’d be off to San Francisco and pop up in shots near the Golden Gate Bridge. (S)he did the Camino, a major Catholic pilgrimage, and came back with picture after picture from along the Way.”

Her reasons for cancelling their meetings also seemed believable. When her grandmother died, she posted pictures asking for prayers. Then her parents separated, followed by her sister and her sister’s husband.

But eventually, the cancellations became suspicious, and a friend convinced Padusniak to ask El for a photo of herself with a piece of paper with Chase’s name on it - a standard safeguard against catfishing.

From there, things unraveled, and it became clear that she was not the young, single college-aged Catholic she had been purporting to be, but a 30-year-old married woman, with social media accounts for her real person as well Elspeth Howard. She had been hiding behind photos swiped from the internet, a program that could upload photos to Snapchat, and photoshopped pictures, to name a few things.

The reaction on Catholic Twitter was a mixture of shock, anger and disappointment - amidst a strong call to prayer and forgiveness for the real person behind the account, and advice to take the incident as a warning.

I know a lot of people who looked up to #ThisCatholicGirl and we're friends with her. I can't imagine the hurt they must be going through.

— Catholic Dignity (@CatholicClassy) September 12, 2016 #ThisCatholicGirl fiasco is nuts, but let's be real about the fallout. 1 person is heartbroken & another person really needs help #letspray

— Sr. Theresa Aletheia (@pursuedbytruth) September 12, 2016 CAUTION: Kids, this is the Internet: absolutely nothing here is guaranteed to be real. A message from your sponsor. #ThisCatholicGirl

— Father Kevin Cusick (@MCITLFrAphorism) September 12, 2016 While it's fun to make jokes about the whole #ThisCatholicGirl thing, let's also be mindful of the fact that real people were really hurt...

— Tommy Tighe (@theghissilent) September 12, 2016 In e-mail comments to CNA, Padusniak said he wrote the piece not to shame the woman behind @ThisCatholicGirl, but he said he felt it was the right thing to do to let her followers know about her true identity.

“I felt I had a responsibility to let people know so they could heal, forgive, and pray for this person, who is clearly deeply in need of our love.”

Padusniak said he has appreciated that the reaction to his piece has been mostly heartfelt, with people offering him kind words and prayers.

Some reactions, though, have been more angry, negative or sarcastic. It’s understandable, Padusniak said, because many people were hurt by this woman’s deception, but ultimately he said that the woman behind @ThisCatholicGirl is the one who is most in need of prayers, love and forgiveness at this time.

“She hurt a lot of people and that's horrible, but she's not an evil person; she's hurt, broken, stuck in darkness,” he said.

Padusniak said that while he does feel hurt about being lied to, he doesn’t otherwise feel particularly violated by the situation, because the deception of @ThisCatholicGirl was so widespread and affected not just him but many others.

Another person on Catholic Twitter, who preferred to remain anonymous, relayed to Catholic News Agency that he had had a similarly confusing and deceitful experience with El after they had formed a relationship over the social media forum.

But it could have been so much worse, Padusniak said.

“This woman didn't try to take money from me. We're Catholic, so it wasn't a sexual relationship. She turned to this in pain, maybe loneliness, and we'd do best to keep that in mind. Again, she has hurt many (her husband included), but the reality is that most people know less about this than I do; they don't understand that this person hurt others not from some deep, malicious evil, but from sadness,” he added.  

When asked if he could give his past self advice to protect himself from catfishing, Padusniak said he does wish he would have video chatted with El to confirm her identity, even though he is usually averse to video chatting.  

“I would certainly tell my former self to video chat at least once - it's an easy way to check, even if you aren't a fan of the medium,” he said.

Looking back, the only other suspicious thing about El’s online presence was that there seemed to be very few if any photos of her uploaded by other people, and very few photos of her with other people.

“At minimum, it's a good sign that someone is real if they appear with others, especially in others' pictures,” he said.

Several times in his comments, Padusniak reiterated that while the incident hurt him and many others, the person who is most suffering the fallout of this incident is the woman behind the facade, who largely acted out of sadness and loneliness rather than out of true malice, he said. He asked that Catholic Twitter and all who hear about her story offer @ThisCatholicGirl prayers and forgiveness.

“She's repenting, and that's all we can ask. Who of us has not been in need of forgiveness? The only Christian response is love and forgiveness.”

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