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Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is welcomed by Biblical Federation Middle East.
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Opisyal na Pahayag ng Simbahan ng Baclaran Bilang Tugon sa Posting ni Ms. Jenny Arteta II sa facebook noong Marso 1, 2:25 pm
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| Si G. Jesus San Antonio na ayon kay Ms. Jenny ay mga inapi ng guwardia ng Baclaran Church. |
Narito po sa ibaba ang sagot ng BACLARAN CHURCH sa akusasyon ng isang nagngangalang JENNY ARTETA II na nagsiwalat ng kwento (basahin dito) tungkol sa mag-amang JESUS SAN ANTONIO na para kay Ms. Jenny ay masyadong naapi.
Ngunit ayon sa pamunuan ng Baclaran Church, ang mag-ama ay HINDI PO TOTOONG API. Sila pong mag-ama ay NAKITA SA CCTV magkasama, MALAKAS ANG PANGANGATAWAN pati ng bata. Pagdating sa LOOB NG SIMBAHAN, ang BATA ay himalang NAGSAKIT-SAKITAN. Basahin sa ibaba ang paliwanag ng Baclaran Church.
Pakiusap ng Simbahan, bago mag-post na ikasisira ng isang lupon, grupo o samahan ay alamin muna ang buong katotohanan para patas naman ang saloobin ng mga nagkomento.
At sa iyo Ms. Jenny, baka naman pwedeng humingi rin ng tawad sa Simbahang ng Baclaran sa iyong mapanirang kwento sa Facebook.
Ngunit ayon sa pamunuan ng Baclaran Church, ang mag-ama ay HINDI PO TOTOONG API. Sila pong mag-ama ay NAKITA SA CCTV magkasama, MALAKAS ANG PANGANGATAWAN pati ng bata. Pagdating sa LOOB NG SIMBAHAN, ang BATA ay himalang NAGSAKIT-SAKITAN. Basahin sa ibaba ang paliwanag ng Baclaran Church.
Pakiusap ng Simbahan, bago mag-post na ikasisira ng isang lupon, grupo o samahan ay alamin muna ang buong katotohanan para patas naman ang saloobin ng mga nagkomento.
At sa iyo Ms. Jenny, baka naman pwedeng humingi rin ng tawad sa Simbahang ng Baclaran sa iyong mapanirang kwento sa Facebook.
Opisyal na Pahayag Bilang Tugon sa Posting ni Ms. Jenny Arteta II sa facebook noong Marso 1, 2:25 pm
(Source: Baclaran Church Official)Una sa lahat, kinikilala namin na totoo ang naramdamang habag at malasakit ni Ms. Jenny Arteta II sa kalunos-lunos na kalagayan ni Jesus San Antonio at kanyang anak. Kung kami rin ay nasa katayuan nya, ganon din ang aming mararamdaman sa unang pagkakita kay Jesus at kanyang anak. Hindi rin namin ija-justify ang naging ugali ng guard doon kay Jesus at kanyang anak. May pagkakamali sa naging approach at aksyon ng guard. Nakausap na namin ang nasabing guard at napagsabihan at napaalalahanan na namin sya ng tungkol sa pangunahing policy ng simbahan—ang bukas na pagtanggap sa lahat ng tao lalong-lalo na ang mga nangangailangan at mga mahihirap. Sa ganitong reputasyon nakilala ang simbahan simula’t sapul nang ito’y itinayo.Amin ding ni-review ang CCTV ng nasabing insidente sa loob at labas ng simbahan upang mabigyan kami ng kongkretong konteksto ng mga pangyayari. Ang buod ng nakita namin mula sa CCTV ay buhat sa labas ang mag-ama ay pumasok sa simbahan. Ang nakatawag ng aming pansin ay ang anak ay masigla at malakas, at masaya pang naglakad papasok ng simbahan. Pag-upo doon sa upuan ng simbahan saka lamang ito kinalong ni Jesus San Antonio na parang nagmukhang may sakit ang bata.Pagkatapos na mabasa namin ang posting ni Ms. Jenny Arteta II, kaagad naming pinapunta ang aming social worker sa PGH upang i-verify kung ang anak ni Jesus San Antonio ay naka-confine sa PGH. Sa kasamaang palad walang matagpuang record sa PGH na nakaconfine ang anak ni Jesus San Antonio.Samantala, naging viral ang posting ni Ms. Jenny sa pamamagitan ng maraming likes at shares. Nalungkot kami sa mga comments na aming nabasa. Subalit may galit din dahil sa maraming mga maling paratang na ibinato sa simbahan, pari at brother ng simbahan. Mga paratang na masasakit at di makatarungan. Di namin maubos maisip kung saan nanggaling ang mga comments sa posting ni Ms. Jenny. Ramdam namin na may halong awa ang ibang mga comments subalit mas marami ang walang habas na paninira sa reputasyon ng simbahan at sa dangal ng mga pari at brother sa simbahan. Wala kaming gaanong nakita na pag-iingat at responsibilidad sa pagbibigay ng komento. Sinentensyahan na ang mga pari at mga staff dito kahit na hindi pa nila narinig ang panig ng simbahan, ng mga pari, brother at staff.Sa puntong ito ay nais din naming tanungin si Ms. Jenny kung naisip man lamang niya ang consequences ng kanyang posting sa facebook. Kung bago niya pinost iyon sa facebook ay nag-exert man lamang sya ng effort na tanungin ang mga pari o staff ng simbahan tungkol sa katayuan ni Jesus San Antonio.Ilang araw ding kaming di matahimik dahil sa mga negatibong comments na aming nabasa. May galit pa rin sa aming dibdib subalit ang galit ngayon ay mas napapangibabawan ng pagpapatawad. Pagpapatawad kay Ms. Jenny at sa lahat ng nagcomment sa kanyang posting. Pinapatawad namin sila sapagkat di nila alam ang buong larawan ng pangyayari. Sa kabila ng lahat ng negatibong mga comments, buo at panatag ang aming kalooban na patuloy ang aming paglilingkod sa mga dukha at mga nangangailangan.Ang aming galit ay napapangibabawan din ng pasasalamat kay Ms. Jenny at sa mga nagkomento. Ang pangyayaring ito ay nagbigay sa amin ng isang window of opportunity upang ilahad ang mga programa at serbisyo ng simbahan lalo na sa mga di nakakabatid dito.Una sa lahat, maipagmamalaki namin na ang aming simbahan ay ang tanging simbahan na bukas 24/7. Tanging ang simbahan namin ang may staff at madre, na katulad sa mga call centers, ay may pang graveyard shift upang tumugon sa mga pangangailangan ng mga tao. Marami pa kaming ibang programa.Nariyan ang St. Gerard Family Life Center na nagbibigay ng libreng counselling patungkol sa mga isyu ng pamilya at mag-asawa katulad ng marital infidelity, homosexuality, pre-marital sex, drug addiction, sexual abuse at iba.Nabanggit ko kanina ang Crisis Intervention Center na nagbibigay ng kagyat ng tulong sa mga lumalapit sa aming sa pamamagitan ng medical, hospitalization, food, transportation, temporary shelter, educational, atbpa.Mayroong kaming medical/dental Clinic na nagbibigay ng libreng serbisyo sa mga nangangailangan lalo na tuwing Linggo at Miyerkoles.Mayroong kaming Solidarity Assistance Committee na binubuo ng mga volunteers mula saiba’t-ibang ministry ng simbahan upang tumugon sa mga biktima ng kalamidad katulad ng bagyo, baha, landslide, maging sa mga nasunugan.Marami kaming pinapag-aral sa kolehiyo sa pamamagitan ng Redemptorist Education Assistance Program.Marami kaming mga iniligtas na mga bata mula sa lansangan sa pamamagitan ng Sarnelli Center for Street Children. May dalawa kaming center ang Sarnelli Drop-In Center na nagbibigay ng agad na kalinga at programa ng rehabilitation. Pangalawa ay ang Sarnelli Residential Center na nagbibigay ng pangmatagalang serbisyo sa mga batang lansangan katulad ng edukasyon, kalusugan at pabahay.Nakagpabigay din kami ng vocational and technical training katulad ng food processing, computer at cellphone repair, dressmaking, atbpa, sa mga out-of-school youth at mga walang trabaho sa pamamagitan ng Redemptorist Skills Training and Livelihood Program.Tumutugon din kami sa mga pangangailangan ng mga OFW at mga migrante at kanilang pamilya sa pamamagitan ng St. John Neumann Center for Migrants.Sa kabila nito, aaminin namin na may pagkukulang doon sa pangyayari—may pagkukulang sa guard, at may pagkukulang sa mga pari at brother upang matugunan ang lahat ng pangangailangan ng lumalapit sa amin. Sa laki ng problema at sa dami ng mga taong lumalapit sa amin, hindi namin kayang tugunan ang lahat ng kanilang pangangailangan.Panghuli, nais naming umapela para sa pagkakaroon ng etiketa at responsibilidad sa social media. Matuto sana tayo ng wastong pagpopost at pagbigay ng comment na hindi nakakasira sa dignidad ng ating kapwa. Maganda ang magpahayag ng ating sarili at magpakita ng malasakit sa ating kapwa ng walang sinisiraan na tao.Sa diwa ng kuwaresma nawa ang pangyayaring ito ay magbukas sa atin ng kahalagahan ng pagbabago sa ating lahat. Pagbabago na nanggagaling sa biyaya at awa ng Diyos.Maraming salamat sa pagbibigay sa amin ng puwang upang mailahad namin ang aming panig.Pagpalain nawa tayo ng mahabaging Diyos.Ipanalangin nawa tayo ng Mahal na Ina ng Laging Saklolo.Para sa Pambansang Dambana ng Ina ng Laging Saklolo,Fr. Joey Echano, CSsRRector
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On Jenny Arteta II's Accusations against the Baclaran Church: Rector forgives Baclaran Shrine critics
Source: CBCP News
PARAÑAQUE City, March 4, 2016– The rector of the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran, Parañaque City has finally spoken out on the malicious post that went viral on social media recently, saying that while it hurt and demoralized him and fellow Redemptorists, they are willing and ready to forgive the offenders.
“We were saddened by the comments. We were also angered by the unfounded remarks hurled against the church, its priests and brothers. These were accusations that were unfair and uncalled for,” said Fr. Joseph O. Echano, C.Ss.R. in an open letter Friday, March 4, lamenting the unverified incident involving a father and his son which had been blown out of proportion online at the expense of the whole Redemptorist community and all Catholic clergy.
Damaging post
The viral story was posted by Facebook user Jenny Arteta II on March 1 in which she called attention to the “plight” of a certain Jesus San Antonio and his son whom she spotted being “insensitively” escorted out of the Baclaran shrine compound by one of the guards on duty the midnight before.
According to Arteta, San Antonio told her they came from Trece Martires City, Cavite, and they were just dropping by the church enroute to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila to have the child treated of tuberculosis (TB) when she saw “Kuya Guard” turning them away on order of “Father.”
The post became a trending topic among netizens soon after, prompting many to pity the San Antonios and lash out at the “heartlessness” of the security guard and the clergy in charge of the national shrine, with some even offering to send cash.
‘Hurtful’ comments
Basing only on Arteta’s version of the event, one Facebook user criticized the priests and lay brothers of Baclaran in particular for being “inhumane,” and all Catholic priests in general for being “hypocrites” who “preach compassion but do not practice it themselves.”
Another dragged parties who had nothing to do with what happened like Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), and even Pope Francis.
“We had no idea where all these comments were coming from. While we noticed some were sincere in expressing sorry for the San Antonios, many more saw an opportunity to attack the Church and defame the reputation of her priests and brothers,” bemoaned Echano, who was quick to point out Arteta’s good intentions.
Scam?
It turned out, however, that the elder San Antonio was a regular beneficiary of financial aid who had been given employment opportunities many times previously by concerned individuals at the National Shrine of the Sacred Heart and Don Bosco Parish in Makati City.
In a text message to Arteta, he gave a reference number to which donors could send donations, with a reminder that he could not entertain phone calls due to an allegedly damaged earpiece.
Unknown to her, at the time of the incident, San Antonio had already been endorsed to the social mission department of the church.
Just to be sure, a social worker from Baclaran checked whether a record exists proving San Antonio had his son admitted at PGH. There’s none.
‘Tactless, irresponsible’
According to Echano, there was no effort on the part of Arteta and the people who were following her thread to let the Redemptorist community confirm or deny the allegations against them.
“It was tactless and irresponsible of them to be saying those things. We have been given a sentence even before we had a chance to explain our side: my fellow priests, the brothers, and the staff,” he said, commenting on the online backlash.
However, despite the flak the Redemptorists received, Echano went on to extend forgiveness on behalf of those who were hurt… to Arteta and those who jumped on the Facebook bandwagon.
“We were really affected by the comments. But the best thing we can do now is to forgive Ms. Jenny and all who reacted negatively on her post. We forgive them if only because they did not know the whole story. Rest assured that in spite of all these we will continue to help and serve the poor and the needy,” he explained.
Helping poor since Day 1
For the sake of the public, Echano enumerated the programs and services offered at the national shrine, one of few churches in the Philippines open 24/7, as follows:
- St. Gerard Family Life Center gives guidance and counselling to strengthen family life;
- Crisis Intervention Center renders emergency assistance;
- Medical and Dental Services responds to basic health needs;
- Solidarity Assistance Committee provides calamity assistance;
- Redemptorist Education Assistance Program gives scholarship;
- Sarnelli Center for School Children helps street children readjust their lives and become responsible members of their families and communities;
- Redemptorist Skills Training and Livelihood Program gives skills training to the poor to help them improve their economic condition; and
- St. John Neumann Center for Migrants helps migrants and their families cope with the social costs of migration.
- Furthermore, Echano appealed to netizens to be more responsible in exercising their freedom of expression.
“Let us use social media properly. Avoid posting things that can destroy the good name and dignity of one another,” he added.
For the whole text of Echano’s statement, visit: https://www.facebook.com/omphbaclaran/posts/478165085718822. (Raymond A. Sebastián / CBCP News)
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Four Nuns (Missionaries of Charity) Martyred in Yemen
We CATHOLICS are being persecuted from all sides -- Muslims, All forms of Protestantism (including the localy founded churches like the Iglesia Ni Cristo® by Felix Y. Manalo in 1914 and Ang Dating Daan® of Eliseo Soriano in 1983), Atheists, Agnostics, Liberals, Leftists, Masons, Mafias, and SATANISTS! COME LORD JESUS, DO NOT DELAY!
Source: Roaming Romans
Four Missionaries of Charity nuns from the order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta are reportedly among 16 killed by gunmen who attacked a church-run retirement home in Yemen, the latest attack on Christians in the increasingly lawless country.
The women religious, members of the Missionaries of Charity, were killed when four armed men attacked the convent and home for the elderly in the southern city of Aden on Friday (March 4), the Catholic news agency Fides reported.
Two of the nuns were Rwandan, while one was from Kenya and another Indian, Fides said.
There were no immediate claims of responsibility but Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, is in the midst of a civil war that is also fueled by the involvement of outside nations.
The Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates have exploited the lawlessness and created safe havens in the south, where they have conducted numerous attacks.
In the summer, a Catholic church was burned by Islamic extremists. Unknown assailants have also vandalized a Christian cemetery and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church.
Yemen’s embattled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority there. Shiite Houthi fighters allied with Iran still control the country’s capital, Sanaa.
Aden was once one of the world’s busiest ports and home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, which have now largely disappeared.
One nun who survived Friday’s attack and was rescued by locals told The Associated Press that she hid inside a refrigerator in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting “run, run.”
Another survivor said that in addition to the four nuns, six Ethiopians, one Yemeni cook, and Yemeni guards were among the dead. There are about 80 elderly and disabled residents of the facility.
Security officials said the attackers separated the nuns from the others and then shot them. They later handcuffed the elderly people and opened fire.
More than 6,000 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since last March, while 28,500 people have been injured, according to U.N. figures.
The Missionaries of Charity was founded by Mother Teresa in 1950 and the congregation has since expanded globally from its Indian origins.
Mother Teresa died in 1997 and is expected be made a saint later this year, after Pope Francis signed a decree attributing a miracle in Brazil to the late nun.
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Catholic Herald: Pope Francis ‘accepts invitation to visit Pakistan this year’ (?)
What makes Pope Francis the most sought prized trophy of Muslim extremists? It's not because of his title but because of his Title as Head of Catholicism (which for them represents the entire Christian world). And for Muslims, Christianity is the enemy of the "ONENESS OF GOD" or what TAWHID.
Source: Catholic Herald
Despite reports by the country's news agencies the Vatican says 'no travel programme' is currently being studied
Pope Francis has accepted an invitation from the Pakistan government to visit the country later this year, according to the country’s news agencies.
Two ministers, Kamran Michael, a Catholic, and Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, the minister for religious affairs, visited Pope Francis on March 2 in Vatican City to extend the invitation, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency.
However, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told the National Catholic Register that there is “currently no travel programme to Pakistan being studied”.
The Pope was thankful for the invitation but neither accepted nor declined, Vatican sources told the Register.
The only previous Pope to visit Pakistan was St Pope John Paul II, who celebrated Mass at the National Stadium in Karachi. A small bomb exploded minutes before his arrival.
Bishop Rufin Anthony of Islamabad-Rawalpindi said the possibility of Pope Francis coming to Pakistan was encouraging. “The minority Christians will be definitely encouraged,” he told ucanews.com. “However, the security of the Holy Father will be the sole responsibility of the government.”
Fr Saleh Diego, director of the bishops’ National Commission for Justice and Peace in Karachi archdiocese, said: “This is totally unexpected. Our joy know no bounds ever since we heard about it.
“The Pope might tie up his visit with his tour to India slated for 2017. However, this is a big risk for the government as things are different than they were when Pope John Paul II had visited Karachi in 1981,” he said.
Fr Diego also warned that there were severe security concerns in the country, pointing out that “the Taliban are still targeting institutes and intolerance is generally prevalent in the society”.
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Vicar of Arabia: Sisters of Mother Teresa killed for religious reasons
REST IN GOD'S PEACE MY DEAR SISTERS! MARTYRS OF THE CHURCH, PRAY FOR US! Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescatant in pace. Amen.
Source: AsiaNews
For Mgr Paul Hinder, the "signal is clear: it has something to do with religion". A clergyman who lived at the nuns’ convent was abducted. The facility’s superior saved herself by hiding. Four nuns and ten civilians were killed. For the Vicar, they "sacrificed their lives by following their own charism."
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| Photo Source: Family Mission Company |
Sanaa (AsiaNews)– In a dramatic statement, Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar to Southern Arabia, spoke to AsiaNews about this morning’s “religiously-motivated” attack against the convent of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, in southern Yemen.
At 8:30 am, the prelate said, "People in uniform stormed the compound where the Missionaries of Charity live. After they killed the security guard and all the employees that stood in their way, they came for the nuns and opened fire, killing four [sisters]. One managed to hide and survive. Now she is in a safe place.”
The victims are Sister Anselm from India, Sister Marguerite from Rwanda, Sister Judit from Kenya and Sister Reginette also from Rwanda. The superior was able to find a hiding place.
The attackers seized Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest who lived at the facility. At the time of the attack, he "was in the chapel praying."
Overall, 14 people lost their life: four religious and ten lay people, employees of the community that also housed senior citizens and disabled people.
"We knew that the situation was difficult and that the sisters were running a certain risk,” Mgr Hinder said. In fact, the nuns had been attacked in the past. However, "they decided to stay no matter what because this was part of their spirituality.”
At the same time, “It was clear that the area was not safe, even if there had been no special signs [of trouble]. Getting information was hard." For the prelate though, the "signal is clear: it has something to do with religion".
In July 1998, a gunman shot and killed three nuns of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa of Kolkata as they left a hospital in the city of Al Hudaydah.
Yemeni authorities said at the time that the assailant was an “unbalanced Saudi”. Two of the murdered nuns were from India – Sister Lilia and Sister Anneta – whilst the third, Sister Michelle, was from the Philippines.
Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody civil war pitting the country’s Sunni leadership, backed by Saudi Arabia, against Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran.
In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels in an attempt to free the capital For Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, who are allied to forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are militarily supported by Iran, a charge the latter angrily rejects.
Groups linked to al Qaeda and jihadist militias linked to the Islamic State group are active in the country, which adds to the spiral of violence and terror.
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"MANDIRIGMA" -- Iglesia Ni Cristo's latest Online Vigilantes?
If this is true, non-INC™ members especially Catholics who are critical to the Iglesia Ni Cristo's fragile governance should be clever enough to ensure their personal information and/or photos in their social media accounts’ PRIVACY are securely protected.
Source: Sher Lock FB Account
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A member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo®, founded by Felix Manalo in 1914 dishonored Mary, the Mother of the Lord in Facebook!
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More Than One Thousand New Converts are Added to the Catholic Church in Singapore!
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| Brief explanation of the Coat of Arms of the Diocese of Singapore (Source: Diocese of Singapore) |
Singapore is an island nation that is found in the Southeast Asian region. It's population is estimated to be 5.5 million as of October 2015. And out of that 4.8% of them are Catholic (that's roughly 276,750 members, but according to the archdiocese official website, Catholics are estimated to be around 360,000), and still growing this Easter when the Church will baptize more than 1,000 new converts according to the Archdiocese of Singapore, to the Glory of God!
So who says the Catholic Church is dwindling? :) This is the ONLY CHURCH OF CHRIST, He established ONLY ONE CHURCH on earth! Whoever says HIS CHURCH apostatized completely are LIARS. People apostatize, NOT THE CHURCH for "the gates of hell shall not prevail" (Mt. 16:16-18) ever!
READ MORE about the ARCHDIOCESE OF SINGAPORE for more information.
Source: Vatican Radio
Over 1000 Singaporeans joining Catholic Church this EasterThe Archdiocese of Singapore is preparing 1,227 candidates to join the Catholic Church at Easter this month. 498 non-Christians seeking Baptism and 68 non-Catholics seeking full communion with the Catholic Church participated recently in the Rite of Election of the archdiocese's Christ the King Church parish. At the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, there were 393 catechumens and 33 candidates. A Chinese Rite of Election also was held on Feb 21 at the Church of the Holy Trinity with 133 catechumens and two candidates. The Rite of Election that closes the period of the catechumenate or preparation, includes enrollment of names. Archbishop William Goh said there was a 17 percent increase in the Rite of Election over the previous year.Father Erbin Fernandez, archdiocesan catechetical director, told the archdiocesan newspaper CatholicNews that through their courses, workshops and formations sessions, they were encouraging catechetical groups to come together to pray as communities as well as to work with others in the parish in the areas of evangelization and discipleship. (Source: UCAN)
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Journey Home - Former Prot. Minister - Marcus with Dcn Alex Jones
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Iglesia Ni Cristo's Online Vigilantes called "MANDIRIGMA" starts Attacking ex-members!
IGLESIA NI CRISTO®'s ONLINE VIGILANTES called "MANDIRIGMA" are in FULL SWING against former INC™ members. Mr. Lowell Menorca II and his family was ATTACKED online!
Please pray for Mr. Menorca and all those who are persecuted and threatened by the INC™ leadership.
Source: Inquirer.netEx-INC minister who accused sect leaders goes missing — lawyerFormer Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Minister Lowell Menorca II and his family are missing, his counsel said before the Court of Appeals.
Menorca was supposed to appear before the Court of Appeals for the continuation of his cross examination on the writ of amparo petition filed by his brother Anthony and sister-in-law Jungko.Named respondents are INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo and members of the sect’s Sanggunian, Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago, and Rolando Esguerra.The petition was filed last Oct. 15, 2015 after Menorca and his family were taken by alleged INC members after he was being suspected to be Anthony Ebanghelista, the blogger writing against INC.During Monday’s hearing, Menorca’s counsel Atty. Trixie Angeles said last Sunday evening the last communication she had with Menorca was at 8pm Sunday.Angeles said Menorca called her from the airport.“He informed us that they received a death threat,” Angeles told the Court.The death threat was sent using Menorca’s family photo with a March 7 date, face of his daughter marked with an “X”. It was placed on the windshield of his vehicle.“It scared him so much that he proceeded to the airport so that he could secure his family,” Angeles told reporters.At the airport, she said Menorca informed him past 7 in the evening Sunday that he has a warrant of arrest and a hold departure order, meaning they cannot leave the country.Angeles said Menorca informed her that he was held by Immigration officials supposedly to be turned over to the Philippine National Police (PNP) and then brought to Camp Crame.At 8 in the evening, Angeles said he received another call from Menorca informing her that they have been allowed to leave.“He called us and told us that he was being allowed to leave to which we expressed our reservations because if there is an HDO, it would not be possible. Nevertheless he promised to call us no matter how things turned out and he has not been reachable ever since,” Angeles said.Angeles said she could not also reach Menorca’s brother Anthony and sister-in-law Jungko.INC lawyers questioned why Menorca’s lawyer was not able to communicate with him after 8pm Sunday when Menorca was able to post on his Facebook account 6 hours ago.“I am expressing suspicion as to the authenticity of this claim,” Att. Patricia Ann Prodigalidad said.Prodigalidad was referring to the photo of the death threat the Menorca’s family received where the former minister appealed to leave his daughter alone.The Court of Appeals reset the case on March 21 and 28.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/771305/ex-inc-minister-who-accused-sect-leaders-goes-missing-lawyer#ixzz42CE1fx5s
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook
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Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church confirms communion with Rome: "what no totalitarian regime could break"
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| Pope Francis meets members of the Greek Catholic Ukrainian Church, 5 March. - REUTERS |
(Vatican Radio) On Saturday Pope Francis met with leaders of the Permanent Synod of the Greek-Catholic Ukrainian Church. His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevhchuk affirmed communion with the Catholic Church despite a century of persecution inflicted by totalitarian regimes. Suffering in Ukraine included wars, genocides, a state-planned famine, and ethnic cleansing, all claiming some 15 million lives. Suffering continues in Ukraine for which the Permanent Synod seeks the Holy Father's support. The statement of the Permanent Synod is reproduced below in full:
As Pastors We Speak Out on Behalf of Our People
Before the Holy Father and Before the World:
“Pope Francis heard us.”
“We came to reaffirm our communion with the Holy Father and to ask for his help for the suffering people of Ukraine during the Jubilee Year of Mercy,” stated His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevhchuk. “And the Holy Father heard us.”
In Rome on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Lviv pseudo-synod the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), His Beatitude Major Archbishop Sviatoslav, and the members of the Permanent Synod came to Rome to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. “We reaffirm what no totalitarian regime could break: our communion with Rome and the Universal Church,” His Beatitude said.
The Head of the UGCC and the Permanent Synod conducted meetings, discussions with representatives of the Holy See, and prepared a public statement denouncing the invasion and hybrid war in Ukraine and decrying the suffering of millions of innocent men, women and children. The Church condemns the atrocities, the kidnappings, imprisonment and torture of citizens of Ukraine in the Donbas and Crimea—especially abuses directed at religious communities and ethnic groups, especially Muslim Tatars, as well as broad violations of civic rights and the human dignity of millions.
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ceaselessly prays for and promotes peace, and today its leadership appealed to the Holy Father and to the world to help stop the war and stem the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ongoing undeclared hybrid war—today marginalized in the world’s attention—has directly affected 5 million people. It has caused 10,000 deaths, tens of thousands of crippling injuries, and rendered homeless over two million people. Insidious means of hybrid warfare have brought post-traumatic shock upon hundreds of thousands and caused immense socio-economic damage. Much of the country’s industrial infrastructure has been obliterated and its currency has lost two-thirds of its value impoverishing the entire population of 45 million. Ukrainians’ identity is relentlessly denigrated by a sophisticated and well-funded international propaganda campaign. “The people are suffering, Holy Father, and they await your embrace,” His Beatitude said. “Pope Francis made it clear that he would act.”
The twentieth century was a time of untold suffering for Ukraine. Two World Wars, genocides, a state-planned famine, and ethnic cleansing caused some 15 million deaths. The UGCC, a Church which historically stood in solidarity with its people and their suffering was brutally suppressed by Stalin. The Soviets sought to separate it from the Catholic communion, especially from the Bishop of Rome. Stalin’s regime outlawed the UGCC, making it the world’s largest banned Church, through a violent and manipulative non-canonical action called by historians the “Pseudo-synod of Lviv” held 8-10 March 1946. The Soviet authorities imprisoned all of the bishops, hundreds of clergy and tens of thousands of faithful and transferred all Ukrainian Greek Catholic property to the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate or confiscated it for secular purposes.
But the Church has revived miraculously and is a thriving, dynamic body active throughout Ukraine and on four continents, with young clergy and a dedicated laity inspired by the example of their twentieth century martyrs.
“For Ukrainians who belong to different Churches and religious organizations and even secular citizens, the Holy Father is a global moral authority who speaks the truth. This voice of truth is particularly important for the suffering people of Ukraine. If the people do not hear or understand this voice they become confused, anxious, and feel forgotten,” His Beatitude said to Pope Francis. “The Holy Father emphasized that one cannot solve ecumenical problems at the expense of an entire Eastern Catholic Church.”
“The UGCC stands ready to provide responsible, transparent, ecumenically sound administration of international aid, serving the Ukrainian population without regard to ethnicity, political or linguistic preferences or religious affiliation. We are ready to cooperate in a well-coordinated plan that includes governmental and non-governmental bodies. Enough of this suffering. It can be prevented. It can be healed. Let us make the 'Year of Mercy' a reality for the people of Ukraine,” said His Beatitude.
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BREAKING: Ex-Iglesia minister Menorca already out of PHL –Immigration Bureau
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| Photo Source: NewsInfoInquirer |
Following alleged death threats to him and his family, former Iglesia Ni Cristo minister Lowell Menorca has left the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration said on Monday.
In a tweet, GMA News' Jun Veneracion quoted BI spokesperson Nikki Reyes as saying that Menorca, who had accused Iglesia Ni Cristo officials of illegally detaining him and his family, left Sunday.
"Immigration Spokesperson Nikki Reyes confirms that ex-INC minister Lowell Menorca has left PHL yesterday," read Veneracion's tweet.
The BI did not indicate Menorca's destination.
Earlier in the day, Menorca's legal counsel Trixie Cruz-Angeles manifested before the Court of Appeals that Menorca had told her over the phone Sunday night that they were at the airport ready to depart.
The lawyer said Menorca, his wife Jinky Otsuka-Menorca and their daughter were intially stopped at the airport by officials due to a hold departure order.
Angeles, however, said Menorca later informed her the family was finally allowed to leave.
Reyes told reporters that Menorca took a Cebu Pacific flight that left for Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam at 10:45 p.m. —Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News
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Rev. Robert Palladino, Scribe Who Shaped Apple’s Fonts, Dies at 83
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| Robert Palladino in his home studio in Sandy, Ore., in 2012. Liz Devine |
By MARGALIT FOX
March 4, 2016
Because of a Trappist monk, Apple computer displays look the way they do today.
The monk was the Rev. Robert Palladino, who died on Feb. 26 at 83. A Roman Catholic priest who began his vocation in a monastic order, Father Palladino was also a world-renowned master of calligraphy.
“Priest and calligrapher,” his business card read, in his unimpeachable Renaissance italic, and he long plied both trades at once. For years, babies he baptized received baptismal certificates in his flawless hand. In Oregon, where he made his home, Father Palladino hand-lettered the state medical licenses for generations of newly minted doctors.
As a Trappist brother, Father Palladino learned his art in silence, honed it over years of study and eventually, on leaving his order, taught it to others.
To his students, he brought a world of genteel scholarship and quiet contemplation; a world whose modus operandi — by hand, with ink, on paper, parchment and vellum — was little changed for centuries; a world of classical music (an accomplished singer, he liked to ply his calligraphy to Beethoven), Gregorian chant and the Latin Mass, which he continued celebrating in discreet defiance long after Vatican II.
Into that world burst a young college dropout named Steve Jobs.
It is a coincidence no less exquisite than Father Palladino’s finest calligraphy that “Silicon Valley’s future most famous screamer studied with a monk who spent years taking a vow of silence,” as The Hollywood Reporter wrote shortly after Mr. Jobs’s death in 2011.
A character based on Father Palladino, played by the strapping young actor William Mapother, appears in “Jobs,” the 2013 Hollywood film starring Ashton Kutcher. To reporters who asked Father Palladino whether he planned to see the film, he replied, characteristically, that he saw few movies of any kind.
An authority on the history, structure and aesthetics of scripts from antiquity to the present, Father Palladino taught calligraphy at Reed College in Portland, Ore., from 1969 until his retirement, in 1984.
The college’s calligraphy program, which flourished from 1938 until Father Palladino’s retirement, was widely regarded as the foremost in the country, training many respected artists, typographers and graphic designers. For decades, nearly every sign and poster on campus was the graceful fruit of its labor.
Mr. Jobs briefly attended Reed in 1972 before dropping out for economic reasons, but hung around campus for more than a year afterward; during that time, he audited Father Palladino’s class. After helping to found Apple in 1976, he often credited the company’s elegant onscreen fonts — and his larger interest in the design of computers as physical objects — to what he had been taught there.
“I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great,” Mr. Jobs said in a 2005 commencement address at Stanford. “It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.” He continued:
“Ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them.”
Asked about his famous charge in a 2013 interview with The Catholic Sentinel, an Oregon publication, Father Palladino recalled, “He was most pleasant.”
The word “calligraphy” is born of Classical Greek κάλλος (kallos, “beautiful”) and γράφω (grapho, “write”). Though he was by all accounts too courtly to have said so, it would doubtless have pained Father Palladino — whom Mr. Jobs consulted on the design of the Mac’s Greek letters — to see the flagrant unloveliness of the only Greek font at this newspaper’s disposal.
In Father Palladino’s hands, however, calligraphy was about far more than mere beautiful letters: It was about the ways those letters can be coaxed to nestle companionably together to make words, and how those words in turn can be assembled to form a meaningful text.
Whether he was writing in the Phoenician alphabet, the Hebrew, the Greek or the Roman — encompassing myriad forms, including the elegant square capitals cut into Roman monuments or the curvaceous uncial script used by early medieval scribes — every stroke of Father Palladino’s pen entailed meditative deliberation, historical fealty and not a single wasted movement.
The work was, for him, the logical culmination of a fascination with the art of the written word that had begun in boyhood.
Robert Joseph Palladino was born in Albuquerque on Nov. 5, 1932. His paternal grandfather, Gaetano Palladino, was an Italian stonemason and architect who settled in New Mexico after he was engaged to build the St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe.
The youngest of eight children, Robert had the opportunity to observe the handwriting of seven siblings before him, and he saw that it was good. He grew fascinated, he later said, by the sublime marriage of form and function that writing embodied, especially when it came to communicating the word of God.
In 1950, at 17, he joined a Trappist order in Pecos, N.M. He received his early calligraphic training under the monastery’s scribe.
In 1955, after years of farming the unforthcoming New Mexico soil, the monastery moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. There, besides tending its orchards, Brother Robert served as the monastery’s choirmaster, ran its book bindery and became its principal scribe.
“In a silent monastery, signs do come in handy,” he told The Catholic Sentinel in 2011.
He was ordained a priest in 1958. But the reforms of Vatican II (1962-65) — including the dissolution of monastic silence, the supplanting of Gregorian chant by vernacular music and the replacement of Latin by modern languages — discomforted him, and in 1968 he left the monastery.
“You cannot like that way of life unless you are completely enamored of it,” Father Palladino, recalling his Trappist days, said in an unpublished memoir, written — unsurprisingly — entirely by hand. “When it changed, I could no longer dedicate myself to it. It no longer satisfied my longing for union with God.”
Settling in Portland, he joined the Reed faculty the next year. In 1969 he traveled to Davenport, Iowa, for advanced study in calligraphy, stonecutting, art history, brush writing and lettering at St. Ambrose College, where he was a student of Father Edward Catich, an eminent calligrapher and paleographer (< Greek πάλαι, palai, “long ago,” + γράφω). Dispensed from his priestly vows by Pope Paul VI, Mr. Palladino married Catherine Halverson, the principal clarinetist of the Portland Symphony, in 1969. Their son, Eric, is his only immediate survivor. Father Palladino’s death, at his home in Sandy, Ore., was announced by Reed College. Catherine Palladino died in 1987. In 1995 Father Palladino was readmitted to the priesthood, serving in Oregon parishes. He also taught calligraphy at Portland State University, the Pacific Northwest College of Art and elsewhere. Though Father Palladino demonstrably influenced Mr. Jobs, the converse cannot be said. To the end of his life, Father Palladino never owned, or even once used, a computer. “I have my hand,” he would say, “and I have my pen. That’s it.”
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Catholic Answers: Born Again - The Bible Way
Article Source: Catholic Answers by Tim Staples
October 4, 2013
“Have you been born again, my friend?” Thousands of Catholics have been asked this question by well-meaning Fundamentalists or Evangelicals. Of course, by “born again” the Protestant usually means: “Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior through the recitation of ‘the sinner’s prayer?”” How is a Catholic to respond?
The simple Catholic response is:“Yes, I have been born again—when I was baptized.” In fact, Jesus’ famous “born again” discourse of John 3:3-5, which is where we find the words “born again” in Scripture, teaches us about the essential nature of baptism:
Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicode'mus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
At this point, a Fundamentalist or Evangelical will respond almost predictably: “Baptism does not save you, brother; John 3:5 says we must be born of water and the Spirit.” The Catholic will then be told the “water” of John 3:5 has nothing to do with baptism. Depending on the preference of the one to whom the Catholic is speaking, the “water” will either be interpreted as man’s natural birth (the “water” being amniotic fluid), and “the Spirit” would then represent the new birth, or the water would represent the word of God through which one is born again when he accepts Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior.
Amniotic Fluid vs. Baptismal Water
To claim the “water” of John 3:5 is amniotic fluid is to stretch the context just a smidgen! When we consider the actual words and surrounding context of John 3, the waters of baptism seem to be the more reasonable—and biblical—interpretation. Consider these surrounding texts:
John 1:31-34: Jesus was baptized. If you compare the parallel passage in St. Matthew’s gospel (3:16), you find that when Jesus was baptized, “the heavens were opened” and the Spirit descended upon him. Obviously, this was not because Jesus needed to be baptized. In fact, St. John the Baptist noted that he needed to be baptized by Jesus (see Matthew 3:14)! Jesus was baptized in order “fulfill all righteousness” and “to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,” according to Scripture (cf. Matt. 3:15; Luke 1:77). In other words, Jesus demonstrably showed us the way the heavens would be opened to us so that the Holy Spirit would descend upon us… through baptism.
John 2:1-11: Jesus performed his first miracle. He transformed water into wine. Notice, Jesus used water from “six stone jars … for the Jewish rites of purification.” According to the Septuagint as well as the New Testament these purification waters were called baptismoi (see LXX, Numbers 19:9-19; cf. Mark 7:4). We know that Old Testament rites, sacrifices, etc. were only “a shadow of the good things to come” (Hebrews 10:1). They could never take away sins. This may well be why “six” stone jars are specified by St. John—to denote imperfection, or “a human number” (cf. Rev. 13:18). It is interesting to note that Jesus transformed these Old Testament baptismal waters into wine—a symbol of New Covenant perfection (see Joel 3:18; Matthew 9:17).
John 3:22: Immediately after Jesus’ “born again” discourse to Nicodemus, what does He do? "... Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea; there he remained with them and baptized." It appears he baptized folks. This is the only time in Scripture we find Jesus apparently actually baptizing.
John 4:1-2: Jesus’ disciples then begin to baptize at Jesus’ command. It appears from the text, Jesus most likely only baptized his disciples and then they baptized everyone else.
In summary, Jesus was baptized, transformed the “baptismal” waters, and then gave his famous “born again” discourse. He then baptized before commissioning the apostles to go out and baptize. To deny Jesus was teaching us about baptism in John 3:3-5 is to ignore the clear biblical context.
Moreover, John 3:5 is not describing two events; it describes one event. The text does not say “unless one is born of water and then born again of the Spirit...” It says “unless one is born of water and Spirit...” If we hearken back to the Lord’s own baptism in John 1 and Matt. 3, we notice when our Lord was baptized the Holy Spirit descended simultaneously upon him. This was one event, involving both water and the Spirit. And so it is with our baptism. If we obey God in being baptized—that’s our part of the deal—we can count on God to concurrently “open the heavens” for us and give us the Holy Spirit.
And finally, it would be anachronistic to read into Jesus’ use of “water” to mean physical birth in John’s gospel. In fact, St. John had just used a word to refer to physical birth in John 1:12-13, but it wasn’t “water:”
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
St. John here tells us we are not made children of God by birth (“of blood”), or by our own attempts whether they be through our lower nature (“of the flesh”) or even through the higher powers of our soul (“the will of man”); rather, we must be born of God, or by God’s power. Notice, St. John refers to natural birth colloquially as “of blood,” not “of water.”
Washing of Water by the Word
It is perhaps an even greater stretch to attempt to claim the “water” of John 3:3-5 represents the word of God. At least with the amniotic fluid argument, you have mention of “birth” in the immediate context. However, the Protestant will sometimes refer to Ephesians 5:25-26 and a few other texts to make this point:
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…
“See?” a Protestant may say, “The ‘washing of water’ is here equated to ‘the word’ that cleanses us.” If you couple this text with Jesus’ words in John 15:3, “You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you,” the claim is made, that “the water” of John 3:5 would actually refer to the word of God rather than baptism.
The Catholic Response
Beyond the obvious fact that there is nothing in the context of John's gospel to even remotely point to "water" as referring to "the word," we can point out immediately a point of agreement. Both Catholics and Protestants agree that Jesus’ words—unless one is born anew (or, again)—speak of man’s initial entrance into the body of Christ through God’s grace. Perhaps it would be helpful at this point to ask what the New Testament writers saw as the instrument whereby one first enters into Christ. This would be precisely what we are talking about when we speak of being “born again.”
I Peter 3:20-21:“... in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Romans 6:3-4:"Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life."
Galatians 3:27:"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
I Cor. 12:13:"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit (See also Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16 and Col. 2:11-13).
If baptism is the way the unsaved are brought into Christ, no wonder Christ spoke of being “born of water and spirit.” Baptism is the instrument of new birth according to the New Testament.
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When All You Thought Non-Catholics Church Services are the Real Ancient "Christians" Worship, Think Again!
Those noisy drums and Rock bands! Those goose-bumps emotional worship services! Those great preaching without any liturgy! Are they rooted to the First Century Christian way of Church Service? For comparison, please come back and read THIS LINK after reading the whole article below. -CD2000
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| Chapel of Saint Ananias, Damascus, Syria, an early example of a Christian house of worship; built in the 1st century AD |
Source: Gospel Coalition
What Was a Church Service Like in the Second CenturyI’m really enjoying N.R. Needham’s 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power, Vol. 1: Age of the Early Church Fathers, part of a very accessible but well-informed multi-volume survey of church history. On pp. 66-75 he outlines a fairly typical church service in the second century (A.D. 101-200), based on descriptions and instructions found in the early Church fathers. I thought it might be helpful to outline it below.The service of worship on Sunday lasted about 3 hours in total, with the typical posture being standing throughout. There were no musical instruments, and the Lord’s Supper was observed every week.The first part, “The Service of the Word,” was open to three groups: (1) baptized believers; (2) those receiving instruction in the Christian faith; and (3) (probably) those who were merely curious about Christianity.The second part of the service, “Prayers and the Eucharist,” was only open to believers who had been baptized. The rest had to leave. Needham writes that the early church understood congregational prayer as “participating by the Holy Spirit in the glorified Christ’s own heavenly ministry of prayer”—something unbelievers could not share in since they did not have the Spirit.Part 1: Service of the Word1. Opening greeting by bishop and response by the congregation. Often, the bishop would say “The Lord be with you” and the congregation would respond, “And with your spirit.”2. Old Testament Scripture reading. Usually read or chanted by a deacon.3. Psalm or hymn (I). Chanted or sung.4. New Testament Scripture reading (I). This first NT reading was from any NT book outside the gospels.5. Psalm or hymn (II).6. New Testament Scripture reading (II). From one of the four gospels.7. Sermon. Delivered by the bishop, while seated.8. Dismissal of all but baptized believers.Part 2: The Eucharist1. Congregational prayers. The prayer leader—the bishop in the West; senior deacon in the East—would announce the first topic. The congregation prayed silently for a while. Then the leader summed up the petitions with his own spoken prayer. Then he would do the same pattern again with a new topic. This was a lengthy part of the service. Early Christian art suggests that a typical posture from praying was standing, looking heavenward, with arms outstretched and palms up.2. The Lord’s Supper. Here’s the order: (1) the bishop offered a greeting; (2) the congregation responded; (3) there was a “kiss of peace” (men to men, women to women); (4) church members brought their own small loaf of bread and flask of wine from home; the deacons took these and spread them out on the Lord’s table, emptying the flasks of wine into one large silver cup. (5) The bishop and the congregation engaged in a liturgical “dialogue” with the congregation; (6) the bishop led the congregation in prayer; (7) the bishop and the deacons broke the bread and distributed the cup to the congregation. (8) Something would be said to each member as he or she received the elements (e.g., “The bread of heaven in Christ Jesus,” with the response of “Amen.”) Unconsumed bread and wine would be taken home by church members to use for celebrating communion at home during the weekdays.3. Benediction. E.g., “Depart in peace,” spoken by the deacon.
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Brave Enough! That's How Catholic Missionaries Witness to Christ's Love for All.
Catholic Missionaries are always willing to offer their precious lives to Christ even to die as martyrs. That is WITNESSING.God bless our Religious Missionaries around the world especially those who are in places where Christians are roundly persecuted by Muslim terrorists!
Source: Breitbart
By Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.4 Mar 2016
After serious deliberation, the Franciscan Friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, a group of monks living in territory occupied by the Islamic State in Syria, have made the decision to stay on despite the dangers, insisting that a good shepherd never abandons his sheep.
In recent days, the Prior of the community, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, took a survey among his confreres asking whether whether in the face of new risks of violence and persecution it was better to stay on with the few remaining Christians or to move to safer territory.
The number of local Christians in the parishes of the Syrian villages under the control of Islamist forces continues to dwindle as many leave on their own or are driven out. Moreover, outright persecution against the Christians has also increased. Not long ago, one of the Franciscans, Father Dhiya Azziz, was abducted by Islamist militants, and only released after 12 days of detention.
After receiving a good number of responses, Father Pizzaballa said that “almost all have clearly expressed the view that it is only right to remain in the villages, without consideration for the number of parishioners or the danger involved.”
Pizzaballa also reflected that the Franciscans of the Custody “have never left the places and people that the Church has entrusted to it, even at risk of danger,” adding that “not a few of our martyrs, even in recent times, died in circumstances not too dissimilar from the current situation.”
“A shepherd does not abandon his flock,” he said, “and does not ask whether his sheep are worth much or little, or if they are numerous or young. For a shepherd all the sheep are important and he loves them all the same way.”
There are several hundred Christians in the regions of Syria where the Islamist militants rule, and the jihadists do everything in their power to make life as unpleasant as possible for the so-called infidels.
The villages of Knayeh, Yacoubieh and Jdeideh in the Orontes valley, for instance, are home to some four hundred baptized Christians. They continue to live, pray and attend mass there, even though the jihadists have stripped the three Catholic parishes in the area of bells, crosses and statues of saints.
Under the jihadist domination, Christians are allowed no public expressions of the Church’s life: no bells, no processions, no crosses on the churches, and no statues.
In autumn 2014, one of the Franciscans, Father Hanna Jallouf, the pastor of Knayeh, went in person to the Islamic Court in the area to denounce the increasing abuses perpetrated by Islamist brigades against the monastery.
Father Jallouf intended to see whether the “new order” imposed by the jihadists would guarantee the limited rights of a Christian subject, even those prescribed under Sharia law.
As a result, the jihadists arrested Father Jallouf on trumped up charged of cooperation with the regime of Bashar al-Assad, along with a group of young people of the parish, and they were held in detention.
Eventually Jallouf’s sentence was commuted to house arrest.
Nonetheless, the Franciscans are staying, insisting that until they are killed off, there will still be Christians in the Holy Land.
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HUMBLY WE ARE NOW 1.3 BILLION CATHOLICS WORLDWIDE - TO THE GLORY OF THE TRIUNE GOD!
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| Photo Source: DailyMail |
But of course THEY LIED. The Catholic Church is growing-- very fast. On the contrary, they themselves cannot even prove their number is steadily growing, instead mounted vast earthly wealth but sadly and painfully with LESSER "worshipers".
Yes! The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ is growing FAST. -CD2000
Source: Catholic World News
World’s Catholic population approaches 1.3 billion as African, Asian numbers soarMarch 07, 2016Between 2005 and 2014, the world’s Catholic population rose from 1.115 billion (17.3% of the world’s population) to 1.272 billion (17.8%), according to statistics made public by the Holy See Press Office on March 5.During that time period, the Catholic population soared by 41% in Africa and 20% in Asia, approximately double the rate of population growth on each continent (23.8% in Africa, 9.6% in Asia). During the same time period, the Catholic population increased by 11.7% in North and South America, 2% in Europe, and 15.9% in Oceania.In 2014, nearly half (48%) of the world’s Catholics lived in North and South America. 22.6% lived in Europe, 17% in Africa, 10.9% in Asia, and 0.8% in Oceania.Between 2005 and 2014, the number of priests increased from 406,411 to 415,792, while the number of permanent deacons rose from 33,000 to 44,566. The number of priests rose significantly in Africa (by 32.6%) and Asia (by 27.1%), which declining in Europe (by 8%). 97.5% of permanent deacons live in North America, South America, or Europe.Despite substantial gains in Africa and Asia, the number of religious brothers worldwide decreased from 54,708 in 2005 to 54,559 in 2014, while the number of religious sisters fell by 10.8% to 682,729.The worldwide surge in the number of seminarians that began in the papacy of St. John Paul II has crested, as numbers rose from 63,882 (1978) to 114,439 (2005) to 120,616 (2011), and then fell to 116,939 (2014). Between 2005 and 2014, the number of seminarians soared in Africa (by 30.9%) and in Asia (by 29.4%) but plummeted in Europe (by 21.7%) and declined in North and South America (by 1.9%).The statistics come from the 2016 edition of the Annuario Pontificio and the 2014 edition of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, both of which will soon be released.
References:
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In an Unintended Experiment Catholic Priests are Still Seen as Respectable Holy Men of God
It was an unintended experiment by an individual who wants to investigate the power of the "UNIFORM". Surprisingly people's reaction seeing a "priest" with his cassock visiting his favorite bartender IN A BAR is unexpected. Read the story below and be amazed. Yes, after all those sensationalized "Priest Scandals" in the news, still our Catholic priests are revered, respected and loved in places where they are least expected to be seen "in a cassock". LET'S KEEP ON PRAYING for our remaining courageous holy men and women serving the Lord in the Religious and Priestly life. They need our prayers more than anything. -CD2000
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What Happened When I Dressed Like a Priest
An investigation into the power of the uniform.
BY TOM CHIARELLA
AUG 24, 2015
Source: Esquire
I was a priest, standing at the bar of the Billy Goat Tavern beneath the great concrete decks that brace up downtown Chicago. Strike that. I was not a priest. I shouldn't say that. I was me, me wearing the uniform of a priest. It was 10:30 on a Friday morning, the bar a well-lit temple of Formica. I was visiting my favorite bartender, as is my wont when I am in Chicago. Priest or no: My uniform was an old-school liturgical cassock. Twenty buttons rising to a traditional clerical collar. Part tunic, part Nehru jacket, with a big open flare at my feet. That thing really kicked up in the wind when I walked the city. The thing really had some sweep.
When I walked in, my friend immediately set me up with a no-disrespect-intended pour of bourbon, with a draft beer back. My shoulders were turned to the half-full restaurant; a small circle of recent acquaintances screened me. I'd like to say I was mindful of being the most visible man in the room—me, the priest—but who was I kidding? People had been staring at me for twenty-three blocks. One hour in the uniform and I knew this much: On a bright summer's day, in a sprawling city, a priest in a cassock is a thing to behold. People draw out their eye contact with a priest. They give nods or bow just a smidge. Or they stare. Openly. Respectfully. Distantly. When walking in pairs, men wind up their cheeriest selves to blurt out suddenly, "Good morning, Father." A habit learned in high school, revisited gladly. Twenty-three blocks and the world could not take its eyes off me. A priest, striding north.
And so, in a what-the-hell moment, I lifted the glass, nodded to Jeff the barkeep, and took that long good swallow. Only as I put the glass back in its ringlet of condensation did I notice a woman who'd maneuvered herself to some pass-through window, filming the whole thing on her phone. "You're going to be on the Internet before you eat lunch," said the barfly to my left without looking up, adding, "Father."
I picked up the beer, took a sip, and told him, "I'm not a priest." He turned, narrowed his eyes, gave me a lazy up-and-down. "What is this, then?" he said. He meant the frock.
"It's a uniform," I said. That was true. This was always my plan. Be honest. And that seemed to be enough, because he went back to his box scores. A couple minutes later, he said, "One thing's for certain, some priest, somewhere, is going to get in trouble for that."
[The same TOM wore different uniforms, and HERE is the rest of his STORY.]
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Catholic Sculptor Willy Layug Received Papal Highest Award called Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice
Sculptor Willy Layug receives Catholic Church’s highest honor
Published March 10, 201
By RUSTON BANAL for GMANews
"Thirty years ago, nobody knew the name Willy Layug. Today, Willy Layug has [become] a household name for ecclesiastical art which even the Pope knows," Lingayen-Dagupan Pangasinan Archbishop Soc Villegas told the hundreds of people who attended the conferment of a papal award on the renowned sculptor at the San Fernando Cathedral in Pampanga on Wednesday.
The Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice is bestowed on lay people for services to the Church, and is the highest honor the Church can award to the laity.
Layug, a premier ecclesiastical sculptor from the barrio of Sta. Ursula in Betis, Pampanga, was honored for creating beautiful retablos and santos over the decades, including a 7-foot tall wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary that was placed near the altar at the open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Tacloban in January last year.
Betis has been known as a center of woodcarving and woodworking since at least the Spanish colonial period. From creating folk art to making furniture, the woodcarving industry has been a source of livelihood for the townsfolk, especially during the post-war period.
The industry declined after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption caused a lot of furniture and carpentry businesses in the area to close. Layug, 57, is one of the few woodcarvers who stayed in Betis. " I think it was all God's providence that after Pinatubo, clients started to resurface and commissioned santos and retablos became regular," said Layug, adding that he actually became more prolific in the years after the disaster.
In the late 90's, hungry for new knowledge and technique, Layug went to Europe to study the works of great masters like Bernini and Michelangelo. He apprenticed under contemporary Spanish masters, from whom he learned new techniques such as "estofado," or applying gold leaf on sculptures—something that had not been done before in Philippine ecclesiastical art.
In 2009, Layug was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit Award and was one of the contenders for the National Artist designation under the Arroyo presidency.
Layug, who was unable to complete his college degree due to financial problems, is also now set to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Sto. Tomas with the help of UST CFAD Regent Fr. Edgar Alaurin. "He only has some few remaining units left and I convinced him to enroll them so he can finally graduate," said Alaurin.
"I am so happy that my son—who also took a Fine Arts Degree in UST—and I will graduate at the same time," Layug happily said.
In the last two decades, Layug has created monumental works, altarpieces 20 or 30 feet high that now adorn parish churches and cathedrals all over the country. Some of these are the St. Joseph Cathedral in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija; the St. Joseph Cathedral in Butuan City; the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Virac, Catanduanes; the St. John Cathedral in Dagupan. He also created a retable for the Pontifico Collegio Filippino in Rome.
In 2013, Layug was the subject of "Dukit," a film by acclaimed screenwriter Armando Lao which won Best Picture (Full Feature) at the Metro Manila Film Festival in the New Wave Category. Layug won for Best Actor.
This year, a book on Layug's life and work will be launched alongside his receiving his bachelor's degree from UST. — BM, GMA News
Published March 10, 201
By RUSTON BANAL for GMANews
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| Willy Layug (front row, fourth from right) received the papal award from Catholic Church prelates, including Archbishop Socrates Villegas (middle row, third from left) on Wednesday. Photos: Ruston Banal |
The Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice is bestowed on lay people for services to the Church, and is the highest honor the Church can award to the laity.
Layug, a premier ecclesiastical sculptor from the barrio of Sta. Ursula in Betis, Pampanga, was honored for creating beautiful retablos and santos over the decades, including a 7-foot tall wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary that was placed near the altar at the open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in Tacloban in January last year.
Betis has been known as a center of woodcarving and woodworking since at least the Spanish colonial period. From creating folk art to making furniture, the woodcarving industry has been a source of livelihood for the townsfolk, especially during the post-war period.
The industry declined after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption caused a lot of furniture and carpentry businesses in the area to close. Layug, 57, is one of the few woodcarvers who stayed in Betis. " I think it was all God's providence that after Pinatubo, clients started to resurface and commissioned santos and retablos became regular," said Layug, adding that he actually became more prolific in the years after the disaster.
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| The medal bestowed on Layug. |
In the late 90's, hungry for new knowledge and technique, Layug went to Europe to study the works of great masters like Bernini and Michelangelo. He apprenticed under contemporary Spanish masters, from whom he learned new techniques such as "estofado," or applying gold leaf on sculptures—something that had not been done before in Philippine ecclesiastical art.
In 2009, Layug was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit Award and was one of the contenders for the National Artist designation under the Arroyo presidency.
Layug, who was unable to complete his college degree due to financial problems, is also now set to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Sto. Tomas with the help of UST CFAD Regent Fr. Edgar Alaurin. "He only has some few remaining units left and I convinced him to enroll them so he can finally graduate," said Alaurin.
"I am so happy that my son—who also took a Fine Arts Degree in UST—and I will graduate at the same time," Layug happily said.
In the last two decades, Layug has created monumental works, altarpieces 20 or 30 feet high that now adorn parish churches and cathedrals all over the country. Some of these are the St. Joseph Cathedral in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija; the St. Joseph Cathedral in Butuan City; the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Virac, Catanduanes; the St. John Cathedral in Dagupan. He also created a retable for the Pontifico Collegio Filippino in Rome.
In 2013, Layug was the subject of "Dukit," a film by acclaimed screenwriter Armando Lao which won Best Picture (Full Feature) at the Metro Manila Film Festival in the New Wave Category. Layug won for Best Actor.
This year, a book on Layug's life and work will be launched alongside his receiving his bachelor's degree from UST. — BM, GMA News
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