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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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(Vatican Radio) As the 51st International Eucharistic Congress continues in Cebu, Philippines, our correspondent, Seán Patrick Lovett spoke with Christopher Wells about the excitement and energy of the event.

Listen:

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(Vatican Radio) The Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, said it is wrong “to spiritualize poverty” during an address on Friday to the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), currently taking place in Cebu, Philippines.

The Nigerian Cardinal was speaking on “The Eucharist and the Dialogue with the Poor and Suffering.”

“Poverty can mean many things,” Cardinal Onaiyekan said.

Listen to the interview by Seàn-Patrick Lovett with Cardinal John Onaiyekan:

“Actually, in the Church poverty can be a virtue. We speak of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The word poverty itself could be positive,” he told Vatican Radio.

However, he said there is a different kind of poverty – “misery” – which cannot be welcomed.

“A material poverty that ends up in misery, in deprivation of the main essentials of life, and there are many people in the world of our days that are suffering that kind of poverty,” he said.

“We cannot spiritualize poverty as if it is a good thing,” said Cardinal Onaiyekan. “It can never be a good thing.”

In his address to the IEC, the Cardinal spoke about the meaning of the Cross for Christians.

“Since [Jesus] died on the cross, what had been until then a symbol of a shameful death has become a great symbol of the glory of Christ in His glorious crucifixion,” Cardinal Onaiyekan told the Congress.

He then spoke about the ongoing campaign of terror against Christians and other religious minorities of the so-called Islamic State in different countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

“Today, we hear Muslim terrorists crucifying Christians as a way of inflicting the greatest pain and degradation on their victims,” he said. “But the cross still remains the symbol of the victory of the Lord Jesus.”

At the end of his speech, Cardinal Onaiyekan was surprised with a birthday cake by the Archbishop of Cebu, Jose S. Palma. The Cardinal turned 72 on Friday.

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(Vatican Radio) The 51st International Eucharistic Congress is set to conclude this weekend in Cebu in the Philippines. Over the past week cardinals, bishops, clergy and lay people have been worshipping together, sharing testimonies, listening to presentations and reflecting on the theme of this year's Congress, ‘Christ in you, our hope of glory.’

The event, which is normally held every four years, also includes speakers from other Christian Churches. Among those presenting theological reflections this past week was Tamara Grdzelidze,  Georgia’s ambassador to the Holy See. An Orthodox theologian and former staff member of the World Council of Churches, she spoke on the theme ‘The Church is Woman: the missionary and pastoral role of women in the Church’.

Vatican Radio's Seàn-Patrick Lovett is in Cebu reporting on the Congress and spoke to the ambassador following her presentation…

Listen: 

Ambassador Tamara noted there were only two women presenting theological papers at the Congress and that she felt honoured to be sharing her views as one of the few non-Catholic presenters.

She said she decided to speak about the role of women in the Church in the first centuries and how they were “active and much more visible”, often honoured with titles, such as Mary Magdalene, known in the Orthodox world as ‘Apostle to the Apostles’, or St Nino, the woman revered as one of the first evangelisers of Georgia, known as ‘equal to the Apostles’.

The ambassador said she also reflected on the episode from St Luke’s Gospel where Jesus goes to visit Martha and Mary, an episode which is interpreted by the 3rd century theologian Origen, explaining how the contemplative and the practical ministries are inseparable ways of serving the Lord.

Finally she said her major question was related to the Orthodox Church, asking if it was time that the all-male hierarchy should question the fact that “women are not in decision-making positions in the Church”. She said she drew a parallel with the Catholic Church where women are able to teach theological subjects in academies or seminars or take part in theological dialogues and are thus held in higher regard. 

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(Vatican Radio) Let us pray to God that the weakness that leads us to sin will never lead to corruption. This was the theme of Pope Francis homily at daily Mass on Friday morning, a theme he has taken up many times. Beginning with the first reading, which tells the story of David and Bathsheba, the Pope distinguished between regular sinners and those who are corrupt. Unlike regular sinners, the corrupt do not feel the need for forgiveness.

Listen to Christopher Wells' report: 

One can sin often, and always return to God seeking forgiveness, never doubting that it will be obtained. It is especially when one becomes corrupt – when one no longer sees the need to be forgiven – that problems begin.

The corrupt feel they don’t need God

This is the attitude King David assumes when he becomes enamoured with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, an army officer fighting on the frontlines. The Pope outlined the story narrated in the Scripture. After David seduced Bathsheba, he found out that she was pregnant, and he hatched a plot to cover-up his adultery. He recalled Uriah from the front and encouraged him to visit his wife. Uriah, though, did not go to his wife, but stayed with the other officers in the king’s palace. David then tried to get him drunk, but this plan also fails.

“This puts David in a difficult position,” the Pope said. “But he says to himself, ‘I can do it.’ He sends a letter, as we read: ‘Place Uriah up front, where the fighting is fierce. Then pull back and leave him to be struck down dead.’ He condemns him to death. This man, this faithful man [Uriah] – faithful to the law, faithful to his people, faithful to his king – carries his own death sentence.”

The security of corruption

“David is a saint, but also a sinner.” He falls on account of lust, the Pope said, and yet God still loves him very much. However, the Pope notes, “the great, the noble David” feels so secure – “because the kingdom was strong” – that after having committed adultery he does everything in his power to arrange the death of a loyal man, falsely passing it off as an accidental death in battle:

“This is a moment in David’s life that makes us see a moment through which we all can pass in our life: it is the passage from sin to corruption. This is where David begins, taking the first step towards corruption. He has the power, he has the strength. And for this reason, corruption is a very easy sin for all of us who have some power, whether it be ecclesiastical, religious, economic, political… Because the devil makes us feel certain: ‘I can do it’.”

Sinners, yes; but not corrupt

Corruption – from which David was saved by the grace of God – had wounded the heart of that “courageous youth” who had faced the Philistine with a sling and five small stones. “Today I want to emphasize only one thing,” the Pope concluded. “There is a moment where the attitude of sin, or a moment where our situation is so secure and we see well and we have so much power” that sin “stops” and becomes “corruption.” And “one of the ugliest things” about corruption is that the one who becomes corrupt thinks he has “no need for forgiveness.”

“Today, let us offer a prayer for the Church, beginning with ourselves, for the Pope, for the Bishops, for the priests, for consecrated men and women, for the lay faithful: ‘Lord, save us, save us from corruption. We are sinners, yes, O Lord, all of us, but [let us] never [become] corrupt!’ Let us ask for this grace.”

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(Vatican Radio)  The 51^st International Eucharistic Congress is taking place in Cebu, Philippines drawing thousands of delegates from around the globe to reflect on the central role of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.

Among those attending the week-long event is the Vatican’s top diplomat at the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Bernardito Auza.  Archbishop Auza, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer at the UN in New York, is Filipino himself so his visit to Cebu is a return home. 

He tells our correspondent in Cebu, Sean Patrick Lovett, that the centrality of the Eucharist in the Catholic faith is directly related to issues of international political concern such as hunger, poverty and human rights.

Listen to Sean Patrick Lovett's interview with Archbishop Auza:

Archbishop Auza says he has been pleasantly surprised to hear so many of the week’s discussions centre on hunger and cultural and interreligious dialogue to name a few of the social justice themes on the agenda.   “The question of justice, the question of the environment, all of these things are the biggest themes which are also discussed at the United Nations,” he adds.

The Holy See and the Catholic Church, he observes, have much to contribute to the International community and to the United Nations by way of offering a unique religious perspective, and new points of view to dialogue on issues of global concern.

He stresses that all these universal concerns are coming “into our reflection on the Eucharist” in Cebu. 

Hunger, interfaith dialogue, social justice “from the perspective of the Eucharist”

Viewing hunger and cultural and interfaith dialogue “from the perspective of the Eucharist,” he notes, “could be very, very interesting and surprising at the same time but indeed for us, [the Eucharist]  is …the source, also the  inspiration of our participation in the international community.  And it is from that particular perspective - our religious perspective - that the international community is also very interested in our participation, in our point of view.  That’s why the Holy Father practically opened the [UN] Summit this year on the 2030 Development Agenda where the number one goal is to eradicate hunger and eliminate extreme poverty.”

Bringing love for the Eucharist into dialogue with other faiths

The Vatican Nuncio recounts how the Eucharist “is always available to people”  in the Philippines where almost every church, he says, offers 24/7 Eucharistic adoration or other alternatives for veneration if a chapel should be closed.  “So bringing this great love of the Eucharist also to the social justice concern to eradicate hunger, eradicate extreme poverty - to bring this love for the Eucharist into the question of dialogue with culture, dialogue with other religions, is something that really expands our vision and also expands our love and our own idea of the Eucharist.  So we see the Eucharist as the source also of all these dialogues: that we have to go out into the world and try to be useful, try to be friendly, try to live with others in a harmonious manner.”

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(Vatican Radio) Vatican Radio has been speaking to several delegates from Africa at the 51st International Eucharist Congress (IEC) taking place in Cebu, Philippines.

Father Justin Matepa is the National Pastoral Secretary for the Bishops Conference of Zambia. He said the culture of encounter being experienced in Cebu can serve as an example for his own country.

“We have a variance of cultures, ‘intra’ but also in relation with those who have come in from other countries,” he said.

“But I think the big challenge always is the ‘intra’ dialogue that has to be there” – continued Father Matepa –  “Among us are different languages – tribes, if you want to call them – and sometimes the alignment that comes with the political affiliations based on that is a big challenge.”

He said the religious situation is also varied.

Listen to the interview by Seàn-Patrick Lovett with Msgr. Maurus Kakuru Kantana and Fr. Justin Matepa:

“At the same time, Zambia is a country with a variety of Christian denominations,” Father Matepa said.

“There are 15 million people, and only about 25% Catholic. We are talking about an array of so many: Pentecostals, Mainline Protestant Churches…and even in the families, we need to dialogue,” he told Vatican Radio.

“In my country, even in one family, you will find Pentecostals, Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics, divided like that” – he continued –  “But you have to live under one roof…and also within the community. It is a challenge, but at the same time we have been trying. Religiously, I think it has been very peaceful, but I think politically it has been a little bit more of a challenge.”

Another African priest attending the IEC is Msgr. Maurus Kakuru Kantana, the Vicar General of the diocese of Windhoek, Namibia.

He his local Church, even though in a small country on the southwestern part of Africa, is multi-cultural.

“All people, you can find them there. Even the Filipinos. We have even in my parish a big community of the Filipinos,” Msgr. Kantana told Vatican Radio.

He said the people at the IEC in the Philippines were surprised to find this out.

“They were really happy to hear that,” he said.

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(Vatican Radio) Vatican Weekend for January 31, 2016 features our weekly selection of readings and reflections for the Sunday Gospel in a programme presented by Jill Bevilacqua by the title of 'There's More in the Sunday Gospel than Meets the Eye'. This is followed by a conversation with well known author and preacher Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe. 

A programme presented and produced by Veronica Scarisbrick:

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