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(Vatican Radio) The Church is a community of disciples who follow Christ because they recognize they are sinners in need of forgiveness, Pope Francis said during the Wednesday general audience in St Peter’s Square.

This week’s catechesis of the Pope centred on the Gospel account of Jesus calling St Matthew – a tax collector and a sinner – to be his disciple.

He said that by eating with the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus shows how even they can become disciples.

“Like the tax collector Matthew, every one of us relies on the Lord’s grace, despite our sins. We are all sinners. All of us have sinned.”

“The Church is not a community of the perfect, but of disciples on their way, who follow the Lord because they recognize they are sinners and need forgiveness.”

Pope Francis observed that those who are arrogant and proud are not able to recognize their need for salvation, thereby impeding their ability to see the “merciful face of God” and to act with mercy.

However, the Pope said Jesus is the “good doctor,” and there is no sickness he cannot cure.

God’s Word is “like a scalpel” which deeply penetrates us in order to “free us from the evil which lurks in our lives.”

“At times this Word is painful because it cuts into hypocrisy, unmasks false excuses, exposes the hidden truth.” However, it also “illuminates and purifies, gives strength and hope,” and restores us on “our journey of faith.”

Pope Francis spoke of the importance of the Eucharist as a “powerful remedy” which “renews the grace of our baptism.”

“Drawing near to the Eucharist, we nourish ourselves with the Body and Blood of Jesus, and yet, coming to us, it is Jesus who unites us with his Body!”

Turning to the prophet Hosea’s words on God’s desire for mercy and not sacrifice, the Pope said the Pharisees did not understand “God’s heart,” for they did not recognize the possibility of reformation and healing, trusting in the law over mercy.

“It was as though someone gave you a box with a gift inside and you, rather than looking for the gift, only looked at the paper in which it was wrapped: only the appearances, the form, but not the grace at the core, the gift which is given to everyone!”

At the conclusion of the general audience, Pope Francis issued an appeal for prayer ahead of his 16 April visit to Lesbos where he will meet with refugees.

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Erbil, Iraq, Apr 13, 2016 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As he leaves Iraqi Kurdistan, Cardinal Timothy Dolan said what struck him most during the visit were the people’s faith and hope, despite violent persecution.

“These people from an earthly point of view don't have much, but my, oh my, their sense of resilience and hope were simply astounding,” Cardinal Dolan said in an interview with CNA.

“Do they mourn the past? Yes they do, but they’re about the present and they’re about the future, and that’s a sentiment that will never leave me.”

Cardinal Dolan is the Archbishop of New York and chair of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).

He was joined by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, a CNEWA board member, for a three-day visit to Iraqi Kurdistan, where he toured projects aimed at helping refugees and met with families, Church leaders, priests and religious who were displaced as a result of the 2014 Islamic State attacks.

The trip included visits to the Kurdish capital of Erbil, and to the northern Iraqi city of Dohuk. It concluded with a Mass celebrated by Syriac-Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan, in which representatives of several other rites were present, including the Latin and Chaldean rites, as well as the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

Both Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Murphy spoke to CNA in a sit-down interview on the last day of the trip to share their thoughts and reflections about what they had seen and experienced.

Below is CNA's full interview with Cardinal Dolan and Bishop Murphy:

What are your impressions after spending these days here in Iraq?

Cardinal Dolan: I would find my impression would be on both sides. First of all there’s an impression of sadness and sobriety in what these people have gone through. They’ve lost their homes, their homes that have been in their families for centuries, centuries and centuries, alright. They’ve lost a sense of security, they’ve lost in many ways a sense of stability that is so necessary for human existence. So there is an undeniable sense of sadness and somberness. But then I jump ahead to the other side of the spectrum to say that they haven’t lost their sense of hope. They haven’t lost their faith. We’ve heard people cry out in anguish, but they always have a sense of hope.

And I can't get over it.

I mean look, you were at the liturgy yesterday. You talk about joyful, reverent, grateful prayer and praise, trusting in God. Of all people you’d think they would be almost dour in Mass. You’d wonder if some of them would be tempted not to come anymore because they were so crushed. We have our parishes at home for Sunday Mass where sometimes there's a sense of heaviness and people don’t seem interested, and we’ve got prosperity, we’ve got peace, we’ve got stability. These people from an earthly point of view don’t have much, but my oh my, their sense of resilience and hope were simply astounding. And I see it in the priests, I see it in the sisters, I see it in the lay leaders, I see it in my brother bishops. Do they mourn the past? Yes they do, but they’re about the present and they’re about the future, and that’s a sentiment that will never leave me.

Is there a specific moment that was particularly moving for you?

Cardinal Dolan: Bishop Murphy and I have shared a number of them, and when we process this it’s amazing that we both have felt the same thing. One would be the desire of people just to go back home. Just to go back home. They’re not saying ‘take us to America.’ They’re saying ‘we just want to go back home, can you help us get back home?’ And number two, the second I think, would be that sense of hope and promise. They’re so resilient that their kind of making the best of what they’ve got. They have this trust in God and they say ‘we wanna go back home, we don’t know how long we’re going to be in exile, but let’s make the best of it. Let’s tend to the basics of faith, education, healthcare, food, shelter, protecting our kids. That’s basic civilization, that’s basic solidarity and they’re doing it magnificently.

Yesterday Bishop Wardona said that they are very grateful for your visit, but wished that it had come sooner and that the United States was doing more to help. Do you have a response to his comments about your visit, and that maybe the U.S. should have acted quicker and sooner? (Editor’s note: Bishop Shlemom Wardona is one of three auxiliary bishops in Iraq serving under Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako).

Cardinal Dolan: We say: so do we. We wish we could have come sooner too, and we certainly want to do more. That’s one of the things we’ve said from the beginning, that the purpose of our visit is to learn. We don’t come here as saviors, we don’t come here as know-it-alls, we don’t come here as experts. We really came to listen and learn so we can bring that back home, and we need to. We need to encourage our people to more fervent and deeper prayer, we they’re already doing very well. We need to be unafraid to ask our people to be more generous to the agencies like CNEWA, like Aid to the Church in Need, like the Knights of Malta, like Catholic Relief Services, who are doing very well here for these people and whose work is deeply appreciated. And we need to do more advocacy. We really do, and that’s what we learned. Now we can come back with a little bit more credibility, because we’ve been there. Bishop Murphy said earlier we’re not just geography now, we’re not just talking about them or those people. We’ve met them, we’ve hugged them, we’ve listened to them, we’ve entered their cabanas, their little trailers where they’re living. They become part of us. It’s such a vivid reminder of the family of the Church, the mystical body of Christ.

I know it’s still early, but do you have an idea of what this advocacy will look like once you guys are back?

Cardinal Dolan: I think there’s probably going to be much more…Bishop Murphy and I have said that we’ve already got homilies for about six months, we’ve got blogs for about six months, we’ve got columns we’re going to write. And we just need to talk to our people about it, we’ve got to remind them of it. That’s what it means to be Catholic. We’re not congregationalists, we’re Catholic. The sense of the Church is always a bit beyond us, and we have a solicitude for the Church universal and this is a particularly acute area where that solicitude needs to be exercised. So I think you’re going to hear us. It’s going to color everything we say and do in the future.

As a journalist I sometimes find that people read the news and move on. How can we convince people to continue to be interested and invested in what’s happening here?

Bishop Murphy: One of the things is [that] I’ve been doing blogs each day. They’re not as long as a column, but you get them out. Everybody who’s on that website will see this regularly. Another thing we did was last year, we announced that in the middle of the summer, July-August, that weekend would be Middle East weekend. So we did what we Catholics do and took up another collection (laughs). But we were able to get some more money out of that, and I think we just need to take opportunities like that and call the attention of people to it. Then some people respond and you’ll find some groups will respond. As Abraham Joshua Heschel said: you start it with one, then another, then a third and fourth, and before you know it you have a movement. And I think we should really be encouraging those who catch on to this. To start to do some things on their own that would be helpful. We can’t be the only voice, for example, in Washington. We can be a voice, but we’re just the bishops. Take the decision on Christian genocide. What made the difference there? It wasn’t the fact that the names of x-amount of bishops were there, it was the fact that all of the sudden, people picked up on it. I’m not saying that’s changing things radically, but it’s another force for good.

Cardinal Dolan: Let me mention this. We’ve got a lot of Catholic business leaders who would do a lot of business in this area of the world, and when I meet with them, when they tell me, ‘oh, I’m going to Saudi Arabia,’ or ‘I’m going to Iraq’ or ‘I’m going to Iran,’ or ‘I’m going to Kurdistan as part of some business ventures,’ I will often say to them: ‘are you going to meet with prominent leaders and government officials?’ – ‘Oh, yes.’ – ‘Are you going to mention to them the persecuted Christians?’ – ‘Well I hadn’t thought of that. That’s not really my responsibility, I don’t know if I’m an expert there.’ I’ll say to them: ‘Let me ask you this. If one of your Jewish partners were going to a country where there’s a persecution of Jews, would your Jewish partner bring that up to government leaders?’ And they’ll say ‘probably so.’ And I said when are we going to start doing that? When are we going to encourage our lay people? Sometimes they have a lot more clout that we bishops do. They expect us, fat, balding bishops, to go home and start talking about this. We’ve got to advocate with our people.

Bishop Murphy: I’ll give you an example of that. I spent two years on the International Commission for Religious Freedom. And one of our jobs was to study every time, whoever was the president at that time, went to a foreign country, someone from the White House would call us and say for example, ‘the President’s going to China. What do you have by way of names of people, what do you have about issues?’ And he would bring those things with him and literally take them out of his pocket, and when he’d come back we’d get a little report from the president saying ‘I did talk with the president of China about those things you gave me.’ So there are different ways this can happen, but what I think what the cardinal suggests is it’s something we need to be more acute about.

Cardinal Dolan: You know when I had brother bishops from India at my house, they told me that when President Obama went to India last summer they deeply appreciated the fact that he spoke publicly about the persecution of religious minorities, especially the Christians. Now Lord knows I’ve done my share of criticism of President Obama, as we bishops have with any and all of our presidents. We’d like to compliment them when they do good, we criticize them when they don’t, but my brother bishops say ‘that meant the world to us.’ So it’s that kind of advocacy that we need with our political leaders, but let’s not forget the business leaders, and let’s not forget the grassroots people who can make this work.

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At the end of their plenary assembly, this week,  Liberian Bishops in West Africa have issued a pastoral statement in which they commend the nation’s health workers for their selfless service during the Ebola virus outbreak.

“We acknowledge their tremendous sacrifices during the fight against the recent Ebola virus epidemic in which some of them lost their lives. May their souls rest in peace. With the sporadic reoccurrence of the Ebola Virus Disease, we urge you to continue to show the same commitment in saving lives. We also appeal to our people to continue to observe all health protocols with regard to Ebola. We commend the efforts being made by all stakeholders in improving our health care facilities,” reads the pastoral messagein part.

On 14 January this year,  the World Health Organization declared the end of the most recent outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in Liberia and said all known chains of transmission had been stopped in West Africa. There has been no flare-up since. Liberia says it now has in place a robust Ebola surveillance and response system.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Liberia (CABICOL) meeting in the capital Monrovia also denounced, in their pastoral statement, “any attempt by anyone or institution to promote same-sex marriage, abortion and contraceptives in Liberia.” They further committed themselves to the strengthening of pastoral and catechetical programmes in the dioceses with the view of deepening and strengthening the faith of Liberians. The pastoral statement is signed by the three Bishops of Liberia.

(engafrica@vatiradio.va)

Below, the full Pastoral Statement:

PASTORAL MESSAGE OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF LIBERIA (CABICOL) AT THE END OF THE FIRST PLENARY ASSEMBLY HELD FROM THE 5TH – 10TH APRIL 2016 AT THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC SECRETARIAT GAYE TOWN, OLD ROAD, MONROVIA

Preamble

 We, the Catholic Bishops of Liberia, having held our first Plenary Assembly from 5th – 10th April 2016, under the theme: ‘The Relevance of the Church in Liberia Today: Evangelization, Health, Education, Social Works, Justice & Peace and Mass Media’, do bring you greetings in the Risen Lord. Having prayerfully reflected on the theme, we joyfully communicate to you the following pastoral message:

Evangelization

We recognize that our fundamental mission as a Church is to proclaim the Good News as mandated by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2). We commend our priests, religious, catechists and all the laity who give their time and resources in the realization of this mission. We commend in a special way our seminary formators, novice masters and mistresses for their efforts in the formation of young men and women for the priesthood and religious life. We commit ourselves to the strengthening of our pastoral and catechetical programs and to helping our Laity deepen and strengthen their faith as we urge all to avail themselves of opportunities for spiritual growth. We thank sincerely our missionary institutions for collaborating with the Local Church in our pastoral works. We look forward to working with you always!

Health

We commend our selfless health workers for their efforts in the provision of care to our ailing brothers and sisters. We acknowledge their tremendous sacrifices during the fight against the recent Ebola virus epidemic in which some of them lost their lives. May their souls rest in peace.

With the sporadic reoccurrence of the Ebola Virus Disease, we urge you to continue to show the same commitment in saving lives. We also appeal to our people to continue to observe all health protocols with regards to Ebola. We commend the efforts being made by all stakeholders in improving our health facilities and we ask that you continue with the same.

In line with your medical code of ethics and the values of the Gospel, we encourage you to continue to promote and preserve the culture of life from the womb to the tomb.

With the formation of the National Catholic Health Council (NCHC), we are certain of a more coordinated approach to health related matters, complementing the efforts of government in the service of the Liberian people especially in the most abandoned parts of the country. We encourage you to continue these invaluable services to our brothers and sisters without discrimination.

Education

We are cognizant of the fact that our recent history has had an adverse effect on our education sector.

In agreement with the Second Vatican Council declaration on Christian education (Gravissimum Educationis, no. 1), we know that every person has an inalienable right to education. Thus we recommit ourselves to complement government’s responsibility to provide quality education in our country. However, we strongly recommend the equitable provision of subsidies to schools in the private sector.

We highly appreciate the endeavors of the men and women helping to mould the minds and spirits of our sons and daughters in our schools. We strongly call on them to be honest, dedicated, upright and dutiful in the discharge of their responsibilities. We especially appeal to our Religious Education teachers to dutifully and conscientiously prepare our children not only for exams but also and most importantly for life; inculcating in them basic life skills and the values of the Gospel.

Social Works

We affirm with gratitude the enormous work being carried out by CARITAS, the social arm of the Church. We laud the efforts of our partners, the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Action for Overseas Development (CAFOD), CARITAS Internationalis (CI) Caritas Germany, MISEREOR, and all those helping us to reach out to the most vulnerable and needy of our society. In view of the fact that charity is the supreme law of the Church (cf John 13:34; 1 Cor 13), we renew our resolve to reach out to the poor and disadvantaged throughout our country at all times.

Justice and Peace

The promotion of the fundamental and inalienable rights of all remains a primary concern of the Church. Over the years, our Justice and Peace Commission has been and continues to be in the vanguard of the defense and the promotion of human rights. Founded in November 1991, during one of the darkest moments of our history, the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) was one of the lone voices that spoke against the moral, social and economic degradation of our nation to the extent that its founding father, His Grace Archbishop Michael Kpakala Francis is referred to as “the conscience of the nation”.

We remain dedicated to this noble cause as enshrined in the Second Vatican Council Document, The Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes, no.1): “The joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the people of our time especially of those who are poor or afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the grief and anguish of the followers of Christ”.

Mass Media

We recognize the indispensable role of the media in the spread of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We appreciate our brothers and sisters of the Fourth Estate working assiduously for the dissemination of information.

However, we call for a responsible use of the media. Freedom of expression does not negate responsibility. We denounce the irresponsible use of the media especially on some of our Radio Talk Shows, most of which are characterized not by issues of national concern but by attacks of personality. We also caution all, especially our youth, for the responsible use of the social media.

 In addition, we recognize that there are laws that tend to prohibit the exercise of free speech and freedom of expression. We must reform them rather than use these laws against our citizens.

SOME NATIONAL CONCERNS

Family

We reaffirm the traditional teaching of the Church on the family. We believe that marriage is a sacred union between a man and woman as ordained by the Creator (cf Gen 1 &2; Mat 19,1-6). When in the society, marriage and family life are not guaranteed their proper development in peace, that society is condemned to socio-political, cultural and moral instability.

We denounce any attempt by anyone or any institution to promote same sex marriage, abortion and contraceptives. Thus we call upon all, especially our government to reject the acceptance of this incipient culture of death as a pre- requisite for developmental and financial aid.

However, we are very much aware of the difficulties and challenges faced by families today. In line with the Holy Father’s recent Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Family (Amoris Laetitia), we recall that Jesus “never failed to show compassion and closeness to the frailty of individual like the Samaritan woman or the woman caught in adultery” (AL 38). Thus, we appeal to pastors to “reach out to everyone, to help each person, find his or her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community and thus to experience being touched by an ‘unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous mercy” (AL 297)

Religious Freedom

During our discussion on the Church’s mission with people of other faiths, we were concerned about the tendency to undermine and threaten religious freedom, tolerance and peaceful co-existence among our people. Acknowledging our commonalities and differences, we reaffirm our commitment to promote religious freedom and peaceful co-existence as enshrined in our constitution. We therefore call on all Liberians to join us in our efforts to promote peace and the respect for the fundamental rights and dignity of every person. We renew our commitment to collaborate with all those united to the church by faith, men and women of good will and continue our engagement with people of other religions.

Taxes

We recognize our duties as citizens and institutions to pay taxes in order to promote our national and developmental agenda. In doing this, we complement our government as dutiful citizens.

Unfortunately, in recent times the Church and ordinary citizens continue to experience undue hardships which undermine our capacity to assist our government in service to our people. Donated items to our institutions are taxed exorbitantly; procedures are cumbersome leading to unnecessary delays in clearing goods from the ports. Policies are inconsistent and cost unpredictable, thus leaving room for extortion. These conditions make it difficult, if not almost impossible, to perform our humanitarian duty to our people. We therefore call on our government to review its policies and procedures to ensure that our services to the Liberian people remain uninterrupted.

Political Parties

We are grateful to God for granting us peace as a nation. We have had two peaceful elections as we continue to reconcile and heal the wounds of the war. Multi-party democracy is gradually becoming entrenched with its attendant challenges. However, some equate multi-party democracy with the proliferation of parties. A culture of multi-party democracy will be enhanced not by the quantity but by the quality of political parties. We therefore caution our nation that the decision to establish political parties must be grounded in a clearly articulated vision and political will to improve the lives of our people. It must be founded on the desire to promote respect for the rule of law and respect for human rights. We must establish political parties on the basis of a sincere desire to serve rather than to be served (cf Mark 10,45), to sacrifice rather than have a sense of entitlement. The proliferation of parties is being dominated by personal, family and ethnic interests rather than by the collective national interest. This kind of tendency must be discouraged Conclusion As we continue to implore God’s forgiveness during this Extra-Ordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, we reiterate our thanks to all of you for your prayers and support. We entrust you and our nation Liberia to the maternal care of Mary our Mother. May she, Queen of Peace and Queen of Liberia continue to intercede and pray for us.

Signed:

Archbishop Lewis Zeigler Metropolitan Archbishop of Monrovia/ President of CABICOL

Most Rev. Andrew Karnley Bishop of Cape Palmas

Most Rev. Anthony Borwah Bishop of Gbarnga

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Jackson, Miss., Apr 13, 2016 / 12:19 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Mississippi’s new religious freedom law helps protect Catholic education and social services like adoption, said the Catholic Bishop of Jackson.

The bishop said his diocese supported the bill out of these concerns.

“We would like to continue to provide these services while remaining faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church,” Bishop Joseph Kopacz said.

Last week the Mississippi governor signed the state’s new religious freedom law, H.B. 1523.

The act specifically protects the belief in marriage as a union of a man and a woman and the belief that sexual activity should be reserved for marriage. It also protects the belief that the idea of male and female are rooted in an individual’s biological sex.

The law bars government action against religious organizations that make decisions regarding employment or services based on this belief in marriage – for example, an adoption agency that believes in placing children only with a married mother and father.

It protects individuals involved in services like wedding photography, counseling, or fertility treatments. It also provides some protections to state employees, such as clerks with objections to licensing same-sex unions as marriages.

In other states, Catholic adoption agencies have been shut down because of laws requiring them to place children in situations without both a father and a mother. Catholic schools have faced lawsuits for requiring moral standards for teachers and other employees. Some people in the wedding industry have faced legal penalties for declining business involving a same-sex ceremony.

Bishop Kopacz said that the diocese has no involvement in the bill’s other portions about business and government operations. Rather, its support was limited to specific issues.

“This is invoked with malice toward none,” Bishop Kopacz said April 11. “Likewise, there is certainly a place for freedom of conscience in the public domain, an inviolable attribute of human dignity, but it should never be employed to discriminate against any person, a direct assault against human dignity.”

He cited Pope Francis’ post-synod exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” which said: “The Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception.”

The bishop explained the concern that Catholic schools be free to require that teachers teach and live what the Church believes.

“This is not a matter of discrimination but of being faithful to the mission and Gospel teachings entrusted to the Church by the Lord Jesus,” he said.

He said he wrote to legislators concerning the Church’s role in adoption and foster care. He asked them “to uphold our desire to serve while remaining faithful to our tradition of marriage in the placement of children.”

The bishop also cited Catholic Charities’ 23 programs or ministries that serve people like homeless veterans, victims of domestic violence and rape, legal immigrants, unaccompanied refugee minors and children in the foster system.

“We serve all who are in need or in crisis situations with expertise, compassion, confidentiality and respect. The dignity of each person is upheld, and no one is turned away.”

He said the Mississippi law protects First Amendment rights for religious groups and individual citizens.

“The Church will continue to work to protect its First Amendment right to worship, to educate and to serve in the public domain while respecting the dignity of all citizens,” Bishop Kopacz said.

Like other proposed state religious freedom laws, the Mississippi law became the subject of controversy from activist groups and some business groups who charged that it was discriminatory on the basis of marital status, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill into law April 5. He said it is “designed in the most targeted manner possible to prevent government interference in the lives of the people.”

Bishop Kopacz characterized the controversy as a conflict “between religious freedom and freedom of conscience versus discrimination,” with a significant focus on same-sex unions and the redefinition of marriage.

He stressed the importance of both Catholic teaching on marriage and God’s unconditional love.

“Some want to frame the debate surrounding the Church’s teaching as discrimination and hostility toward homosexual persons. On the contrary, we are being faithful to our mission to ‘speak the truth in love’ and to live with the heart and mind of our risen Lord who came that all might be reconciled to God.”
 

Photo credit: Delpixel via www.shutterstock.com

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