Vatican City, Dec 20, 2013 / 04:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis encouraged teens to be living witnesses of their faith in his remarks during an audience with young members of the Italian Catholic Action movement.
“Dear young people, Jesus loves you, he wants to be your friend, he wants to be the friend of all young people,” the Pope said Dec. 20. “If you are convinced of this, surely you know to spread the joy of this friendship to all: at home, in the parish, at school, with your friends.”
The Pope said he had heard the Catholic Action movement’s theme for this year is “to discover (in) Jesus the presence of a friend in your life.”
“Christmas is really the celebration of the presence of God who comes into our midst to save us,” he explained, emphasizing the reality of Christmas.
“The birth of Jesus is not a fable! It is history that really happened, at Bethlehem, two thousand years ago. Faith makes us recognize in this baby, born of the Virgin Mary, the true son of God, who for love of us was made man.”
The pontiff further reflected on the importance of Christmas.
“In the face of the little (baby) Jesus, we contemplate the face of God, who does not reveal himself in strength, in power, but in the weakness and fragility of an infant. This baby shows us the faithfulness and the tenderness of the boundless love with which God envelops each one of us.”
“For this reason we celebrate Christmas, reliving the same experience of the shepherds of Bethlehem,” he noted.
“Together with many fathers and mothers who work hard every day, dealing with many sacrifices; together with children, the sick and the poor, we celebrate this holiday.”
The Pope then urged the youth to “witness” to the love of Christ, “carrying yourselves as true Christians: ready to lend a hand to those in need, without judging others, without speaking badly.”
“I encourage you to always be ‘living stones’ in the Church, united to Jesus,” he said.
Pope Francis closed by thanking the members of Catholic Action for their Christmas greeting. He offered his well-wishes and blessing to them in return.
Rome, Italy, Dec 20, 2013 / 05:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A researcher at Washington D.C.'s Georgetown University has found that impoverished women in India are more likely to improve their economic circumstances after converting to Christianity.
“Conversion actually helps launch women on a virtuous circle. A woman feels better, she's part of an active faith community, she works more, she earns more money: the extra money she earns and saves encourages her to earn more and save more and plan and invest in the future,” said Rebecca Samuel Shah, research fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
Shah presented her initial findings of a pilot study looking at “patterns and directions where conversion had an impact” on Dalit women in Bangalore, India at a conference on “Christianity and Freedom” held in Rome on Dec. 13-14.
Shah and her team studied 300 women who lived in a Dalit slum community over the course of 3 years. When they began their research, they did not know that 23 percent of the women being interviewed were actually converts to Christianity.
Dalits are considered the “outcasts” of or “pariahs” of society in India.
“One is actually born a Dalit, you cannot leave a Dalit status. You’re born and you live and you die a Dalit,” Shah explained. “Dalits are employed in the some of the worst jobs…they scavenge, they sweep, they’re tanners. They do the smelliest, dirtiest work, and therefore they 'polute'... they’re 'untouchables.'”
Moreover, “Dalits are not allowed to go near a (Hindu) temple, or touch a religious object that is used in worship.”
Because “they don’t want to live on the margins” of society, “they are converting to Christianity,” she noted.
Shah's study yielded some surprising results about the impact of Christian conversion on the lives of Dalit women in “a very violent urban slum.”
The majority of Hindu, Muslim and Christian Dalit women interviewed were illiterate. Many belong to a microfinance program which gives them access to loans which they then use towards their children's education or to run a small business.
The first “unexpected pattern” Shah encountered was in housing. “The converts converted their loans to purchasing houses, and turned dead capital into resources to generate additional capital.”
Housing is an exceptionally important issue because “these people live in a slum community. It’s a transient community, they’re originally migrant workers, they had de facto rights to the property, but did not have legally enforceable title,” said Shah.
The impact of home ownership is crucial, since “by being able to own a house, these poor women were able to get bank loans, commercial loans, which they didn’t have access to before that. When you have a house you can get a loan at 3 percent, instead of from a money lender at 18 percent. So having a house is a very important investment in your future, so you can have access to very affordable credit.”
The second “dramatic” finding in Shah’s study concerned domestic violence.
A national family health survey in India in 2005-2006 indicated that 86 percent of the women interviewed nationally had never told anyone that they had been abused.
According to Shah, this large scale study indicated that a woman’s religion was an important indicator of whether or not she would seek help. “Only 24 percent of Hindu women sought help, and 22 percent of Muslim women, but 32 percent of Christian women sought help,” she noted.
Shah’s own study “echoed” the national health data, in that “57 percent of women – a very large number of women – actually tell their pastor” about domestic violence.
She pointed to two key factors in the higher reporting of abuse. “These women are very closely involved, very actively involved, in their faith community. When they arrive in their weekly prayer meetings and they’ve got a gash across their face, or they’re lacking a few teeth, they get noticed.”
Furthermore, “pastors that are usually male visit the homes, and they repeatedly visit the homes, so at some point, the husband who’s beating up his wife is shamed into stopping beating his wife.”
This indicates a “very interesting connection” between home ownership and seeking help for domestic abuse, “because many of those women literally open the doors and bring their pastors into this very violent and very dark situation of their homes.”
“It was a unique finding. We were not looking for this,” added Shah.
The Georgetown researcher then pointed to the underlying factors that accompany an improvement in circumstances after conversion.
“Conversion activates in the converts a powerful new concept of value and initiative,” she explained.
It offers “a radically different way of seeing themselves: seeing themselves as a new creation, a new identity, made in the image of God, seeking a better life for themselves.”
“Poverty is inherently depressing. It’s discouraging. It’s debilitating. It breeds hopelessness: ‘why bother?’” she reflected.
Yet with a new Christian vision, “The future is not terrifying. It can be achieved. Because God is with them, they can invest in the future. It’s not something to ignore, not something to be terrified of.”
Moreover, through the combination of a new sense of identity and access to credit in microfinance, “the converts may harness their agency and capability into investing in the future to improve their lives.”
Conversion, then, first “changes who they believe themselves to be, it changes their self-conception, their belief in who they are, and secondly, it changes how they can change their family’s future and themselves.”
Shah noted that although she has completed a pilot study, “we’re in the process of doing more rigorous research which will confirm these findings.”
Vatican City, Dec 22, 2013 / 03:48 pm (CNA).- In his Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis reflected on the Christian witness of St. Joseph, who was faithful to God’s call despite impossible circumstances.
St. Joseph “was not stubborn in following his own life plans, he did not allow resentment to poison his soul, but he was prepared to make himself disposed to the news that, in a disconcerting way, was presented to him,” said the Pope on Dec. 22.
Referring to the gospel story which recounts St. Joseph’s plans to divorce Mary quietly after learning about her pregnancy, and his subsequent dream regarding the miracle of the Incarnation, Pope Francis reflected on “the greatness of St. Joseph’s soul.”
“He was following a good life plan, but God had kept a different design for him, a greater mission. Joseph was a man who always listened to the voice of God, profoundly amenable to God’s secret will, a man attentive to the messages that came from the depths of the heart and from above,” explained Pope Francis.
St. Joseph’s faithfulness did not mean that his path was easy, however. When he became aware that Mary was pregnant, “he remained disconcerted.”
“The gospel does not explain what his thoughts were, but it tells us the essentials: that he seeks to do the will of God, and he is ready for a radical renunciation,” noted the Pontiff.
The decision to then divorce Mary quietly represents for Joseph “an enormous sacrifice,” when “we think of the love that Joseph had for Mary!” Pope Francis exclaimed.
This was “a trial similar to the sacrifice of Abraham, when God asked for his son Isaac: to renounce the most precious thing, the most loved person.”
In preparation for Christmas, “we must meditate on these words (of the gospel) in order to understand the trial that Joseph had to sustain in the days preceding the birth of Jesus,” encouraged Pope Francis.
“But as in the case of Abraham, God intervened. He found the faith that he was looking for and opened a different way, a way of love and happiness.”
The Pope continued, “accepting the Lord’s plan, Joseph fully found himself, beyond himself… his full interior openness to the will of God challenges us and shows us the way.”
“Let us thus prepare ourselves to celebrate Christmas contemplating Mary and Joseph: Mary, the woman full of grace who had the courage to entrust herself fully to the word of God; Joseph, the faithful and just man who preferred to believe the Lord rather than listen to the voices of doubt and human pride.”
“With them, let us journey together toward Bethlehem,” urged the Pontiff.
After praying the Angelus with the crowds filling St. Peter’s square, Pope Francis offered his greetings to various pilgrim groups.
Upon seeing one group holding a banner that said in Italian, “The Poor Cannot Wait!” Pope Francis noted the difficult life of the homeless, whose situation is not unlike that of Mary and Joseph who had to flee their home with the infant Jesus to seek safety in Egypt.
“I call on everyone,” said the Pope, “individuals, organs of society, authorities, to do everything possible to assure that every family has a place to live.”
Pago Pago, American Samoa, Dec 19, 2013 / 07:09 am (CNA/EWTN News).- According to a local priest, the Year of Faith was a significant kick start to the Diocese of Samoa-Pago Pago, which serves the 14,000 Catholics who live on the 76 square miles of islands comprising American Samoa.
“The Year of Faith has brought a tremendous impetus of faith life into our parishes and in the pastoral mission of our diocese,” Fr. Faitau Lemantu, pastor of Sacred Heart parish in Alao, told CNA Dec. 12.
Fr. Lemantu explained that at the beginning of his assignment, “there were three to four people for daily Mass, and the parish was pretty much dead.”
“But now, we have around 100 parishioners attending Sunday Mass and liturgical services, and the faith is growing.”
He credits this growth largely to a series of seminars conducted during the Year of Faith, which recently came to a close.
The seminars focused on reflections from Benedict XVI on such topics as the sacraments, devotions, and vocations.
“Now we have to pick up from the seminars and prepare our laity to proclaim the Gospel and to live the life of faith,” said Fr. Lemantu.
Sacred Heart parish is one of 18 in the diocese, which is served by Bishop Peter Brown and 16 priests. Alao is located on the eastern coast of Tutuila, American Samoa's largest island, and Sacred Heart parish serves the villages of Amouli and Aoa as well as Alao.
Sacred Heart is a special name in the territory. Fr. Lemantu explained that “Samoa” itself is a compound of two Samoan words: “sa,” meaning sacred, and “moa,” meaning heart.
American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the US located in the South Pacific. It is located east of Samoa, and northeast of Fiji and Tonga.
Nearly all American Samoans are Christian, with Catholics forming about 20 percent of the population.
The Samoa-Pago Pago diocese has lay catechists commissioned for each town to help the local priests in doing catechesis, and Fr. Lemantu said he hopes to train more lay people to spread the Gospel and bring families together.
Auckland, New Zealand, Dec 19, 2013 / 02:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A priest from the Polynesian country of Tonga has translated two Vatican documents into his native tongue, so as to deepen the faith life of his compatriots.
“It is important to have the primary materials of faith in local languages so that the people can enter into a deeper dialogue with the teachings of faith that can touch the heart,” Fr. Lines Folamoelao, the translator, who is a priest of the Diocese of Tonga, told CNA Dec 14.
“This is to help the faithful to continue to carry on the fervor of the Year of Faith.”
Fr. Folamoelao, who is serving as chaplain to the 9,000 Catholic Tongan migrants in the Auckland diocese of New Zealand, released his translations of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and of Pope Francis' first encyclical, “Lumen fidei,” at the close of the Year of Faith on Nov. 24.
All the printed copies of Fr. Folamoelao's translations have been acquired already, and he plans a second edition to meet demand.
“It has been my hobby to translate Papal encyclicals and works of the social teaching of the Church into the Tongan language so that our people can read and follow the teachings of the Church,” he said, adding that he now plans to translate “Evangelii gaudium,” Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the new evangelization.
Fr. Folamoelao is a polyglot, able to speak Tongan, Fijian, English, French, German, some Hindi, and the classical languages Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He attended seminary in Fiji, and holds a licentiate from the Pontifical Biblical Institute.
Tonga is an island nation in the South Pacific, located near Fiji and Samoa, with a population of 103,000. It's official languages are English and Tongan, an Austronesian language. Many Tongans have emigrated to Australia, New Zealand, and the US. Nearly the entire population is Christian.
The Diocese of Tonga serves the entire country, where there are more than 13,000 Catholics, or about 13 percent of the population.
Washington D.C., Dec 18, 2013 / 05:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The New York Times was “inaccurate and irresponsible” to claim that Catholic hospitals' refusal to perform abortions threatens pregnant mothers in obstetric emergencies, the Catholic Health Association says.
“Catholic hospitals in the United States have a stellar history of caring for mothers and infants,” the association said Dec. 9. “Hundreds of thousands of patients have received extraordinary care – both in the joy of welcoming an infant or in the pain of losing one.”
The health association said that in many communities, the Catholic hospital is “the designated center for high-risk pregnancies.”
Several independent organizations have oversight responsibility for all hospitals, including the Joint Commission and state licensing agencies that accredit and certify hospitals. These organizations have “robust standards and inspections” and would not “in any circumstance” accredit or license a hospital unsafe for mothers or infants.
The association – which is the largest U.S. organization of Catholic health care systems and facilities – stressed that health professionals are also committed to care for these mothers and “would not tolerate working in a clinical setting that is detrimental to their patients.”
Its statement comes in response to a Dec. 8 editorial in the Sunday New York Times that claimed mergers between Catholic hospitals and non-Catholic hospitals is a “threat.” Catholic hospitals' refusals to perform abortions, the newspaper editorial board claimed, harm their ability to “provide care for women in medical distress.”
The newspaper's editorial board relied heavily upon the American Civil Liberties Union's federal lawsuit against the U.S. bishops on behalf of Tamesha Means, a Michigan woman. The lawsuit claims that Means was negligently treated at a Catholic hospital in 2010 when her water broke when she was 18 weeks pregnant.
Means made three visits to the emergency room, delivering the baby on the third visit. Her baby died less than three hours after birth, while she herself suffered severe pain and an infection. The lawsuit claims that the hospital should have told Means an abortion was an option and “the safest course.”
The legal group, which has a history of targeting Catholic institutions, is suing the U.S. bishops rather than the hospital on the grounds that the bishops set ethical practices for Catholic hospitals. Catholic teaching, reflected in the “Ethical and Religious Directives,” recognizes that abortion kills an innocent life and that the lives of both the mother and of the unborn baby deserve care.
In its editorial, the New York Times noted that Catholic hospitals have about 15 percent of the hospital beds in the country and are often the only facilities available in many communities.
The editorial claimed it is a violation of medical ethics and existing law to allow “religious doctrine to prevail over the need for competent emergency care and a woman’s right to complete and accurate information about her condition and treatment choices.”
The piece also denigrated religious freedom arguments, saying only that “the bishops are free to worship as they choose and advocate for their beliefs.” It added that religious beliefs should not “shield the bishops from legal accountability when church-affiliated hospitals following their rules cause patients harm.”
In their response, however, the Catholic Health Association strongly criticized the editorial.
“It is inaccurate and irresponsible to assert that these wonderful community services are unsafe for mothers in an obstetrical emergency, simply because a Catholic hospital adheres to the Ethical and Religious Directives,” the association said.
Such an assertion, the association said, “can be frightening to families and is grossly disrespectful to the thousands of physicians, midwives and nurses who are so devoted to their patients and to the care they deliver.”
The health group also questioned the New York Times editorial board’s assumption that abortion is a solution. In obstetric emergencies, the association noted, the unborn infant is “almost always much desired” and parents want “every option for saving their baby.”
“This is not a simple clinical situation that you ‘take care of’ and then move on,” the association said. “Anyone who has ever cared for these parents knows that this will always be the child they lost.”
The Catholic bishops’ ethical directives do not prevent the provision of quality care for mothers and infants in obstetrical emergencies, the Catholic Health association said.
“Their experience in hundreds of Catholic hospitals over centuries is outstanding testimony to that.”
The merits of the ACLU lawsuit have been challenged on both medical and legal grounds. U.S. bishops' conference president Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz on Dec. 6 said the lawsuit is “a clear violation of the First Amendment.”
Dr. Brian C. Calhoun, a professor and vice-chair in the obstetrics and gynecology department at West Virginia University-Charleston, told CNA Dec. 2 that abortion is “never necessary to save the life of the mother.”
He added that an abortion at 18 weeks is usually performed through “surgical dismemberment” and surgical abortions have “numerous” complications for a pregnant woman. The physician suggested the lawsuit is an attempt “to make abortion seem like a great idea.”
An unborn baby at 18 weeks is “essentially fully formed,” Calhoun said. The baby has a small human profile and is about 5.5 inches long and seven ounces in weight. He or she can make sucking motions with his or her mouth and can begin to hear, the Mayo Clinic website says. The mother can often feel the baby’s motions.
Catholic University of America law professor Mark Rienzi told CNA Dec. 4 said that the ACLU lawsuit ignores federal and state laws that protect the right of religious providers to refrain from providing or referring to abortions.
He said the lawsuit from the pro-abortion rights legal group was “an effort to drive people with different views out of the health care field.”
Should the lawsuit succeed, it would mean “a lot fewer health care providers,” said Rienzi, who specializes in constitutional law and religious liberty issues.
