Catholic News 2

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128619&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

A top Vatican official challenged Filipino Catholic educators and theologians to practice what they preach and become "credible witnesses" to Church teachings.  "We need witnesses," said Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, at the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University on March 10.  Delivering a keynote address of a two-day international theological symposium, he told Catholic educators, theologians, religious superiors, and seminarians that "sanctity is the more convincing way" to attract people to the church.   He noted that the four Missionaries of Charity nuns of Mother Teresa who were killed by terrorists in Yemen on March 4, were "witnesses ... who testified with their faith."   When asked by a student how priests and the religious can put into practice what they learn from the university, Cardinal Versaldi said, "You must be saints."  "It is important to have the capacity to link the practical with the high ideals of charity and the search of God," he said.  The cardinal urged Filipino theologians "to help people see the root of injustices and weaknesses in the heart of human beings to be able to elevate the concept of liberation to the concept of salvation."  (Source: UCAN)

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128618&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

(Vatican Radio) David Willey, the longtime BBC correspondent in Rome, said in his view Pope Francis “certainly has set out to change the mindset of people in the Vatican and Catholics worldwide.” Willey, who's spent more than 40 years reporting on events in the Vatican, has recently published a book on the Pope entitled “The Promise of Francis, The Man, The Pope and the Challenge of Change.”  

With this Sunday (March 13th) marking the third anniversary of Pope Francis’ election, what has changed over the past 3 years and where is the papacy going under his leadership? Susy Hodges sat down with Willey to learn his take on the man at the helm of the Catholic Church:

 

Listen to the interview with David Willey, longtime BBC correspondent on the Papacy and the Vatican and author of a new book about Pope Francis:  

 

“Continues to surprise us all”

Pope Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio from Argentina, is the first ever Pontiff from Latin America and his election in March 2013 confounded all the predictions and pundits. Willey admitted that just like most other people he was definitely “surprised” by the cardinals’ choice at the conclave. He said the new Pope’s first words to the world spoken from the balcony of the Vatican Basilica…that “extraordinary very humble speech” …. was “a foretaste” of his papacy which during the past three years “has continued to surprise us all.” 

Asked about the challenges facing Pope Francis and the Church at the time of his election, Willey noted it has been “very interesting to see how he’s tackled” these problems. When it comes to the reform of the Roman Curia, Willey said one particularly significant "and bold" speech by the Pope was when he criticized "careerists" within the Church in an address to members of the Curia. 

Pope Francis is a master of using colourful metaphors taken from everyday life to illustrate his points and Willey singled out in this context the Pope’s much-quoted remark about how the Church should be a “field hospital” tending to the wounded, rather than a place of power. He also pointed to Pope Francis’ concern with small countries, with all those on the periphery, highlighted by his choice to make his first trip as Pope to the small Italian island of Lampedusa which is on the front line for receiving refugees and migrants making the perilous journey across the sea from Africa.  

“Has set out to change the mindset”

Some commentators in the media have described Pope Francis as a revolutionary but does Willey agree with that description?  In his reply, Willey said the Pope “certainly has set out to change the mindset” of people in the Vatican and indeed Catholics worldwide. He said he believed one of the Pope’s most "remarkable" qualities is that despite his position, “he talks like an ordinary person,” …about his family, his grandmother, his childhood and shows in this way that he is a “Pope of the people.”

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128617&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

A panel of Indian lawmakers will call for smaller health warnings on cigarette packs, saying the ‎government's requirement of 85 percent of surface area is too harsh on the tobacco industry, sources ‎who have seen the panel's draft report said.  The decision is the latest twist in a tussle between the ‎health ministry, which wants to step up an anti-smoking campaign, in line with the rest of the world, ‎and members of parliament who fear lower sales will hurt tobacco farmers.  ‎

Tobacco use is linked to 900,000 deaths every year in India, and the government had ordered ‎manufacturers to print health warnings covering 85 percent of the surface of a cigarette pack, up from ‎‎20 percent now.  But the parliamentary committee has suggested in its report that the warnings be ‎limited to half the packs' surface area, as a move to protect tobacco farmers' interests, while promoting

health.   The panel feels "a balanced approach" would be to keep the warning size at 50 percent, ‎according to two sources who have seen the report, but asked not to be identified because the draft is ‎not public.‎

Euromonitor International estimates India's cigarette market was worth $9 billion in 2014. Leading ‎players include ITC Ltd , VST Industries and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd, a partner of U.S.-based ‎Philip Morris International.  The Canadian Cancer Society ranks India 136th out of 198 countries that ‎use warnings to deter smokers, lagging nations such as Australia and Thailand that top the list. (Source: Reuters) 

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128616&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

(Vatican Radio)  What do women want?  No, I’m not talking about the movie starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt.  I’m talking about "what women want in the Church": a panel discussion on the role of women in the Church that was part of “Voices of Faith,” a Vatican-sponsored story-telling event in celebration of International Women’s Day 8 March. 

Held at the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, this week’s gathering was the third consecutive “Voices of Faith” conference, an initiative of the Fidel Götz Foundation in partnership with Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).

Women do most of the work, want to do more for the Church

Accounting for more than half of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, women take care of 85% of the Church work that clerics don’t do.   Yet VOF panelists said women want to contribute even more to their Church - and their skills and professional experience represent a not-to-be missed opportunity.  And with new studies showing more and more women and young people are leaving the Church, they also want a Church that is more “inclusive,” a Church that acknowledges their achievements and contributions, a Church that represents them. 

I spoke with the multigenerational and multinational panel of women ahead of Tuesday’s event.  They include  Geralyn Sheehan, country director for the U.S. Peace Corps in Columbia; Nicole Perone, a Masters student of Divinity at Yale University in the U.S.; Petra Dankova from the Czech Republic – a postulant with the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer; Gaya Lobo Gajiwala an English teacher from a multi-faith family in India; and Dr. Carolyn Woo, President of Catholic Relief Services.  I began by asking Dr. Woo what are some of the accomplishments that women today can offer the Church.

Need to make women’s engagement systematic, not exceptional

In response, Woo draws on her experience in the United States, saying women “are presidents of Catholic universities, of Catholic hospital systems, of Catholic social agencies like CRS.  They are superintendents; they are Chancellors.  So it demonstrates that at least in the U.S., the Church has engaged women and has done some power-sharing.  Where we need to go,” she adds, “is to turn this from an exceptional type of experience to a more habitual process so that it’s not the extraordinary, the rare [instance] where we do that… but that we need to make the appointments of women much more of an expectation, much more systematic and regular.”

Recently recognized as “one of the world’s 500 most influential people,”  Woo says “I think clearly the Church needs to think about and explicitly identify decision-making bodies -whether  it’s  within a council or an advisory board or so on… identify the opportunities where we could use more women.  Really just do an inventory of where those opportunities are.”  Once the list of opportunities is out there, then you “can identity the experiences and skills and knowledge needed so that it could be systematic.”  She invites bishops conferences around the world to identify and pre-vet strong women and lay male candidates to fill such posts.

Geralyn Sheehan brings with her more than thirty years of experience working with the marginalized and vulnerable.  She and the other women joined me in studio….

Listen to the discussion moderated by Tracey McClure:

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128615&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

By Cindy Wooden

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At the end of a Lenten retreat focused on questions in the Gospels, Servite Father Ermes Ronchi told Pope Francis and senior members of the Roman Curia that it is tempting to bristle when the faithful ask challenging questions, but he is certain it is a sign of how seriously they take the faith.

"It gives me hope to see how, among the people of God, questions continue to grow and no one is content with the same old answers," Father Ronchi told the retreatants March 11 during his last talk before the pope and Curia members returned to the Vatican.

"When everyone silently accepted the word of a priest was it a time of greater faith," he asked. "I think the opposite is true and even if this means more work for us, it is also an 'alleluia,' a 'finally.'"

Mary's question -- "How can this be?" -- in response to the Annunciation was Father Ronchi's focus for the final meditation at the March 6-11 retreat at a center run by the Pauline Fathers in Ariccia, 20 miles southeast of Rome. While the retreat was private, Vatican Radio and L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, provided coverage of Father Ronchi's talks.

"Being perplexed, asking questions is a way of standing before the Lord with all of one's human dignity," the Servite said. Like Mary, "I accept the mystery, but at the same time I use my intelligence."

"No one ever said that a rock-solid faith is better than a faith interwoven with questions," Father Ronchi said; questioners know and show that they need God and need dialogue with him.

In a reflection March 10, Father Ronchi looked at the risen Jesus' words to Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb, "Woman, why are you weeping?"

"The first words of the Risen One in the garden on Easter," he said, "have an extraordinary tenderness: 'Tell me about your tears; they are more important to me than anything.'"

The preacher insisted that "God's archive, his memory," is not full of lists of people's sins, but of their tears and suffering.

Stopping, listening and touching those in pain was Jesus' response to tears and must be the response of his followers, Father Ronchi said. But, unfortunately, "centuries of moralism have turned the works of mercy into reluctant obligations, as if they were the price of salvation."

His talk about tears followed an evening meditation March 9 on Jesus' question to the woman caught in adultery. After Jesus told the crowd that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone, the crowd left and Jesus asked the woman, "Has no one condemned you?"

Father Ronchi said, "Those who love to accuse, who get drunk off the defects of others, think they are safeguarding the truth by stoning those who err. But it is how wars are started" between countries or within communities, including churches.

In the Gospel story, he said, "the judgment against the woman caught in adultery boomerangs against the hypocrisy of the judges: No one can throw the first stone because they would be hurling it at themselves."

The Gospel story does not minimize the woman's sin, he said, but illustrates Jesus' focus on helping her turn her life around; "Go, and from now on do not sin any more," Jesus tells her.

- - -

Copyright © 2016 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128614&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Johnny Football has been tossed aside....

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128613&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Alan Amron has invented a battery-powered squirt gun, a digital photo frame, even a laser system that may someday provide a visible first-down line for fans inside NFL stadiums. He holds 40 U.S. patents, but he's most interested in an invention for which he gets no credit: the Post-it Note, that ubiquitous sticky-back product made into a worldwide success by the 3M Company....

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128612&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Climate science has progressed so much that experts can accurately detect global warming's fingerprints on certain extreme weather events, such as a heat wave, according to a high-level scientific advisory panel....

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128611&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- A South African teenager vacationing in Mozambique may have found part of a wing from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which his family dismissed as "rubbish" and his mother nearly threw away, he said Friday....

Full Article

http://www.myspiritfm.com/News?blogid=8267&view=post&articleid=128610&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0

MIAMI (AP) -- There was little sunshine in Florida this week after the presidential candidates arrived....

Full Article