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(Vatican Radio)  Archbishop Bernardito Auza has given a talk at the Seton Hall University in the US state of New Jersey, speaking about Pope Francis’ diplomacy to the students and faculty at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations.

The Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations said the Church speaks “of continuity – as seamless as possible – of a journey guided by perennial doctrine discerned in the context of a world in constant flux.”

He said, “Holy See diplomacy is a ministry and task carried out in the secular world by the Church and in the name of the Church. Thus, like all Church ministries and actions, it is also bound by the principle of salus animarum suprema lex [‘The salvation of souls is the supreme law of the Church’].”

Encounter and dialogue at heart of Pope Francis’ diplomacy

Archbishop Auza said the “golden thread that ties together the words and actions of the Pope” is the “theme of encounter and dialogue”.

“Pope Francis especially relates the ‘culture of encounter’ to solidarity and charity… It’s a diplomacy of dialogue to resolve conflicts, promote unity and fight exclusion. It’s what he’s called caminar juntos [‘journeying together’] as a way of life.”

Holy See diplomacy at United Nations

Archbishop Auza also spoke about the Holy See’s involvement at the UN, saying the Holy See was initially reluctant to engage with the United Nations after its founding in 1945.

He said the Holy See had concerns about the UN, including the veto-power given to the five permanent members of the Security Council – putting into question “the equality of States” – and “that it was not universal in membership, as many countries, especially small ones and those that gained independence against the will of their colonial masters, were excluded”.

The Holy See became a Permanent Observer to the UN on April 6, 1964.

Archbishop Auza said, “This was fitting, not only because of the burgeoning involvement of the Holy See in UN deliberations, but above all because the four pillars of the UN as enshrined in its Charter dovetail very well with four main pillars of Catholic Social Teaching: the prevention of war and the promotion of peace; the protection and advance of human dignity and rights; human development; and helping nations to keep their word and honor international treaties and law.”

Please find below the full text of Archbishop Auza’s speech:

Archbishop Bernardito Auza

Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations

“Pope Francis’ Diplomacy”

School of Diplomacy and International Relations

Seton Hall University,  South Orange, New Jersey

1 March 2017

Your Eminence the Archbishop of Newark, Joseph William Cardinal Tobin, Honorable President of Seton Hall University. Dr. Gabriel Esteban and Mrs. Esteban, Honorable Provost ad interim of Seton Hall University, Professor Karen Boroff, Distinguished Dean of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Professor Andrea Bartoli and Mrs. Bartoli, Dear Faculty members and Students of the School of Diplomacy, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased that my first act of Lenten penance is a talk at Seton Hall University!

Thank you, Eminence, for your presence, which, frankly, intimidates me. I can’t get out of my mind the New York Times picture of your benching two-and-a-quarter! For those uninitiated to gym parlance, that’s a hefty 225 pounds! I can hardly bench a quarter!

Thank you, Professor Bartoli, for giving me this opportunity to converse with the Seton Hall community about Pope Francis’ Diplomacy, a topic that goes right to the heart of the Catholic identity of Seton Hall.

Diplomacy in Continuity

In the history of the Church, we don’t talk of ruptures or new starts. We talk of continuity – as seamless as possible –, of a journey guided by perennial doctrine discerned in the context of a world in constant flux. We love the image of Saint Peter’s boat sailing resolutely forward although battered by gales and tossed about by the waves.

That’s the way I love to think of the diplomacy of the Holy See. Between Pope Francis and his predecessors, there have been no ruptures, but rather continuity. Holy See diplomacy is a ministry and task carried out in the secular world by the Church and in the name of the Church. Thus, like all Church ministries and actions, it is also bound by the principle of salus animarum suprema lex [“The salvation of souls is the supreme law of the Church”]. It can only fulfill this principle if it knows how to “scrutinize the signs of the time and interpret them in the light of the Gospel” (GS4), how to discern and act accordingly.

I believe this is particularly true within the context of the presence of the Holy See at the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. The overall goal of the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations has always been this: to bring the leaven of the Gospel and the Church’s own bimillennial experience of humanity to the complex reality of international relations and to the international debates about the problems facing our world.

The Holy See’s Presence at the United Nations

Many ask: Why should the Holy See want to be present at the United Nations? Isn’t the UN “right now,” as one President commented recently, “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time?” “So sad,” he concluded.

Well, I am inclined to believe that getting together, talking and having a good time is not that sad! But, yes, at the UN it does become sad when, as the lyrics of the old Dan Fogelberg song would have it, speeches become “longer than there’ve been fishes in the ocean” and “there've been stars up in the heavens,” and, worse, if they are not “stronger than any mountain cathedral,” and worse still, if they are not “truer than any tree ever grew” or “deeper than any forest primeval.” (Cf. “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg).

Nevertheless, why, indeed, is the Holy See present and actively engaged at the United Nations?

The United Nations, as you well know, was born out of the ashes of the Second World War in 1945. Fifty-one Member States signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco in 1945.

It was not exactly love at first sight for the Holy See. When the United Nations was being founded, the Holy See was somewhat cautious about it. It recognized the urgent need for an international organization to succeed the failed League of Nations, but had some serious concerns. One concern was that the UN Charter, while recognizing the equality of States, did not in fact enshrine this principle, since the five permanent members of the Security Council, invested with veto-power, were patently unequal to the rest. Another was that it was not universal in membership, as many countries, especially small ones and those that gained independence against the will of their colonial masters, were excluded. Another was that it debated problems but didn’t solve them. In 1953, Pope Pius XII wondered publicly: “Is the General Assembly merely an Academy to formulate Agreements that will never be put into practice?”

I am tempted to say, “So sad!”

Regardless, even though the Holy See was not a part of the UN in the early days, it often participated in the formal and informal work of the UN by invitation, Finally, on April 6, 1964, the Holy See became a Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations and established our Mission in New York. This was fitting, not only because of the burgeoning involvement of the Holy See in UN deliberations, but above all because the four pillars of the UN as enshrined in its Charter dovetail very well with four main pillars of Catholic Social Teaching: the prevention of war and the promotion of peace; the protection and advance of human dignity and rights; human development; and helping nations to keep their word and honor international treaties and law.

The Thoughts of the Popes on the United Nations

During the 53 years of existence of the Holy See Permanent Observer Mission in New York, there have been five Papal visits to the United Nations: Blessed Paul VI in October 1965, Saint John Paul II in 1979 and 1995, Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, and Pope Francis in 2015. During these visits, the Popes expressed esteem for the institution, which they considered essential for the world.

Pope Paul VI told the members of the General Assembly that the purpose of his visit was to be “first of all, a moral and solemn ratification of this lofty institution. ... The edifice that you have constructed must never collapse; it must be continually perfected and adapted to the needs that the history of the world will present.”

John Paul II talked of areas of collaboration, saying, “Although their respective purposes and operative approaches are obviously different, the Church and the United Nations constantly find wide areas of cooperation on the basis of their common concern for the human family.”

Pope Benedict added, “My presence at this Assembly is a sign of esteem for the United Nations, and it is intended to express the hope that the Organization will increasingly serve as a sign of unity between States and an instrument of service to the entire human family.”

Pope Francis reiterated the appreciation expressed by his predecessors, “reaffirming,” he said, “the importance that the Catholic Church attaches to this Institution and the hope that she places in its activities.”

Moreover, for those of us who are Catholics, members of a Universal Church, the United Nations is a political resemblance of the “catholicity” of the Church. Blessed Paul VI stated it in such a poetic tone: “We would be tempted to say that your chief characteristic is a reflection, as it were, in the temporal field of what Our Catholic Church aspires to be in the spiritual field: unique and universal. Among the ideals by which mankind is guided, one can conceive of nothing greater on the natural level. Your vocation is to make brothers not only of some, but of all peoples. A difficult undertaking? Unquestionably; but this is the undertaking, your very noble undertaking.”

The Popes, however, have not given the United Nations a pass. While granting the “lofty institution” a “moral and solemn ratification,” the Popes also affirmed that there were times when the United Nations has been found wanting, unable to realize its vision by failing to achieve its objectives for some peoples in the world.

John Paul II declared, “The United Nations Organization needs to rise more and more above the cold status of an administrative institution and to become a moral center where all the nations of the world feel at home and develop a shared awareness of being, as it were, a ‘family of nations.’”

Pope Francis, reviewing the first seven decades of the institution, said, “The experience of these seventy years since the founding of the United Nations in general, and in particular the experience of these first fifteen years of the third millennium, reveal both the effectiveness of the full application of international norms and the ineffectiveness of their lack of enforcement.”

Holy See’s Bilateral Diplomacy

Up to here, I have only referred to the diplomacy of the Holy See at the multilateral level, specifically at the UN. At the bilateral level, today the Holy See has diplomatic relations with 182 out of 193 countries in the world, and more are on the drawing board. We have 116 Apostolic Nunciatures and Permanent Missions across the globe, endowing the Holy See with one of the world’s most extensive diplomatic networks.

And if we consider our bishops, priests, men and women religious, catechists and committed laypeople as our equivalent to operatives of the American CIA or the old Soviet KGB, nobody can beat us in information gathering and grassroots operations! Let me share a story. In one of my previous postings, the political officer of a very powerful country’s Embassy proudly announced to me that her Ambassador was about to inaugurate an irrigation system that her Government had financed. I said to her, “Do you know that the dam and the irrigation system are being built on the property of the Speaker of the Parliament?” She was shocked! How was it possible, when her Embassy was staffed with more than a hundred people, and there were only a couple of us at the Nunciature, that I could have had better intelligence? She was unaware that there were dozens of nosey Sisters in the villages where the project was being built! And not far away were Jesuit “social activists” running schools at the same time. When I next saw my very efficient “intelligence operatives,” I had to thank them for their wonderful work!

Pope Francis’ Diplomatic Priorities

Given the time constraints, I must now start the second part of my talk, namely, the priorities of Pope Francis’ diplomacy that we in his service must concretize on the ground.

Before mentioning specific issues that we work to advance at the bilateral and multilateral levels, I would like first to highlight the theme of encounter and dialogue. It is the golden thread that ties together the words and actions of the Pope, the unifying inspiration that has overarching implications not only on the pastoral and spiritual activity of the Church, but also on the socio-economic and political concerns of our time.

Pope Francis especially relates the “culture of encounter” to solidarity and charity. When he speaks about social issues and about the questions with the biggest political implications, he constantly affirms a diplomacy of encounter leading toward better mutual knowledge and mutual respect. It’s a diplomacy of dialogue to resolve conflicts, promote unity and fight exclusion. It’s what he’s called caminar juntos [“journeying together”] as a way of life. This is a diplomacy that privileges greater respect for the weaker countries, the rule of law over the law of force, honest and cordial relations among nations and peoples over mutual suspicions. A culture of encounter cannot happen building walls and promoting isolationism, but only through bridges and open doors.

I can cite dozens of reflections of Pope Francis on this, but, insofar as Seton Hall is a top university, I don’t want to rob the students of the pleasure of doing research and working hard on their homework!

The issues on which the Pope proposes a diplomacy of dialogue, bridge-building and encounter are social issues with strong political implications. People ask: Why should the Church, why should the Pope care, about controversial social and political issues? The short answer is: Because Jesus cares! And if Jesus cares, the Pope and the Church cannot but care.

Many of us know by heart the celebrated opening passage of the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et spes: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.”

With his repeated and strong, even occasionally provocative, words and actions on the great questions and challenges facing our world today, Pope Francis invites us to do the same, to make our own the joys and sorrows of the world, to get our hands dirty, to begin to smell like the sheep, to act like a field hospital in the midst of battle, to get involved in promoting and carrying out a diplomacy of dialogue and encounter.

This is the spirit that inspires our work at the United Nations and in bilateral relations across the world. It goes without saying that, at the same time, given the Holy See’s and the Church’s unique role and competence, there is the need to avoid identifying ourselves in any way along political or ideological lines, thereby safeguarding our unique identity and influence in the concert of Nations.

Priority Commitments of the Holy See’s Mission to the UN Today

The Holy See’s Permanent Observer Mission takes part in almost every debate at the UN and so we are involved in the whole gamut of issues facing the international community. But if you were to ask me to specify priority commitments we have in 2017 following the lead of Pope Francis, I’d offer the following six:

First, the ceaseless pursuit of peace, in particular in war torn areas. That the world is in bad shape is clear in the number of conflicts that continue to rage. When previous UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon started his mandate in 2006, there were 13 open conflicts in the world. As he was about to end his mandate in 2016, there were 39 open conflicts and 11 situations of intense tensions. Pope Francis calls this a “third world war [being] fought piecemeal.” And while many parts of the world are on fire, the firemen don’t have enough water and, worse, are quarrelling and cross-vetoing at the horseshoe table on some of the most tragic of these conflicts.

No month goes by without our reiterating the Pope’s appeal for peace and echoing the cries of those in war-torn areas for the international community, especially the Security Council, to act. We find constant opportunities to emphasize that, as Pope Francis told the UN General Assembly, “War is the negation of all rights and … we must work tirelessly to avoid war between nations and peoples.” In a particular way, we try to make sure the pleas of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East, in Nigeria, in countries of dictatorial regimes and elsewhere don’t get forgotten.

Second, and closely allied to the first, is the pursuit of disarmament, in particular nuclear disarmament and abolition. At the end of March, the Holy See will be actively participating in a Conference toward a “legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.” Pope Francis spoke about the importance of such endeavors for the world when he addressed the UN General Assembly in September 2015, saying that strongly opposed to the pursuit of peace, the pacific resolution of disputes and the fostering of friendly relations among nations, is the “constant tendency to the proliferation of arms, especially weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons. An ethics and a law based on the threat of mutual destruction – and possibly the destruction of all mankind – are self-contradictory and an affront to the entire framework of the United Nations, which would end up as ‘nations united by fear and distrust.’”

Third, responding to the crisis of refugees, migrants, and internally displaced people across the globe. This has been a primordial and constant concern for the Holy See. But with today’s 255 million people crossing international borders, of whom 65.3 million qualify as refugees, the Holy See’s voice also takes a more urgent tone. Since actions speak louder than words and in order to underline how high a priority this issue is for him, Pope Francis undertook his first trip outside Rome to Lampedusa, the small island in the Mediterranean that has become a symbol of both death and salvation. Then he went to Lesvos to meet the refugees and forced migrants fleeing wars and persecutions, and, putting faces into his words of solidarity, he brought back with him to Rome a dozen Syrian refugees.

To say that migration is a huge issue in the United States of America as well is to major in understatement. Regardless of which side of the wall — of the argument, I mean — you are on, everyone knows how ‘huge’ it is. Consequently, it is a priority pastoral issue for the whole Church, starting with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In his Address to the joint Congress on 24 September 2015, against the backdrop of Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech, Pope Francis said that “the dream” continues: America “continues to be, for many, a land of ‘dreams.’ Dreams that lead to action, to participation, to commitment. Dreams that awaken what is deepest and truest in the life of a people.” Perhaps the best recalled passage of that Address was this passionate reminder: “In recent centuries, millions of people came to this land to pursue their dream of building a future in freedom. We, the people of this continent, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners. I say this to you as the son of immigrants, knowing that so many of you are also descended from immigrants.”

Fourth, and related to the third, is fighting human trafficking and other forms of modern slavery. Pope Francis is universally recognized as the leading moral voice in the fight against trafficking in persons. It is one of the defining priorities of his papacy. Human trafficking, he said, is “an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ…. a crime against humanity.” If we are going to fight this toxic flood effectively, we must block its tributaries and address its root causes, like extreme poverty, corruption in governance, injustices and exclusion in the economic field, and the ethical degeneration that occurs when people are treated as objects, when, in the Pope’s words, they are “deceived, assaulted, often sold many times for different purposes and, in the end, killed or, in any case, physically and mentally harmed, ending up discarded and abandoned.” The Pope exhorts us that now is the time for action.

Fifth, seeking to lift up those in extreme poverty. In his Address to the UN General Assembly, Pope Francis said, “Economic and social exclusion is a complete denial of human fraternity and a grave offense against human rights. The poorest are those who suffer most…: they are cast off by society [and] forced to live off what is discarded …, [casualties] of today’s widespread and quietly growing ‘culture of waste.’ … Government leaders must do everything possible to ensure that all can have the minimal spiritual and material means needed to live in dignity.”

Sixth, the fundamental and constant priority of the defense and promotion of the dignity of every human person and of the family. This is one of our most constant areas of emphasis, because some Member States and UN Agencies never cease to try to use every negotiation and mechanism they can to push the agenda of abortion, under the smokescreen of “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” the definition of gender not as male and female but as a social construction, as well as the redefinition of marriage and family. It is in this area that the Holy Father’s expression of “ideological colonization” is primarily relevant, especially when certain donor countries or a UN Agency uses development aid to pressure poor countries to adopting practices contrary to their religious beliefs and culture.

Pope Francis, before the UN General Assembly, called for “respect for the sacredness of every human life, of every man and every woman, the poor, the elderly, children, the infirm, the unborn, the unemployed, the abandoned, those considered disposable because they are only considered as part of a statistic.” He stressed that the “right to life” is the “common foundation” of all the pillars of integral human development. He urged governments to ensure “that all can have the minimum spiritual and material means needed to live in dignity and to create and support a family, which is the primary cell of any social development,” and defended the “primary right of the family to educate its children.” 

Papal Diplomacy is Pastoral and Spiritual Diplomacy

Dear friends,

These priorities are aspects of Pope Francis’ and of the Church’s pastoral and spiritual diplomacy. To many, spirituality and diplomacy don’t mix and may even sound contradictory. Diplomacy, for them, is practically synonymous with two things: first, with guile, the willingness to lie placidly for the sake of one country’s interest’; and second, with worldliness, with elegant receptions of caviar and champagne filling the imagination!  When as part of my duties I have to eat caviar, Saint Paul is almost there whispering in my ear: Eat caviar as if you were not eating it, and drink the chilliest vodka as if you were not drinking it! I shouldn’t be telling you this on Ash Wednesday!

Knowing fully well that there is much more to diplomacy than guile and champagne – indeed, that guile and endless receptions are far from the core of effective diplomacy – I insist on talking of a pastoral and spiritual diplomacy of the Holy Father. Diplomacy understood in this way is a charism, and charisms, we know, are beneficial not to the one who exercises them, but to the community. In this sense, diplomacy is an essential art of a leader whose objective is the good of all and whose means to achieve that end is unselfish service.

This is Pope Francis’ diplomacy before the world. We should therefore understand his diplomatic style and substance primarily within a spiritual key, conscious of the fact that no matter how famous he has become or how respected he is among the world leaders and ordinary citizens, he remains primarily a Pastor and Teacher, and for those of us who are Catholic, our Holy Father.

Thank you for your attention.

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Cardinal Dieudonné  Nzapalainga, the Archbishop of Bangui in the Central African Republic, will this week visit the association “Friends of Central Africa” headquarters in Limido Comasco. The association is an Italian charity that provides humanitarian assistance to the Church in the Central African Republic.

President of the Association, “Friends of Central Africa” (Amici per il Centrafrica), Pierpaolo Grisetti announced that Cardinal Nzapalainga would visit  Limido Comasco, a  municipality in the Province of Como situated in the Italian region of Lombardy, near Milan.

"We are very pleased to open the house of “Friends of Central Africa” to Cardinal Nzapalainga, thus returning the warm reception that has always been accorded us during our meetings in Bangui," Grisetti said.

While in the region, the Cardinal is also a guest of the Archdiocese of Milan’s Pontifical Mission Societies.

The association "Friends of Central Africa, " was founded in 2001 by the late Carla Pagani who gathered friends and volunteers together. Today thanks to their efforts and generous contributions from the public, the association supports some of the Church’s humanitarian projects in the Republic of Central Africa.

(Amici per il Centrafrica)

Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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(Vatican Radio) The Apostolic Administrator for the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, O.F.M., has sent a letter to the people of the diocese at the beginning of the season of Lent.

Archbishop Pizzaballa, formerly the Franciscan “custos” of the Holy Land, was appointed apostolic administrator in July 2016. In his Lenten letter, the Archbishop acknowledges mistakes made in the Patriarchate, especially concerning financial and administrative matters. “We had failed in some important areas,” he writes, “perhaps not focused enough on our primary mission: preaching the Gospel and dedicate ourselves to the pastoral activities.”

The Archbishop writes of his experience in visiting with members of the diocese since his installation, noting both positive aspects, and “problems, a crisis that threatens our homes,” which led to his appointment as administrator. However, Archbishop Pizzaballa says, “A crisis, in fact, can be a place for death, but it can be, with help of the Holy Spirit, a place for a new life, for a rebirth in the Spirit, a place of resurrection. That is our commitment, our hope and our prayer.”

The full text of Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa’s letter can be read below:

Letter to the Diocese

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels”
(2 Corinthians 4:7)

Dear brother bishops and priests,

Dear brothers and sisters, faithful in all our parishes and religious communities,

“Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God “with all their hearts” (Joel 2:12), to refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus is the faithful friend who never abandons us.” With these powerful words, Pope Francis begins his letter to the faithful on the occasion of Lent.

Since July 15, 2016, I have been at the helm of the diocese as the Apostolic Administrator. I have spent these past months learning, rooting myself in what is now our shared reality: the life of our Latin Patriarchate. For the past 170 years this Patriarchate has played and still plays an important role in the life of the Christians in the Holy Land. Our parishes, schools and many other institutions have contributed much to the life of the Christians in these lands and have strengthened our witness to Christ and his Resurrection from the dead. However, we all know that the naming of an Apostolic Administrator, someone from outside the Patriarchate clergy, was an unexpected decision, and it came as a surprise shock to many. It led to the conclusion that all is not well. Indeed, mistakes have been made and wrong decisions have been made which have affected the life of the Patriarchate, financially and administratively, mainly concerning the American University of Madaba. We had failed in some important areas, perhaps not focused enough on our primary mission: preaching the Gospel and dedicate ourselves to the pastoral activities.

Since last July, I have been meeting the bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful, and visiting many parts of the diocese. I have discovered much that is positive, encouraging and hopeful, but I have also noted that we have problems, a crisis that threatens our home, problems that led to me being named Administrator until a new Patriarch can be named, situations that we must face with honesty, courage, determination, brotherly love and, of course, with a strong faith in the Lord who is guiding us. A crisis, in fact, can be a place for death, but it can be, with help of the Holy Spirit, a place for a new life, for a rebirth in the Spirit, a place of resurrection. That is our commitment, our hope and our prayer.

I would like to share with you my joy this Lenten season that we, at the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, have indeed begun this journey in a very meaningful way. On the eve of Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, I decided to convene a gathering of all the diocesan priests of the Latin Patriarchate. I felt I was ready to start sharing with the priests some of my insights during these past months and to listen carefully to their suggestions and opinions. The priests convened on Monday, February 27 and Tuesday, February 28, in the House of the Visitation of the Sisters of the Rosary in Fuheis, Jordan. We focused mainly on the following topics: the life of the Latin Patriarchate with special attention to the priests, their life and their pastoral activity; the financial problems and their possible solution; the preparation of internal bylaws for our administration.

I can assure you that you, beloved brothers and sisters, faithful in all our parishes, you were very present, in a way or another, in all our discussions and exchanges, with your difficulties, your sufferings and your hopes.

A first joy was that the bishops and all the priests who were able to come indeed came, young and old, from Jordan, Palestine, Israel and even from the Gulf. They came eager to learn, to listen, also to speak and we spent two days together in deep and meaningful discussion about our beloved Patriarchate, about our vocation and mission but also about the mistakes that have led us to a critical situation, mainly financial.

A second joy was to see that those gathered were committed to working through these problems, willing to face honestly the reality and ready to engage whole heartedly in the necessary steps to set us back on the right path. It was moving to hear one priest, who spoke out loud and clear, saying: “The time has come to acknowledge our responsibility, each one of us, and to commit ourselves to a new beginning”. Another pointed out: “We need to discover how to transform this painful reality into a grace”. I think he meant the grace of “new beginnings”, the promise of Resurrection beyond the passion and death that many of us are living right now. We have much to do. Now is the time to begin the work of reform, reconstruction and renewal in certain sectors of our administration, but not only. Among other conclusions, in fact, we decided to focus even more on our pastoral activities and to open, for instance, new diocesan offices for the pastoral work, which will coordinate and unify our pastoral service to the community.

Although as Apostolic Administrator I have been granted the authority to change certain financial and administrative realities, I am also aware that if we do not work together, our Patriarchate will not be restored to good health. It is not the first time we have to face serious problems in our history and in the past we could always overcome the difficulties with the help of God. Today, after two days with our bishops and priests, I come away full of hope. The way in front of us will be undoubtedly difficult, the challenges great and the obstacles big. These two days, however, convinced me that if we work together, focusing on our mission to serve Christ in His Church, we will overcome also this moment. I felt that our bishops and priests were ready to “fight the good fight” and go forward with courage, difficult as the way might be. Thanks to the Lord and to your good will, I begin Lent with a sense of relief, of deep gratitude and with renewed energy that I want to share with you all.

At the end of our meeting, the priests asked to share with all of you, with transparency, our actual difficulties, that are anyway already known, but at the same time also to let you know our determination to solve all this, with the help of God and the full commitment of all of us.

I ask you all to pray during Lent that we may indeed work together, bishops, priests, religious men and women, lay men and women, youth and aged ones. Like “apostolic life” of the earliest community of believers in Jerusalem, we too must be “of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32), confident that what the Lord began 170 years ago, He will continue to sustain and support.

Indeed, Lent is a journey of conversion. We, bishops and priests in the Patriarchate, are among the sinners who implore God’s mercy and beg for the grace of conversion. Our mistakes and wrong judgments are clearly set before our eyes, like the repenting Psalmist (Ps 51 (50): 5) says. We must admit that we are like cracked and broken clay vessels. We were entrusted with much but in our human fragility, we allowed much to be wasted. Yet we know that the Lord uses vessels that are fragile and providential tools in His plan of salvation. Saint Paul puts it well: “ For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:6-8). We can be certain that the treasure we have been charged with will shine through even though we are earthen vessels.

Brothers and sisters, united in prayer this Lent, we set our face to follow the Lord to Jerusalem. Yes, the way will be a hard one but let me share with you my confidence that if we persevere with Him, we will emerge in the light of His Resurrection!

May the Lord bless you all in this Lenten journey!

Jerusalem, 3 March 2017

+ Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Apostolic Administrator

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Austin, Texas, Mar 7, 2017 / 02:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Austin, Texas, like any hipster city worth its organic, non-GMO salt, is known for its food trucks.

There are about 1,000 food trucks that roam the streets of the Texas capital, offering barbecue, breakfast tacos, and gourmet grilled cheese to the masses of Pabst Blue Ribbon-swilling millennials who have recently flocked to the city.

But among them, and before them, there was Alan Graham and Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes is a Christian non-profit founded by Graham and five other men that delivers about 1,200 meals and essentials from 12 food trucks to homeless people on the streets of Austin every night.

The ministry also recently started a village called Community First!, a place where the formerly homeless, volunteers and those desiring a simpler life live together in a village of tiny homes and recreational vehicles in what Graham calls “an RV park on steroids.”

In his newly released book Welcome Homeless, Graham recalls the story and the people behind his ministries, in his raw, straight-shooting, and often humorous voice.    

In October 1996, Graham, a convert to Catholicism, had gone tentatively on a men’s retreat. At first, he was counting down the hours until the “hugs and hand-holding” were over. The retreat was too emotional for his then-very intellectual faith.

But by the end, he experienced a profound change of heart and adopted a philosophy of “just say yes.”

Several yesses and a couple of years later, Graham and his wife, Tricia, found themselves having coffee with a friend who was telling them about an initiative in Corpus Christi, Texas, where multiple churches would pool their resources to provide food for the homeless on cold winter nights.

An entrepreneur at heart, Graham immediately envisioned a catering truck that could deliver meals to the homeless (this was before the food truck boom; at the time ,Graham called them “roach coaches”).

“I woke up the next morning knowing we could franchise it, and bring it to every church, every city, and every state to feed the homeless,” he recalls in his book. “This is how entrepreneurs think: one truck becomes a thousand.”

Through his church group, he recruited six more men to join him and invest in a food truck for the homeless (they started calling themselves “The Six Pack”). One of these men turned out to be an especially key player: Houston Flake.  

Socks and popsicles

Houston, who met Graham through the men’s group at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, was poorly educated and illiterate, but understood the Gospel like no one Graham had ever met.

Houston had experienced chronic homelessness throughout his life, and became a key tour guide for Graham and his crew, who were “clueless” about life on the streets as they began their ministry.

During one meeting, the group had discussed how great it would be if they could get phone cards (pre-cellphone times) to hand out to the homeless whom they would meet.

“Houston looked at us and said, ‘That is the dumbest idea on the face of the planet. They don’t need phone cards. No one wants to talk to them. They don’t want to talk to anybody. You need to put socks on that truck,’” Graham recalled.

To this day, socks are the most desired item on the trucks.

Houston also took Graham out to his “conference room” - to meet some of the homeless who were his friends. It changed Graham’s whole perspective on the population he was about to serve.

Not long after Mobile Loaves and Fishes began, Houston was diagnosed with bladder cancer and given mere weeks to live.

For his dying wish, Houston didn’t want to travel or eat a fancy steak dinner – he wanted to deliver 400 popsicles to homeless children on a hot summer day, a treat those kids rarely experienced.

“He wanted them to choose: Pink? Red? Blue? Purple? Green? He wanted to give that which they did not need but might want. He wanted to give them abundance in fruity, tasty, frozen form,” Graham wrote.  

That philosophy carried over to the food trucks. The people they serve are given options - PB&J, ham and cheese, tacos? Milk, coffee, orange juice? Oranges or apples? It’s a shift from the scarcity mentality found in soup kitchens founded in the Great Depression, to an abundance mentality that is possible in the most abundant country in the world, Graham explained. They are “the little bitty choices that people who live a life in extreme poverty don’t get to make often.”

The solution to homelessness is not just housing

Since the first truck run, the ministry quickly grew. Hungry people would chase down the food trucks as they saw them making their way through the streets of Austin.

The ministry has now expanded to the cities of San Antonio, Texas; Providence, Rhode Island; New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. To date, Mobile Loaves & Fishes has served over 4 million meals, and with more than 18,000 volunteers, it is the largest prepared feeding program to the homeless and working poor in Austin.

But it didn’t stop there. A little over 5 years into the ministry, Graham envisioned an “RV park on steroids”, with the philosophy of “housing first”, which holds that the homeless need housing before they can solve any of their other problems.

However, Graham knew that mere houses were not enough. What these people need and desire, like everyone, is to be known and loved – they needed community. He envisioned a place where people lived life together, knew and cared for each other, sharing kitchens and gardens and conversation.

“It developed from this idea back in 2004, where we went out and bought a gently used RV and lifted one guy off the streets into a privately owned RV park,” he said.

Because of zoning laws and other issues, it took awhile to get the idea off the ground, but the Community First! Village project was finally able to break ground in 2014.

Today, 110 people, most of them formerly homeless, call the village home. Soon, there will be enough housing for 250 people. There are brightly colored tiny homes that would give HG-TV a run for their money, as well as recreational vehicles and “canvas-sided” homes (sturdy tents with concrete foundations).

The homes provide the basics – they are essentially bedrooms – while everything else is communal. There is a communal kitchen and garden and bonfire, and places everywhere to sit and have a conversation.

 

  Our @mobileloaves_genesisgardens chicken coop was definitely a top destination for everyone visiting #CommunityFirstVillage today. We loved having y'all out here, and the chickens definitely loved all the attention! ???? #divas

A post shared by Mobile Loaves & Fishes (@mobileloaves) on Apr 2, 2016 at 2:21pm PDT

 

“It’s all centered on Genesis 2:15,” Graham said. “Just after God created the Garden of Eden, he took the man, and centered him in the garden to cultivate and care for it. And so the foundation for our entire philosophy of the community is centered on God’s original plan for us, to be settled, to be at peace with each other, to live in community, to be cultivating with the gifts that he has given us, and to serve him by caring for each other.”

What needs to change

The solution to homelessness, Graham said, is not going to be found in new government policies or agencies, but rather in Christians and other people who choose to take care of each other.

“I believe it’s like the old African adage ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’” Graham said. “We have to step in, the village should step in and care for its own. What we’re doing right now is abdicating that responsibility to our government, which … tries to resolve this issue transactionally, but I believe it’s a relationship issue. Our Kingdom desire is to be wanted by each other, not ‘if you buy me a house I’m going to be happy.’ That’s not where our happiness comes from.”

One of the foundational goals of the ministry is to change the stereotypes that people have about the homeless, so that they are seen as brothers and sisters rather than as other, Graham added.

He recommended that anyone who wants to help the homeless start building relationships with them –  say hello, ask their name, shake their hand, give them a sandwich or a gift card to Chick-fil-A. And then find an organization to volunteer with in your city.

“There’s a giant stereotype around the homeless, and we’re very good as Americans at stereotyping, and so the homeless population (is projected) to be drug addicts, mentally ill, criminals; they’re usually depicted as unkempt or that they don’t pay attention to hygiene, so we develop these preconceived notions that won’t even allow us to roll down our windows anymore to say ‘Hello’ or ‘God Bless,’” he said.

“Those things just aren't true,” Graham said.

“We have five major corporate goals, and goal number one is to transform the paradigm of how people view the stereotype of the homeless. When we change that paradigm, it changes our culture so as to be able to go and love on our brothers and sisters.”

That’s one of his hopes for the book, and the reason he made sure to tell the stories of so many homeless men and women who have directly touched his life.

“What we want to do is spread the kingdom message of a better way to love on our neighbors, so I’m hoping the book will go broad and deep, and people will be inspired to go out there and begin doing what it is that we’re doing, that’s what I hope.”

Because “what’s happening here in Austin, Texas is nothing short of a miracle.”

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