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(Vatican Radio) Actor Richard Gere attended a screening of his new film Time Out Of Mind at a soup kitchen in Rome affiliated with the Sant'Egidio community.

The film is about a man who becomes homeless, and struggles to survive on the streets of New York. During the production, Gere spent hours disguised as a homeless man, and the film captures the actual reactions of passers-by to someone living on the streets.

Around 100 homeless people attended the screening at the soup kitchen.

“It's overwhelming to see all these beautiful faces of brothers and sisters,” Gere told them.

The actor spoke to them about what his experience taught him.

“I could feel in a very visceral way what it is like to be untethered, not connected to reality any more, not connected to society anymore, not connected to friends anymore, being invisible on the streets,” Gere said.

“The thing that heals people is not money and it is not governments. It is people heal people,” – he continued – “It is people who care about each other and look each other in the eye, you want to hear their story and people who want to hear your story. And these human connections is what heals us, certainly emotionally, psychologically but even physically that's the beginning of healing us in all ways.”

The president of the Sant'Egidio community, Marco Impagliazzo, took the occasion to say people must do three things to help the homeless: “Stop, listen, help.”

“And then there is a fourth fundamental step which is to build friendship, day by day,” – Impagliazzo continued – “That is what we experience here [at this soup kitchen], and more generally the Community of Sant'Egidio where those who help and those who are helped become co-mingled with each other.”

Gere added it is important to remember anyone can hit hard times, and end up homeless.

 “It's that fragile, the difference between us who have seemingly productive lives, and someone who ends up lost, a lost soul on the streets,” Gere said.

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The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) through Waumini Communications is looking to set up two Catholic Community Radio Stations in the Coastal Region.

According to Waumini Communications Managing Director David Omwoyo, the two stations will support the Archdiocese of Mombasa and the Diocese of Malindi to promote peace-building and local development as well as provide a platform to counter the rampant radicalization of youth in the coastal region.

Mombasa Archbishop, Martin Kivuva and Bishop of the Diocese of Malindi, Emanuel Barbara have both welcomed the initiative and termed it, “long-overdue.”

Bishop Barbara affirmed that radio will be a useful platform to promote peace and unity which are critical elements of economic development in the region. The Bishop said the radio station will give more attention to local development and will serve as a platform for local people’s participation in the life community.

The radio projects are envisaged in the Waumini Communications strategic plan 2016- 2020. The plan foresees Kenya having 20 Catholic radio stations across the Country.

(By Catholic Mirror, Nairobi)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta on Friday morning. In remarks to the faithful following the Readings of the Day, the Holy Father focused on three attitudes that are characteristic of the Christian: “standing” before God in “silence” to hear His voice and readiness to “go out” into the world to proclaim what one has heard to others. The Pope also warned against the danger of paralyzing fear in Christian life, no matter where one is in one’s journey with God and regardless of one’s state of life in the Church:

Standing upright and walking

To explore this issue, and how to escape the tunnel of fear, the Pope focused on the the prophet Elijah, from whose book the First Reading of the Day was taken. The Holy Father recalled how Elijah was victorious, how he “fought so much for the faith,” and defeated hundreds of idolaters on Mount Carmel. Then, he reaches a breaking point: one of the many acts of persecution aimed at him finally hit its mark, and he collapses in discouragement under a tree, waiting to die – except that God does not leave him in that state of prostration, but sends an angel with an imperative: get up, eat, go out:

“To meet God it is necessary to go back to the situation where the man was at the time of creation, standing and walking. Thus did God created us: capable of standing full upright before Him, in his image and likeness, and on our way with Him. ‘Go, go ahead: cultivate the land, make it grow; and multiply.’ [Then, to Elijah], ‘Enough! Go out and go up to the mountain and stand on the mountaintop in my presence.’ Elijah stood up on his feet, he set off on his way.”

The strain of a sonorous silence

Go out, and then to listen to God: only how can one be sure to meet the Lord on the way? Elijah was invited by the angel to go out of the cave on Mount Horeb, where he found shelter to stand in the “presence” of God. However, it is not the “mighty and strong” wind that splits the rocks, nor the earthquake that follows, nor even the fire that follows, which finally induces Elijah to go out:

“So much noise, so much majesty, so much bustle - and the Lord was not there. ‘After the fire, the whisper of a gentle breeze’ or, as it is in the original, ‘the strain of a sonorous silence’: and the Lord is there, speaking to us in it.

The hour of the mission

The angel’s third request to Elijah is: “Go out.” The prophet is invited to retrace his steps, to the desert, because he was given an assignment to fulfill. In this, emphasizes Francis, is captured the stimulus “to be on the way, not closed, not within the selfishness of our comfort,” but “brave” in “bringing to others the message of the Lord,” which is to say, “[to go on a] ‘mission’”:

“We must always seek the Lord. We all know how are the bad moments: moments that pull us down, moments without faith, dark, times when we do not see the horizon, we are unable to get up. “We all know this, but but it is the Lord who comes, who refreshes us with bread and with his strength and says: ‘Arise and be on your way! Walk!’ In order to meet the Lord we must be so: standing upright and on our way; then waiting for Him speak to us, with an open heart; and He will say, ‘It is I’ and there faith becomes strong – [and] is this faith for me to keep? No: It is for us to bring to others, to anoint others with it – it is for mission.”

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(Vatican Radio)  It was announced on Friday Pope Francis has decided to raise the celebration of the memorial of St. Mary Magdalene to the dignity of a liturgical Feast.

In the modern Church calendar, saints may be commemorated with a memorial (optional or obligatory), feast, or solemnity.

The decree was signed on 3 June 2016, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.  

In a letter announcing the change, the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Arthur Roche, writes the decision means one “should reflect more deeply on the dignity of women, the New Evangelization, and the greatness of the mystery of Divine Mercy.”

Archbishop Roche drew attention to the fact Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the Resurrection, and is the one who announced the event to the Apostles.

“Saint Mary Magdalene is an example of true and authentic evangelization; she is an evangelist who announces the joyful central message of Easter,” he writes.

“The Holy Father Francis took this decision precisely in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy to signify the importance of this woman who showed a great love for Christ and was much loved by Christ,” writes Archbishop Roche.

He also notes Saint Magdalene was referred to as the "Apostle of the Apostles" (Apostolorum Apostola) by Thomas Aquinas, since she announced to them the Resurrection, and they, in turn, announced it to the whole world.

“Therefore it is right that the liturgical celebration of this woman has the same grade of feast given to the celebration of the apostles in the General Roman Calendar, and shines a light on the special mission of this woman, who is an example and model for every woman in the Church.”

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis told leaders of the Reformed Churches on Friday that there is an urgent need for an ecumenism capable of promoting “a shared mission of evangelization and service”. Unless people find in the Church a spirituality offering healing and liberation, he said, they will end up being taken in by solutions which “neither make life truly human, nor give glory to God”.

Philippa Hitchen reports: 

In his meeting with the delegation from the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the Pope said we must be grateful to God for our rediscovered brotherhood. Quoting from his predecessor, Saint John Paul II, he said this is not the consequence of a big-hearted philanthropy or “a vague family spirit”, but rather it is rooted in recognition of “the oneness of Baptism” which compels us to strive to “grow together in order to better serve the Lord”.

Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis noted especially the recent conclusion of the fourth phase of theological dialogue between the WCRC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which dealt with ‘Justification and Sacramentality: the Christian Community as an Agent for Justice’.

Justification and Justice

Stressing the necessary link between justification and justice, the Pope said our faith in Jesus impels us to live charity through concrete gestures capable of affecting our way of life, our relationships, and the world around us. On the basis of an agreement on the doctrine of justification, he said, there are many areas in which Reformed and Catholics can work together bearing witness to God’s merciful love as a “remedy for the confusion and indifference that seems to surround us”.

Christians, the Pope insisted, are called to receive and rekindle God’s grace, to overcome self-centredness and to be open to mission, rather than living in self-referential communities that are resistant to change. Some new forms of religiosity, he warned, at times risk encouraging concern for oneself alone and promoting a kind of spiritual consumerism. Instead, the Pope called for a shared mission of evangelisation and service, enouraging Reformed and Catholic communities to work together to bring the joy and peace of the Gospel to all men and women of our time.

Please find below the full address of Pope Francis to the World Communion of Reformed Churches

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I offer you a warm welcome and I thank you for your visit:  “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor 1:3).  I especially thank the Secretary General for his kind words.

Our meeting here today is one more step along the journey that marks the ecumenical movement, a blessed and hope-filled journey whereby we strive to live ever more fully in accord with the Lord’s prayer “that all may be one” (Jn 17:21).

Ten years have passed since a delegation of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches visited my predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.  Since then, in 2010, the historic unification between the Reformed Ecumenical Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches took place.  This union offered a tangible example of progress towards the goal of Christian unity, and was a source of encouragement to many on the path of ecumenism.

Today, we must above all be grateful to God for our rediscovered brotherhood, which, as Saint John Paul II wrote, is not the consequence of a large-hearted philanthropy or a vague family spirit, but is rooted in recognition of the oneness of Baptism and the subsequent duty to glorify God in his work (cf. Ut Unum Sint, 42).  In this spiritual fellowship, Catholics and Reformed Christians can strive to grow together in order to better serve the Lord.

A specific motive of gratitude is the recent conclusion of the fourth phase of the theological dialogue between the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, dealing with Justification and Sacramentality: The Christian Community as an Agent for Justice.  I am happy to note that the final report clearly emphasizes the necessary link between justification and justice.  Our faith in Jesus impels us to live charity through concrete gestures capable of affecting our way of life, our relationships and the world around us.  On the basis of an agreement on the doctrine of justification, there are many areas in which Reformed and Catholics can work together in bearing witness to God’s merciful love, which is the true remedy for the confusion and indifference that seem to surround us.

In effect, today we often experience “a spiritual desertification”.  Especially in places where people live as if God did not exist, our Christian communities are meant to be sources of living water quenching thirst with hope, a presence capable of inspiring encounter, solidarity and love (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 86-87).  They are called to receive and rekindle God’s grace, to overcome self-centredness and to be open to mission.  Faith cannot be shared if it is practiced apart from life, in unreal isolation and in self-referential communities resistant to change.  Thus it would be impossible to respond to the insistent thirst for God that nowadays finds expression also in various new forms of religiosity.  These at times risk encouraging concern for oneself and one’s needs alone, and promoting a kind of “spiritual consumerism”.  Unless people today “find in the Church a spirituality which can offer healing and liberation, and fill them with life and peace, while at the same time summoning them to fraternal communion and missionary fruitfulness, they will end up by being taken in by solutions which neither make life truly human nor give glory to God” (cf. ibid., 89).

There is urgent need for an ecumenism that, along with theological dialogue aimed at settling traditional doctrinal disagreements between Christians, can promote a shared mission of evangelization and service.  Certainly many such initiatives and good forms of cooperation exist in many places.  Yet clearly we can all do more, together, “to offer a convincing reason for the hope that is in us” (cf. 1 Pet 3:15), by sharing with others the Father’s merciful love that we graciously receive and are called generously to bestow in turn.

Dear brothers and sisters, in renewing my gratitude for your visit and your commitment in service to the Gospel, I express my hope that this meeting may be an effective sign of our resolution to journey together towards full unity.  May it encourage all Reformed and Catholic communities to continue to work together to bring the joy of the Gospel to the men and women of our time.  God bless you all.

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Chicago, Ill., Jun 10, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Dawn Eden Goldstein isn’t trying to be a priest.

She even argued in a New York Times debate that women should not become ordained deacons.

But that didn’t stop her from becoming the first woman ever to earn her doctorate in sacred theology alongside an all-male, all-seminarian class at Mundelein seminary in Illinois.

Even though Goldstein technically graduated from the University of St. Mary of the Lake, she was in the same classes and ate at the same dining hall and frequented the same libraries as the 220 men at Mundelein studying to be priests.

Her new degree, the highest pontifical degree one can receive from the Catholic Church, qualifies her to teach on faculty at either a seminary or university, at a time when the Holy See is seeking to encourage a greater presence of lay women professors in seminaries.

“The Holy See for some time has been saying that women need to be involved in seminary formation,” Goldstein told CNA. “Pope John Paul II talked about it, and Pope Francis, repeating the recommendations of the Family Synod, says in Amoris Letitia that there’s a need for the presence of lay people in seminary formation, especially women.”

The need for women on seminary faculty

Although Goldstein said she isn’t sure of the exact reasons for the Holy See’s recommendation, she has some guesses, especially after spending most of her graduate studies in nearly all-male environments.

“I think that just for a person’s human formation, just to be well-rounded as a human being, you need to have contact with boths sexes, and I would certainly think that for a seminarian to live celibacy fruitfully, he’ll learn that better if he is in an atmosphere where he can have a healthy celibate relationship with women,” she said.

Goldstein also said that she has something to offer not just as a woman, but as a layperson who really wants to be teaching.

Sometimes, she said, Bishops have to fill seminary faculty positions with reluctant but qualified priests who would perhaps rather be in a parish than teaching at a seminary.

“I realized that if this was all I really want to do, then I can contribute something by being enthusiastic, being motivated, and also having the academic qualifications, the wisdom, the love of the church that I can transmit to the seminarians,” she said.

She’s also heard from her male seminarian peers that having women on campus helps keep the macho tendency of all-male environments in check.

“Having a woman present on faculty makes the atmosphere healthier for the seminarians because it leads them to be less macho and more gracious with one another,” she said.

“Apparently seminarians can become competitive in that uniquely male way that men can outdo or best one another, so I’ve been told that a woman’s presence help to mitigate that.”

How it all started

Originally, Goldstein had no intention of pursuing doctoral studies or teaching.

A convert - first from Judaism, then agnosticism and then Protestantism - Goldstein was still completing her RCIA classes, which every convert must complete before becoming Catholic, when she wrote “The Thrill of the Chaste”, a book explaining Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Soon after publishing, and just six months a Catholic, Goldstein was overwhelmed with requests for interviews and talks on the topic. As a recent convert, she was surprised that there weren’t more qualified Catholic who could convey the same message.

“I certainly didn’t have a depth of understanding of the theology behind it, so I first became conscious of my weakness and conscious of the need for the Catholic Church to have people who knew about theology and could also convey it to a popular audience,” she said.

Her previous experience working as a journalist in mainstream media gave her an edge, Goldstein realized, because she could condense theological concepts into words that people could understand. It was the first time she had an inkling that she should study theology.

Those thoughts became reality after Goldstein was laid off from her job at a Catholic non-profit and received a diagnosis of thyroid cancer.

She started her Masters in Theology at Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., and “fell in love” with the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Her intent was to go into college campus ministry after graduation, in hopes of a steady job with health care benefits.

But after she sent one of her papers to a long-time priest friend, he insisted that Goldstein should pursue her doctorate and teach.

“I told him that I had no interest in teaching because I thought that it was like being a parent with no spouse,” she said. “But he insisted that this was my vocation.”  

Goldstein agreed to continue her studies, and decided to pursue her degree in sacred theology (STD) at the University of St. Mary of the Lake, where she studied under theologian Dr. Matthew Levering and focused her dissertation on Recent Magisterial Teaching on Redemptive Suffering from Pius XII to Francis. The theme of mercy, she said, had been constant throughout her faith journey and continually cropped up in the books she wrote.

Though she loved the work, one of the biggest obstacles to her finishing her studies was not her gender - but her funds. It’s probably the main reason that lay people - men or women - do not  finish the full pontifical degree program, she said.

Fortunately, after she’d racked up over $100,000 in debt, “an angel” stepped in and offered to pay the rest of Goldstein’s way.

And on May 7th, wearing the same square biretta worn by Catholic clergymen and scholars with pontifical degrees, Goldstein walked across the stage and became the first woman to receive a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of St. Mary of the Lake. This fall, she’ll move overseas to join a seminary faculty.

Talking “guy stuff” - a woman among men

So what was it like to spend years of graduate studies as a woman in two, mostly-male environments?

For the most part, Goldstein said, the men at both the Dominican House and Mundelein were friendly and open to having a woman in their classes, though Goldstein admitted that she felt she fit in a bit better at Mundelein, since her classmates were coming from dioceses all over the country and weren’t already formed as part of the same religious order.

“Overwhelmingly, at Mundelein, I felt that there were a number of seminarians who went out of their way to welcome me,” she said.

It also made for some awkward - and funny - moments with her classmates, she said.

Sometimes, after sitting in on mealtime conversations on campus that consisted mostly of “guy stuff”, Goldstein would joke with her fellow classmates that she would have no idea how to speak to women again once she graduated.

“It really is true, I learned how guys talk,” she told CNA.

“I think people from the outside think that seminarians just think about God all the time, but they also think about sports, and about video games, and about Star Wars, and Red Robin burgers, all this guy stuff.”

The unnecessity of ordination - women leaders in the Church

From the outside, Goldstein might seem like she is advocating for women’s ordination - but anyone who takes a closer look at her work and her beliefs can see that’s not the case.

When asked about whether there is a need for more women in leadership positions in the Church, Goldstein said it all depends on how one defines leadership.  

In the Catholic Church, she said, positions of leadership are properly understood primarily as positions of service rather than power.

“I wouldn’t want to see the kind of women who want to be in leadership positions because of the power,” she said.

In May, Pope Francis indicated his openness to establishing a commission “to clarify” the question of female deacons.

He noted that in Church history, deaconesses existed to help in anointings and full-immersion baptisms of women, for the sake of modesty.

These female deacons lived a life “similar to that of nuns,” according to a 2002 document from the International Theological Commission. The document offered a historical context of the role of the deaconess in the ancient Church, overwhelmingly concluding that female deacons in the early Church had not been equivalent to male deacons, and had “no liturgical function,” nor a sacramental one.

But Goldstein said she wondered whether simply upping the numbers of women in leadership positions in the Church would make a difference.

A common argument in favor of bringing more women into Vatican positions, Goldstein said, is that women may have acted more quickly and decisively during the abuse crisis. But Goldstein is not convinced that that is necessarily true.

“There’s no shortage of women as administrators of our public schools, and the Catholic Church has already done so much more than our public schools have done to protect children,” she said.  

“That’s not to say there isn’t more that the church could do, but if the question is simply whether having more women in leadership leads to more just and humane policies, I’m not sure.”

“At the same time, I’ve been able to receive the highest degree that the church has to offer, summa cum laude, and I’ve been able to receive that with things being the status quo, so I have no real complaints with status quo at this time in my life.”

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Vatican City, Jun 10, 2016 / 05:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After putting a freeze on their contract with external auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers in April, the Vatican has announced a new agreement with the company, who will now serve as an aide to the Holy See’s own internal auditing entity.

A June 10 statement from the Vatican said that the Holy See and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) “have entered into a new agreement” which allows for “a broader collaboration with PwC that is adaptable to the Holy See’s needs.”

PwC, the statement read, “will play an assisting role and will also be available to those (departments) that wish to avail themselves of its support and consulting services.”

The statement also recognized that by law, the task of performing the Vatican’s financial audits belongs “to the Office of the Auditor General (URG), as is normally the case for every sovereign state.”

The Auditor General is a new office established in 2014 as part of Pope Francis’ sweeping reform of Vatican finances, and is responsible for carrying out the small city-state’s annual audits. The office is currently headed by Italian layman Libero Milone.

Pricewaterhouse Cooper (PwC) initially made headlines when it was hired by the Secretariat for the Economy in December 2015 to audit the books of the Vatican's 120 financial departments and to check whether they had been filed according to international accountability standards.

The audit was suspended by the Secretariat of State in April with two letters signed by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and by his deputy, Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, claiming that proper procedures had not been correctly applied.

Some media outlets claimed the suspension was the result of an ongoing power struggle in the Vatican aimed at blocking Pope Francis’ reforms.

However, the Vatican has firmly rejected this idea, saying in an April 26 communique that the problems are rather due to questions concerning “the meaning and scope of certain clauses of the contract” with PwC, as well as their methods of implementation.

The Vatican reaffirmed this in their statement Friday, stressing that the suspension “was not due to considerations regarding the integrity or the quality of PwC’s work, nor is it attributable to the desire of one or more entities of the Holy See to hinder reforms.”

In the time that’s elapsed, the two parties have been able to examine the issues together “in an atmosphere of serene collaboration,” resolving the initial concerns.

In fact, the new agreement allows all of the Holy See’s offices and departments “to participate more actively in the reforms underway,” the statement read.

However, the Vatican also stressed that patience is needed in terms of seeing the reforms carried out and implemented, since the process of applying international accounting standards is typically “complex and prolonged.”

This process “requires a series of legislative choices as well as the adoption of administrative and accounting procedures, which are presently under development.”

With the new contract in place, “the Holy See will promptly reassume its collaboration with PwC,” the Vatican’s statement read, stressing that the Holy See’s commitment to the economic-financial audit of the city-state “has been, and remains, a priority.”

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